Hi, I’m Amy!

I own & operate The Fabric Chicken.

In 2024, while working as a financial planner, I hit a wall. I was burned out, uninspired, and drifting into disillusionment. Underneath that, something else was happening: I started making and I couldn’t stop. 

What came from the obsession was, first, a sudden proliferation of quilts. Then watercolor paintings. Then gel plate prints. Then papercraft and collage. Then the crochet started. 

In the midst of all of my making, I started asking myself why there wasn’t a place where I could reliably donate my used and unused making supplies that I had outgrown or overpurchased.  

And then I learned about Creative Reuse.

A few months later, I visited my first creative reuse shop, Sew What in Auburn, NY. That morning’s schedule included a “make your own fabric chicken” class, and I had missed it. 

Irrationally bummed about missing the class, I still wanted to visit the shop. Within moments of entering the front door, I blurted out “I want to do this in Corning!” to a volunteer arranging quilt tops in the WIP bin. That woman was a board member, and she immediately escorted me back to the office of the executive director, who told me multiple times that I could and should start my own creative reuse shop. 

I left her office in a daze. I was thrilled, I was terrified, I was certain. I could hardly shop. When I came down to earth, I was looking at a finished version of the chicken I had wanted to make that morning sitting on the shelf. 

I bought her for $1.00. She inspired the name, the logo, and pretty much everything that this shop stands for:

  • Encouraging each other’s dreams. 
  • Believing in our ideas and abilities. 
  • Seeing possibilities…
  • and buying fun stuff for one dollar. 

Welcome to The Fabric Chicken. We are a creative reuse shop in Corning, NY where makers find community, beginners find confidence, and everyone finds high-quality secondhand art and craft supplies.