NEWELL—Since the early 1900s, the corner of Third Avenue and Girard Street has been home to a beautiful brick building that once housed a bank. Over the years, the former bank has been transformed into several different stores, but for the past three years it has been home to a different kind of bank—one that holds creativity rather than currency: Quilt Bank.
A new sign recently went up on the historic structure, marking its latest chapter for owner Pandi Pittman. She bought the property in June 2023. When you walk into the old bank today, you are greeted by a warm, inviting store filled with bolts of fabric, quilting accessories, notions, sewing machines and workspaces. Pandi’s mission of creating a full-service quilt shop has come to fruition.
Originally from Newell, Pandi admired the historic building for a long time. “I would come back—I’m from here, I graduated from here in 1990, and for a couple years I’d come back for Labor Day, and I’d look at this building and say that’s a neat old building, it’d be a cool quilt shop, but it’d be a lot of work, and I was right on both accounts,” said Pandi.
Being a lifelong quilter herself, Pandi knows exactly what quilters need in a store, and she has thought of everything. “My first nine years of school administration, I made over 50 quilts. My grandmother was a quilter, my mom’s a quilter—just a lot of quilting, and I love quilting! This is where I come to relax,” she shared.
She has worked hard to curate specific products for her store. “The collections I work towards finding are ranch, farm, wildlife—I look for natural-looking prints. I don’t like cartoon-looking stuff, so you know it depends on what you’re looking for in fabric,” Pandi explained. “I like sheep prints, cattle prints, those types of things that represent this area—I look for that.”
While the fabric choices are important in quilting, this store has so much more to offer. There is a longarm quilting machine to help complete large quilting projects, and Pandi does sewing machine repair and maintenance.
In the back of the store, there is a classroom. Tables are set up with sewing machines and large cutting mats with all of the supplies. “This is the classroom, and there’ll be small classes here. This will be open whenever we’re open,” said Pandi. Using the space is free of charge.
Pittman is the President of the newly revamped Newell Area Economic Development Group and believes quilt shops are good for the local economy. “Quilt shops are important, because quilters will travel all over to come to a quilt shop…so people come here, go to the grocery store, go to the meat locker, go to the two restaurants,” she explained.
Quilt Bank is participating in the 5th Annual Quilting Across the Dakotas Shop Hop with 40 other shops across North Dakota and South Dakota from July 22 through August 28.
This fall, the Quilt Bank is hosting a Quilt Retreat at the Newell Senior Center from October 9 through 11. Classes on the Star Dancer Quilt will be offered, but attendees are invited to bring their own project to work on while spending time with other quilters.
The Quilt Bank is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. The store is also open on Wednesday evenings beginning at 4:30 p.m. Follow Quilt Bank on Facebook for updates.
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