Sewing school stitches up growth plans with relocation

William Gaunt of Sunny Bank Mills with Jo Tickle and Nicola Lee of the School of Sew

An innovative sewing school has made a crafty move to larger premises at a refurbished family-owned mill complex in Leeds.

The School of Sew which launched in July 2016 has moved to a 1500 sq ft premises, The Spinning Mill at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley, once the home of Yorkshire Television’s Emmerdale and Heartbeat.

The School of Sew helps budding seamstresses and seamsters to become sewing experts, even if they’ve never threaded a needle or sewing machine before. The school has also proved popular with experienced sewing enthusiasts keen to find a dedicated workspace to further indulge their hobby and improve their sewing skills.

Lessons and courses cover dressmaking and fashion, curtains and blinds, accessories and gifts.

Entrepreneurs Jo Tickle and Nicola Lee are the driving force behind School of Sew’ success. Their original business aim was to provide students of all ages with the skills and confidence to sew perfectly.

Tickle said: “We’ve been astounded with the interest in the school and demand for classes has been huge, hence the need to find a larger more suitable space. The Mills provide the perfect home for the School as a variety of creative and unusual businesses involved in the crafting sector are based here so there’s already lots of interest and a great entrepreneurial craft vibe around the place. It’s the perfect environment to come along and get involved with sewing either as a one off project or a long term skills-building course.

“Now that School of Sew is established we want to continue to inspire people to be creative and discover their sewing talents. The changes we’ve seen in novices who have progressed to very competent sewers is very rewarding. We’re appealing to such a broad base of customer from mums keen to brush up on their sewing skills and older people who don’t have the space at home to professionals with stressful jobs who want a space to visit and wind down by learning to sew. Now we have the space we’ve got some exciting plans including team-building and corporate craft days, children’s parties and themed events.”

Lee added: “We’re confident that the school will continue to go from strength to strength. Having the space to welcome more visitors, to run more classes, provide more workstations and equipment for students to use as well as display space is very exciting and the initial feedback has been glowing.”

William Gaunt, joint managing director of Edwin Woodhouse, the owners of Sunny Bank Mills, added: “We are delighted to welcome such an innovative venture as the School of Sew to Sunny Bank Mills. It will help with our vision to return crafting to the mill as sewing is such an important part of our heritage here. I’m sure the school will be a huge asset to the community here at the Mills and to the wider area as a whole.”

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close