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Shelley Pierson, owner, Willow Stitch.
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If her definitive southern upbringing taught Reese Witherspoon anything, it was this: “If it’s not moving, monogram it.”
In the Northern Neck, the first choice for monogramming is Willow Stitch in Tappahannock. After moving to the Northern Neck in 1997, Shelley Pierson started her monogramming business out of her Richmond County house in 2009. Previously she’d worked at Embroiderer in Manassas, so she already knew how much she loved the business.
“My girls were in the Richmond County School system at the time, so I started doing school spirit-wear for them and they became my models,” she explains. “I think parents like to have the initials on their children’s book bags for school to distinguish one from another.”
Monogramming has long been popular in the south with no signs of letting up. Willow Stitch stays busy with monograms, working with local businesses to offer personalization services on their products. Pierson attributes the popularity of monogramming to the vast array of items that can be personalized.“Primarily, we do clothing, but we also do bags, chairs, children’s clothes, even underwear,” she says. “Unused, of course.”
And while the majority of monograms are for women, she acknowledges that they do a bustling business in men’s hats.Monogramming for gifts is extremely popular she says, because who doesn’t enjoy a personalized gift? After all, monogrammed gifts are never re-gifted.
223 Prince Street, Tappahannock · 804-925-6470