Welcome to my garden. My name is Beth-Katherine Kaiman and I am the owner.Garden Fairies Trading
Company (a complete smocking supply source) was created in 1986 in dedication
to bringing you a group of alternative clothing patterns, Heirloom Sewing,
Art to Wear books and patterns & silk ribbon supplies, smocking designs,
books and patterns that are almost impossible to find in major fabric stores.
We also offer the finest imported and domestic fabrics, French Laces,
Swiss Embroideries, Ribbons, Trims & Buttons we can find as well as the
unique in sewing patterns for our non smocking customers. We
hope you enjoy your stay on our website and if you have any questions or
comments about our site (our customers are our best proofreaders) we invite
you to write mainfairy@smockingbooks.com
and we'll do our best to answer promptly.
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Our shopping cart rates for International are hand calculated upon receipt of order but average around $15 for a Global Priority Mail Envelope. All other shipping rates are sent to you for your approval before shipment. Shipping to most countries is either slow surface mail (up to 6 weeks or more) or Global Priority (2 weeks max). We prefer that you use Pay Pal as your payment option but are happy to accept your credit cards.
Call us if you need help with your order - 707-995-9337 Hours: 8.00 AM-9:00 PM Pacific
Time. If you call us earlier we'll try to answer the phone but might be a
bit groggy as it's before the morning fruit. Please, please don't be afraid of our answering machine as we
have it on to catch all calls we don't hear and the older we get the harder it is to hear.
How to use our Shopping Cart
Need to Ask a Question about your order or just in general? Click Here to send us an email. Click here for our return policies
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For instructions on how to place
an order other than using our shopping cart, please go here
To Order from this page or any page in our
site:
Choose as many items as you like from each page
and hit SUBMIT at the bottom of
the page.
Our cart is set up for either
credit cards or
mail-in orders. Paypal users will be sent a money request separately.
If the cart is not behaving you can email us your order or give
us a call at 707-995-9337 or fax your order.
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If you're curious about who we are allow me to give you some background of my company.
How We got our name: I thought
you might like to know some history of our business. Garden Fairies
has been in business since 1986 emphasizing smocking, heirloom sewing,
silk ribbon embroidery, fashion history, lace making and sewing supplies.
It started from an idea of mine and the business expertise of my mother,who
took over the daily operations of their Candle & Orchid shop in San Francisco after my father's death . (Truth be told the whole family lineage have been in retail trade on both maternal and paternal sides throughout history from the Dutch & Flemish traders who sold goods from their boats in 16th century Netherlands on up to my great, great grandfather who was a horse and mule trader after the Civil War.) In the early part of last century my grandfather ran a grocery store in Murphy, CA while the my great grandmother ran a grocery store on Sacramento Street and Grant, in Chinatown, SF 1900-6 (yes 1906, her store is in one of the most famous photographs looking down Sacramento Street to the Bay and as soon as I can find it again I'll show it here).
My parents' businesses started in the early 50's with German stereos but that ended with the 1968 German/Japanese trade agreement which forced my dad to find another source of income and ended up making candles for years. Later on when I was a horticulture major I came home one day with a miniature Miltonia in my overalls' pocket and my dad was hooked: a new venture was born selling orchids and bromeliads along with the candles which brought him great joy until his death in 1981. When it was the new generation's turn, Garden Fairies was born in 1985-6 right after the birth of my daughter (and divorce) as my mother suggested for something to do for a living while staying at
home with my daughter. The name comes from several sources. 'Garden"
from my professional gardener days and 'Fairies' because I love the thought
of a magical world that we all can enter through our creativity and to honor
my father because of the song my father would love to play
by Beatrice Lilly, England's music hall songstress "There are fairies in
the bottom of my garden, at the bottom, the very bottom". (The music major in my soul also needed to have a musical reference to my business.)
Garden Fairies moved from San Francisco to
Santa Rosa in 1986 where our mail order catalog was born. 6 years later when my mother
and business partner passed away my daughter and I moved to Sebastopol where we had a shop for 6 years. In 1997 we moved to Clearlake and the website was born. We've have partially enjoyed living in the country, such a shock after living in such a big city as San Francisco ... the bottom line in a small town is that you have
to find things to keep you occupied at night otherwise you'll be bored out
of your mind. One customer quipped that Clearlake is the town that
time forgot ...
If you landed here and are wondering about us please go to our main page
Home to view our catalog of goodies
and which has links to every page in our site listed on in one place. Or visit our new site at New Home
What is Smocking? We have written up a detailed description and history
of smocking for you on our
What is Smocking
page. In you are interested please read.