Make*Do*Mend + Drygoods Design in Seattle

Name: Keli Faw, founder of Make*Do*Mend + Drygoods Design
Location: Drygoods Design: 5308 Ballard Ave NW, Seattle, WA 98107
Years worked in: 2 years

Keli Faw, founder of the previously online-only fabric and crafting shop Drygoods Design, graduated into a physical space with the opening of Ballard’s brick and mortar Drygoods Design. Situated behind a coffee shop in an a multi-space building, Faw incorporates two adjacent spaces: the retail shop, and the creative workspace Make*Do*Mend.

Make*Do*Mend is a studio space in which the Drygoods team teaches sewing and crafting classes (using beautiful fabrics from around the world), as well as offering open-studio time for designers and amateur artisans. The decor could be called “modern crafter” — with Tolix-inspired, bright yellow, metallic chairs, a vast workspace and a lounging area for tea and a chat. Quirky details like fabric polka dots and shop-made decorations pepper the spaces.

The building itself is an antique curiosity: a retired hotel with heavy wooden trim, a vintage powder room, french doors leading to an outdoor stone deck, and antique call buttons to the old manager’s headquarters! The workspace comes complete with a kitchen to use for events or snacks during classes. Interior beams add the suggestion of two different rooms in the one space. To get from the studio to the shop, one travels through an elegant hallway, which houses many of the art and quilt exhibits that the space sponsors.

This is a quirky gem that is easy to miss if you don’t know where to look for it. To reach the space, travel through the Anchored Ship Coffee Bar and make your way up the small staircase in the back. You’ll know you’ve found Drygoods Design by the burst of fabric color!

Our Style: Warm, bright, and hopefully a refreshing balance between classic and modern.

Inspiration: Though a retail shop and a sewing studio were never in the original plan, the whole idea behind Drygoods Design was capturing the spirit of handmade and the traditions that capture sewing and design. As much as possible I try to procure found objects for the shop and studio, while not distracting from all the print and pattern happening from the textiles, notions, gifts and everything else.

Favorite Element: In the shop, it’s the wood crates that hold the fabric. They were used to carry the fins from rockets in the Korean War, and we’ve re-purposed every part possible. Two of the lids actually made the shop sandwich board. In make*do*mend, it’s the vintage fridge and the call buttons from its original use as the hotel’s manager’s quarters.

Biggest Challenge: Not being able to paint or put holes in the wall — historic buildings have that old world charm but in the end, are old, which means we’ve really mended and made do with both spaces.

What Friends Say: They can’t get over the shop curation and they want to live here.

Biggest Embarrassment: Still waiting for this one, unless you count our official mascot — the dust bunny.

Proudest DIY: The amount of no-sew displays in a fabric shop.

Biggest Indulgence: The tufted leather sofa that now is in the studio. It remains the highest individual investment besides our iMac, but it’s perfection and a common love of customers, especially the guys.

Best Advice: Collect a balance of wood, stone, and metal and if all else fails, don’t buy anything unless you love it. Can’t get it out of your head? Then it means you need to buy it; you won’t regret it.

Dream Sources: European flea markets, antique stores, Lawson Fenning (LA), Gracious Home (NY), Cisco Home (LA), DWR, my father-in-law and his wife’s house (whom actually provided several key store elements).

– Farrow & Ball

– Home Depot
– Tolix-inspired chairs
– CB2 Eden Pendants
– Roost
– West Elm Task lamps
– Plover Organic seat cushions
– Drygoods Design fabrics and display
– ReStore

– Missle/Rocket Fin Crates
– Home Depot
– Antika
– Roost
– Camelion Design
– Drygoods Design fabrics and display

Thanks, Keli!

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