Author Archives: Gordon Riggs

It’s been two years of change for Bolt Fabric Boutique, although you wouldn’t know it to gaze at the bright sewn samples in the window or walk inside.

After 15 years since opening the shop on Alberta Street – and the 2018 move to 4636 N.E. 42nd Ave. – Gina Cadenasso in December sold the natural, sustainable fibers store to employees Bitty Eagan and Anne Lagomarsino.

Both are longtime seamstresses. Anne began early in life, but said her interest became more intense in her 20s. Bitty learned to sew as a child from her grandmother, who worked as a costumer for Warner Brothers before being hired away by Lucille Ball.

Anne has worked at Bolt for 2-plus years and her interest in owning a business piqued when she learned Gina intended to sell. “I couldn’t manage to be a business owner by myself,” she said.

Bitty, an employee for 3-plus years, was all in. In fact, that same grandmother left her an inheritance that provided Bitty’s buy-in. “It seemed the perfect thing to do.”

Bolt had made it through the first 20 months of the pandemic, and the two were confident the business model – including BoltFabricBoutique.com – would continue and thrive.

“Bolt had this teeny, tiny online store at the beginning of the pandemic, and it was essential to shift a lot of our sales initially to online,” Anne recalled. “Bolt had to shift a lot of the ways we did business.

“The most essential was Gina researching and implementing the system necessary to track and sell inventory both online and in person. Now we have customers all across the U.S.”

During the early days of the pandemic, masked Bolt employees carried fabric selections and notions to masked customers on the store’s porch, she added. Many customers were making masks.

“One of the things that’s really important to us is to be available to our customers, even people who were not our customers [previously],” Bitty explained. “A lot of people were home and were desperate for things to do. A lot of people learned how to sew.

“I think it’s really empowering to make the things that you use,” she added “We’ve noticed a lot of different types who come into the shop,” Anne said. “It seems to be appealing to all different kinds of people.” For instance, more men are sewing their apparel.

Bitty reported an increase in transgender customers shop there nowadays. “It’s hard to find clothes if your body’s not the stereotype, all different sizes and shapes.”

Nancy Varekamp is semiretired from her career in journalism, public relations and – her favorite work engagement – writing and editing targeted newsletters.

Local preschoolers have kept Yvonne de Maat – Ms. Yve to her students – on her toes for 20 years.

Working with 3- to 5-year-olds never gets old. “I’ve never met the same kid. I respect the gifts and the challenges of each, and no one size fits all.” That’s what attracted her to the Waldorf method of teaching 30 years ago.

The Holland native moved to the U.S. in 1990, where she trained and began practice as a Waldorf educator. She set down roots in Portland in 2000 and opened Heart in Hand Preschool in 2002 in her home at 5405 N.E. 30th Ave.

“This neighborhood seemed like such fertile ground for this kind of education. It just speaks to people in this neighborhood.”

According to Yvonne, the Waldorf method launches a holistic approach to life. “Everything is really beautiful, everything is made of natural materials, and it’s a very nurturing environment,” she explained.

She finds the creative approach to play teaches children how to socialize. “The children figure out who they are in relationship to others. They learn to be strong human beings and compassionate human beings.

“If you are happy in your own skin, you can undertake whatever you want,” she explained. “It all starts with confidence.”

Two morning classes comprise Heart in Hand, one taught by Yvonne and the other by Sandra Paz – Signora Sandra. Six children enroll in each.

Yvonne weaves a rhythm into each day. One day a week the children knead and shape sour dough that they bake the next day to make their sandwiches.

During the six-week mandatory COVID-19 shutdown in 2020, children missed the bread making. So Yvonne offered porch pick up of some of her 27-year-old starter. Along with it went video instructions. Even non-students enjoyed the activity – and the results.

It’s old-fashioned play at Heart in Hand. Children build tiny houses and airplanes, participate in puppet plays, engage in crafts and join in on games.

Signora Sandra, who grew up in Mexico, offers Spanish immersion in her classroom. Sara Harkness – Ms Sara – offers craft lessons in both and teaches parent-child classes.. “There’s no screen play here, or radios even,” Yvonne pointed out.

The feedback she receives is positive – from parents and grown students. “I still get invited for graduation parties, and I show up with photo albums and some stories,” she reported. “They all remember baking the bread and the chickens I used to have.”

Has she welcomed any second-generation students? Not yet, she said. “That would be amazing.”

Nancy Varekamp is semiretired from her career in journalism, public relations and – her favorite work engagement – writing and editing targeted newsletters.

Like many businesses in the Alberta Arts District, Mimosa Studios pivoted its business strategy in the early days of the pandemic and supplied offerings to-go. Other businesses packaged meals. Mimosa boxes contained fired ceramic pieces, paints, glazes, pallets, brushes and instructions.

That strategy appealed to longtime customers, and it attracted new ones who sought activities to pursue at home. It also helped keep the paint-your-own pottery shop stay afloat so owner Austin Raglione could usher in its 21st year this month.

The beginnings of the business were also innovative. “In 2001, this was the emerging arts district, and I just wanted to be part of that community.” She offered space for different activities.

“This was a place for people to come in and talk about art, bring in their own crafting things – knitting, sewing, painting. By customer demand, it quickly became a paint-your-own studio,” Austin explained.

Her creative genes were nurtured as a child under her grandmother’s mimosa tree in Texas – hence the studio name. Just as Austin followed in her grandmother’s love of arts, so did her children. Her daughter, son and daughter-in-law have all helped operate the studio while it has grown across the years. “My grandson is 6 so he probably won’t start working there until he’s about 15,” she said with a laugh.

More tables were added – with pre-pandemic seating for 25 – and paintable shapes inventory increasing from 25 to 300. To accommodate social distancing, painters are limited currently to 15.

Customers continue to order the to-go kits online at Mimosa-Studios.com or visit the studio to select their supplies. “To-go kits will continue to be a cornerstone of our business,” Austin reported.

When she opened the shop, Austin began a tradition of building community partnerships. First she invited neighborhood children to paint tiles that still decorate Mimosa’s facade. That effort has been followed by donating hundreds of items to auctions to support nonprofits and more to local schools and incarcerated women.

To celebrate 20 years of community service, beginning Oct. 1, customers may select from 25 items hand-painted by Mimosa staff and designate from among three charities to receive the proceeds. On the anniversary of the shop – Saturday, Oct. 23 – 20% all sales proceeds will go to the Northeast Emergency Food Program.

For the holidays, Austin and her staff will continue their more recent tradition, “Paint a Tree, Give a Gift.” Through that project, $10 is donated from the sale of each Christmas tree and menorah to Raphael House to purchase gifts for children.

Nancy Varekamp is semiretired from her career in journalism, public relations and – her favorite work engagement – writing and editing targeted newsletters.