Twenty-two years ago, when Kate Eichhorn picked up sewing for the first time, she couldn’t have imagined that one day she’d start her own small business selling fabrics and textiles to like-minded enthusiasts.
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But in 2023, Eichhorn, a mother of three, made good on her dream, launching Golden Girls Fabric Company.
“My best friend and I were [both] at home at the same time with our kids, and we decided to start sewing clothes for our babies,” says Eichhorn, who previously worked as a pharmacist. “That really started my sewing journey.”
Eichhorn enrolled in classes and participated in sewing groups. She sewed for each of her three children. As Eichhorn’s children grew older, though, they weren’t so interested in wearing the clothes their mom made for them, so Eichhorn began making other material goods, such as quilts, which calls on similar skills and is done on a sewing machine.
Since then, quilting has become Eichhorn’s true passion. In the early days, as she introduced her newfound love for the craft to her sewing group, many of her friends were eager to dive in as well.
Choosy about the materials and prints that they used for their projects, the tight-knit group of quilters soon discovered a picturesque fabric store in Kirkwood that suited their needs and lived up to their love of quality fabrics and unique patterns.
“It was wonderful,” Eichhorn says. “They had turned a house into a fabric store and I was like, ‘Oh, what a dream.’”
When the shop eventually closed, it opened a window for Eichhorn to revisit the dream of owning her own shop. In 2023, she launched “Golden Girls” online, curating a collection of designs from large-scale fabric manufacturers to share with her customers, including personal favorites from Art Gallery Fabrics and Fableism Supply Co. Recently, Eichhorn listed a variety of fabrics from Fableism’s “Golden Hour” collection, with mixed-weight cotton materials and a palette of golden hues and purples of a cool dusk.
“I don’t design the fabrics, but I choose patterns to buy in bulk and sell by the yard,” Eichhorn says. “I also curate kits where I pull from a ton of different collections [online] and choose what [colors] I think look great together. On my website, I have a section where I’ve put together bundles to help beginner quilters who may not yet know what [materials or patterns] work together best. Since they’re buying online versus in–person, these distinctions can sometimes be difficult.”
Personally, Eichhorn prefers modern over traditional designs, but her website offers a variety of textiles, including flannel and canvas, that work for projects beyond quilts, such as for making clothes and designing tote bags, of which she’s seen a resurgence of interest from some of her clients.
“If you ever see my house, you’d know I’m kind of taking it over at the moment, but I really love that part of it,” Eichhorn says. “I love cutting the fabrics, I love talking to people and helping people out.” Her biggest challenge, she says, is the social media and business-promotion aspects of the job. Her preference is to focus her attention on operations.
“It’s very tricky because you don’t actually meet your customer, you don’t get to see them, and you don’t really find out a lot about them,” Eichhorn says.
Despite the lack of face-to-face time, Eichhorn has built an easy rapport with her buyers, who are mostly women in their 30s and 40s, like herself, with a similar passion for the craft.
“As an online shopper myself, usually when I buy something, that’s it,” she says. “But it’s truly amazing the number of people who have actually reached out. I’ve been able to start these really wonderful relationships with customers online.”
Keep up with Golden Girls Fabrics on Instagram or check out their storefront here.
