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My earliest memories involve sitting in my grandmother’s sewing room in the summers. She let me cut and play with scraps. She patiently explained to me what she was doing. If I close my eyes and scroll my mental Rolodex back, I can see her, with her 1980s glasses on, hunched over her sewing table with the afternoon golden hour sun streaming over her from her front porch windows.
Most photos from my childhood for Christmas or Easter Sunday involve matching dresses for my sister and me that she made. Unfortunately, my grandmother died before I finished elementary school. Still, when I was allowed to pick an afterschool activity, I wanted to take lessons at the local sewing center. Learning to sew like my grandmother did, with her attention to intricate details like matching buttons, eyelet trim and smocking, seemed like something I knew I could do.
I will never forget my sewing classes with Ms. Jennifer at the Rogers Sewing Center. I made bears, a pillow, placemats, a bag, culottes with a matching T-shirt and my Easter Sunday dress. Maybe the sunflower dress with my Elizabeth Arden Sunflowers perfume for eighth-grade graduation was a little much, but the sewing instruction gave me the critical self-confidence that I lacked.
There is no time like the present to sit and make something with your hands!
Fabric Stores and Sewing Classes in Arkansas
- Make. Do. | Searcy – built around the mission of creativity and connection, weekly classes with staff, monthly quilting workshops, and unique creative time for littles, this is the destination for all creativity.
- The French Seam | Stuttgart – a treasure for avid quilters and fashion enthusiasts, monthly classes for all ages
- Country Corner Quilts and Crafts | Harrison – sewing classes and fabric shop amid Civil War battle sites and the Ozark Mountains
- Cozy Quilts & Things | Mulberry – fabric, notions, quilt finishing and monthly classes
- Sew Smart Sewing Center | Mountain Home – classes focus on embroidery experiences with a towel of the month club and scan and cut practice
- Remember Me Quilts | Mountain Home – servicing the area for over 41 years. In addition to fabrics and notions, they host a monthly Quilts of Valor class.
- Rogers Sewing Center | Rogers – intricate quilting technique classes like applique, paper piecing, ruler quilting and free motion.
- Lonesome Pine Quilts | Elkins – host of the Northwest Arkansas spring Fling Shop Hop and two quilts of the month clubs with a focus on scrapping
- Sager Creek Quilts | Siloam Springs – classes are offered in person and through Zoom with a weekly Tuesday live sew-along on Facebook
- Stitching Post | Little Rock – small projects, children and teens, new machine owners, smocking, serging, and a Monthly Makers club – online tutorial series for quilting and more.
- Arkansas Fashion School | Little Rock – eight-week course for tailoring and clothes making
- The Bed Warmer Quilt and Sew | Benton – classes for beginners and seasoned quilters – sewing, embroidery and quilting, open sewing classes, and block of the month clubs
- Sewing Center, etc. | Conway – upcoming classes with unique projects like a zippered cross body, luggage tags, catch-all baskets, travel duffel bags and vintage recipe tea towels
- Granas Front Porch Fabrics & More | Conway – a quilters paradise with top quality fabrics and notions, sewing and quilting classes for all levels
- Hickory Hill Quilts | Hot Springs – 1000 bolts of fabric and Bernina machines offered for classes in beginners assembly, free motion and machine mastery
- Fabric Creations by Tiffany | Glenwood – south Arkansas quilting hub and online classes
Crafting Shops Offering Classes and Creative Spaces in Arkansas
- The Crafy Shambles | Bentonville – an artists’ collaborative mercantile offering workshops in different crafting mediums, instructed by local artisans
- Common Dwellings | Bentonville – florist and wreath classes for groups, mobile truck experience for local events
- The Crafty Retreat | Springdale – supplies and paper crafting center with classes for cropping and card making
- Gingiber | Springdale – art store and a gallery with wholesale and retail online courses for artists
- Sleet City | Fayetteville – after painting many murals around town, Olivia and Jon took the leap to open their own creative space
- Ozark Folkways Heritage Center | Winslow – a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation and development of regional arts
- Arts on Main | Van Buren – poetry, ceramics, jewelry, dance, culinary, and horticulture experiences for the family
- Board and Brush | Russellville, Conway, Little Rock – hand-painted and etched wooden home decor made by you!
- Melt Art Studio | Searcy – full DIY process pottery classes – throwing on the wheel, to painting and staining and curing
- The Chandlery at the Ozark Folk Center Craft Village | Mountain View – pottery, shuckery doll shop, casting, jewelry, candle making
- Arkansas Craft Center | Mountain View – community enrichment workshops in courses like blade smithing, stained glass, woodworking, glass button making and silversmithing
- Artasia | Hardy – unique artisan classes like wire wrapping, button making, crocheted scrubbies, reusable water balloons and decorative plant stakes
- Arkansas Innovation Hub | Little Rock – upcoming classes in hand building with clay, glass fusion, vector designs, women’s woodworking and photography
- Windgate Art Classes at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock – daytime and evening workshops for adults and children in areas of drawing, ceramics, metals, glass, fabrics, painting and printmaking
- The Painted Pig | Little Rock – pottery, wood art, glass and mosaics. Check out summer camps for children.
- Ouachita Artists Gallery and Studio | Mount Ida – monthly classes in art and drawing, as well as oil painting and home decor crafting
- Emergent Arts | Hot Springs – fostering creativity through afterschool classes and summer camps for children and weeknight events for adults
Leave a comment and let us know what projects you are currently working on!
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Thanks for the shout out for me at Lonesome Pine Quilts!
[…] Craft and Sewing Classes in Arkansas […]
[…] a strong foundation of skills and a supportive network, you’ll be ready to extend your quilting endeavors. One of the ways […]