The Sewing Lounge

If you're on a budget but still a fashionista at heart, here's a happy compromise.




"Just 19, Jessica Dooley opened a boutique in Burbank last month called the Sewing Lounge. "I want to create a community of crafters who encourage one another," she said from her sunny space. A recent graduate of the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising's marketing program, Dooley hosts daily "open sewing" hours when customers can drop in and use the machines. She also leads classes. Subjects include refashioning thrift-store finds, making alterations, sewing simple curtains and, yes, learning how to operate the sewing machine you own but don't know how to use. Classes are designed for three or four people, but private sessions also are available, and she plans to add lessons for kids next month. Prices for most group classes run $50 to $75 for two to six hours of instruction, and private lessons are $35 an hour; "open sewing" is $9 an hour."

3216 W. Magnolia Blvd.; (818) 729-1781; 

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