Sew Kailua & owner Kamuela’s roots.Sew Kailua has been a long time dream of mine. I grew up in Kailua, went to Kailua High School (where my mom was Mrs. Young the Art & AP history teacher), saved every $1 of babysitting money I made to spend on fabric at Fashion Fabrics and Cornet. My friends went to Hungry Ear Records, I went to the fabric store to read the pattern books and touch the material.
Sewing was more then a hobby for me, it was happy escape into a world of creativity where color mattered and texture was as important as function. Sewing opened a world of beauty for me; a girl who could not draw or paint but HAD to make things. By 11th grade I was making most of my own clothes, I never went to a prom in a dress I did not make and I grew to see the mall was a place to shop for ideas NOT clothes or an identity. Sewing gave me a way to be myself, it help me be comfortable with my body and it allowed me to see myself as a creative-maker in everything I did. Sew Kailua is the merging of home and craft for me. I have recently returned home after 20 years in Olympia Washington where I had a Teaching Sewing Studio called ReFabulous. I loved being in the Olympia maker world, I loved the creative community I was a part of and our family missed home. Now that we are mostly settled in I find I miss my craft. I miss showing littles and grown-ups what their hands can do and the joy that brings, I miss making something everyday and I miss teaching people how to make something fabulous from an old t-shirt while showing them that everything has a second use. The Kailua Girl in me remembers wanting a place where I could learn to make a stuffed animal, learn to use the sewing machine without braking the needle, read a pattern or fix my jeans so they fit. So I am building what the girl in me wished she had 35 years ago; Sew Kailua – a place to learn, make and have fun while discovering what the maker in you can do.
Come make something,
Kamuela
To read more on how sewing shaped and altered my life click here.
