Fewer than 400,000 people live in Orleans Parish. Every year we also have around 19 million temporary residents. Also known as “tourists.” New Orleanians tend to think of these two populations as distinct – even at odds with each other. But in fact, our local economy is entwined with our tourist economy in ways you might not expect. A great case study is a business called Chateau Sew.
Laura Fenner, owner of fabric store Chateau Sew where she sells quality fabric including hard to find local favorites sought after by quilters from far and wide
Chateau Sew is a fabric store on St Charles Avenue. They sell sewing patterns, supplies, and specialty fabrics. The owner of Chateau Sew, Laura Fenner, also teaches sewing classes. There’s no bar at Chateau Sew. You can’t get a hurricane. Or a muffuletta. Or a New Orleans T-shirt. But when it comes to customers, tourists outnumber locals. Apparently, they’re mostly a lesser-known sub-genus of tourist, called “quilters.”
When out-of-town quilters visit Chateau Sew they’re looking for unique fabrics they can’t get anywhere else. Fabrics like the creations of New Orleans fabric design company, Marillyn In The Moon. Marillyn In The Moon’s fabrics are in stores in New Orleans, across Louisiana, and in Mississippi and Alabama. The designer and manufacturer at Marillyn In The Moon is native New Orleanian, Robin Brou.
Robin Brou calls herself the Material Madame at her fabric design and manufacture company, Marillyn In The Moon. She describes her Louisiana inspired fabric as “intentional and historic, not just cute repeats of a snoball, crawfish or something cutesy.”
Robin’s fabric designs are rooted in New Orleans culture, inspired by her family’s history of 9 generations in the German Coast of Louisiana, and her fabric is manufactured by a specialist in high-quality production in South Korea.
Grant Morris, Peter Ricchiuti, Amy Irvin, Chris Fenner, Robin Brou, Laura Fenner, Out to Lunch at The Columns Hotel
Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. Photos by Jill Lafleur.
