Fabric Cartel owner corners the market in Queen St quilting

Virginia Price in her new, quirkily named, Queen Street store. Her take on quilting was inspired by a visit to an Amish community.

by Janine Hill

VIRGINIA Price is a rarity. In an era when independent fabric stores have mostly closed, she has decided to open one.

The Fabric Cartel is the newest addition to Nambour’s Queen Street, which has become home to hair, fashion, food and creative arts businesses.

The Fabric Cartel stocks a wide range of quilting fabric and Ms Price hopes it will claim a niche by doing quilting differently.

“The idea behind the Fabric Cartel is to bring in young people who might think sewing and crafting is a granny thing,” she said.

“I want it to be fun and for people to be creating and teaching. We all have something to give, even if we don’t sew.”

Ms Price’s take on quilting was inspired by a visit to an Amish community where she noticed the quilters deliberately made a mistake in each piece to recognise the imperfections in life and people.

“People telling you, ‘You have to do it this way,’ can be very intimidating, especially when you’re trying to learn something, and I want to try and bridge that,” she said.

“I want young people coming in and finding bright colours instead of the pretty pastels that most people expect.”

The Fabric Cartel stocks fabrics by funky brands such as Tula Pink and Ruby Star Society which feature bright colours, bold graphics and big images. 

Ms Price plans to put together kits and classes with a focus on smaller projects such as cases and pillow slips for people who are time poor and struggle to commit to big projects.