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 Charlie Bement     |
ABOUT US as told by Charlie's daughter. . . My mom Charlene, or “Charlie” as she likes to be called, is basically a self-taught quilter. Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, she has been quilting off and on since she was 12 years old. She just made do with what was available that is until the early 80’s when she got fed up with not being able to find the “calico” fabrics (you older quilters will remember that was all you would dare put in a quilt!) and notions she wanted and needed to make her creations. So she did what anyone would have done, she decided to open a shop! “O.k.”, I thought, “just what we need a quilt shop.” Not being a quilter I guess I just didn’t get it!! At least that is what everyone told me and still tells me to this day! So, she set out planning to open a shop but wanted to be sure she did it smart so she began purchasing product and storing it at her house. She was determined that when the doors opened all the product would be paid for to give us time for the customers to find us. It was everywhere!!! Stacked in every corner and every spare inch. In order to be able to get more fabric for her money she purchased fabrics in flat fold from the fabric district in L.A. She went a couple times a week to be sure she didn’t miss anything and then night after night we would be at her house all hours of the night rolling the flat fold on to bolts. (those of you who know me can just imagine how thrilled I was about this!) She was very careful to make sure there would be variety so at times a bolt may have only contained 5 or 6 yards. Just to give you an idea how things have changed, the most expensive fabric we had was $4.00 a yard and people had a very hard time paying so much for fabric!! Next, we wanted to be a one stop for Quilters so we made sure we had all the notions available which when we put them on the pegboard wall filled a space about 3 feet by 4 feet! Remember this was the early 80’s so a couple of rulers, a mat, and rotary cutter along with a few marking pencils were about all there was. Next, quilt books - a definite must. Again, we carried all that were available and that amounted to about 12 books. Most of these were written by our dear friend, Blanche Young, and another great author, Maggie Malone. Blanche has gone on to write numerous books over the years and in our opinion she was instrumental in bringing quilting to the forefront all those years ago. Blanches books are still available. If you every have an opportunity to see her do not hesitate!! She is a fabulous teacher and speaker. Maggie Malone books are now out of print but are still great books if you can get your hands on any of them! So, imagine a house stacked with fabric, books and notions. Finally she said. “O.k., I am ready to open a shop.” My dad was thrilled! He would finally get the living room back!! We looked all over for a location and settled for a small shop about 800 square feet on the corner of 19th street and Carnelian in Alta Loma, CA. We did all the work ourselves to get it ready to open and in November 1983 it was ready. Opening day was a little anti-climactic with only one customer all day spending $4.00 but we were not discouraged. Little by little people found us and we started up the classes. Before long we were adding merchandise and employees and lots of great classes and we were on our way. It was at this point that Charlie also began designing patterns. She was frustrated that no one was making patterns for little boys and her first patterns focused on just that. Oh, and this was also when the first Less Than Traditional went into print. We later moved to another location in the same center that was a bit larger and some of our long time customers may remember we were next to a bird shop which had a parrot in the front that sang Jesus Loves Me all day long! It wasn’t long until we out grew that location as well and then moved to Rancho Cucamonga on Foothill Blvd. And not to many years later we out grew what location and moved to downtown Upland to a fabulous near 5,000 square foot location which had plenty of room for the store and two classrooms. It was great! In 1994, we added a small location in Hemet making us a “chain”! So here we are, we have the 2 stores, a successful pattern company, a retail and wholesale mail-order business and mom teaching all over the country and doing shows everywhere, so what next you ask? Well, I will tell you. She came in as we were putting up the Christmas tree in the Upland store in December of 1994 and announced she was closing the shops! O.k., so after I picked myself up off the floor, I of course asked why? Well, for a long time she had been disappointed that the things she loved the most which are teaching and designing had to take a back burner to the long hours required for the shops and she felt that the time had come for her to do what she wanted so that was that! The Upland location was closed in a couple weeks and the Hemet shop in July when the lease was up. It was the best decision she ever made! Of course, she misses the customers but not the long days and nights. She often says she got tired of working 24 hours a day 9 days a week, so she closed the shops and cut back to 8 days! She now travels to shows and teaches coast to coast and has done as many as 48 shows a year. She now has the time to design and put all the ideas she had over the years into patterns. Best of all, she has been able to add to the Less Than Traditional line she started way back at the beginning. Charlie is available to teach at shops and for trunk shows and guild programs and can be reached for information at (575) 526-9960. |