Warburton’s Patchwork Tea Shop founding members (left to right) Joy Lewellyn, Marilyn Barker and Marg Rayner show off their trophy.By Ed Merrison
A WARBURTON tea shop that has mastered the craft of good hospitality has received nationwide recognition for its efforts.
The Patchwork Tea House in Warburton was named Victoria’s Favourite Patchwork Shop in the DUQBernina Excellence in Patchwork Awards 2005.
Patchwork Tea House Marilyn Barker owner attended a dinner in Sydney on Saturday, 20 August to collect the engraved crystal trophy honouring the shop’s success.
The award ceremony, sponsored by patchwork magazine Down Under Quilts and sewing machine specialists Bernina, was attended by 140 people from the Australian patchwork community.
The winners were not notified prior to the awards night, but Ms Barker took the decision to travel interstate on behalf of her closeknit team.
“All I knew was that we were a finalist with a very good chance to win,” Ms Barker said.
“I thought if you’re there and you don’t win, at least you can congratulate the others. If you’re not there and you do win, then that’s very sad.
“I was very thrilled. We’re only a threeyearold shop, the youngest shop ever to win the award, and usually in business you have to be established for much longer.”
Ms Barker said the Patchwork Tea Shop had always prided itself on customer service, and the fact that the win was decided by customers sweetened the victory.
The shop’s initial trio of Ms Barker, Joy Lewellyn and Marg Rayner has now expanded to a staff of 11, which includes Ms Barker’s husband Gary.
As well as serving refreshments, the shop sells gifts, books, patchwork tools and fabric, as well as hosting classes, special events and friendship groups.
Ms Barker said the friendship groups were a vital part of the operation, with about 15 women convening for morning tea, lunch, a sew and a chat every Tuesday when the shop was officially closed.
The idea for the Patchwork Tea Shop was conceived through a similar group Ms Barker attended as a relative beginner after her friend Ms Lewellyn taught her sew.
With more and more women taking up the craft and a growing contingent of husbands going to the shop for company, signs suggest that patchwork’s popularity will continue.
Though proud of its award, there is another trophy in the shop that says a great deal about it, and which Ms Barker prizes even more highly.
Hung above the mantelpiece is a drape sewn by a local woman named Helen O’Brien, a patchwork novice when she first entered the fold. Neatly sewn with motifs of hearts and a teapot, the sign reads ‘Enter as a Stranger, Leave as a Friend’.
And therein lies the secret of the shop’s success.
