Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Clouser.
Hi Melissa, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My background is in Art Education and after I graduated with my undergraduate degree I was teaching Visual Arts in middle schools for a while and loved it. I had twins in 2019 and they were only a couple months old when the pandemic hit. I was able to stay at home with them for their first two years and when I was ready to work outside the home again I wasn’t interested in going back into a traditional school setting–but still wanted to teach. I decided to open Cut & Sew PHL so that I could continue to teach but on my own terms.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been a mostly smooth road. It’s a challenge to run a business when you have part-time availability, but I’ve been able to hire really fantastic people that make everything work.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Cut and Sew PHL?
We call ourselves a modern quilt shop and sewing studio but we’re definitely not your *typical* modern quilt shop. We carry new fabrics as you’d expect, but we also carry what we call our Previously Loved Collection. In our Previously Loved Collection you’ll find lots of fabric, notions, books, tools, thread, etc. that have been donated to us from sewists and quilters (and those who love them). We then sell the donations at a discounted price to try to make sewing and quilting more accessible to more people. It also helps to reduce the carbon footprint of the sewing world by redistributing these resources instead of sending them to a landfill or a general thrift shop where you’re not sure if they’ll be used. We sell the fabric for $4/yd and notions are always 50% off the typical retail price. There are always treasures to be found! Another aspect of our studio that sets us apart–and that I’m really proud of–is our Tiered Pricing Scale. We offer three tiers of pricing for every single class and workshop we offer for all ages. Our middle tier, which is what we’d charge if we didn’t do tiers, is called our “sustainer rate” and it covers the cost of your seat. Our higher tier is called the “supporter rate” and that covers the cost of your seat and helps to support those who use the “community rate”. The “community rate” automatically reduces the cost of the class or workshop by 25%, no questions asked. People are also able to donate to the Community Fund at checkout to help sustain us in offering the “community rate”.
Contact Info:
- Website: cutandsewph.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cutandsew.phl/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cutandsew.phl
