After 27 years, Mel and Mary Price are putting away the shears.
Price’s Fabric, 1845 1400 St., north of Iola, is selling its inventory to Brenda and Dale Flowers of Chanute who will expand their custom embroidery and screenprinting business to include the Price’s fabric and notions and add patterns.
The Chanute store, to be called ThreadWorks1, is at 313 E. Main St. and opens Feb. 28. It will be the only store between Iola, Fort Scott and Chanute to carry sewing supplies.
For Mel and Mary, it was knowing the Flowerses would continue to put customers first that made the transaction possible.
“We didn’t want to retire and leave the community without a fabric store,” Mary said. “Plus we wanted somebody to care about their customers as much as we have all these years. We’ve enjoyed it so.”
The two families have a long-standing relationship, Mary said. Dale Flowers manages The Rental Station in Iola.
Mel will continue to repair and sell the Brothers line of sewing machines and Juki sergers out of their shop, which is an extension of their home.
MARY CATEGORIZES people who like to sew as naturally “nice, honest people,” she said. “I’ve never had a bad check from a customer. I don’t have to ask for driver’s licenses,” to verify one’s identification.
It’s hard to argue with success.
The Prices said their clientele are long-standing because of two reasons — discount prices and customer service.
Be it a $4,000 sewing machine or a $4 yard of fabric, Mel and Mary will lop off “the cream.”
“People around here can’t afford expensive things,” Mel said. “We charge to make a sale profitable, but no more.”
Mel has a backlog of 15-20 sewing machines to repair. Helping take inventory for the sale to the Flowerses has put him behind, he said.
Though he averages three repairs a day, he rarely is caught up, servicing machines from across the region. The only kind he can’t repair are the newer electronic models because the manufacturers “don’t want to sell the parts if you’re not a dealer,” he said.
A machine’s tension is the most likely cause for it to hang up, he said, causing the thread to get caught up in the machinery.
A sewing machine should be serviced once a year for the avid sewer, Mel said, otherwise every few years is good.
Mary rolls her eyes.
“It’s been five or six years since he’s looked at mine,” she said, heaving the universal sigh of those married to professionals.
The art of sewing has changed over the years, Mary said. Sewing once was taught universally as part of a home economics class. Locally, only Marmaton Valley High School in Moran and Royster Middle School in Chanute today offer home ec as part of their curriculums.
The selection of fabrics is also not as broad.
“You can’t find a good poly-cotton blend anymore. Just cotton. Same with wool. It’s impossible to find,” Mary said.
Fabric for tea towels — either cotton huck cloth or a linen-based fabric — also is becoming scarce.
And while most people don’t sew their own clothes anymore, the art of quilting has increased, she said.
“There’s just as many sewers as ever,” Mary said.
THE PRICES began in the fabric business when they both worked at H.L. Miller & Son. Mary worked as an inspector and folder at the dress factory for five yers; Mel as head mechanic for 23 years.
When Mary left Miller & Son, she started buying fabric from the factory to resell it.
“I’d buy it by the pound and sell it by the yard,” she said. A step in-between was to remove any flaws the material might have.
The demand for the fabric grew and Mary began to order bolts of fabric from warehouses. Her most reliable suppliers were based in Kings Mountain, N.C., Springfield, Tenn., Batesville, Ark., and Kansas City. For lace ribbon, a wholesaler in California was the best.
The Prices reserved one day a week to travel mostly to Kansas City or Arkansas to buy in bulk from wholesalers.
“That way we could keep prices down,” Mel said.
For their 54 years of marriage, Mel, 76, and Mary, 74, have been on the same page about most things, they said.
They’ve lived in the same house north of Iola for 42 years, though they’ve scaled down on the acreage to a tad more than five now.
They have three children, Ralene Davis of Cedarvale, Bonnie Powell of Iola, and son David of Miami, Okla.
All three have their master’s degrees in their chosen professions, a point of which their parents are most proud.
“They’ve gone further than we ever did,” Mel said.
By now Mel and Mary are great-grandparents, a fact which explains why last Thanksgiving they had 30 for dinner.
Does retirement sound good to them?
“Don’t really know,” Mel said. Over all these years the Prices have never taken a vacation and “don’t suppose we’ll start now,” Mel said.
To tell the truth, Mary feels a little nervous about the transition.
“I don’t know if I’ll like it,” she said, glancing around tier store. “We’ll certainly miss all this, and especially our customers.”
Looks like maybe she’ll have time to do some quilting of her own — once that machine gets a tune-up.
