We spend most of our time teaching and will get to your emails with the attention they deserve as quickly as we can.
Thank you for your patience (especially during the holiday season)!
Private Lessons, One-Day Workshops, Multi-Week Classes, After-School Programs, Gift Certificates, and MORE!
Email info@brooklynsewingacademy.com for scheduling
about us
MISSION
“Learn to sew from a community of industry professionals teaching and guiding novices and experts alike!”
Top rated school for sewing lessons in New York City, Brooklyn Sewing Academy is your one stop shop for sewing classes, group workshops, and private sewing lessons. First stop off the A and F trains in Brooklyn. Easy to get to from Manhattan, New Jersey, and Long Island.
Based in Dumbo, the Brooklyn Sewing Academy is an educational and creative center designed to achieve your sewing goals and make your creative dreams a reality. We specialize in textiles and sewing related specialties. Our community of educators can develop and enhance the sewing skills of weekend warriors and industry professionals alike, for everyone age 9 and up. From sewing basics to backpacks, from dog toys to wedding gowns, we’ve got you covered!
In addition to our regular courses we can work with you to design an education based on your needs. Have an idea you want to materialize or have a skill you can’t quite master? Join us in our studio and we’ll work on it together. Or let us bring our studio to you! Our team makes house calls for in-home lessons anywhere in the city - sewing machine included. We have also recently expanded to Woodstock, NY. We believe our classes should be available to all. With environmental sustainability as our anchor, we strive to be strong community partners by championing social advocacy.
We invite you to join our community of collaborators. Together we will make your projects come to life. We look forward to sewing with you!
Educators
Amy Verrier (She/Her)
@amyverrier
Co-Founder
Director of Education
Pattern-Making and Advanced Tailoring
While receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts, Amy focused on her interests in Menswear design, and discovered her passion for Pattern Making and fine tailoring. After graduating from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2016, she pursued her interest in the technical construction of garments by starting her own Pattern and Sample Making company, AV Patterns in 2018. This gave her the opportunity to work with a variety of clients ranging from tailored menswear, LA Streetwear, baby clothing, and high end table linens. As a designer, Amy focuses on redesigning wardrobe staples, such as the plain white T-Shirt, through the manipulation of seam-lines bringing a twist to the everyday wardrobe staples.
Thais Mazelli (She/Her)
@thaismazelli
Senior Instructor
Draping and Illustration Instructor
Native to Brazil, Thais Mazelli, is a designer who splits her time between graphic design and fashion. She lives in Brooklyn, where she designs prints, knits, embroiders, and illustrates for work and for fun. She has a deep love for draping and designing on the dress form.
She received her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where her thesis collection received the Fashion Council Award upon graduation, and was featured in the Art Institute's 150th Anniversary Gala. Her work has been featured on WWD, Bullet Magazine, and been sponsored by Swarovski.
Chelsea Ennen (She/Her)
@chelsea_ennen
After School Assistant Manager
After School Program Assistant
Chelsea Ennen is a former academic with a BA in English and Theater from Wellesley College and an MA in Contemporary Literature, Culture, and Theory from Kings College London. She has bylines in Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Bustle, The Mary Sue, and Avidly, and she writes about Murder, She Wrote and feminist literary criticism on her Substack newsletter, Hello, Young Lovers. As a teacher at the beloved Brooklyn yarn shop Woolyn, Chelsea teaches knitting, crocheting, spinning, and weaving. After first learning to sew in a high school home economics class and then not touching a sewing machine for fifteen years, she was delighted to finally get back into sewing and join the BSA team in 2022. As living proof that a solid foundation in the fundamentals is the best way to begin a rewarding journey in sewing, Chelsea loves helping newbies learn to love developing their skills with careful practice and a sense of fun. Fellow yarn and textile enthusiasts should also come to Chelsea to learn how to cut and sew their handwoven fabrics.
Danny Blankenship (They/Them)
@itsdannyblank
Junior Instructor
Danny Blank is a graduate of the University of South Dakota, with a BFA in Musical Theatre Performance. They began sewing in college through the USD Costume Shop Work Study program, and took costume design and construction classes through college. In addition to costumes, Danny has a passion for wig styling, makeup, dungeons and dragons, and binging reality TV. They are excited to be teaching with the academy.
Anne Mattson (She/Her)
@anne.sews
Part Time Instructor
Anne Mattson is a (mostly) self-taught sewist originally from Phoenix, AZ with a deep passion for historical fashion (18th-20th century), extant vintage garments, and natural fibers. Anne especially loves working with "difficult" fabrics like slinky silks, ravely wools, and wrinkly linen. When not sewing, Anne can be found botanically dyeing, thrifting, knitting, or reading.
Anne works in a traditional 9-5 job in healthcare during the day, but loves spending evenings and weekends at BSA teaching beginner-to-intermediate students. She's been living in Brooklyn for 8 years with her partner and their cats.
Timothy Westbrook (He/Him)
@timothywestbrook_
Co-Founder Administrative Director
Afterschool Programming and Strategic Partnerships
Timothy graduated from Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts with a Bachelors of Fine Art in Fiber Arts and Material Studies in 2011. In 2012, he was named the 2012-2013 Artist-in-Residence at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee WI. In 2013 Timothy was featured on Season 12 of Project Runway. Under his label T.L. Brooke, he identifies as the “Lorax of Fashion.” He makes his clothing out of post-consumer materials and fabrics destined for landfills. Timothy transforms his found materials using non-electric sewing machines and floor looms, leaving zero environmental impact. Inspired by fairytales, mythology, and folklore, he allows his found objects’ stories to inform their transformation. The most notable example is his line of handmade raincoats made entirely from umbrellas rescued from the streets of New York City.
Harper Stein (She/Her)
Digital Portfolio
Alterations Instructor
Harper Stein is a recent NYU graduate, but she learned nearly everything she knows while working in her high school costume shop. (Support arts funding in public schools!) Working on 8-10 productions a year, plus professionally in the Boston area over summer vacations, she fell in love with creating and altering garments, wardrobe management, and especially mentoring new members of the department. When she moved to New York, she taught beginner sewing and fashion design to kids before diverting most of her time to working in entertainment production.
Now, Harper is delighted to return to sewing instruction, specifically in altering and tailoring— the art of creating perfection. She is truly passionate about sharing her knowledge and craft with her students, and hopes to inspire others to use, love, appreciate, and re-think their existing clothing pieces. Three cheers for slow fashion!
Megan Antkoviak (She/Her)
@meg.ant
Senior Instructor Instructor
Fabric Shopping Specialist
Megan Antkoviak is an undergraduate student with an associates degree in fashion design and currently earning her bachelors degree in international trade and marketing at the Fashion Institute of Technology. With over ten years of fashion industry experience, she has worked with people of all ages and backgrounds! Growing up Megan took sewing classes for a decade with Ms. Cheryl, very similar to the classes offered at Brooklyn Sewing Academy. From the humble beginnings of sewing pillow cases her current work has been showcased in multiple fashion shows with the guidance of DE-FI Global Inc. Combining her experience in retail and marketing with her passions for thrifting, recycling, and altering patterns/clothes, her ready-to-wear pieces display utility and and a flare for using unconventional materials. “I love sharing my passion and knowledge of sewing! Thank you!” - Megan Antkoviak
Lisa Harlow-Powell (She/Her)
IMDB
Instructor
Lisa Harlow-Powell graduated from Drexel University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Fashion Design. Born in Switzerland to an American Father and Nicaraguan Mother, she spent most of her life moving and traveling to different parts of the world. Because of this she is fluent in English, French, Spanish and proficient in German. She credits her eclectic background, and the opportunity it provided to experience culturally different socio-economic parts of the world, for her ability to come to new situations with creative openness and mental flexibility
She began her career working 2 years in fashion before making the transition into the film industry. Now she has over a decade of experience in the Costume Department of film and television. Using her skills in draping, fine tailoring, garment manipulation and dyeing she also takes on specialized projects such as vintage alterations, wedding dress and other garment creations. She is deeply passionate about teaching the use of the fiber arts in self expression.
Chiedza Kaseke (She/Her)
Chiedza Kaseke is a South African born Zimbabwean who has received her BFA at Parsons The New School of Design. She is a multidisciplinary designer with a BFA in Fashion Design and a minor in Business and Entrepreneurship. Specializing in machine knitting, sample and garment development, draping and pattern making, she creates mainly womenswear but has a flair for unisex design as well. She enjoy's creating vivid and bold work that is inclusive and culturally reflective as she takes inspiration from her culture, people and her thoughts about the future.
She was the recipient of the Teen Vogue Generation Next Award in 2022 and has been featured in a number of magazines such as Vogue Runway, Essence, Hypebeast and Teen Vogue.
Contact us.
315.854.4981
info@brooklynsewingacademy.com
DUMBO Brooklyn New York Location
147 Front Street, Suite 222
Brooklyn, NY 11201
founding members
Rebecca Beeman
Chelsea Feltman
The Finzi Family
Patricia Giurleo
Ellyn Levy
Gigi Manapat
Sarah Merkel
Stray Native
Daniela Rupp
Agathe Tampier
Tracy Verrier
Christopher and Susan Westbrook
COlLABORATORS
Danielle Simone Co.
Black Fashion Fair
THAIS MAZELLI
