Collegiate Times

Owner Mary Woodall gives customer Aisha Mitchell some sewing pointers.

Since the recent closing of The Cut, the space that the downtown store formerly occupied in Kent Square on Main Street has seen some significant alterations.

Local Mary Woodall has turned the former salon into Sew Attitudes, a creative space that she hopes to share with the rest of the community.

Woodall has been living in Blacksburg for 10 years, returning with her husband, who was offered a job as a professor at Virginia Tech.

Having sewn all her life, Woodall jumped at the opportunity to create a sewing store in Blacksburg. And when she opened Sew Attitudes less than a month ago, she did so with the aim of creating a design studio that also offers sewing instruction.

“The idea is to offer a space for guidance and inspiration — an atmosphere of creativity,” Woodall said. “I’m hoping that it will renew an interest in sewing among people.”

Aisha Mitchell, who works at the neighboring business Capone’s Jewelry, welcomes the new addition to Main Street.

“It’s such an innovative idea and a great addition to the downtown merchants,” Mitchell said. “Sew Attitudes will be good for both students and locals.”

Woodall plans to reach out to both facets of the community by offering patrons time to use machines and equipment on their own, as well as giving sewing classes for those at various levels of proficiency.

“This isn’t just for the creative types, but all kinds of people,” Woodall said. “It’s for guys too. They can come in and learn how to sew back on their own buttons or mend tears in clothes without having to bother their girlfriends or moms.”

Beyond the basic instruction, Woodall plans to provide more intricate classes for those who can dedicate their time and creativity to a long-term project.

“I’m hoping to have an after-school group to work on projects to bring to local festivals,” Woodall said.

Woodall’s vision for these projects would be to have more of a sustainability focus after seeing her own success with this same idea at Steppin’ Out last year. Her project for the festival was called Green T’z. She displayed and sold products made from previous years’ Steppin’ Out T-shirts.

“I made book bags, dog leashes — all kinds of things,” Woodall said. “I was able to recover and reuse the old shirts while still keeping them as part of the fundraising for the festival.”

She uses this idea of repurposing clothing to show how valuable even old duds can be.

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A version of this article appeared in the Apr 1 issue of the Collegiate Times.