Sew good! This Fylde coast needle-crafts shop has opened after business booms online

Eight years ago, Sew Hot was started by quilting enthusiasts Pam Chavez and daughter Rebecca Wright as an online website business in a small, third floor flat above the Mount Veterinary Practice in Fleetwood.

Their aim was to offer the hottest sewing, quilting, bag making and crafting fabrics, patterns, and notions to enthusiasts online.

Rebecca is a vet and juggles her time between the two businesses and her children, while Pam lives in the United States for most of the year where many of the fabrics and patterns come from.

Rebecca said: “We were looking for something we could do together and we had both been quilters for a long time. We decided to start designing patterns and were going to make kits from them. So we started sourcing fabric and the fabric shop sprang into life and took off.”

Sales for Sew Hot's brand-name fabrics and notions, many of them imported and hard-to-find, grew quickly, and after several years they had to find a larger, new home, which they did in Thornton.

Pam said: “After several years there, and a surprisingly large online Covid bump, we needed to find an even larger facility where we could comfortably have both a large retail shop, and a dedicated area for all our online packaging and shipping needs.

"Back to Fleetwood we came, with the purchase of the 10,000 sq ft top floor of Carleton Court on Lord Street and now we are open to the public. The new facility allows plenty of room for visitors to browse rooms full of fabrics and notions, and also features a dedicated classroom.

"I spend quite a lot of time in the UK every year, helping manage Sew Hot. When I am in the States, I work on the website, do marketing and advertising, and manage what I can via email and the internet.”

Rebecca said they currently have 9,000 bolts of fabric and 22,000 products from all over the world including the US, Australia and Japan where some of the most popular designs come from and with customers mainly in the UK.

The shop, one of the largest of its kind in the UK, is run by manager Kim Hearn and assistant manager Ashleigh Booth with a team of ten.