Slow Stitch is a Detroit-based creative incubator cultivating a Slow Fashion economy rooted in sustainability, equity, and collective creativity. Through our artist residency and community education programs, we empower people to design, make, mend, and reimagine fashion that honors people and the planet.
Our Story
Slow Stitch Detroit grew out of years of hands on arts education in sewing, fiber arts, and sustainable fashion led by our founder, Sarah Jane Mark, at Neighborhood Art School, the nonprofit she and her husband, Billy Mark, started in 2018.
What began as community workshops, creative mentoring, and neighborhood rooted fashion activism slowly blossomed into a dedicated space where mindful making could take deeper root.
Our home in Detroit’s Piety Hill neighborhood is made possible through the generous support of Central Detroit Christian, whose long term commitment to cultivating beauty, stability, and opportunity in this community has shaped the very ground we work on.
Slow Stitch shares space with CDC’s Adamah Farms, an urban garden that has been transforming the neighborhood for more than twenty years. It is an everyday reminder that growth, healing, and nourishment happen slowly, season by season.
Slow Stitch is a sister space to Neighborhood Art School, just up the street. Together, they share the same heartbeat: creativity, hospitality, and the belief that art can help restore and reimagine our neighborhoods.
OUR FOUNDER
Sarah Jane Mark is a Detroit based fiber artist, clothing designer, and educator with more than 25 years of experience in fashion design, patternmaking, and manufacturing.
After a decade as a Design Director in Los Angeles, Sarah shifted toward ethical and conscious design, launching her own clothing line and helping launch a fair trade company working with women artisans in India and Africa.
In Detroit, Sarah and Billy built Neighborhood Art School as a home for community rooted arts education. Their work has grown to include artist residency spaces through Neighborhood Art School, The Selah House, and Slow Stitch.
Sarah is also cofounder of Detroit Fashion United, dedicated to connecting Detroit’s conscious fashion community in alignment with the global Fashion Revolution movement.
FIND YOUR PLACE AT SLOW STITCH
Make. Learn. Share. Belong.
Slow Stitch is a shared creative community for artists, designers, makers, and creative changemakers.
Whether you’re looking for a studio home, a community of fellow makers, a place to work alongside other creative people, or simply a class or event to join, there are many ways to be part of Slow Stitch.
EVENTS + RESIDENT/MEMBER CLASSES