About us
Here at Searsport Rug Hooking, whether you come to the studio or shop on line, we hope we make your experience the best we possibly can. We have been in retail gift business for over 40 years, with 16 of those years as a rug hooking fiber business.
Help from the best! – Chris is the mother of the duo and she is the head designer and color planner. She has a sharp eye and is happy to help with a custom design or with some color planning tips. Julie, the daughter is the main fabric dyer and loves stirring a pot! You can enjoy the results whether it’s the dye pots or the stove pots, at one of our events or luncheons! Sometimes it’s “just because” and the bounty is set up by the coffee station in the class room. Neil came into the business full time in 2019 when he retired from his work at Island Pool and Spa in Maine. His boss there is the friend Julie started Hooking with years ago ;) He now handles the shipping department and any handy man jobs around the studio, drives the van and trailers to any shows and still does all our wood working! With Lynn’s help the pattern shelves are kept full, after mom designs the originals and the shelves of dyed wool are kept full to over flowing to choose colors from! And Marianne is a cutting wonder at our three precision cut appliqué machines! Our store is staffed with avid hookers, punchers and stitchers to help you and we all welcome you to our creative space, to share our expertise, answer questions, and help you find just the right stuff!
We also offer our Rug Hooking designs and our own line of appliqué kits – not to mention we are one of a small handful of backing importers with our own line of linen, both natural, super wide, white and our wonderful slightly stretchy monks cloth for Oxford punching, hooking and tufting guns!
We offer Classes, consultation, and creativity – whether you are a rug hooker, a wool crafter, puncher with mini or Oxford punchers or just love projects, we can help you to meet your project goals.
A fun shopping experience – We ended up with three shops side by side then opened up and connected to fit all our passions. We have a dye kitchen, wood shop, design section and a huge classroom that we use for traveling teachers, classes, workshops, events and it even hosts a no charge to attend Thursday fiber group and Friday knitters! We welcome you to come check us out! Daisy and Tippy, the shop dogs will welcome you and show you that our store is a great place to have a cup of coffee, relax and spend an hour or two!
We started crafting and doing little craft shows in PA when Julie was newly married in 1981! We did dried flowers and slowly added gifts and grew and grew. In 1984 Chris and Wayne moved to Maine and started with a small vegetable stand with baskets and flowers. Julie, Neil and their family followed in 1987 and once again slowly started a new business. It grew into the huge store that is still in business today! That's Silkweeds in Searsport Maine. In 1998 Julie tried rug hooking with a close friend and so it began..... We sold Silkweeds in 2004, to pursue Rug Hooking full time. We bought a beautiful sea captains home in Searsport and filled every room with rug hooking, rug punch, books, felting, penny rugs, all kinds of fiber related supplies. That was home to Searsport Rug hooking for 6 years. Then one day Julie came to work and could not see out the back windows due to snow, she called Chris who was wintering in Florida, and said enough! That is when we downsized, moved the business to Verona Island, Me, so she could enjoy winters in Florida. Then in April of 2017 we signed a lease on a new Studio in Port Charlotte, FL that opened May 16, 2018! At that time we closed the Maine location and in June, 2018 we signed the lease to encompass three stores so we could break threw the wall and expand to a full classroom and meeting room!
