The dynamic sewing and craft workshop Hipstitch is celebrating its first anniversary in Brookline Village. The brand has locations in Newton and Wellesley and expanded to Brookline to further work with the vibrant artistic and educational communities here.
“Brookline is a little bit different from the other communities we are in,” says Eva Brazer, the Brookline manager and content editor for Hipstitch. “There’s a big artist community here which has really been wonderful. We get people in here all the time asking questions, looking for a new art to try, looking to expand their skills.”
Hipstitch is a business with roots in education. Owner Nicola Day grew up sewing her clothes and wanted to pass that skill to her daughter. She began hosting sewing classes for her daughter and friends, and the classes grew quickly in popularity. From there, the business was born.
Education is still at the core of Hipstitch’s mission. They provide afterschool workshops to Brookline Public Schools like Florida Ruffin Ridley, Heath, Runkle, Lawrence, and many others. These are usually machine-sewing courses (Hipstitch’s primary medium) hosted either at the school or in the Brookline studio. Students start with the basics, learning how to use the machine and sew basic stitches, then they can work their way up in different projects. Hipstitch offers a fashion design course for more advanced students that take sewers from idea and sketch to finished product.
“The idea is to bring back some of these art forms and crafts and things that used to be taught in school,” says Brazer. “To introduce kids to these really creative art forms that open a lot of doors.”
But the fun isn’t just for kids. Hipstitch hosts many adult-friendly workshops, including the very popular Sip and Sew nights, where guests bring their own wine and learn how to sew a fun project. Brazer says the adult class offerings have become more expansive in Brookline than in the other two locations because there is already such a robust artist community.
Almost all of the courses at Hipstitch are beginner friendly, so no artistic experience is required. In addition to machine sewing, the group offers knitting and crochet workshops, parent and child joint classes, embroidery, felt work, and some entry-level quilting, among other courses.
The back half of the Hipstitch space is for workshops, but the front also offers quite a bit of unique retail. Shoppers can stock up on supplies for their knitting and embroidery projects or check out a whole new art form with an entry-level kit.
“We’re in the process of trying to meet and bring in more retail from Brookline and Boston local artists,” says Brazer. They do stock a number of local artist products already, for example, needle felting kits from Leaf Pile Studios, a Massachusetts-based needleworker. There are also many products from small UK producers, as Day is a UK native and remains connected with the artist communities there.
Going into their second year, the Hipstitch team hopes to continue bringing the joy of textile art to the Brookline community.
“They’re not the basic skills that they used to be, but they’re really great and helpful skills to have,” says Brazer. “I think if you have an interest in it, anyone can learn any of these art forms. People are always surprising themselves with how capable they are.”