Needles and Knots is a sewers’ sanctuary

Shauna Smith with the red silk, bias-cut slip dress. More opportunities to learn to make the dress are on the lab's calendar. (Noelle Haro-Gomez/Contributor)

On the northwest corner of Campbell Avenue and Fort Lowell Boulevard sits an inconspicuous midcentury modern building that houses something unexpected: sewing machines, irons and spacious worktables.

Overseeing the room is a dress form replete with a ready-for-action, red-hot silk slip dress. Cut on the bias, this baby is form fitting. One thing is certain: This is not your grandmother's sewing room.

This is Needles and Knots Sewing and Design Lab, a place to learn to sew or improve skills. The studio is the brainchild of Shauna Smith, who also teaches the classes.

"Who doesn't want to have clothes that fit?" she asked rhetorically.

Tissue paper patterns and pinking shears, sure, but today's sewers are now employing electric and knife-edge scissors and rotary cutters. They use decorative silk pins and pattern weights. Today's sewers use machines made by Husqvarna, Bernina and Juki. They draft their own patterns for a perfect fit, and they work hard to use natural fibers such as cotton, silk and linen.

They can learn to use those tools and wield a needle at Smith's shop. She is calm; patient; and an experienced sewer, pattern drafter and teacher. She will show anyone of any age, any size and any body shape how to sew clothing that will make them look good and feel good.

Smith runs any number of classes every month for people of every level of sewing skill. Those who don't know how to sew should start with Stitch x Stitch, a one-day, learn-to-sew workshop. This is where a sewing journey begins.

"I feel like a lot of sewing classes out there, when they get you at the entry level, they just put you on a machine that already works and have you sew a cute bag, and by the time you’re done, you really don't know what you did," she said.

"I (have you) take apart the machine and oil it, look at all the parts and really get to know the machine so that when you go home and break a needle or jam a bobbin, you’re not afraid of it, and you know you didn't do anything wrong. You can handle it. That, I think, is the most important part of having a good relationship with your sewing machine."

Those without a machine are in good shape, as there are six in the studio. Plus, "I encourage you not to buy a machine before that class because I tell you about things to look for in a good sewing machine," she said.

For those at the other end of the sewing spectrum, there's this class: "Pattern Making Primer: Tools of the Trade and How They Are Used." In this class, students learn to make patterns for their own bodies, copying ready-made garments. Then there are the classes for students who fall between rank beginner and know-it-all. That's where the bias-cut silk dress class falls.

On this day, three of the four students — all women, two in their 20s and one in her 30s — were working on their silk dresses. This is not a beginner's class, and for the women here this is not the first round of classes they have had at Needles and Knots.

Elizaveta Brotherton came to class with a year's sewing classes and experience, so she is a quick hand with the slippery silk. She has a new clothing brand, Anaveta, with a small line of fashions. Her goal is to make her own samples and, as a new transplant from Alaska, to meet new friends as well.

"I was super excited about this class because sewing silk dresses is my goal, and that was the first thing that really started our brand," Brotherton said. "We had this blue dress, and I had designed it. It was very popular; it got a lot of traction on TikTok. That was my goal, so I’m very happy to be able to work with it now."

Her biggest challenge was overcoming nerves when working with silk.

"I had a lot of fear and anxiety about working with the fabric," Brotherton said. "Shauna has taken me out of that mindset. I can always go in and unpick it. I’ve built some confidence with it, whereas before I was terrified."

Kalani Gill, a junior fashion industry and technology major at the University of Arizona, came to class even though she was without her car. Still, she sat down and got to work. Gill said she's only been sewing since receiving a sewing machine for Christmas.

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