Woodland Hills Quilt Shop Since 1981: Inside Quilt Emporium

Quilt Emporium has been cutting fabric for San Fernando Valley quilters since 1981, and today it sits at 4918 Topanga Canyon Blvd in Woodland Hills, a short drive south of the 101. The shop calls itself the friendliest quilt shop in Southern California, and it backs the claim with a classroom, block-of-the-month programs and a crew of hand-appliqué experts who teach. It is a place built for people who already quilt and for people who want to start.

Linda Potsic opened Quilt Emporium in 1981, a few miles from where it stands now. According to the shop's own history, it was the only quilt shop in the Valley and the surrounding areas at the time, so a generation of local quilters learned their first quarter-inch seam here. Potsic ran it for 30 years before she retired, which makes this one of the longest-running independent fabric counters in the west Valley.

Lisa Hanson bought the business in April 2011. She set out to keep the store exactly as it was, and the shop admits she quickly learned that nothing stays the same. Under Hanson the Emporium kept its classes and long-time staff while adding an online shop, downloadable projects and a busy calendar. The stated goal is to keep quilting alive by bringing in new quilters and keeping the craft fresh for experienced ones.

The detail that sets this shop apart is a group the store calls its Extreme Appliquérs. They are seriously accomplished sewists who specialise in hand appliqué, the slow technique of turning under the edge of a fabric shape and stitching it down with nearly invisible stitches. Many of them teach classes at the shop, so a beginner can learn needle-turn from someone who has spent years on it.

The class list runs well past appliqué. Recent pages on the shop's site include Hawaiian Quilting, a Stitch Club, a Mountain Mist Club, a quilted holiday stocking project and a Get-To-Gather group that runs across the 2025-2026 season. There is also Open Studio Apparel Sewing, where students bring garment projects of their own choosing and work at their own pace with help from the instructor. That studio costs $200, and beginners need the instructor's approval first.

One perk that regulars value: when the classroom is not booked, its tables and piecing wall are open for basting and laying out blocks at no charge. Basting a full-size quilt on a dining table is miserable, so this is worth knowing. The shop asks you to call ahead and check whether the room is free before you bring a quilt sandwich and a box of safety pins.

The shop stocks the core of a quilting project in one room. Beyond quilting cotton, kits, fat quarters and precuts, the batting choice is broader than most chain stores carry, with cotton, wool, soy and bamboo batting on offer, plus brand-name threads, notions, patterns and books. If you are matching a pattern, bring the cover photo and ask the staff, many of whom have worked here for years.

Reproduction fabric is a quiet strength. The shop runs block-of-the-month programs, and its block-of-the-month page is titled for Civil War reproduction quilts, a style built from madder reds, indigo blues, tobacco browns and small-scale shirting prints. Signing up means a new block pattern and its fabric every month, which spreads the cost of a large quilt over a year and keeps you coming back to the counter.

Shopping from home works too. The website sorts its stock into books, fabric, fat quarters, gifts, kits, pre-cuts, notions and patterns, and it adds free downloadable projects and a projects gallery for ideas. Orders placed online or by phone ship out, so a block-of-the-month subscriber who lives across town can still keep pace. For anything colour-sensitive, though, a visit beats a screen: hold the bolt next to your fabric pull under the shop's light before you commit to yardage.

The website footer lists the current temporary hours as Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 5pm, closed Sundays and Mondays. Weekday mornings tend to be the calm window for a long fabric pull, while Saturdays bring class traffic through the same room as the cutting table.

Parking is the one thing first-timers get wrong. The shop's own directions, published for the 2026 SoCal Quilter's Run, say to turn onto Dumetz Street, where a Starbucks stands on the corner, and make an immediate left into the lot behind Quilt Emporium. Coming from the 101 eastbound, exit at Ventura Blvd and Topanga Canyon, turn right onto Topanga Canyon and drive 0.8 miles before that turn. Westbound drivers exit Topanga Canyon Blvd south.

Quilt Emporium sits on the stretch of Topanga Canyon Boulevard that runs from the Ventura Boulevard commercial strip toward the Santa Monica Mountains. After a fabric run, head back north to Ventura Boulevard, where Woodland Hills keeps its cafes, delis and lunch spots, and take a table to sort through your purchases. It is an easy pairing for a weekday morning when the shop opens at 10am.

If you would rather stretch your legs, Topanga Canyon Boulevard keeps climbing south into the Santa Monica Mountains toward Topanga State Park, where trails wind through oak and chaparral above the Valley. Heading the other direction, Westfield Topanga and The Village in Warner Center sit farther north along the same boulevard if you want shops and a bigger lunch choice. Either way, plan the fabric stop first, because the shop closes at 5pm.

Address: 4918 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91364. Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm, closed Sundays and Mondays. Parking: free lot behind the building, reached from Dumetz Street. Classes: sign up through the shop's class calendar, and call before using the free basting space. Good for: hand-appliqué lessons, block-of-the-month programs and specialty batting. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for more quilt shops across Los Angeles.