Our Sewing Thrift Store

This shop began by accident. I (Liv) set up a little de-stash table in my fabric shop, Fenceline Fabrics. It was a few things from my personal stash that I didn't need and was hoping to re-home. People would look it over and then ask, "do you take donations?" I'm too thrifty to refuse and so A Thrifty Notion was born. It filled half of the brick and mortar building we shared with Fenceline (just 600 sq ft!!). It now has its own 2400 sq ft warehouse and might be my favorite part of fabric selling. We just never know what's going to come through the door.

It is our absolute pleasure to share the best of the unused and unwanted fabric with you so it can finally go out and shine! The most sustainable way to sew is to reuse what is already out in the world instead of buying new. We're happy to be a resource for sustainable sewists and de-stashers alike.

Our Part In Making The World Better Than We Found It

Here's the Thrifty actionable list that I'm sure will keep growing:

1. Amplify and celebrate marginalized sewists. Please tag us in your Thrifty makes because we'd love to repost (with all due credit and with your permission). We don't want to randomly post people of the global majority or those in the LGBTQIA community to our feed without an authentic connection, that just feels gross.

2. Be a good neighbor. When and wherever we have opportunities to purchase goods or services from businesses run by folks in marginalized groups, we'll do it. At the very least, we'll support small, sustainable and local.

3. Cast a wider net when hiring. Most jobs happen through networking, but this is a majority white town in northeast Kansas. I need to use more than word of mouth to find new hires.

4. Take care of our people: I can't provide the pay and benefits I think my employees should have. Yet. But I'm taking real steps. We are getting closer to a living wage, and I, the CEO, have the lowest pay on staff until that happens.

5. Donate 5% of profits to a different non-profit each month. A Thrifty Notion shifted from surviving to thriving over the past few months and since this magical beast of a business wanted so badly to exist, I know it's here for a higher purpose than simply selling you lonely fabric or even rescuing fabric from the landfill. While we are, at our core, a business focused on sustainability, we want to go a step further and support causes that promote equality in addition to preserving the environment.

Update August 2021: We're changing what we do with our monthly donation. Firstly, we're switching to quarterly donations due to the fluctuation in our monthly balance sheet.

Secondly, Since moving to Ogden, our desire to be a good neighbor and positively influence this community has grown. One organization we see making a daily, reliable and quiet difference is The House Cafe. They fund an after school program with their non-profit coffee shop and are currently working on building an early childhood education center to support the folks of Ogden. For now, we'll be donating a portion of our quarterly profits to them.

Thank you for your patience as we keep learning and trying to do better. Feel free to share your feedback below.

Visit Fenceline Fabrics to see how our sister store is investing locally.

✊🏿 ❤️ ✊🏽 🏳️‍🌈 ✊🏾 🌍 ✊🏻

~ Liv & the Thrifty Crew

Organizations we've supported:

May 2020 - The Bail Project

June 2020 - Victory Fund

July 2020 - The Flinthills Breadbasket

August 2020 - The House Cafe

September 2020 - The House Cafe

October 2020 - The House Cafe

November 2020 - No Profit

December 2020 - No Profit

Quarter 1 2021 - No Profit

Quarter 2 2021 - No Profit * We've been investing in making our new building ready for in-person shopping and adding sustainable upgrades like solar panels.