Antoinette Lee says she's following the advice of the sign behind her: "Do what you love every day."

By Kate Parsons

Antoinette Lee, owner of A Special Lee Sewing and Craft Cafe, is everywhere at once during the Wednesday evening Intro to Sewing class she teaches.

“There are no dumb questions,” she assures the students making their first tentative seams on the sewing machines that fill Lee’s Petworth home.

Lee, a native Washingtonian, received her first sewing machine at age 13 and has been sewing ever since. She left her federal job to pursue her hobby full-time in 2002 and has spent the next decade and a half sewing and teaching with different local sewing stores. After encouragement from her students, she launched her own studio, A Special Lee, here in Petworth in 2017.

Lee teaches a variety of classes for adults including Intro to Sewing, Intro to Quilting, and Home Decor. Children aged 8 and up can participate in Kids and Teens sewing classes, making projects suited to their skill level. Classes are taught in two-hour weekly sessions over six weeks. For more advanced sewers, Lee offers an open studio where anyone can drop in with questions about a project or learn additional techniques.

Antoinette Lee demonstrates how to sew a seam.

The pandemic has had an obvious impact on A Special Lee studio – all students are masked and class sizes are capped at four people. But Lee has been pleasantly surprised by the uptick in students since she was able to reopen: “This fall, I had the most students I’ve ever had,” she said.

Lee’s students credited the pandemic in part with their desire to get out of the house and learn new skills. Amanda Bradshaw said though she grew up seeing her mother sew, she had a hard time learning by herself. “Without this class, I’m not sure I would have done it,” she said.

Amanda Bradshaw cuts out fabric to make a tote bag in A Special Lee's Intro to Sewing I class.

Aditi Dinakar wanted to learn something artsy in the new year and liked that she was supporting a woman-owned business.

Intro to Sewing I students leave after six weeks with a tote bag and a pair of pajama pants.

“In this era of workaholic work from home, it can be hard to detach,” added Julie Buekens. She saw sewing as a good winter activity to unwind while learning a lifelong skill.

Lee has seen her share of DC workaholics. “In this area, we work too hard and we don’t enjoy life enough,” she said. Her mantra to students is to focus less on output and to “enjoy the process.”

“It’s a great feeling for me when students get that ‘aha’ moment,” she said, “When I hear the sewing machine speed up, I know that they’re in the zone.”

Lee invites anyone in the neighborhood to drop by to see a class, or to visit her website to see what course offerings are available.

You can follow Lee on Instagram at @sew.that or email her for more information on classes.