Bill & Betty Gale moved their two children and one dog from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to Ketchikan, Alaska in 1979. She was a stay at home mom who took extra special care and gave heaps of love to her two children and Bill. Betty was a constant supporter in all that their lives entailed and she sewed clothes for the children and even for Bill. Being a helicopter pilot in Southeast Alaska sure made for an exciting lifestyle and even more of a change in his wardrobe. Warm clothing was a must during the winter months in Southeast Alaska. You never knew when Bill would be flying in a helicopter on a medivac flight to a neighboring community.
Bill & Betty purchased The Silver Thimble from Tom & Alice Rowe in 1984. Bill bought the store for Betty as a gift. Never in Betty’s wildest dreams did she ever imagine owning and operating her own sewing shop. Betty’s love for sewing was a strong passion and Bill knew this would be the perfect gift for her. They have run the business together all these years. In 1984, The Silver Thimble was located at 603 Mission Street. The store mainly carried fabrics that were geared towards clothing, home decorating and upholstery along with notions and sewing machines. Halloween costumes and Easter dresses were a huge hit back in those days. Halloween parties all over town for children and even adults went on during the month of October. Each year the costumes grew more and more elaborate with costume contests. The Easter attire was also another big trend that had beautiful bolts of flowery fabrics for adorable little dresses and suit fabrics to dress little boys to the nines.
In 1987, Betty & Bill moved the store to 2450 Tongass Avenue. Betty remained focused on keeping her inventory on clothing and started dipping into the quilting world. The classes she had scheduled touched a bit on quilting but primarily still focused on “Learning How To Sew” and craft classes. She had no idea how big quilting was soon to become.
After carefully redirecting her interests into quilting, she & Bill decided that it was time again for another move. In 1999, the store relocated to its present location at 5 Salmon Landing Suite 204, an area that was once the Ketchikan Saw Mill. The Salmon Landing Market was located in a prime area that provided plenty of customer parking and was conveniently located near the downtown cruise ship docks. Tourism has flourished in Ketchikan and has become one of the leading economic forces in Ketchikan since the Ketchikan Pulp Mill closed in 1997.
Betty realized that there was a need to expand the shop and to shift its current inventory from clothing and home decorating fabrics to the quilting needs of the local residents. Quilting was a new territory that Betty was not 100% familiar with, but with the help of her close friend and long time employee, Jean Mackie, The Silver Thimble was soon to be renamed to The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop. Betty’s strong desire, hard work and support of her family & friends as well as her loyal and fastly growing quilting customers, everything changed for the better.
The shop was seeing more and more visitors each summer and obtaining a large group of ladies who regularly stopped into her shop in search of "the perfect group of coordinating fabrics for their next work of art."
In 2006, The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop was out growing its location and needed more room to expand. The new addition of The Silver Thimble Alaska was opened right next door to The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop at the Salmon Landing Market. This new addition allowed Betty to expand her very popular selection of Alaska fabrics, quilt kits, and specialty quilting gifts into one location. During the summer months this new addition is busy with visitors from all over the world and even local residents who just cannot stay away from the array of gorgeous Alaska prints and designs. During the off-season, this store takes on another personality and becomes the classroom and assembly line for quilt kits.
Today, The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop & The Silver Thimble Alaska has well over 4,000 bolts of fabric, designer Alaskan fabrics, quilt kits to tempt the quilting pallet of many, hundreds of notions, state of the art PFAFF sewing machines and close to everything related to quilting that a quilter could dream of. The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop & The Silver Thimble Alaska are known worldwide by many who have walked through this store of quilting wonders and amazement.
If you stop by for a visit during the months of October through April, you will see the many “busy quilting bees” putting together kits for the upcoming summer months when Ketchikan receives hundreds of thousands of visitors arriving on cruise ships. Quilt kits range from the experienced quilter to a beginning quilter. Patterns that are unique to Alaska lifestyle, scenery and wildlife and those that are designed by local artists. The colorful array and thousands of designs and patterns are here for the choosing.
If you visit the shop during the off season months, you will witness classes that are held by an extremely talented and gifted group of ladies that work in the shop during the year. The classes range from beginning to expert and are so much fun to take.
The Silver Thimble Alaska hosts "Ladies Night" one Friday each month. "Ladies Night" is a night of sewing, quilt sharing and fun. From 6 pm until midnight quilting ladies gather together to sew, talk about family & friends, sew some more, wine & dine and then sew some more. Betty offers “secret special sales” throughout the evening. You never know what could be on sale! During the holiday seasons, treats are shared and quilts are displayed. Check back on our website for a class schedule and when the next “Ladies Night” will be held!
We do hope that you have a chance to visit the shop. Please come by and visit Betty and the other ladies who are at The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop & The Silver Thimble Alaska and allow them to share the passion of quilting that they have. Betty’s journey from a small fabric store in the heart of Ketchikan has grown from the love and interests she had for sewing into the store that we know it to be today, a place where old friends gather and new friends are made each day through the art and passion of quilting.
We would like to take a moment to introduce you to a few members of The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop Team!
JEAN MACKIE Jean Mackie, long time resident of Ketchikan, Alaska and even longer time as a quilter, joined The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop back in 1985 – 20 years now and going strong! Jean worked for 10 years with The Needlework Shop before the store closed its doors in 1985 when she connected with Betty. She has been sewing since she was in the 4th grade. She would say sewing and quilting is her hobby and way of relaxing. She considers herself to be one of the few lucky people who get to work, have fun all while doing her hobby at the same time. She has been a real great friend and confident to Betty all these years. Jean is known to go the extra mile to improve and enhance the shops look and collection of fine quilting fabrics and classes. Her friendship, loyalty and impressive new ideas have helped move The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop to be what it is today.
JUDY MADDEN Judy joined The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop team in 2002. Her first attempt at making a quilt was in 1973 awaiting the birth of their daughter. She had no prior knowledge of quilting and “just made it up” as she went along. To her surprise, “it actually turned out okay!” Her first “real” quilt was created while taking a class at The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop in 1990. She joined the Rainy Day Quilt Guild, a local group of quilters the very next month and has been hooked ever since. She says that the learning process has been non-stop. She usually has about 15 projects going at any one time and enjoys mostly traditional patterns using appliqué and piecing techniques. She loves helping others with their quilt projects. Helping new quilters obtain the same addiction to quilting that she has, is especially rewarding!
CHERI DAVIS
Cheri came along for the ride with The Silver Thimble Quilt Shop team in 2002. She has been quilting since the fall of 1999. She is one of the many teachers at the shop who’s primarily focus is on beginning quilting. She likes to find new quick tips and easy methods to make the enjoyment of quilting a breeze. Cheri is going for “The One Who Has The Most Fabric Wins” award and is getting close to that goal!
