Designs by Dianne celebrates 25 years

By Sarah Nigbor

PLUM CITY – Time flies when you’re having fun, as the saying goes. Dianne Lecheler can scarcely be – lieve 25 years have come and gone since she opened her quilt shop in Plum City. To celebrate the milestone occasion, Lecheler will host an open house at Designs by Dianne (408 First St., Plum City) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily June 30 through July 2. Stop in for treats and re – freshments, demonstrations on the long-arm machine, to ask questions, or just to visit. Lecheler's shop is a quilter's paradise filled with bolts of fabric, notions, binding, backing, batting, anything you might need for quilting or sewing. Designs by Dianne is lo – cated in Lecheler's parents' former home. She worked at the local bank for 15 years and she and husband Gary retired from farming 16 years ago and moved to town. Little did she know the business she started at home on the farm would be going strong all these years later.

"This is just a fun place to come!" Lecheler smiled.

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“I had talked about long-arm machine quilting and I decided to build this room on the house. I’ve also had the same renter (in the front) for 25 years." Lecheler really gained a love and knack for sewing in her Plum City High School home economics class, taught by Barbara DeLand er. They learned everything from baking to sewing to canning. It was like a home ec col- lege education in one course, Lecheler said. They even learned how to properly tailor jackets.

"I am forever grateful to her," Lecheler said. “Even though sewing wasn’t quilting, she showed us the right way to do it." While Lecheler doesn't have time to sew quilts by hand, unless it’s a small table runner or something similar, she enjoys using the long-arm machine to finish ou quilts people have pieced. She also provides embroidered quilt tags, if people want one.

"I love the learning part," Lecheler said. “There’s software that we put into the com- puter and I'm always excited about that." While she doesn’t specialize in quilt resto- ration, she has on occasion fixed threadbare spots on customers’ legacy quilts. It can’t be done with modern fabric, Lecheler said, so she has to have fabric from a similar era, which she can then applique over the threadbare spot.

Piecing together a quilt is an art. People can follow a pattern and use specific fabric, but Lecheler's always been a fan of scrap quilts. She can take diuerent scraps of fabric and piece it into a beautiful, cohesive design.

“A lot of us who have quilted for a long time can look at something and figure it out," she said.

With barn quilt squares becoming more and more popular, Lecheler has designed and painted a few, which she can be seen outside her shop. If she can get enough time, she has permission to design and paint some for the feed mill next door. However, she is turning out about three quilts per week (averaging 120-150 per year), so time is scarce. She also makes commemorative quilts for her five children, eight grandchildren and one great-granddaughter, for wedding, graduations, any special event. Her husband picks up the slack at home with her yard work so she can quilt away.

“I’m just really grateful for all the custom- ers, from all over," Lecheler said. "Some times you get frustrated, and then you think back on all the wonderful stories and people." As for retiring, the good Lord will have to let her know when that should occur, she smiled.

To learn more, visit https://diannelecheler. wixsite.com/designsbydianne

Designs by Dianne (408 First St., Plum City) sells fabrics, notions, batting, patterns, books,gifts and ouers long-arm machine quilting services. Photo by Sarah Nigbor