With schools letting out next month, Hipstitch , a sewing and crafting studio in Brookline Village, is gearing up for its busiest time of the year.
As staff prepare to host summer camps, they hope to provide kids with more than just crafting lessons, offering a space to unwind, create and find community.
Hipstitch offers classes, camps and workshops in sewing and crafting. Customers can also rent sewing machines and workspace to work on personal projects.
Inside the studio, colorful stuffed animals, tote bags and student projects dot the walls and sewing machines fill long tables. Cubbies stocked with crafting supplies — needles, crochet hooks, fabric and patterns — and walls of mounted spools of thread and ribbon surround the room.
“We call ourselves a third space,” said Hipstitch owner Nicola Day. “People can come and be creative, learn a new skill, build community and learn to make their own clothes.”
Day founded Hipstitch 16 years ago in Newton after her 8-year-old daughter wanted to take sewing lessons, and Day couldn’t find any available classes in her area. Having experience sewing her own clothes and sensing a gap in the community, Day began offering lessons out of her house.
“Girl Scout troops, brownie troops, they all came and did the class, and I was like, ‘Oh, obviously there’s a market for it. So now I’ll find a space,’” she said.
Day collected donated sewing machines and started hiring staff to teach lessons and camps. Since then, the business has grown into the neighboring communities of Wellesley, Brookline and Arlington.
The Brookline branch has been open since 2022 and has offerings for students ranging from 5-year-olds to adults. Day said she’s noticed growing interest in sewing and other creative hobbies in the time that the studio’s been operating.
“It’s been trending now since Covid,” Day said. “It’s about the community aspect, so being with people, using your hands, tactile skills, I think, instead of being on your phone all the time and being socially connected.”
As well as providing community, Day said Hipstitch gives children a creative outlet. In addition to after-school and weekend sewing and fashion design classes at the studio, Hipstitch brings sewing machines to schools in the region to offer after-school programs. Classes are typically $40 per session, which includes materials, and can be booked individually or in four-session bundles.
During a recent after-school class, music played as students bounced between sewing machines, embroidery tables and a station where they filled handmade pillows with stuffing. They beamed as they showed instructors their creations, eager to share what they had made and start on their next project.
Among the students was 10-year-old Brookline resident Eva Lasry. She said her favorite aspect of Hipstitch classes is the freedom to choose anything she wants to make and explore a wide range of different skills.
She also enjoys the difficulty of making something new and pushing herself creatively. “It’s a challenge,” she said. “It’s not super simple.”
Though Hipstitch offers classes and workshops throughout the year, summer is the studio’s busiest season. Summer camps give instructors the most time to work one-on-one with students and offer a place for kids to socialize and spend time making things rather than defaulting to screens or digital activities when school is out of session.
“It’s the opportunity to kind of unplug from your phone and do something creative with your hands, meet new people who have similar interests as you and make something new,” said Luna Tudor-Doonan, the manager of the Brookline studio and Hipstitch’s marketing manager.
This summer, the studio’s camp offerings are focused on fashion design, sewing and fiber arts, with options for a range of ages and skill levels. Camp prices range from $100 to $180 per day, depending on a choice of morning, afternoon or full day sessions.
Hipstitch also offers adult classes and workshops , including beginner sewing classes, sip and sew classes, workshops and social sewing events usually priced around $50.
“The adults that come in here, it’s definitely with intention of trying to build a skill and be more self-sufficient,” Tudor-Doonan said. “They want to be able to make their own clothes, they want to be able to repair their own clothes, they don’t want to constantly be buying new things.”
Tudor-Doonan recalled teaching a Brookline lawyer how to sew. The woman loved the experience and regularly came back to make clothes for her children, she said.
“It was really nice because I felt like here’s someone who has a really busy schedule but still wanted to learn,” she said. “This is the kind of environment we’re trying to foster, a way to unplug and do something new, something that you love.”