Kate English worked at Spun, the yarn shop in Kerrytown. In May, she and business partner Dan opened their own store two blocks over, and it carries something Spun never did: fabric for clothes. Marengo Sewing Studio sits inside an old brick factory on Felch Street, next to Ann Arbor Distilling Company. Sewists across southeast Michigan have wanted a shop like this for a long time.
Walk in, and you will find bolts of Oxford cloth, denim, and twills, along with dead stock the shop recently picked up from Soft Goods, a Detroit clothing maker known for its all-American supply chain. You will also find indie sewing patterns you will not find at a big-box store. Kate named the shop Marengo after the street in south Toledo where her grandmother Pauline lived. Pauline sewed on a foot-powered treadle machine, and one just like it is on display in the shop today.
Sewists across southeast Michigan have wanted a shop like this for a long time.
Her studio manager is Rae Hoekstra, the designer behind Made by Rae, known across the sewing world for size-inclusive patterns. Rae builds the class schedule, from beginner sewing classes to a pants fitting workshop. Classes have been filling up fast. Every Thursday the shop hosts a social sewing night, where sewists bring their own projects and work side by side.
