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Caught the crafting bug? Then no needling required

Specialty shops across Northern Virginia offer makerspaces that encourage creativity.

By Editorial September 19, 2016 at 8:00 am

Self-described colorer Teresa Sulik, an assistant branch manager for Fairfax County Public Library, is always on the hunt for new, engaging activities. Just over a year ago, when coloring was red-hot, she printed a stack of intricate pictures she found online, put a couple tables together and set out boxes of colored pencils. Turnout at her first adult coloring night was a happy surprise: 13 people showed up to get their coloring on. Now, with names like Zen Coloring, Color Me Happy and Color Me Calm, other branches are providing materials and a place to play. And patrons are into it.

“We get such a variety of people,” Sulik says. From retirees to young couples on a date night to new moms seeking a break, Sulik says the appeal of coloring is widespread. “It’s creative, it’s relaxing, and it’s nice to have something that you do to unwind that isn’t connected to your phone or computer,” she says.

And it’s a low-skill form of art. There’s no concern about creating a masterpiece; coloring is just good fun, says Ted Kavich, program and educational services manager at Fairfax County Public Library. And if you don’t like how your picture is turning out, grab another page and get down to it.

At Star’s Beads in Vienna, co-owner John Goss invites all beading hobbyists to workshop their designs and have fun doing it.

The family-owned shop assembles easy-to-use kits for putting together necklaces, bracelets and earrings. The $25 cost includes guided instruction and small class sizes. But if you just want a place to work, to spread your beads and tools out on the table and start stringing them up, Star’s offers a space for that.

Though the shop offers dozens of organized classes on specialized beading techniques, beginners should feel encouraged. Goss knows jewelry design can be intimidating.

“Once you have your beads in front of you, putting it together is very, very easy,” says Goss, who favors the sea-toned blues of turquoise and to this day marvels at the Earth’s power to produce it.

“You can’t go wrong,” he says of creating jewelry. “And when you do it yourself, it’s custom-size, custom everything—one-of-a-kind, so to speak. Nobody should ever be scared to just try it.”

Classes span from a beginner one-hour beading tutorial to kumihimo braiding.

When Nicole Morgenthau moved to Leesburg from Portland, Oregon, she knew she wanted to open a combination knitting and sewing shop. She hoped to build an intimate sense of community for those with a knack for needlework and those just starting out.

The hybrid Finch Knitting + Sewing Studio is home to colorful skeins of yarn, necessary notions and loads of specialized classes. There are organized knit and quilt nights that offer chill chitchat over the click-clack of knitting needles or the collective hum of sewing machines. Knitting 101 and 102, garment-making and baby quilt classes are quick to sell out. Finch offers sewing and design camps for kids in summer and after-school classes and workshops throughout the year. The shop brings in experts to teach sessions on new fabric dyeing techniques and quilting stitches.

Morgenthau tracks trends on Instagram; one new class she intends to offer is sashiko, a Japanese mending technique that lends a stylish vibe to preserving clothes—something any shopper at Anthropologie would recognize and can soon replicate.

“There’s a need for people to slow down,” says Morgenthau. “Doing things by hand, especially knitting and handwork, in particular, that’s really going to become more and more popular.”

At Angela’s Happy Stamper, owner Angela Finit offers free Tuesday Learn at Lunch demos featuring rubber stamping techniques. On Wednesdays there’s a free make-and-take card project where written instruction is provided and shop employees are available for questions. There are also dozens of one-day class offerings—Zentangle, Art Journaling and Cards “to-die” For—posted each month on the website and trunk shows where experts display their wares and share trade secrets.

Finit says stamping and crafting in general can be solitary, introspective activities. Her shop brings together like-minded enthusiasts and provides a strong sense of community that’s centered on art.

“For a place that can be as disconnected as Northern Virginia can be with the hours people work and the commute and the transient-ness—all of that stuff—a sense of community is probably the most important thing that we offer,” she says.

“Growing up, I was instructed by my art teacher in elementary and junior high not to pursue art in high school,” says Finit. “I was told I didn’t have a talent for that.”

Fortunately, she stamped out that negativity with a positive spin: Her own shop’s fun and supportive environment.