Keeping you in stitches

Make it Sew is made to feel like a living room. Handmade quilts and crafts are displayed throughout the cosy Sherbrook Street sewing studio. A vintage couch sits next to a tall credenza filled with kitschy teapots and refreshments for “mandatory cookie breaks.”

The homey vibes are an intentional nod to the business’s early days, when owner Brittany Karbonik was teaching students how to sew in her Transcona abode.

“I wanted it to feel inviting, like a home,” she says.

Karbonik opened Make it Sew (156 Sherbrook St.) last fall as haven for fibre art enthusiasts of all skill levels and ages. The shop offers private and group classes in sewing, crocheting, knitting and weaving, as well as equipment rentals and special crafting events. The space also has a retail section stocked with items made by local craftspeople.

It’s the kind of community-oriented place Karbonik — a 36-year-old mother of two — yearned for when she was getting into the hobby as a preteen.

“Sewing back then wasn’t cool and not a lot of people did it, so I was really just sewing alone in my room … I have three girls who come to classes together and my heart explodes, because I wish that could’ve been me and my friends,” she says, adding sewing was historically a communal activity until the invention of the domestic sewing machine turned the craft into a largely solo pursuit.

Make it Sew is Karbonik’s latest stitch-based business.

She learned to sew while helping her mom make homemade Halloween costumes. At 10, she started making and selling frog stuffies to passersby at the family’s seasonal campsite at Grand Beach — an endeavour that ended up running afoul of the law.

“I did that for a few years until the park patrols came and were like, ‘No, you can’t do this without a permit,’” Karbonik says with a laugh.

After completing a fashion design diploma in high school, she became a real-life fairy godmother, creating intricate Disney-inspired ballgowns for princess parties all over the world.

She transitioned to teaching private sewing lessons during the pandemic and noticed strong demand for education in the hobby, once a common skill taught at home and school.

Her dream of opening a public sewing studio became a reality when the 750-square-foot space, former home of Shop Public, came on the market last year.

At Make it Sew, classes run for a few days or weeks, depending on the project, and are capped at four students to provide closer hands-on instruction. Karbonik, who specializes in sewing and costuming, has enlisted other local makers to lead workshops on knitting, crocheting and weaving.

The studio is equipped with a quartet of Singer sewing machines fitted with adaptive 3D-printed hand wheels to accommodate students with mobility issues, as well as a serger and several adjustable drafting tables.

Customers can book space in the studio to work on their own projects for $15 an hour or sign up for a class.

“All of our classes are project-based, but they’re learning a lot of different skills in one project that they can continue using,” Karbonik says, adding everything is designed to be beginner-friendly.

“I also try to think about things that a variety of ages can do. I offered a hoodie class and I had a stay-at-home mom and I had 10-year-olds in that class.”

Other projects have included sleepwear, corsets, puff quilts, whimsical backpacks and silly stuffed geese.

This weekend, Karbonik, who is Métis, has invited her aunt Linda Chisholm, a Métis elder, to teach a two-day workshop on ribbon skirts, with teachings on the history and cultural significance of the garment.

Students provide their own supplies and upcycling is a big part of the curriculum, with lessons on how to turn blankets and tablecloths into coats, bags and shirts.

“It’s not a cheap hobby,” says Karbonik. “I always say, go and thrift your fabric first … or look at home and see if there’s something that you already have and can use before going out and purchasing fabric, because it is really expensive.

“And repurposing things is really important to keep it out of the landfill.”

Visit makeitsew.shop for more information.

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