Jeanne Turner is piecing together her passion for fabrics and business ownership.
The Oneonta native opened Leatherstocking Quilts in early May at 155 Main St., Suite B in Oneonta.
Turner, an Oneonta High School class of 1986 graduate, said a life spent stitching led to her business.
In high school, she worked at the Stitching Post, owned by Shelley Kamlet, on Main Street, doing sewing and costuming at the high school. She attended Cornell as an apparel and textile management major with a concentration in apparel design.
Turner said her husband’s career in the Navy took them “all over the country,” with her working at various jobs, including different times and locations for Joann Fabrics.
For 15 years, Turner said, she taught English and ancient history at a California middle school.
“While we were there, there was a phenomenal drama program, so I got back into costumes,” she said. “I helped and designed and coordinated the costumes for 30 shows during my 15 years at the school. I’ve done it all — Cinderella spun on stage and her costume changed while she was spinning.”
Turner said family and the COVID-19 pandemic spurred a return to her hometown where, she said, “this opportunity opened up and I jumped.”
In October 2023, she mused aloud while at the Quilt Zoo in Worcester with a group of people she quilts with every week about taking over the shop when the owner was ready to retire.
“She looked me in the eye and said, ‘I’m ready,’” Turner said. “I said, ‘How can I make this work?’”
By December, Turner had bought out the store’s inventory and, with the help of family, packed it all up and moved it to her dining room.
The lease on the Oneonta store started April 1 and the shop opened May 8.
Turner said that products and services run the gamut from 100% cotton fabrics for quilting or apparel, basic sewing notions, as well as quilting supplies and notions, quilt batting and wide back fabric — which is 108 inches wide usually — for people who don’t want a seam on the back of their quilt.
She plans to start offering classes in August. Thursday is ‘open sew day,’ from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“Anyone is welcome to just come in and set up and sew,” Turner said. “They bring their own machine — I have some they could borrow, but they’d have to pre-arrange — and they bring a current project and work. I’ve had people come in if they need help laying out their quilt. We can troubleshoot, and I do private sewing lessons.”
Turner said local quilting enthusiasts are enjoying the shop, though her customer base is broadening.
“It is primarily women, though not exclusively, and it is primarily quilters, though not exclusively,” she said.
She has been working with SUNY Oneonta to reach apparel design and fashion students, and hopes to be able to create an internship.
“It’s people who want to learn, and people who have been quilting for years,” she said about her customers. “It’s primarily women of retirement age and, this time of year, a lot of teachers who are on summer break, but I’ve started getting some people through the baseball camps. And the local community … has been very excited that there’s a fabric store back in Oneonta.”
There are several(quilting guilds locally that have been very supportive, she said.
“I’ve had people from Gilbertsville, Delhi, Norwich, Oneonta, Cooperstown, the Cobleskill-Worcester area, and I’ve had people down from Schenectady,” Turner said. “When I was looking for places, I told my realtor, I need good light, good parking … and I need places for restaurants, because it is very common for a group of quilters to get together and go to a quilt shop then have lunch.”
Turner said she hopes to grow the business and add employees while honoring the tradition inherent to quilting
“My five-year plan is to be able to offer long-arm quilting,” she said, which uses special machine that does the machine quilting through all the layers. “I think that would be a great service to offer customers.”
She said she enjoys the connection with people who also are quilters as well as the the connection to the women historically who have done it.
“Every time I see a new quilt, I’m learning something from the woman who did it, and she was really an artist,” Turner said. “It’s not just her love, but her creativity, her skills and talents, and it’s something she did for her family, to keep them warm and yet, it’s also pleasing. It’s not just the camaraderie of working with people now, but also that connection historically to the past. Everything you make is beautiful and useful and, if you can have something that’s beautiful and useful, that makes life better.”
For more information, find “Leatherstocking Quilts” on Facebook, or stop in and register for Turner’s mailing list. A website, leatherstockingquilts.com, is forthcoming.
Leatherstocking Quilts is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays; and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.