Tag: sewingproject

Join us in meeting Dan and Karen Welch, owners and operators of McDougal Sewing Center located in Katy, Texas!

With 4,000 sq. ft. in their main store and five stores located within Jo-Ann Stores, Dan and Karen have worked hard to honor Bob McDougal’s, Dan’s grandfather’s, legacy. Striving to introduce the newest in sewing and embroidery innovation to their customers, join us below to learn more about the products, expertise, and instruction available at their shops today!

Follow along below for the transcript version of our interview with Dan and Karen Welch, owners of McDougal Sewing Center.

Hi, I’m Karen Welch with McDougall Sewing Center and I’m Dan Welch with McDougall Sewing Center as well. We’ve been in the business a long time. Why don’t you tell them the history of our business? The history of the business, my grandfather Bob McDougall, started the company in 1940. As a kid growing up I came in and messed all the machines up and I started full-time in 1976, so been in the business a few years and I worked with the family for 18 years before getting the blessing to use the biggest asset we have, which is the McDougall name, and was able to, with family support, use that name and Karen and I opened up out in Katy Texas in 1993 and we’ve been expanding and growing ever since.

She started with me full-time by 1995 so tell people I am the boss and I have her permission to say so. That’s correct, that’s correct. Basically, when we got married, we’ve been married since 1981 so 42 years, when we got married I asked if it is a prerequisite that I sew and he said oh no, well guess what, he lied. So I’ve been doing this a long time as well; so it was not my life’s work to do but it’s been a good life’s work.

When did McDougal start carrying JUKI machines?

We’ve had the JUKI’s for approximately, oh I don’t even know, about eight years, eight or nine years now. We’ve had the JUKI product and they work out of the box that’s the good thing with the JUKI product. When you open it up out of the box there’s no major or minor adjustments to be done it works out of the box.

What JUKI machines can a customer find at McDougal?

We sell the QVP series of the JUKI machine so they are sewing machines and sergers, and then, of course, we sell the eight-needle Sai and we’ve had good luck with them. They’ve been workhorses, they’ve been well received by our customers, so I think it’s been it’s been a good experience for us. And because we very seldom get complaints with JUKI and I will say that that’s one of the things that we like to promote is when you become a customer at McDougall’s and you purchase a machine from us you become a part of the McDougall family and you get what we call the McDougal advantage, and basically that’s going to be you get unlimited assistance, you get free scheduled classes, you get a one-year dealer warranty which includes a first-year free service and we’re here to support you so that’s part of it and we have authorized repair people so it’s been it’s been a good experience for us.

What benefits and extras does McDougal offer?

We do have a service technician that has been with us, he said it was 1981, so he’s been with us, the Bob McDougall company, and then with McDougall sewing center, he has been with us for 42 years so he’s our lead technician. Then we have two other technicians and they do a good job with keeping up and having the product available. We do, like Karen said, offer additional events and different programs, classes. I know we’ll take some video of different projects going on with using the machine and all the decorative stitches and all the optional accessories that are available. JUKI product is very good with coming with a full set of accessories however there’s more than one size of roll timber. For example, we stock those, there are literally a wall full of different accessories that we show you how to use and have classes, and you bring your machine in.

Our classes are hands-on, you come in and use the machine, use your machine, in our class so there isn’t any guesswork when you get home. You know how to make a quilt block using the different accessories and we have a class, where it is very popular that we repeat a lot, and it’s called foot fetish and it’s using all the accessories that comes with your machine. Rebecca Joseph, our lead educator, has been with us for four years, four or five years, since she and her husband came back from Saudi Arabia, their stent in Saudi Arabia, and she has always been in the sewing machine industry, as well her father was in the industry, and had numerous stores around the Houston metropolitan area as well.

What do you see for the future of Mcdougal?

The future of McDougall’s, Karen and I are getting up to the age where looking at you know what it would really love to be retired. However, we want to keep the family tradition going. We have two kids and they went different ways. We worked them pretty hard as kids, so they decided to go to other options. They wanted Saturday off and being in retail you just don’t get Saturdays off, you work, that’s you know most time that’s our busiest day. So the future of McDougall you know still looks bright, we have no plans of closing. We will be here to continue to support the end consumer and support our customers and employees as well.

How can customers contact McDougal Sewing Center>

There’s numerous ways that you can get in touch with us here at McDougall Sewing. We have an 800 number which is 800-FUN-2SEW we also put out a monthly flyer that has our specials for the month along with coupons you can check our website which is www.McDougalSewing.com and see all of the products that we offer, all the classes that we have, all the specials that we have, and the upcoming events. We have a lot of upcoming events, we try and do them at least two a quarter. We do have a Facebook page as well so we post pictures of all the classes that we have on our Facebook. So those are some ways that you can contact us and we would love to talk to you and have you come by and visit with us, you don’t have to buy anything you can just come say hi that’s fine we would love to have you come by!

Thank you!

To learn more about McDougal Sewing Center, visit their website here! Thank you for joining us today in getting to know Dan and Karen Welch, owners of McDougal Sewing Center. We hope you get a chance to visit the next time you’re in the area!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mcdougalsewingcenter/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mcdougalsewingcenter/

Join us in meeting Dan Schoenberg, one of the owners of The Sewing Machine Shop located in the greater bay area of California!

Offering creators like you the full JUKI Line, sewing accessories, notions, and more, The Sewing Machine Shop is ready to help you find the right machine for your next dream project.

Follow along below for the transcript version of our interview with Dan Schoenberg, one of the owners of The Sewing Machine Shop.

Hi, my name is Daniel Schoenberg I’m the owner of the sewing machine shop here in Walnut Creek California. We’ve been in business for 35 years and we specialize in the sales and service of household and Industrial sewing machines. We carry a lot of related accessories and supplies like thread and needles presser feet scissors etc. and yeah that’s about it. That’s what we do; we don’t do vacuum cleaners, we don’t do alternative appliances, we’re just sewing machines only.

What Inspired You To Open The Sewing Machine Shop?

I actually started out of college; my older brother was a commercial sewing machine technician and he wanted to start a shop when I finished College. He gave me a job offer and the rest is history. We started in 1987 and have been growing ever since.

Why Do Customers Love Visiting The Sewing Machine Shop?

We have a very good reputation now built up over many years. We carry a variety of sewing machines, different brands, models, types; so everyone can come and sew on these machines and compare models with a fairly unbiased view of what we like.

What Machines Can A Customer Find At Your Shop?

When customers come here, first they’ll see that big selection of machines. We carry four different brands, and they can get machines from as little as 200 going all the way up to our top-of-the-line machines in excess of fifteen thousand dollars. We carry a lot of specialty machines; we carry long arm quilting machines like you see here on the right, and we carry embroidery machines, multi-needle, for commercial and semi-commercial use. We have a very very good staff here that are all accomplished sewers themselves so when you get a demonstration on machines you’ll be able to get a professional opinion and you’ll be able to ask all your questions that you have, all your concerns should be answered very honestly and straightforward.

What Are The Benefits Of Being A Customer?

So once a person purchases a machine from us they’ll get great service beyond the sale. We have extensive classes, usage classes to learn how to use the machine, all the way up to more advanced classes to learn how to create garments, create quilts. We have three full-time technicians here so we do a lot of servicing and repair work, including any warranty work that our customers might need, and customers can just drop in sometimes anytime for minor things like fixing a needle threader. We can diagnose the machine in front of them many times, we can get them going right away, we don’t need them to leave their machine if it’s something simple that we can fix on the spot and many times we don’t even charge any money for that

Why Did You Start Carrying JUKI Machines?

Yeah, we started carrying JUKI machines many years ago. We started even before they introduced a full domestic multi-stitch machine. So the machines we focused on with JUKI were the machines that bridge the gap between household sewing and Commercial sewing. Our most popular JUKI machine is their TL series, which they’ve had for many years, and that is a semi-industrial straight stitch only machine that can sew quite high speeds up to 15 – 1600 stitches per minute. It can take all standard, common industrial sewing machine accessories and it’s a huge seller among not only our quilting Quilters who like speed and a larger throat area, but our garment sewers, and tailors, and dressmakers, and designers as well.

What Makes The Sewing Machine Shop Unique?

I think what makes The Sewing Machine Shop unique is our staff and our people and the vast knowledge that we combine as a group. So between me and the rest of our technicians from the technical side, we’re talking about about a 100 years combined of experience working on machines, and our staff we have another, I would say another 100 years of combined sewing experience. Whether it’s quilting or garment making, or embroidery which is a big aspect of what we do, so I think the selection of the machines having five different brands that you can compare side by side combined with our staff with a vast experience is what sets us apart from other sewing machine dealers.

Having a place where you can actually try the machines before you buy the machines in a no-pressure environment is a very important thing, especially now with the internet and being able to buy so many things online and not getting to touch it, to try it, to listen to the sound of the machine, to ask all your questions in real time; I think that is what I would like to express my customers.

Come into the shop and just take a look around. Talk to our staff, just browse, sew on the machines if you want; if you don’t want to that’s okay too, see what supplies and accessories and notions we have here so the next time you’re in need of anything that has to do with sewing or sewing machines you’ll know what we offer.

How Can We Contact The Sewing Machine Shop?

thanks for listening to this video and I just invite everyone to come on down to the sewing machine shop the best way to really stay in touch with us is to go to our website sewing machine shop.com and you can sign up for our newsletter and our email on our email list um you can also follow us on Facebook but I think we’re sending out weekly informational articles promotions future classes and events so uh go to sewing machineshop.com sign up for our email list and you’ll be able to stay in touch with us

To learn more about The Sewing Machine Shop, visit their website here! Thank you for joining us today in getting to know RDan Schoenberg, one of the owners of The Sewing Machine Shop. We hope you get a chance to visit the next time you’re in the area!

On today’s blog, we got to sit down and interview owner Richard Montrouil from JUKI National Account shop NorCal Sewing and Vacuum in California! Learn about how NorCal came to be, and what customers like you can expect when shopping at one of their two locations.

Follow along below for the transcript version of our interview with Richard Montrouil, owner of NorCal Sewing and Vacuum Centers.

Hi, my name is Richard Montrouil and I’m the owner of NorCal sewing and vacuum Centers located in Elk Grove California and we also have a store in Visalia California

What Is The History of NorCal?

Yeah, so I grew up in the industry; my family started in the 60s about 1965 and started as Kirby salesman, went into Singer sewing machines, I came into the business in 1990 when my brother owned a few stores in Elk Grove and Sacramento, and basically I was working through college and I kind of fell in love with the family business and went off to do other things but then came back and this location here my wife and I took over in 2011, and then we got into quilting machines about 2014. So we’ve been doing it for that long.

What Can Customers Expect When Shopping At NorCal?

So when you come into our store, number one the we we treat customers grea,t we treat them like family; you come in we make you feel welcome, we take care of you, we support our customers. If you have any questions we’re always there to help. We always guarantee and warranty all our repairs so if you bring repairs in we we fix them on a timely manner and we take care of you, and then we always give free lessons, free training after purchase. So when you purchase a JUKI from us we’re gonna sit down make sure you know how to use it correctly and we’re always there for you.

Why Did NorCal Choose To Start Carrying The JUKI Brand?

We saw a lot of JUKI sewing machines started coming into our store for repair, and we had a demand; well we were new to quilting in general so we had a lot of people asking about the quilting machines, the sewing machines, and then as soon as I was at VDTA one year and I could get a hold of a JUKI representative I wanted to carry JUKI; just so we could support our local customers because there was no one in the area that took care of JUKI. So we then we were able to get parts and fix long arms and sell long arms and that’s how we did it!

What Classes Can Customers Attend At NorCal?

So we do free one-on-one classes, and then a few times during the year we have these events where you can come. If you purchase from us, it’s free classes; we do hands-on events in our store about three to four times a year teaching you ruler work, different things and then of course you always have free one-on-one support; you just have to call and set up a time and then we’ll we’ll be here for you and do a one-on-one lesson.

What Makes NorCal unique?

You know what, we’re probably the only dealer in probably all of California, at least Northern California, that will actually go to the customer’s house and fix their machines there. So that’s really unique, I don’t think too many other dealers do tha,t they don’t have the staffing. I have seven technicians and we travel all around California and Nevada and fix long arms. We also, when you purchase machines from us, we do free setup and delivery; so that’s unique too. A lot a lot of guys will charge you twelve hundred dollars to deliver a long arm we do it for free.

What Do You See For The Future Of NorCal?

You know, I have three young daughters, well not young; I have a 15 year old, a 21 year old, and a 27 year old daughter. The future of NorCal is we’re a family business and I dream and pray that someday my girls take over but we’re going to be around for a very long time and you know we’re here for you guys.

How Can Customers Contact NorCal?

We have two locations to serve California; we have our main store is Elk Grove California, it is 8705 Elk Grove Boulevard, Elk Grove, California 95624 and our telephone number there is 916-714-0904.

We also have a store in Visalia California, the address is 3340 South Mooney Boulevard, Visalia, California 93277 phone number is 559-372-7200

Our website if you want to go and look at products or email us through there is norcalsovac.com.

How Can Customers Find NorCal?

Whoever wants to come, if you can’t make it to the stores in Elk Grove and Visalia to try out the JUKI quilt machines, commercial quilter here or the SAI 8 needles multi-needle, you can come and see us a few times during the year at quilt shows.Ssome of the big ones are Cal Expo in Sacramento in March, we’ll be in Roseville in August, and then in October we do the Pacific International quilt festival and you can come and try out JUKI longarms, come and meet us. So come and see us at quilt shows, come and try JUKI’s we’re ready for you!

To learn more about NorCal Sewing and Vacuum Centers, visit their website here! Thank you for joining us today in getting to know Richard Montrouil, owner of NorCal Sewing and Vacuum Centers. We hope you get a chance to visit the next time you’re in the area!

On today’s blog, we flew to California and went to visit our National Account Dealer, The Village Sewing Center in Santa Rosa, and got to meet their team and learn about their shop! Follow along as we meet up with Bernadette, a team member from the Village Sewing Center.

Opened in 1969, The Village Sewing Center is a well-known community sewing and quilting shop offering creators like you the tools, fabric, machines, and support you need to start bringing your ideas to life. Located in Santa Rosa, California, you can visit their shop filled with a variety of machines, ranging from your favorite home sewing machine, like our DX series, to our JUKI long-arm quilting J-350QVP Miyabi!

Follow along below for the transcript version of our interview with Bernadette from The Village Sewing Center.

Hi, I’m Bernadette, I work at Village Sewing Center, and we are located in Santa Rosa, California at 506 Lewis Rd. We are a sewing machine store, and we also sell fabrics and notions for sewing and quilting.

What Inspired You To Join The Village Sewing Center Team?

What inspired me to start working at Village Sewing Center? Village sewing center is a very community-based shop. John, the owner, is a friend of mine, and I just love the way he is so knowledgeable about sewing machines and just this industry. It’s a great place to get together with friends, and there’s a lot of comraderies and just support from all of our customers, and a great place to collaborate and be creative.

In knowing that, it’s really fun to work here and be a part of contributing to that.

What can customers look forward to at Village Sewing Center?

When you come to Village Sewing Center, we try to welcome you when you come through the door. It can be a very busy place, so we try to acknowledge all of our customers, and if a customer has a special need, we will do our best to try to fulfill that need, and find what the customer needs.

if we can’t, we also try to offer resources that can help them out so they can have what they need.

What can customers expect when shopping at Village Sewing Center?

You can find great service! Our service department is here on site, and we got really good service people that are trained by John and very knowledgeable about all the different sewing machines. We actually sell six or seven different brands here, but we service all brands. So that is one of the things you can find.

We also try really hard to educate our customers. If they are doing anything to the machine that is putting a little extra ware and tear on it that is something that we try and educate. Also, when you buy a machine from us, we give you classes. We offer classes, we offer phone support, and also if you come in and you’re having issues threading the machine or something like that, we will take the time to go on the floor and spend a few moments with you and show you how to do that.

Because what we really want you to do, is love the machine that you have and have the machine that is the right machine for you. That’s really important to us. Also, just the support that goes along with knowing how to use your machine so that you can get the most out of it, and so you can be a part of that sewing community and love it.

What are the benefits of being a Village Sewing Venter customer?

Okay, so the benefits that we offer; not only do we take care of your machine here at the store, but we also offer classes when you buy the machine with us. You’ll get a free class with the owner John; he also provides online classes in case it’s harder for you to come in. Basically, those classes are exactly the same as what you would get in the store, just in a video format.

Great classes, very informative!

We also offer trade-up! So if you buy a machine from us, and we have a couple things that you get that are a bit unusual in that first year when you buy a machine from us. Your first cleaning will be for free, and that helps us to get a chance to kinda look at what’s going on with the machine and inform you of how you can help it last longer. The other thing we offer is if you buy a machine from us and within that first year you decide it’s not the machine for you or you want to upgrade, within that first year, you can get a trade-up.

It doesn’t have to be the same brand, you can get a different brand if you like, but we support that so that you can end up with the machine, that’s the best machine for you.

What is your favorite JUKI machine?

The JUKI machine, my favorite machine, that’s a really hard thing to do because I like JUKI machines a lot. One of my very favorites is the JUKI TL-18QVP, I love it because its kind of an in-between between a home sewing machine and a professional machine, and it comes with all kinds of extra parts, so it’s just like a great machine to have that makes your sewing a whole lot easier.

I also love the longarm machine that we have. We have a smaller one, it’s like a 5-foot, and that one is such a great one if you’re getting into longarming. It’s super easy to use and just would make; I mean, I’m not even a free-motion quilter, but it makes me want to have one!

How can a customer find Village Sewing Center?

we hope to see you soon at Village Sewing Center! If you need to get a hold of us, you can call us at (707)-544-7529. You can also find us at our website www.villagesewing.com where you can also find our videos! And we are on Instagram, @VillageSewing also, and Facebook.

Thank you!

To learn more about The Village Sewing Center, visit their website here or socials down below! Thank you for joining us today in getting to know Bernadette and our National Account, The Village Sewing Center. We hope you get a chance to visit the next time you’re in the Santa Rosa area.

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