Making Space Thrift in Springville gives unused fabric a new life, brings together creative community
Natalie Burton, owner and founder of Making Space Thrift, has been sewing since she was a little girl. Her mother often made clothes for her children and taught Natalie to sew at a young age. Needless to say, the hobby stuck.
Burton was inspired by videos on TikTok to create a place where the Springville crafting community could come together and find supplies for less.
“I’ve always been the person that people brought their extra fabric to when they were moving or cleaning out. So when I started seeing those places (on TikTok), I thought, man, if anywhere in the entire country needs one of those, it’s Utah County,” Burton said.
The name came from two ideas: a space for making things, and a way for people to ease their minds by making space in their own homes through cleaning out craft areas and donating unused supplies and scraps.
The store has no problem keeping stocked due to donations coming in daily. These include fabric, thread, yarn, sewing needles, art supplies, jeans, shirts, sweaters, sheets, curtains and more.
One of the main features of the store is its fabric section, which sells fabric for $4 per yard, a deal that is unheard of in major craft stores like Michaels, Joann’s or Hobby Lobby. The store officially opened in August of last year and consistently brings in regular customers, whose kids and spouses often tag along.
“There’s a section of the store that’s just a free community art closet, which I think is amazing,” frequent shopper Aleks Frost said. “They have a little kids’ table with little chairs. There’s always jars of water, paint brushes, watercolors and paper on the table. And there is a very comfy chair for bewildered husbands to just hang out in.”
Frost shared her excitement about the concept of reusing extra materials, stating that people who may not know what to do with their fabric scraps or extra supplies can donate them and someone else will find it and know exactly what to use it for.
The store also serves as a place where members of the creative community can ask other shoppers for advice or ideas. Fellow crafters can also meet at volunteer nights, where people can come in and help sort, iron and fold fabric donations. Burton hopes that in the future, they can start offering basic sewing classes as well.
“One of my passions is upcycling my clothes that either don’t fit anymore and can turn into something for my kids, or I can alter them in a way that I can wear them again. And that’s something I’d really love to share with the community,” Burton said. “Especially in the climate that we are in now economically, I feel like we really need to come back to these skills. We need to come back to our creativity, our sense of community and kind of our scrappiness in making do and I think that places like this help build that.”
Making Space Thrift is located at 685 S. Main St. in Springville and is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.