by Sharon Verbeten
Lisa Bongean’s vision for her Primitive Gatherings quilt shop was big — bigger, perhaps, than her previous location was ready for.
After being located in Menasha for 22 years, she took her vision to the rural enclave of Larsen, near Winchester in Winnebago County. She recently opened a new $5 million facility on 10 acres near Highway 45 and Highway II.
“I wanted to be part of a little community,” says Bongean, a well-respected professional quilter, instructor and blogger. “I was looking for a place where I could make a difference. It was amazing the treatment I got (from the Town of Larsen). They were very supportive of my grand plan.”
Holly Stevens, clerk for the Town of Winchester, says the community was excited Bongean opened her shop there. “Their business embodies the artisan culture which is infused in the pastoral country life enjoyed by the residents of Winchester,” she says. “The community has welcomed Lisa and her venture with excitement and support — her dream has become ours.”
For those who think quilting is a craft from the past, populated by grandmas and gingham, the Craft Industry Alliance knows otherwise — quilting is a $4.2 billion industry, according to its 2020 survey.
“It’s not a trendy craft,” Bongean says. “I think there’s a little stigma, but it’s pretty far from the truth of what it’s really like.”
Bongean says Primitive Gatherings is more than just a quilt shop. The new campus, which employs 46, includes a 23,000-square-foot building, which houses a retail shop, warehousing and a publishing and kit operation, a 10,000-square-foot retreat house, and additional acres for future plans, including an orchard, pasture for sheep, gardens and beehives.
“Life’s too short to not do what you love,” she says. “(This place is) encompassing my love of quilting and cooking and gardening. We’re many little businesses inside this one. It’s definitely a destination place.”
That grand vision is one shared by the town. “(We) anticipate the economic impact to be significant and hope it will provide long-term influence on the entire business corridor, providing for local jobs and amenities, which elevate the rural, artisan culture of the community while maintaining our heritage and country lifestyle,” Stevens says.
Bongean’s track record in Menasha allowed her to use both savings and a business loan to fund the venture. “Nobody said no,” she says. “Nobody set up a roadblock.”
And her name — as well as her original designs for quilt fabric and unique patterns — is known not just in regional quilting circles. “My projects are known worldwide. I have people coming in from all parts of the country and overseas,” Bongean says.
While her name and talents are widely known now, Bongean — who previously worked at a paper mill and as a waitress — didn’t take up quilting until she was an adult.
“I did it for social reasons,” she says. “It was a creative outlet. After six months of taking classes, I was working at the store and designing my own stuff. It went quickly when it happened.”
Now she not only creates patterns and publishes books on quilting, she designs her own fabrics, dyes her own wool and travels the country teaching classes in addition to creating YouTube videos on the art and craft of quilting.
“I don’t know one person that does all I do,” Bongean says.
Interestingly, the one item Bongean displays but doesn’t sell at her store is finished quilts. That’s the joy of her shop — displaying gorgeous finished products and providing creatives with the tools to make and cherish their own heirlooms, she says.
“When we’re gone, our quilts will still be around. It’s not just needle and thread,” she says.
primitivegatherings.us
