About Us Fred the Needle was started by Simone O’Carroll in 2003. Simone’s career began as an Accountant, and patchwork and scrapbooking were her hobbies (not that she gets any time for them now). She decided that Accountancy had its virtues (high income) but was as boring as people say (yawn!) After the birth of her son, Simone started Fred the Needle as a home based business. At first Fred the Needle only had one product (Color Plus Inkjet Fabric), but as this started to become popular, the product range slowly grew. We soon started selling fabrics, trims, buttons, books and patterns. And in choosing the stock Simone did her research in the local area and tried to choose items that were unique and not available in mass production. Simone sources fabrics, trims and ephemera from all over the world and the biggest compliment that she receives in her shop is “It’s so nice to find a shop that doesn’t have what everyone else has”. It just means that all those hours scouring the internet for unusual products (not to mention losing a lot of sleep) has paid off. Simone also tries to find hard to get fabric for people and takes custom orders for a wide variety of things. The product range has now expanded to include scrapbooking and general craft products (even a gift section!). We run a variety of classes in scrapbooking, patchwork, ATC's, handbag making, and off the page arty stuff and also kids classes. The store has just been renovated and is looking gorgeous and pink like an old fashioned candy store! We also do a variety of custom printing onto fabrics, canvas, icing, photographic papers and vinyl. Photo products include handbags, mugs, mouse mats, purses, coasters and many more. We've just installed a new HP photo lab into the store so you can come in and print your photos or create a custom photo book or calendar. Enlargements are also an option, up to 8x10 in the lab, or ask about our wide format service. Come visit the store at Unit 2, 29 York Rd Penrith NSW 2750 (near Scott's Auto One) or call us on 02 4721 8833 to discuss any product or requirement.