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Date: 8/24/2022
WILBRAHAM – Professional seamstress Emily Engel is the new owner of Sew Special Wilbraham, located at 2442 Boston Rd., offering no frills tailoring and alterations, custom plush pieces, restoration projects, home decor and commissioned fiber art.
Formerly known as Sew Special by Joan, Engel worked for the previous owner Joan Lowbridge-Sisley pre-coronavirus pandemic. When Sisley decided to retire in July, she offered Engel an opportunity to keep the shop going. Engel officially opened Sew Special Wilbraham on Aug. 16 and had a grand re-opening on Aug. 20.
“I had an open house,” said Engel. “I still offer the same tailoring and alteration services as the previous owner, but the shop now has a new aesthetic and will be focused more on the artistic side of sewing.”
She continued, “It’s been great. Lots of people have come in and told me they are glad that the shop is staying open. That’s what I’ve heard more than anything. I think there’s an unfair stigma when it comes to what sewing and fiber art is, that it’s just a hobby geared towards an older generation, but it’s not. There’s so much creativity that can go into sewing and using fabrics to make art.”
Engel has been sewing professionally for over a decade and is mostly self-taught. She is best known for her 2015 creation “Lil’ Bernie” and Muppet replicas. She has worked with folks from Disney and the Jim Henson Company. Engel told Reminder Publishing that sewing was “just something she did.” She never had any formal training; it was something she fell into. Sewing, according to Engel, became a passion when a friend of hers was pregnant with her son, whom she planned to name Calvin, and asked her if she could make him a Hobbes plush, from the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes.”
“At that point I had never been given the challenge to replicate a character, and I jumped at the opportunity,” Engel said. The first plush replica she ever made was Hobbes and all she had as a guide was a picture she found on Google. It turned out to be a great success, and her friend and her son still love it to this day. Engel went on to say, “I then realized I have the ability to look at pictures and recreate them with fabric, needles and thread. That’s when sewing became a passion and I dedicated myself to the craft.”
She’s happy to provide this service along with the creative aspect of it; hopefully showing a younger generation that sewing can be an art form.
“Once more of my work gets into people’s hands, they’ll see that I’m serious about it, this is my passion and I’m here to help the community,” Engel responded. “‘Make do and mend’ is a slogan I tend to apply to my work. It means using and fixing what you have instead of buying new all the time. That’s what I hope to provide for the community.”
Sew Special Wilbraham is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m.- 5 p.m. Walks-in are welcome from 11:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. Engle works by appointment only on Saturdays and Mondays. For more information go to www.sewspecialwilbraham.com, call 596-9003 or email sewspecialwilbraham@gmail.com.