Looking for personal style with staying power? For millennia, people have turned to embroidery—decorating fabric with needle and thread as a way to show what’s important in their lives ... from medieval tapestries depicting great battles to 19th-century samplers demonstrating a young lady’s needlework skills. An embroidered piece is a sign stitched in time to mark what matters.
It’s probably why Liz Speidel has seen business bursting at the seams at 7 Threads Embroidery, which moved last November from the Loveland Artist Studios on Main into a retail space at the back of Curated Fine Furnishings & Design.
While embroidery’s appeal may be timeless, 7 Threads—named for the size of Liz’s immediate family—is far from old-fashioned. Don’t picture a scene from Pride and Prejudice, with women stitching away in empire-waist dresses. Liz has five state-of-the-art embroidery machines to do the work, but, to her, they’re more than machines. They’re more like “friends.” Yes, that Friends.
“I have all Brother embroidery machines,” says Liz. “And they each have a very unique name and personality.”
There’s Phoebe. Then, Ursula (Pheobe’s evil twin sister). Plus Pheobo, Regina Phalange, and Princess Consuela. Each machine has a little nameplate behind them.
These “friends” have been busy embroidering names on shirt collars, monogramming totes, and helping customers celebrate brides, holidays, kids, even pickleball. Liz, who also runs a 7 Threads Etsy shop, cherishes the interactions and energy that come with running a brick-and-mortar store.
“For me, it’s really enjoyable to pick the colors with a customer,” says Liz. “Someone will say, ‘Oh, I think I want a light pink’ and then they realize there are 50 light pinks. People’s eyes kind of light up when they get the exact color that they want.”
Seemingly endless thread color is just the beginning of personalization at 7 Threads, where style can mean adding a dash of sass. You can gift a “Not a Louis” tote, wear a Griswold holiday sweatshirt, or declare wine and Diet Coke as your true loves on Valentine’s Day. Customers bring in their own ideas, too, including handwritten notes, which Liz’s machines can turn into truly signature gifts.
This past summer, personalization had an East Coast, beachy feel, inspired by the popular “Coastal Grandmother” and “Italian Girl Summer” trends. Icons are a big part of the look. Liz and her staff have stitched their share of cocktails, tomatoes, fish, and even sardines onto a variety of items—and she doesn’t see the trend going away anytime soon. Heading into cooler weather, she expects to see fisherman sweaters and a “more cozy aesthetic.”
Not all of us can go to the Hamptons or rent an Italian villa for the summer. However, at 7 Threads, you can spend as little as $15 on a monogram or up to $58 for a sweatshirt and look like you just got back from Montauk.
So, whether you’re searching for that one-of-a-kind gift, or you want to make a fashion statement that won’t break the bank, 7 Threads has it all sewn up for you. Just look for the slate-colored door across from Cappy’s or walk to the back of Curated to find the small, bright shop with lots of embroidery samples ... and an expert staff ready to help.
When you stop by, don’t feel guilty if you’ve never picked up a needle and thread. Liz doesn’t have the patience for hand-stitched embroidery, either. After all, she has her “friends” for that.
7ThreadsEmbroidery.com | 113 Karl Brown Way, Suite C, Loveland | 513.866.0039