What began around a dining room table during the pandemic has expanded into a business with a kid-focused mission.
Jessica Beck, a Kennewick mother with a lifelong love of sewing, has transformed her home-based sewing lessons for homeschooled kids into a full-fledged sewing school.
Jessica’s Sewing School targets beginners aged 8 through high school who are discovering the joy of crafting for the first time. It offers more than just classes; it provides a warm, welcoming space where young creators can build skills, confidence and community.
“My dream,” Beck said, “is that someday they come back to show me their prom dresses they sewed themselves.”
Beck moved her sewing classes into a Kennewick studio at 3030 Clearwater Ave., Suite 110, in April.
The school offers one-session beginner sewing classes, as well as four levels of Sewciety courses, a sewing curriculum that layers on fundamental skills in garment sewing, quilting and more.
“By the time students complete all four courses, they’re better sewers than most of their moms,” Beck said.
Every time Beck sat down at her sewing machine, she recalled how her daughter, Ivy, now 10, was eager to learn.
“We had started homeschooling because of the pandemic, and it’s been very important to my husband and I that we raise kids that are makers and not consumers,” she said.
Inspired by Ivy’s budding interest in sewing and a desire to bring in some extra income, Beck decided to test the waters and see if others in the community might have kids interested in learning as well.
She filled up her classes right away after posting about them to a homeschooling Facebook group.
Her home-based setup worked, but it was crowded with five students per session, multiple sewing machines and the space needed to cut and iron fabric.
Plus, there was clearly demand for more classes, and not just from the homeschooling community.
“We started with homeschoolers, but now we can accommodate more kids who have a traditional school day,” Beck said.
Jessica Beck teaches students the art of sewing at Jessica’s Sewing School at 3030 Clearwater Ave., Suite 110, Kennewick.
With an affinity for mid-century design, Beck and her husband had often commented on the unusual 1978 brutalist style Clearwater Plaza building that now houses her sewing studio.
Formerly home to a pet groomer and before that a hairstylist, the open 1,000-square-foot corner space featuring a vaulted ceiling with skylights and a private restroom turned out to be exactly what Beck wanted.
She brought sewing machines from her house and received as gifts some of the dining room tables that serve as workstations as well as those she found on Facebook Marketplace. She also bought fabric and shelving from Joann before it closed its Kennewick store.
The sewing school’s reception area is a fun and funky step back in time, featuring a floral print vintage couch and framed retro Simplicity patterns along with an antique sewing machine on display along with related sewing notions.
Ivy spoke highly of her mom’s skills. “Mom does a really good job and covers everything students might need here,” Ivy said.
Her friend from class, Reagan Johnson, 8, of Pasco, said her favorite part of class is the actual sewing, that she’s made a lot of pals and is proud of the shirt and pillow she made for her bed.
“There’s a lot of creative chaos,” Ivy said. “On Reagan’s last project, she kept forgetting to sew her seam allowance; another girl kept sewing her pockets closed, but it’s fun.”
Beck said she is gradually replacing the sewing machines her students use so that they are all the same $250 Brother machines for ease of teaching.
“It’s an intentional choice. I wanted something that was at a price point that parents wouldn’t balk at when they ask … I wanted to be able to show them these machines and all of the features and value they offer,” she said.
Beck grew up sewing. “I just wanted to make things,” she said. “I have a very vintage sense of style, and they just weren’t available, so I wanted to make what I wanted to make and what I saw in my head.”
She said she was fortunate to have a mom and grandmother who were highly competent seamstresses.
Today, “a lot of students don’t even have an iron in their household,” she said.
Beck said the desire to create is always there and kids especially are very creative.
“They get in their head what they want to make, and you have to give them the tools to make it … They see a favorite YouTuber make an elaborate costume and they want to make one, too,” she said.
Beck said sewing also is a practical life skill. “I do think with the current economy, we’re heading into a season of ‘mend and make do.’ We have a generation of consumers who want more, more, more, and I think we’re going to see a shift toward higher quality, more unique handmade things made in the U.S. due to tariffs,” she said.
A “Sew much fun” and “Don’t rush me” sign and framed retro Simplicity patterns decorate the walls at Jessica’s Sewing School at 3030 Clearwater Ave., Suite 110, Kennewick.
Jessica’s Sewing School is offering six Sewciety classes this fall: 3:30 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. Tuesdays; 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. Wednesdays; and 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Thursdays. Students attend one class per week for six weeks and each class is 75 minutes long.
It costs $217 for the six-week course, which includes all fabric and notions required to complete a project. Students must buy some basic supplies, such as scissors, measuring tape and a seam ripper.
Prospective students must also take a one-day beginner workshop ($55) before enrolling in the Sewciety classes.
Beck said her classes are close to full and is hoping by next session to hire additional staff to increase class sizes from the current six pupils up to nine.
Each of the four levels of Sewciety take about a year to complete, so students have plenty of room to grow and create.
“The lady who developed (Sewciety) started it about 10 years ago just like me around her dining room table. She’s had hundreds of kids come through her New Jersey studio and has fine-tuned (the curriculum). I think I was on my way to this, but she saved me eight years of work,” Beck said.
Beck is quick to point out that not all of her students are girls.
“I did an all-boys class and told them, ‘The sewing machine is just another power tool that you can use to create the life that you love and that you want.’”
She also had four men independent of one another ask her if she would ever consider offering an all-men’s class on basic sewing and repair jobs such as hemming pants, reattaching buttons, replacing worn elastic and repairing holes.
“I’m entertaining the idea of a very, very beginners’ adult class; I want to fill that void.
“I don’t have a desire to compete with other classes held around town – because they do a very good job at what they do – but for the person who is learning off Pinterest and YouTube videos, I want to be the in-person point of connection,” she said.
She also takes donations of some sewing supplies, especially fabric, but asks to please call ahead.
Jessica’s Sewing School: 3030 Clearwater Ave., Suite 110, Kennewick. 509-301-2419. Jessicassewingschool.com.
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