Marengo Sewing Studio

I’m super excited — my friend Kate just opened an apparel sewing shop here in Ann Arbor, and it’s AMAZING. It was so much fun to get a peek behind the scenes at the progress as she and her business partner, Dan, worked to get the space ready for opening these past few months. You can’t even imagine how many things there are to think about when you’re starting a brick and mortar shop from scratch. I can’t even wrap my head around it. I’m so impressed with Kate for bringing her vision to life, and I just know it’s going to be a huge success; Southeast Michigan has needed a shop like this for a loooong time.

Here are some photos I took of the space on opening day:

(that’s Kate!)

Pretty great, right? I mean, just take all my money.

Recognize any of the samples? I dressed Kate’s shop manequins with a little Made by Rae trunk show (Kate carries all of our print patterns at the shop — it’s so fun to see folks come in and say “OH! this is the dress on the cover!”)

It even has a great classroom space…

And guess what? I am working part time as a teacher and studio manager for the classroom space. Kate and I had been discussing the idea of me teaching classes at the shop for a while, but now that the shop is open I’m been working at the studio a few days each week to try to get a solid class schedule off the ground. I taught a beginner “how to sew” class last weekend (it was awesome!!) and I’m looking for other instructors who can help me fill out the schedule with a wide range of apparel sewing classes for both beginner and more experienced sewists. It’s a lot of work and I’m already frustrated that there aren’t more hours in my days to dedicate to it, but it’s energizing work and it’s really fun. I’m also doing a little photography and operating as an in-house Shopify and Flodesk consultant on the side LOL.

Here are some pics from our beginner class last weekend:

Marengo has open sewing nights from 6-8 PM every Thursday night; last night was our first one and it was great. If you’re in town, please come and stop by and sew with us, buy some fabric and patterns, and be sure to say hi!!

Marengo Sewing Studio is located on Felch Street right off of Main Street in Ann Arbor. You can get more info on the shop at their website (you can sign up for their newsletter on that page too!).

Congratulations, Kate!