Artee Fabrics and Home

I have been wanting to make a trip into this fabric store for a while and boy am I glad I did! I was greeted very kindly, so my first impression was wonderful! The sales woman was so helpful in assisting me in choosing fabric after showing me all her selection. The first space that I wanted to make over in my home was the all important formal dinning room! After much discussion with this knowledgable woman I had the perfect makeover as a result. I had 12 dinning room chairs reupholstered and formal curtains made to match and literally could not be happier!
I am so very pleased with the high level of care, timeliness and professionalism that went into my project! What an excellent store! I am already working on curtains for three other rooms in my home and can’t wait to work with them again very soon!!! I will be telling friends about this secret gem!
Thank you greatly!

HOLY SH*T… WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER!!!
I recently signed up for a class to learn how to sew. I wanted to make a pillow as my first project so I went to Artee to pick up some supplies during my lunch break. After browsing for a half an hour I decided on a fabric and found the lady that was working there to ask her to cut it (although I was the only customer in the store — she had not acknowledged me up until this point). I told her that I was new to sewing and she cut the fabric for me and I asked about some trim. She said that all the trim they had was out in the back and pointed me in that direction. By the time that I found a trim sample that I liked the lady had made her way to the back of the store and was cutting some fabric by herself about 10 feet away from me. I said politely «I think I like this one, could I have some more help when you get a chance?» I literally thought maybe she was hard of hearing because she completely ignored me. I tried again… nothing. In the meantime a guy (about college age) walked in. As I was standing there, she proceeded to yell at him about not coming in the day before. He explained that he had to go see his father out of state or something to that effect. From the way she was yelling at him I thought that maybe it was her son, but once she was done tearing him a new one (and pretty obviously embarrassing the hell out of him in the process) she sent him into the back room to organize something, so I assume it was another employee… I was finally able to ask about the trim sample and again was pointed to a table to find the roll of trim myself. Before I found it, the phone had rang and she went to her computer at the checkout desk. I brought the roll of trim and my fabric up to the desk and found a yardstick to measure out the trim myself as she was babbling and laughing on the phone with a friend. Another customer had come in at this point and was obviously also growing impatient. I asked her if the customer service was usually this bad and she said she had only been in a few times before but that this was ridiculous. The lady could obviously hear us complaining and she would not even make eye contact with us! After about 5 – 10 minutes of listening to the lady’s conversation I left everything on the counter and walked out as I was already late get back to work. I’m pretty sure the other customer wasn’t far behind as she was groaning just as much as I was. Haven’t felt that invisible in a while…

Sadly, there is a serious paucity of fabric stores any more in Rhode Island. Sure, some interior designers can show you books of fabric, and even paint stores that employ decorators can show you some books of fabric, but I like to look at BIG rolls of fabric, like they have at Calico Corners near Boston, or at The Fabric Place which has long since left the state. Our state’s economy is so poor, its citizens by and large are not spending discretionary funds on decorating — if there are any discretionary funds at all. I discovered Artee Fabrics and Home a few years back because of an article I read in a local magazine which piqued my interest.
Finding myself in need of fabric recently, I made the «memory tour» back to the town of my birth and early childhood — Pawtucket, RI. Main Street was sure not what it used to be. Gone were the fine candy shops, the old Kennedy Dairy Store, and the lovely ladies’ department stores. It looked what I would imagine a ghost town to look like. But taking up a huge space in what may once have been an F W Woolworth Store, now resides Artee Fabrics. There were tons of bolts of beautiful fabrics — some quite pricey, and some very affordable. The selection was heartwarming — and the back of the store was filled with colorful selections of trims and piping. The sales person was very helpful and happy to give me samples of each fabric in which I had an interest. I took home about five samples, from which it was quite difficult to choose just one, but I ultimately did.
So, if you are in the need of fabric for slipcovers, pillows or drapes, I’m thinking this is now the place to go. There is still one fabric mill store in Pawtucket, and there is also a lovely fabric shop in Wickford, but the fabrics in the former are not that nice, and in the latter they are lovely, but just not too plentiful. I would recommend Artee to anyone who sews or needs to have something sewn for the home or even the office. There is a LOT to choose from — all good stuff.

A beautiful array of upholstery fabric. The store is clean, well lit, and inspirational. I unfortunately was looking for quilting fabric when I stopped by, so I unfortunately walked out empty handed, but after walking around the store, I wished I needed to buy this type of fabric.
I do wish that the fabric was organized a little differently. As you walk around, you see the same pattern in different colors and sometimes even the same color. I would rather all the color options in one place instead of wondering if the pattern came in a different color.
In a section of Pawtucket that seems completely dead, Artee is the kind of place that you wish the rest of the street was filled with. Come on Pawtucket, turn it around. There is so much potential on this street.