Sharon Yenter opened In The Beginning in downtown Seattle, Washington in 1977. Sharon was a talented sewer and often had a hard time finding quality fabrics to use in her projects. Opening her own store seemed to be the perfect answer and was the start of a company that has become a creative force in the quilting/craft industry.
Over the years In The Beginning’s retail store expanded and moved several times. The store not only offered a massive selection of quilt fabrics, but also stocked beautiful fashion and home decorator fabrics, sewing machines, and offered over 400 classes per year. It became a destination to visit for quilters and sewers from around the world – who had to visit in-person because the internet was not really around yet!
One of the companies that Sharon bought fashion fabrics from was Northcott Fabrics. She had a friendly relationship with the owners and often suggested they jump further into quilting fabrics. A partnership was struck up and Sharon became Northcott’s first “designer name” for quilting.
Sharon created some amazing groups for Northcott, but once her son Jason entered the business fulltime after graduating college another idea soon hatched. Sharon and Jason decided that In The Beginning should open its own fabric division and in 1996 In The Beginning Fabrics was born.
A lot has happened since that time. In 2006 In The Beginning closed its retail operations. Sharon and Jason found it just too hard to run both retail and wholesale, and Jason was extremely interested in the creative process that goes along with producing quilt fabrics. After an amazing career of promoting quilting and designing dozens of beautiful fabric collections and some lovely books, Sharon has also retired and left the running of the business in Jason’s capable hands.
Currently Jason designs all of the company’s fabric collections, though on occasion a special designer will be included in the mix. Each year 13-14 new collections are offered, plus a selection of quilt patterns and books, and a few special collections for regional shop hops or individual stores. We are very excited to be teaming up with Shop Hop Inc. to provide fabrics for some of their amazing events!
Visit In The Beginning Fabrics to view all their collections.