Natalie Mielke, the new owner of Mill Outlet Fabric Shop, always saw her store, even before she bought it, as her happy place. But in that way, she wanted to make it a beacon for others like her while still building camaraderie with similar stores around town. It helps that with the 15,000-foot space, she can carry every material under the sun.
Mielke had done accounting and tax work for the past 25 years. “And I decided I didn’t want to do that anymore. I needed something happy.” She heard Mill Outlet was selling, and said, “I’ll buy it.” And she did. “My daughter calls me the crazy lady.”
Mielke had made dresses and clothes for her kids when they were little and had done a few basic quilts. While she says she has a general knowledge, she admits to being on a huge learning curve “to figure out what everything else is.”
Connecting and Finding a Rhythm at Mill Outlet Fabric Shop
She is connecting with the local guild [Piecing Partners Quilt Guild of Colorado Springs (PPQG)] and finding her rhythm ordering fabrics and everything in between including thread, buttons, patches, keyrings and beyond. But what is gratifying to her is seeing the different kinds of projects that her customers accomplish.
“They make the most amazing things that you would just never even dream of. I had a lady today bring us some little scrubbies for your kitchen sink that she makes out of some netting that I carry.” Mielke has people that make bags, purses, diaper bags, and even those that do drapery and upholstery. She says it just ranges anywhere from a basic blanket to the most amazing leather couch.
She also wants to expand her customer base and reach. “People are spreading around that there’s new ownership. So my traffic has increased by 50%. We’re cleaning the store. We’re organizing it, putting all the same things together so you don’t have to walk 15,000 square feet of the building.”
Most importantly, she wanted to spend time with the customers and answer their questions. “We love to see what they’re working on or finished projects. I’ve even got some people that make capes.”
Mielke also carries silks, satins, rayons, cotton, and ultrasuede. “And there’s just so many. I’ve got some wool that nobody else really carries in town anymore.” She even has felt, and the webbing to make military belts, backpacks or purse strings. Plus she has all the buckles to attach them. “I’ve even got the slide release buckles. So I pretty much have just about everything you would need.”
Working Closely with Locals
Mielke tries to work closely with the quilt shops around town. “I don’t want to be their competition. I want to be their partner.”
She says there are certain things she won’t carry like the kits or the pre-made cutouts to make a quilt. “That’s what they specialize in. I’m going to leave that to them. And I just want to be supportive of their businesses.”
Mielke affirms that she has many unique fabrics. “I have everything from flannels with little elephants or Winnie the Pooh, all of that kind of thing. Plus I have lots of other juvenile cottons. I’ve got Baby Shark. I’ve got Pokemon. We’ve got Southwestern-type fabrics. We’ve got food. A lot of people are making grocery bags now because they’re going to do away with the plastic bags.”
The Power of Touch
Mielke knows that with fabrics it comes down to touch and that is something that cannot be done online. “One thing that’s huge is people want to touch and feel what is there. It’s so hard to buy online because you can’t feel it. You can’t really tell what the thread count is or that kind of thing.”
It also brings with it a therapeutic element. Mielke’s daughter is a Certified Nurse Aide [CNA] who works with special needs adults. When some of her patients come in, picking up the fabrics and experiencing that feeling, it is a truly bonding connection for some.
“That touch is so important to special needs. I’ve got a granddaughter that’s special needs so I kind of have a little more focus toward it,” she says. “But you’ve got to feel it and touch it because you just don’t know without doing that.”
Mielke wants people to feel the materials because that connects a customer with what they are making in a very tangible way. The previous owner, she says, wouldn’t let people touch because then they would need to buy it. Mielke wants them to experience it.
Bringing New Sewers into the Fold
She wants to bring new sewers into the fold as well. “A lot of the women that we get in are older, so they pretty much have their basics down.” Mielke does say that she has had a lot of new people coming in saying, “OK, well, I got the sewing machine from my mom and she used to sew everything and I want to do like what she did.”
She also has people asking about sewing classes, which she does eventually want to add in at a beginner level. She also wants to add birthday parties for teenage girls anywhere between 8 or 9 to 17 or 18, where the girls come in, make something and then they’ll leave with a completed project.
That psychology and building of self-esteem from creating something is a powerful motivator, she says. “There’s almost an instant gratification because you’ve got it right there. You’ve got [something] finished. And it just makes you feel phenomenal that you’ve completed a beautiful project.”
Mielke says the anxiety released from creating and “using the left side of your brain a little bit more…it’s heartwarming.”
She says she has so many customers who make quilts for churches, hospitals and wounded warriors. “I give all those people an automatic 10% discount if they tell me that that’s what they’re doing it for. There’s such a wide variety of people and just the number of different projects that they have. And they love to talk. They love to talk about themselves, and what they’re making. They love to show us pictures, and I want to engage in all of that.”
