About Us
Pam first opened The Quilt Room in Dorking, Surrey nearly 37 years ago when Nicky was just three years old. The Quilt Room was originally located in the flat above our Dorking shop in the High Street. In the late eighties we moved to larger premises down the road and stayed there for well over 20 years . From there we moved the shop back up to the High Street in the downstairs part of where we were originally working from back in 1981. However, we don’t like to sit still and in November 2018 we moved our business to Beare Green. There were several reasons – the main one being that we wanted to consolidate the shop, mail order, workshops and our longarm studio all into one building. We love working as a team and being in one building is great…. although making cups of tea for everyone now takes considerably much more time! Our lovely light new premises are all on one level (no stairs!) plus there is a free car park in front of the courtyard which we know is a huge bonus.
Our shop houses beautiful cotton fabric and we make sure that we try and cater for all tastes and styles. We visit Quilt Market in the States usually twice a year so that we’re able to bring back the latest fabric collections and quilting inspirations. We also have had over twelve books published and we run a successful wholesale pattern business too in the States. This means that our shop is always brimming with new quilts, kits and great ideas with clever rulers and tools!
A huge turning point for us was when we established our longarm quilting business in 2007. This has really shaped the direction in which our business has grown. We now have two Gammill Statler Stitchers and thanks to these wonderful machines, we are able to design and make lots of new quilts. Chris and Ileana work in the longarm department and it really is a joy to see so many quilts being longarm quilted. We also run workshops and sewing groups throughout the year for all skill levels and taught by experienced quilters. We love to be able to teach and inspire quilters and this is an important ethos of The Quilt Room. The constant chatter of quilters and whir of sewing machines means there is always a happy buzz in the building.
Dorking and Beare Green are wonderful areas to visit in Surrey. Dorking is also the home of Denbies Wine Estate, the award winning English vineyard and if you do come and visit us then Denbies is certainly worth a visit. It is about a 5-10 minutes drive between Beare Green and Dorking and if you visit us and want to make a day of it, then Dorking is a wonderful market town full of cafes, restaurants with West Street being particularly well known for its array of antique and boutique shops.
Although we certainly have a lot going on, we are essentially a small, friendly team always on hand to help you and make your time with us enjoyable. We welcome groups and if you are a group wishing to visit, just let us know so we can stock up on tea and biscuits!
We hope you enjoy browsing our website and blog and we look forward to welcoming you to our new shop.