Sew Inspired

Visit Karen Keech Swerling’s home on a Saturday, and you might find a newlywed, a school bus driver, a medical school student, a competitive roller skater and a few grandmothers in her basement. As different as they may seem, they’re all bound by a common thread: They are members of Richmond Really Sews and part of a national resurgence of interest in sewing.

Looking for friendships and a creative outlet during the coronavirus pandemic, Swerling converted the basement of her 100-year-old home in the Fan into a sewing center. Each Saturday she provides open hours and free lessons to anyone with a passion for sewing or a desire to learn.

“You can just feel the energy down here,” she says. “People chat while they’re sewing and become friends — I love it. We have men and women; young and old; members who are gay and transgender; Black, white and Latina; and people of different socioeconomic backgrounds. It’s about friendships first.”

A small but mighty redhead, Swerling radiates warmth and energy, and has a resume as impressive as her enthusiasm is infectious. After watching the musical “Bye Bye Birdie” at age 13, Swerling told her mother she would go into show business one day; she grew up to have a decades-long career as a Hollywood costume designer. One of her first projects was designing costumes for a reboot of “The Munsters” during the 1980s. She went on to work on major feature films and TV shows, outfitting celebrities including David Bowie, Kelsey Grammer, Jimmy Stewart and Jessica Lange.

Swerling and her husband, Jerry, moved to Richmond from California in 2016. Although she’s retired, Swerling still surrounds herself with Hollywood. She’s plastered the walls of the sewing center with posters of her favorite movies and celebrities, and her 30 sewing machines are all named after actors, from Dick Van Dyke to Paul Newman and Audrey Hepburn. The decor adds to the experience for club members. “I want them to walk in, feel inspired and get excited about something,” Swerling says.

Richmond Really Sews members Karen Swerling (left) and Beth Watkins, who learned about the sewing studio on NextDoor (Photo by Jay Paul)

Richmond Really Sews!

Originally formed on Facebook after Swerling’s plaintive request to meet fellow sewing enthusiasts received a hearty response, Richmond Really Sews now has 1,000 members. A smaller group of regulars attends Saturday sewing sessions, monthly meetings and occasional field trips to New York City for fabric shopping.

Even if someone has never touched a sewing machine, Swerling encourages them to give it a try. She provides fabric, thread, zippers and elastic — whatever keeps people sewing. Many newcomers quickly advance and go on to learn modern mending, sashiko (a Japanese style of mending) and other embroidery, or costume design for cosplay.

“If they’re beginners, I put them on a Kenmore or a vintage Singer,” Swerling explains, referencing brands of sewing machines. “If they’re a little more advanced, I put them on one of my vintage Berninas. I also have a couple of Vikings and eight sergers.” (A serger creates professionally finished seams.)

Many of the members showcased their work in November at their annual fundraiser, Richmond Frocktails, a fashion show featuring their handmade creations. While Swerling donates her time and talent, she relies on funds raised at the event to cover sewing machine maintenance and supplies.

Not everyone was enthusiastic about modeling at first, but with Swerling’s encouragement, they each hit the runway with confidence. “I told them, ‘Own your body. You’re all beautiful; go out and show the world what you can do,’” she says. “When you wear something, your outfit speaks for you. Our country is a melange of people, and I encourage members to show their ethnicity. With sewing, you can express where you come from and how you feel. We can’t do that when we go to the store.”

One of the newest members is Hayley Naples Dotson, 25, who recently moved to Richmond from Austin, Texas. Searching for ways to improve her sewing skills and meet new friends, she discovered Richmond Really Sews on Facebook. “I was immediately embraced and felt like I had a community here, which was really nice after leaving friends and family and moving across the country,” she says.

Dotson learned to sew as a child from her grandmother. “I remember my first project was sewing cloth napkins for my lunch box in third grade,” she recalls. “I was so excited to pick out the absolute wildest and most colorful fabrics.”

From there, she mostly taught herself, picking up technical skills from YouTube videos. In the past few years, her sewing has picked up momentum. “I love having something totally separate from my job, where I’m doing something with my hands away from a screen,” Dotson says. “There’s a lot of problem-solving and having a creative mindset. Sewing helps flex that muscle.”

She also loves the ability to barter the old-fashioned way. When a neighbor helped her and her husband move a heavy desk into their new apartment, she mended his sports coat in return. “I love having a skillset I can offer as a favor,” she says.

Thanks to the club, Dotson says, she’s been sewing furiously and takes pride in showing her finished garments to her grandmother. She made her own dress for her wedding rehearsal dinner in September — a white satin sheath she modeled during Frocktails — as well as a dress to wear for Thanksgiving. “If I’m struggling with a project, I can ask questions and immediately have the members as a resource,” she says. “They are more than willing to teach me, help me problem-solve and show me options. You can’t find that online.”

Another member, Kristina Cassiday, made Frocktails a family affair this year. She sewed clothes for herself as well as her 6-year-old son, Kiran, and 3-year-old daughter, Nayana. All three modeled in the show. “My grandmother was a big sewist, and my mom used to make my clothing, fix my buttons and hem my pants,” Cassiday says. “When I had kids, I wanted to be able to make them things and take care of them in that way.”

I love the process of it — using my hands, seeing something come to life and then actually getting to wear it and say, ‘Look, I made this!’

—Kristina Cassiday

Kiran is sensitive to tags and likes his clothes a certain way. “He calls them his ‘Mama-made’ clothes,” Cassiday says. She and Nayana are making a bag together, and she’s helping Kiran sew his own tooth fairy pillow. The kids are enrolled in a Montessori school, and she’s grateful sewing is part of their curriculum.

Over the last six years, Cassiday has taught herself to sew while raising her kids, holding a full-time job and earning a doctoral degree. For help, she’s relied on sewing tutorials from her mother and on YouTube. She’s also found companies online, including Ellie & Mac and Boo & Lu, that provide simple patterns with step-by-step videos.

“Sewing is really exciting and empowering, and it also feels mediative,” she says. “I love the process of it — using my hands, seeing something come to life and then actually getting to wear it and say, ‘Look, I made this!’”

One of the most experienced members, Katia Simmons, has been sewing for more than 60 years. She lived abroad as a child, and because she was much taller than her peers, she learned to sew out of necessity. “I can remember going with my mom to this wonderful fabric store in Paris that was several stories high — it was amazing,” she says. “My dad found a store that had the prototypes of couture dresses for cheap prices, so my mom always looked like a Parisian model.”

She still loves making her own clothes, from Victorian costumes just for fun to airy sundresses she wears to drive her school bus routes during the warmer months. “Many times, I can make much better quality clothes than what’s in the stores — especially for the money,” Simmons says. “When I go to [department stores], I’m shocked by the quality of fabric and the prices. It’s highway robbery.”

While she loves the craft of sewing, she especially loves the friendships she’s formed with other members. “We don’t discuss politics, we don’t discuss religion, and age and gender don’t matter,” Simmons says. “We come together in friendship, and we sew. Everybody’s happy. Every single person I’ve met in the group has been so much fun.”

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At Frocktails in November, Ronny Lee shows a garment he designed from upcycled cotton T-shirts. (Photo by Jay Paul)

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Kristina Cassiday and her children, Nayana and Kiran, appeared in coordinating outfits Cassiday sewed. (Photo by Jay Paul)

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Hayley Dotson models the dress she made for her wedding rehearsal. (Photo by Jay Paul)

A Return to Sewing

The buzz around Richmond Really Sews is indicative of a larger trend. Since the pandemic, sewing has been increasing in popularity and attracting younger enthusiasts.

Abby Glassenberg is the co-founder and president of the Craft Industry Alliance, which represents thousands of members in the U.S., Canada and abroad. The organization provides research, podcasts, webinars and blogs to support people who craft and sew. She says the public’s interest in sewing spiked during the coronavirus pandemic, and the hobby has grown in the years since.

“People figured out they could make masks at home, but sewing also gave them something to do and something they could control when everything felt so out of control,” Glassenberg says. “People found sewing for the first time or dusted off their skills, and there was a big demand for sewing machines, thread and elastic. They were as hard to get as Clorox wipes and toilet paper.”

According to a 2024 report published by Yahoo Finance, the global market for sewing machines is expected to grow nearly 50%, from $4.7 billion in 2022 to $6.9 billion by 2030. “People really underestimate the crafting business,” Glassenberg says. “Etsy is one of the four largest marketplaces in the United States. It's all dedicated to handmade, and it’s now a publicly traded company.”

Because public schools have cut home economics programs, Glassenberg says, an entire generation never learned to sew. However, social media is helping to fill that gap and increase exposure. “There’s so much content online, and both boys and girls are learning a life skill,” she says. “Learning to sew can open their eyes to the possibilities of creativity, whether it’s fashion design, home decor or mending items they already have.”

Kimberly Guthrie, an associate professor in the department of fashion design and merchandising at Virginia Commonwealth University, says the creative sewing projects found on social media are generating excitement around fashion design. “These kinds of videos are inspiring and are driving many of our students to major in fashion,” she says. “One of my students said that seeing more fashion students and small designers find success through social media makes it feel more accessible as a career and easier to make a name for themselves.”

Lilya Korenman owns Couture by LK Design, a fabric and design store on Libbie Avenue. (Photo by Jay Paul)

Lilya Korenman, who owns Couture by LK Design on Libbie Avenue, frequently helps VCU fashion design students in her shop as well as customers as young as middle school age. For the past 30 years, she’s gained a reputation for her custom designs and curated selection of high-quality apparel fabrics, laces, trims and notions. “Younger people — boys and girls — are discovering sewing as a way to create their own individuality, and it’s something they can do themselves,” Korenman says. “A younger generation of shoppers is coming from all over the greater Richmond area, as well as parts of Northern Virginia and Charlottesville.” She’s also seeing more older customers who are retired from corporate jobs coming back to the hobby following the pandemic.

To meet the growing demand, sewing classes and summer camps are popping up around town for both children and adults at places including Sew Fun, a sewing school on Parham Road, and the Visual Arts Center of Richmond. Shop Made in Virginia, a store that opened in Scott’s Addition in October, is like an in-person Etsy site with art, jewelry, housewares, pottery, clothing and other handmade goods from about 100 local artists.

“Sewing is definitely not a lost art,” says Sara Maslyn, a photographer who works at Shop Made in Virginia. “A lot of my friends in their 20s and 30s are looking to learn this skill. Part of our space is for creatives, and we host classes and meetups to sew together as well as do other crafts. It’s such a great space to connect and learn.”

A Solution for Fast Fashion

Glassenberg with the Craft Industry Alliance notes that more and more people are drawn to sewing out of concern for the environment. “We don’t actually need any more clothes — there are enough clothes in existence to clothe the entire world for generations,” she says. “And yet every single fashion brand is coming out with new lines for the spring.”

According to a 2022 study by Boston University, Americans discard 34 billion tons of textiles each year, or about 100 pounds per person. Around two-thirds wind up in landfills. “More people, and especially young people, are asking what they can do to divert [clothing] from the waste stream,” Glassenberg says.

Caroline Drumm, a sophomore fashion design student at VCU, works on a skirt idea as part of a patternmaking course. (Photo courtesy Kimberly Guthrie)

Sewists are mending items to make them last longer or altering their clothes when the designs fall out of fashion. They’re also shopping at secondhand stores, then modifying the clothing to make custom pieces they can’t find in fast fashion.

“People are obsessed with thrift flip nowadays,” says Kayla Kim, a senior at VCU majoring in fashion design. “Sewing machines are so affordable now — anyone can just grab one.”

“There are so many people on Instagram doing it as a hobby and making really cool stuff,” adds her peer Ella Nassauer.

Videos on TikTok using the hashtag #thriftflip currently have more than 2.3 billion views. Many users are upcycling — showcasing an outfit made from an old comforter, making a handbag from scraps of old jeans or transforming a Chanel bag into a top.

Members of Richmond Really Sews have also embraced the trend. “One of our sewists, Tanisha Finney, made a raincoat from a shower curtain, and Ash Tyler thrifted sheets, draperies and bedcovers and made this Renaissance outfit,” Karen Swerling says. “It’s unbelievable what they can do.”

Hayley Dotson says that in this world of instant gratification, she loves the meaningful process of slow fashion. This past Christmas, she decided to give only handmade gifts. “I’m a more mindful consumer now,” she says. “I wanted to be more intentional over the holiday season, so I sewed everything.”

For each person on her list, she carefully selected just the right fabric and pattern. “There’s a lot of magic in creating,” she says. “I could have quickly gotten an Amazon top seller, but instead I sat at my sewing machine for hours, and I made something that didn’t exist before. That’s really empowering. There were flaws, but it’s hard not to fall in love with those flaws when I’m giving the gift of my time.”