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Studio for ‘Makers and Learners’ Finds Permanent Home in West Hartford

Hartford Stitch owner Laura Kasowitz has found a new, permanent home at 298 Park Rd. in West Hartford. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

Hartford Stitch has opened a sewing workshop and studio on Park Road in West Hartford.

Hartford Stitch owner Laura Kasowitz has found a new, permanent home at 298 Park Rd. in West Hartford. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

Hartford Stitch owner Laura Kasowitz has found a new, permanent home at 298 Park Rd. in West Hartford. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

By Ronni Newton

People who like to sew, or who want to learn to sew, or who want to hang out with their friends and express their creativity at a sewing party, now have a place to do that in West Hartford.

Although some of the clients could be grandmothers, Hartford Stitch is much more than just your grandmother’s sewing circle.

Photo credit: Ronni Newton

Photo credit: Ronni Newton

On her Facebook page, Hartford Stitch owner Laura Kasowitz calls her clients “makers and learners,” and they are a diverse group ranging from 8-year-olds who are excited about learning to sew, to moms who want to hem their own clothing or make Halloween costumes, to people who have inherited a sewing machine and want to finally learn how to use it.

“It’s really fun and it’s not that hard. I need to show people that,” said Kasowitz. “My goal is to make sewing really accessible, to get people over the fear of the machine, fear of rules, fear of doing something wrong.”

Kasowitz has sewed for as long as she can remember. She loved home economics in school, and loved her mom’s big box of fabric. “I was the only one in my peer group who brought a sewing machine to college,” she said.

She’s now married, and moved to West Hartford about seven years ago. She has two young children: Miles, 4, and Annie, 2., and at a new mom’s group met someone else who liked to sew.

Hartford Stitch was launched on June 1, 2015. Kasowitz and her then-partner Sara Colby gave lessons and held sewing parties at people’s homes and businesses, and sold fabric in an Etsy shop. After a few months the pair split up and Kasowitz re-focused the business on just the sewing side.

During the first year, Kasowitz hosted “sip and sews” (similar to paint parties) at Blaze & Bloom on New Park Avenue and at private homes. Karla Kress-Boyle, owner of children’s creative art space Image Studio on South Street, offered to rent space to Hartford Stitch. Kasowitz was busy, but she got tired of hauling around five sewing machines and a large suitcase of fabric and other supplies and fitting her business into the time that Imagine Studio wasn’t being used for other activities.

One of the five sewing machines in Hartford Stitch's studio at 298 Park Rd. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

One of the five sewing machines in Hartford Stitch’s studio at 298 Park Rd. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

“As it got more popular, I quickly realized I needed more permanent space. And that’s when I found Lisa,” Kasowitz said.

Lisa Walsh Howard was taking a class from Kasowitz at Imagine Studio. She had just finished clearing out space her father had used on the second floor of 298 Park Rd., a building she co-owns with On Troutbrook Properties LLC, and was looking for tenants. Kasowitz said she had noticed and had been dreaming about that very building earlier in the day, and was thrilled when Howard offered her a suite to rent.

“It was just the craziest. It was meant to be,” Kasowitz said.

Hartford Stitch moved into its suite on the second floor of 298 Park Rd. on June 1, and Kasowitz said she is now offering regularly-scheduled classes at least three times per week as well as summer camps. She also hosts “sit and sew” events where people from the community, many of whom bring their own machines, can work on their own projects in a group setting.

In late June, Hartford Stitch held a charity event, creating “medical muslin” dolls for Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. The eight or nine people who attended crafted 31 dolls that Connecticut Children’s will use to explain procedures to their patients as well as for comfort.

“Community-building is part of why I am really excited to have my own space,” Kasowitz said.

The studio space is small, but efficient, with plenty of reference materials and supplies available. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

The studio space is small, but efficient, with plenty of reference materials and supplies available. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

The space is also available for group events such as birthday parties, showers, and girls’ nights out. She makes it easy on people for the sewing parties, with the fabric pre-cut and the machines pre-threaded so that everyone can go home with a project.

Kasowitz loves to teach, and loves to impart a skill that empowers her students. Some of her clients want to learn to sew for practical reasons like hemming clothing and making curtains, but others want to make their own clothing because they don’t like certain aspects of the garment industry.

“When you make something you have that connection to the raw materials,” she said.

Kasowitz makes many of her own clothes, and as the mom of two young children who is pregnant with her third, she is well-attuned to what holds up well during her daily schedule. She found that the alternative – buying cheap clothes that she would have to throw away – was so wasteful.

She doesn’t make all of her kids clothes, other than items for special occasions.

Kasowitz recommends that novices take a “101” class. There are a variety of beginner classes, including an intensive tw0-and-a-half-hour class where participants create a drawstring bag after learning about tools, fabric, and how to use a machine. She also teaches a four-week beginner class where students can get deeper into their projects. There are classes geared toward making pillows, and a variety of classes for kids ages 8 and up. Click here for the complete schedule.

“Sewing doesn’t have to be scary,” Kasowitz said. Although there are a lot of “rules” they don’t have to be learned all at once, and not all need to be followed.

Plus, you don’t need to get the sewing part right the first time. “As long as you cut it right, you can always undo sewing,” she said.

For more information about Hartford Stitch, visit their website or follow them on Facebook. Kasowitz can also be reached at [email protected] or 860-785-3093.

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Hartford Stitch. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

Hartford Stitch. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

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