NEW SHARON – Janet Kennedy has taken her love of sewing to new heights.
Kennedy, of Industry, started sewing from her home years ago and set up shop nearly three years ago in a house she and her husband, Alton, own on Route 133 in Wilton.
Kennedy branded her items using her middle name, Imelda.
Now she has moved Imelda’s Fabrics and Design to downtown New Sharon at Routes 2 and 134.
“I’ve probably doubled my space,” Janet Kennedy said.
Soft, fleece handmade hats, mittens, buntings, jackets, vests and blankets have been joined by bolts of material for curtains, tapestry, furniture, clothing and quilts, as well as sewing accessories, including zippers and threads.
The Kennedys bought the brick building along the Sandy River that formerly housed Chandra Caywood’s business, End Pieces. Caywood is doing her sewing from her home now.
Kennedy said she hadn’t planned on expanding or buying a new building. But she and her husband saw Caywood’s building, and it happened.
“I don’t think of things like that,” she said. “They just happen for me. I never dream. I just do things. I just take baby steps in life.”
The business has been picking up in her new location, once people realized where she had moved, she said. Her hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Kennedy has a work area set up near the counter to make it easier to serve her customers. Besides selling ready-made items for people and dogs, she makes customized clothing.
She and her husband took old tennis-racket holders out of the basement to use to display her handmade hats, she said. Their building had been a woolen coat factory, a creamery and a tennis racket factory.
A sliding door opens into the main part of the store and closes to keep in the heat. The second floor houses many bolts of fabric.
“There is a lot of potential here,” Kennedy said, looking around her new shop.
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