Anja Lichtenau turned a black, skull-enamored fabric into a trick-or-treat tote bag for her 8-year-old daughter earlier this month at a Northwest Side sewing class.
Lichtenau, who said the steady thrumming of the sewing machine clears her head “better than any yoga,” is part of a growing community of amateur sewers enrolling in local classes in pursuit of a creative outlet. The final products sewers can take home from these classes across the city vary from aprons to cosplay costumes.
Lichtenau takes lessons at the Lillstreet Art Center in Ravenswood, where instructor Nat LaChall said classes have run full for almost two years. LaChall attributes this wave of interest in sewing to the do-it-yourself culture that flourished during the pandemic and an engaged online sewing community.
Seamwork, a community resource for beginner sewers, has seen its subscriptions increase by more than 50% since the start of the pandemic. Founder Sarai Mitnick said she’s noticed that more people are looking to “build friendships around sewing” through online community groups like hers.
Then there are others, like Lichtenau, who had long been interested in the craft but never had the time for it. Lichtenau, a former math teacher, recently moved to Chicago from the U.K. She calls herself a “lady of leisure” these days as she figures out her next career move.
Amanda Dazo and her mother, Donna Co, said they enrolled in the beginner sewing class at Lillstreet to spend quality time together while Co visits from the Philippines. The last time they saw each other was almost two years ago.
Dazo said learning to make tote bags and aprons has been empowering.
“It’s challenging, but fulfilling,” she said.
The two ladies said learning to sew has helped them save money on tailoring, including hemming a pair of Adidas sweatpants that Co wore to class.
“Amanda has [hemmed] about four pairs of pants already, and we’re just calculating how much we saved. It’s so exciting,” she said while giggling.
Dazo said she is planning to sew her siblings’ gifts this Christmas, although she occasionally feels overwhelmed by the sewing accounts she follows on social media — including the TikToks her siblings send her as a digital wish list.
But for Yaira Oliveras, a mother of two, seeing sewers post videos of themselves making detailed garments online or releasing new sewing patterns has made her think one day she too could master the craft.
Oliveras said she quit her marketing job in February after burning out. Several months lapsed before she signed up for classes at Lillstreet in search of a creative outlet. Now she said she picks out her own fabrics and dreams about starting her own sewing-related business.
Over at Making It Sew Fun in Beverly, Cherice Taylor said more people in their 20s have been walking through the doors of her studio searching for a sense of empowerment.
Taylor said there’s a lot of interest in clothing alteration because people gained or lost weight during the pandemic. And a lot of the working-class clients who are signing up for her sewing lessons are men who want to learn how to make high-quality garments or cosplay costumes. Prior to this sewing resurgence, Taylor said the age base of her clientele mostly consisted of women above the age of 35.
She attributes this shift in her industry to Gen Z discovering the value of making garments versus consuming fast fashion.
“There is a deeper connection to the process,” Taylor said, “and there is a lot of attention to detail. Today, sewing is more of a kind of mindfulness.”
Anna Savchenko is a reporter for WBEZ. You can reach her at @annasavchenkoo.
