At the Stash House we are currently on a trimester schedule, where we release 4 months of classes and offer a member discount locked in for 4 months at a time. During the trimester, we may add additional workshops depending on availability (like we just did with some new Wednesday evening 5-8pm classes!). You can sign up for classes on our class calendar, and read more about our workshop offerings here.

Our Staff-led classes are currently 90% off for Stash House members. So let’s meet the staff!

We have 3 staff members that regularly teach our workshops - Elsa, Jena, and Kendra, as well as Kathryn, the owner of Swanson’s Fabrics. Read more about them and their responses to our interview questions below!

Elsa (she/they) is our Education Director and Programs Manger. They believe in the importance of sustainability and self expression, and that education in textile arts is key to giving people the tools they need to clothe themselves, repair their belongings, and value the labor that goes into textiles.

Elsa teaches many of our sewing classes, including Pants Class, Shirt Class, Clone your Clothes, Button Up Shirt Class, Alterations classes and more. She also teaches our intro to Longarm Quilting with help from Dave. Elsa also led our first Knit Along workshop series this winter.

Join Elsa for her fellowships sessions on Tuesday evenings for Mends with Friends 5:30 - 7:30 pm or Wednesday afternoons for Fashion Club 3 - 5 pm

Elsa also offers private lessons for consultations and support in a variety of projects

Q: What gets you excited about sewing?

I love secondhand materials - focusing on sustainably sourced fabrics and notions, and using materials almost all secondhand, deadstock, or vintage offers such creative abundance. These materials are not a limitation to me, but an inspiration, and I want to bring that feeling to others. I also love workshopping ideas within the limitation of the materials - this applies to mending and repair as well. What can we do with what we have on hand in order to get the most appealing, long lasting results? I thin this is why I love our Mends with Friends fellowship session so much - people bring all kinds of repairs and we figure them out together with what we have on hand to keep the items in use!

Q: What do you think makes you a good instructor?

I do not have traditional schooling in sewing, tailoring, or fashion design, but 20 years of pursing visions for what I want to wear and figuring out how to make it. The trial and error process means I have experience with both success and failure, and the knowledge of how to overcome many issues that you may encounter while learning. I also teach environmental science at local Universities and Community Colleges, which keeps me thinking about new ways to engage with learning from an academic perspective. I’m also a pretty low stress person, which brings a feeling of calm problem solving in the classroom. Mistakes are a part of learning, and the seam ripper is a constant friend when sewing - I think my easy going mentality helps students feel that mistakes are learning opportunities, and that we can figure then out together.

Q: What is your next project?

I’m currently most excited about creating unique suiting, blending traditional tailoring methods, couture techniques, and speed tailoring for a custom outcome. Why can’t suits be floral and fun?

I’ve also gotten really into hand quilting as a portable project.

Jena (they/them) is passionate about fiber arts and building relationships around shared hobbies. Based in Franklin county, they are currently obsessed with sewing, knitting, pottery, and cats. Jena rediscovered their enthusiasm for sewing as a healing and liberatory practice for their fat, queer and non-binary body.

Jena teaches Shirt Class, Pants Class, and our Quilting 101 classes.

Jena also offers private lessons for consultations and support in a variety of sewing and knitting projects

Q: What gets you excited about sewing?

I love the creative possibility of making something out of nothing that can then be worn or admired. I create clothing from natural fibers that are comfortable for the shape and sensory needs of my body that aren't made ready to wear fast fashion. When I am not garment sewing I love the creativity and freedom of quilting or adorning my home with functional linens. The magic of sewing also includes understanding how things are made which equips me to mend or repair textiles to keep them in use longer and out of the landfill.

Q: What gets you excited about teaching?

I am excited about teaching sewing to help folks make clothes that feel good on their bodies and learn skills to bring their creative vision into fruition. Commercially made ready to wear fast fashion is increasingly made with lesser quality material, construction and fit. Buying clothing in a store is also not an option that’s available to all of our body sizes nor are there many options in a rural area. Well made clothing that you have made is a real investment in your body and in the longevity of your clothing. It can challenge our patterns of consumption to invest in building the skills to sew quality pieces. I also want to give assurance to other fat bodies that there is space in our sewing community at Swanson’s for you and we can be a resource to finding patterns that work for your body. I have also had a lot of fun teaching quilting because there’s space to prioritize the whimsey of playing with color and learning precision skills that will be transferable to other projects.

Q: What's your favorite thing you’ve made?

My most worn garment is a simple pair of pants that are wide legged with a high rise elastic waist, made in a soft black linen. They are the Muna and Broad Glebe pants, one of their first patterns. I honestly wasn’t into the look when I first saw them, they are big and voluminous. It took me a few years to be ready for them, there is a lot of internalized fatphobia from the world about what is flattering. But let me tell you, not only are they a really easy pattern to make, they are the most comfortable and stylish pair of pants!

Kendra is also a key part of the Swanson’s Fabrics shipping department!

Kendra (she/her) is a jack of all trades in and outside of Swanson's. She has a wide artistic background spanning several mediums, and likes to focus on exploration of creativity and everything we can do with our hands. She enjoys thoughtfully engaging with the world around her and the things that make up our spaces and environments. She sees creativity as a type of alchemy - transforming objects into new states of being.

Kendra teaches many of the workshops in our Sewing 101 & 102 series, and some of our Quilting 101 classes. Kendra can also offer support in knitting and mending

Join Kendra for her fellowship sessions on Sunday evenings for Horror and Handwork 5:30 - 7:30 pm. Don’t worry, they go pretty light on the horror movies.

What gets you excited about sewing?

What gets me excited about sewing are the elements of design that come into play. There's kind of an engineering perspective as a designer - you get to customize and modify everything that you're making. One of the things that bums me out about manufactured goods is that they're never designed exactly the way that I want them to be. There's always some kind of detail that I would have left out or something that I wish was included. When I sew, I’m empowered to make all these choices about my final product that make it more functional for me and more attractive to me, and to be able to engage in that but then also help other people figure out how to engage with that and approach those kinds of questions is really gratifying and satisfying and then I have an item that lasts.

At the end of the day what I really am is a really curious control freak. I like to mess around and find out and understand how things work, then use that information to make effective decisions about how I shape my environment.

What gets you excited about teaching?

I really see teaching is a meeting of the minds, and so what gets me really excited is when people have questions or want guidance around something and collaborating on problem solving together. It's my favorite part. Also, watching different people solve the same problem is always interesting.

What’s your favorite thing you’ve made?

My favorite thing that I've made… oh geez, probably at the end of the day, my favorite thing that I've made are my fingerless mittens because I use them so much, but one of the things I'm most proud of is a huge lace panel that I've been knitting for years. It's hard to choose a favorite because there's different qualities of things that make them really special to me and you spend so much time with everything you make.

What’s your favorite pattern?

I love pattern clashing so that I can blind my enemies

Kathryn (she/her) is the Captain of the good ship Swanson’s.

Kathryn teaches our rug braiding classes and leads our Throw Pillow Parties (free for members!) You can also often find Kathryn during Quilt Club, a Thursday fellowship session that runs from 3-7pm.

What gets you excited about sewing?

The satisfaction of a good day's work and being able to see what I've accomplished - so I love a sewing project that it physical evidence of a job a well done. I love the satisfaction of making things with my own hands.

Where did you learn to sew?

From my mom when I was little. I had so much fun collecting the scraps from her costume shop floor and playing with fabrics from as early as I can remember

What is your next project

My next project is to finish a few quilt tops to get on our long arm quilter!

Meet our instructors

Longarm quilting at the Stash House