Swanky Sisters Merc: Nirvana for fabric lovers

Swanky Sisters Mercantile in Ronan has fabric galore for quilters and sewers – who all qualify as "swanky," according to owner Beverley Osterwyk. The store also stocks cute clothes for babies, toys, children’s dishes and stuffed animals. 

Beverley and her husband, Rich, also own and operate Ronan True Value Hardware, the store just north of Swanky Sisters.

The fabric shop is home to 2,000 bolts of fabric, a curated selection from biker gnomes to western prints to wildlife fabric to glow-in-the-dark Halloween prints. 

The store also stocks plush Minky fabric, flannels, flat folds at $6 a yard, cherry prints, fleece, 108-inch quilt backing prints and solids, patriotic patterns, batting, yarn, all colors and widths of ribbon, and candy-colored notions. It’s a veritable nirvana for those who sew and quilt.

Swanky Sisters also has a huge selection of Native American fabric, much of which Osterwyk has found in Canada. There are calicos, florals, and solid colors for ribbon skirts and shirts. Ledger art fabrics share shelves with geometric prints, southwestern fabric, northwest coastal designs, hummingbird cloth, designs that look as if they’re beaded, and fabrics that blend and contrast. 

“We have the ribbon, we have the jingles,” Osterwyk said. “I didn’t know what a ribbon skirt was when I opened up. I learned quickly.”

“And notions, I wasn’t even going to carry notions,” she added.

But the notions manufacturers are always coming out with new things so Osterwyk tries to keep up by checking quilt magazines.

“Notions are a very big deal,” she said, pushing her hands towards the ceiling. “And we do have needles and thread –  you can’t be a fabric store without needles and thread.”  

Osterwyk says her husband “thought I was crazy when I said I wanted to do a fabric store. It was like, ‘Rich, we need a fabric store.’” 

“Now he comes over here, and people say, ‘Oh, we love this place, we’re so happy you’re here,’” and she tells him, “Told ya.”

“Everything is word of mouth,” Osterwyk added, and the shop is attracting visitors from Missoula and Flathead Lake, where lots of quilting retreats are held. 

The quilters advertise for Swanky Sister, encouraging their friends to stop by the Ronan store.

Mastering the quilting machine

A Grace quilting machine, a 10-needle embroidery machine, and more fabric sit in the back of the store. This is where Christina Hunold, the resident machine quilter, works her magic. She almost always has a quilt on the quilting machine. 

“It’s my favorite toy,” Hunold said. “It challenged me, expanded my knowledge.” 

When Osterwyk bought the quilting machine, neither woman had ever operated one. 

“So she threw the book at me,” Hunold said, grinning as she gestured to Osterwyk. Between the two of them, the book and YouTube videos, they figured it out.  

One good thing, Osterwyk said, is that the quilting machine and the embroidery machine can both be working away at the same time. “You just thread the embroidery machine up, and it goes.”  

Osterwyk keeps busy running both the hardware store and Swanky Sisters and sometimes the embroidery machine. She doesn’t have much time to sew. She and Rich had four daughters so she sewed a lot for them.

“When I think of quilts, I think of leftovers,” Osterwyk said. “Now it’s an art, with all the different patterns and fabrics.”

Hunold enjoys quilting cottons, although “my favorite fabric is all of it,” she said.

Quilters are pleased with the store’s selection of 108-inch fabric for quilt backs. Osterwyk buys it in three-yard cuts and can store and display more choices than if she had it on 15-yard bolts. 

Swanky Sisters also offers 60-inch and 90-inch-wide Minky – a thick, soft cloth with one side that feels like short fur. If someone is using Minky for quilt backing, as many people do, the 90-inch version doesn’t need to be pieced.

Minky works on the quilting machine, Hunold said. She adjusts the tension and doesn’t pull it so tight on the machine’s bars.  

Customers can bring their own backing in when they ask Hunold to quilt their top for them. She also quilts table runners, place mats, and fabric for bags. She even quilted a 90-year-old top that was “pretty fragile.”

Hunold said if she had to, she could do one full-size or two baby quilts a day.  

“We get it if we can”

Osterwyk, Hunold and other workers keep an ear out for customer needs and wants. 

“If customers ask for something, we get it if we can,” Osterwyk said. For example they’ve added yarn to their inventory at the request of their clientele.

Osterwyk says they’d like to expand and offer classes. 

“The community loves that we are here, and they don’t have to drive 60 miles or buy online,” she said.

After working in a hardware store for more than 40 years, Osterwyk said the clientele in a fabric store is different – more cheerful. “People in a hardware store are fixing things so they’re not so happy,” she said. 

To learn more about the happy people at Swanky Sisters Mercantile, stop by 63549 U.S. 93 in Ronan, call 406-676-2740 or email isaysew406@gmail.com.

    Sweet stuffed bunnies and a storybook are some of the swanky baby goods available at Swanky Sisters Mercantile in Ronan. (Courtesy Photo)
  

    Shelves loaded with high quality quilting cottons line the aisles of Swanky Sisters Mercantile in Ronan. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)
  

    A stock of beautiful Native American fabric bolts are just a taste of all the Native American fabrics found at Swanky Sisters Mercantile in Ronan. (Courtesy Photo)