Here The CARON Collection features one of the outstanding shops who so ably provide stitchers with not only supplies but guidance, technical expertise, and inspiration. We hope you'll support your local shops and browse through our extensive SHOP LISTINGS to find a shop near you. And now we visit... Featheridge Designs
in Washington Depot, CTFeatheridge Designs opened its doors in Feb. 1988 in New Canaan, CT. Prior to that Eileen M. Field, its proprietor, had been working out of her home, with a partner, designing canvases for wholesale and custom orders. In Dec. of that same year, Eileen's husband retired and they bought a home in Washington, CT. She continued to run the shop in New Canaan, but in 1990, she recognized the need for a needlework shop in their new hometown. So she operated both shops for a period of 4-5 years, but gave up the New Canaan shop in 1995 to spend full time in Washington Depot location.
Featheridge Designs Eileen's background is mostly art and craft related, having learned her needlework skills mostly from her grandmother, who was an avid quilter, who taught Eileen embroidery and knitting. Eileen did not take up needlepoint until high school, while working part time in a local department store. All that was available at that time were the pre-worked canvases, but she was already hooked. Eileen's first hand painted canvas was a gift from their realtor when the couple bought the New Canaan house. Eileen relates, " I realized upon stitching it that designing and painting canvases was probably something I could do." Besides needlepoint and knitting Eileen's other interests include drawing, painting, cooking and reading.
Eileen M. Field
Proprietor of Featheridge DesignsEileen was born in Omaha, NB, but lived in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia until she got married. Before that she was employed for 10 years by a local newspaper doing layouts, artwork and copy writing and also writing a food column. She states emphatically, "I still work better if I have a deadline." After marriage there followed moves every 2 or 3 years to Texas, Chicago, Toronto and finally to CT. She and her husband have 3 children 2 sons and 1 daughter (adopted from Korea) and 5 grandchildren.
Watercolours Thread Display Since becoming a shop owner Eileen has not found much of the time needed to design and paint canvases, but tries to do as much as she can. She elaborates, " There are many good designers out there, so there is never a loss for ideas. We specialize in hand painted canvases and do custom orders. We carry many different fibers and the most popular one right now is Caron's Impressions. We can't keep them in stock. I am constantly reordering and wish I had more room. I first met Lois Caron at a TNNA show and was impressed by her sense of color mixing in her fibers. Our first Caron fibers were the Watercolours."
The shop has organized a stitching group that meets on Tues. mornings and most of its members have been with Eileen since she opened the shop in Washington Depot. Many times there are 12 or more that attend regularly. They also started another group that meets on Fridays. They also offer free individual lessons, asking only that the student buy his/her supplies from the shop. Occasionally formal classes are offered.
For a time the shop included a full service knitting department, but gave it up a couple of years ago. Eileen says, "Now that knitting is 'big' again, we are starting to carry knitting yarns on a limited basis, but needlepoint is our main focus." Eileen remarks that they are blessed to have an in house finisher who is the absolute best and she does it all -- pillows, rugs, upholstery, and ornaments.
Impressions Thread Display The shop also stocks Vera Bradley bags and accessories, and other lines of knitting and project bags as well. They have Eucalan wool wash and a line of goat's milk soaps and lotions made in the neighboring town of New Milford. Also inventoried are many accessories such as gold needle cases, pewter pincushions, and a couple of lines of handcrafted jewelry from Sedona AZ., Nepal, and Orcas Island, WA. For the holidays they carry additional gift lines too.
"One of the best things about owning a needlework shop is helping a beginning stitcher and watching him or her fall in love with the craft," says Eileen. "My goal is to provide the knowledge of color, fibers and design, in a friendly and comfortable atmosphere that will inspire our customers to keep coming back for more"
Although Washington, CT is not a "retail town" (population 4000) the shop draws customers from New York City (who maintain weekend homes there), New Jersey, Massachusetts, and all over CT. Eileen has found that people will seek out and travel to a shop that will provide them with the materials they need to "feed their passion." She points out, "Our little part of the state is in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains and full of scenic beauty. We're about an hour from MA on the north, an hour from NY State to the west and about 1 3/4 hrs. from NYC. So we can provide some great sightseeing and wonderful restaurants while shopping at Featheridge!"
Eileen M. Field
Featheridge Designs
4 Green Hill Rd PO Box 504
Phone (860( 868-1933 or 1- 800 371-1014
Fax (860) 868-7208
E-mail: fieldandfeather@earthlink.net
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