Class Update at Bolt Fabric
April 2022
To our Bolt Fabric sewing community,
We have heard so many of you asking when we would be offering classes again. After much careful thought, consideration and changing our minds a million times (both ways), we have decided to postpone classes until much further down the road.
Being new owners for such a brief time has brought many new adventures for us. It’s been challenging yet exciting to keep the store running smoothly and to begin new projects and offer different opportunities for our customers. Our focus right now is on the store and the products we carry and the customers we serve both in person and online. Restarting Classes after a 2+ year break is essentially starting all over from scratch. Many of our previous instructors have moved on to other opportunities and are no longer available to teach. Our classroom space doubles as our backstock/receiving/shipping area. Our staff is smaller and stretched to the max. A global pandemic has changed how the business operates in so many ways that it would not be a simple return to classes as they were in early 2020. We’re not saying goodbye to classes forever, just not any time soon and not in the way that classes were previously offered at Bolt.
We do have some exciting new things on the horizon, so stay tuned!
Anne and Bitty
We’ve compiled a list of resources for those of you who are new sewists or wanting to take a class to learn a new skill. And we are always happy to help answer your sewing questions in the shop!
Classes in the Portland Area
Portland Fashion Institute: Bitty and I have both taken classes here and can recommend it highly. You don’t need to be enrolled in the certificate program and there are evening and weekend classes.
Good Hand Studio: Sewing classes for kids taught by Heather, a former Bolt staff member! Currently closed for classes, but follow on Instagram to see projects and get updates on re-opening.
Sewop Makers Space: Located across the river in Vancouver, WA, offers sewing classes for beginners+ as well as open sew times.
PCC: Check the schedule and see what’s on offer each term.
Clark College: Also located in Vancouver, WA. Check the schedule for sewing classes.
Wildcraft Studio: A wide array of textile and craft making classes, they all look fabulous. Classes do sell out quickly so get on their email list or Instagram to grab a spot.
Online Classes, Tutorials, SewAlongs, Subscriptions, Etc.
Seamwork: An online sewing community with monthly or yearly subscriptions featuring 2 patterns a month, a library of sewing/textile related articles, video sew alongs and more. If you subscribe using our affiliate link, we receive a referral fee. And subscribers to Seamwork receive 15% off regular priced items at Bolt.
Sew Liberated: In addition to some classic patterns out there in the sewing community, Sew Liberated now offers Learn to Sew courses online. I learned to sew knits taking Meg’s Craftsy class way back in the day! We have also partnered with Sew Liberated and course participants will receive a discount code to use at Bolt.
YouTube: Sooo many resources here, for free! Your Sara K (Sewing Therapy) is my favorite as she takes popular patterns and makes a whole sewing video about them.
Pattern Designer’s Tutorials and Sew Alongs: Many of the independent sewing pattern designers offer tutorials and sewalongs for their patterns on their websites. It can be painful to pay the higher prices for Indie patterns, but you get so much more value in the extra help offered! Here are some I have used: True Bias, Megan Nielson, Thread Theory, Grainline, Christine Haynes, Noodlehead, Friday Pattern Co.
Tilly and the Buttons: There is free content as well as online workshops. Some of my favorite patterns are from Tilly and if you followed along with our Undies Month in February, you will know that the Iris Knickers were a huge hit. There’s a class!
Other sources for online content and sewing learning include Closet Core, Sewn Stories, In the Folds, Cashmerette and so many more. Feel free to leave a comment if you know of another resource not listed here and we will add it.
Almost all of the resources listed here are small, women-owned businesses. Let’s support each other!