DIY’d trailer brings craftiness to the streets
Woman repurposes trailer to teach young girls and boys how to sew and create
Penelope is pint-size, bright and cheerful, and she favours the colour pink. She’s also completely portable, with two wheels and aluminum siding. You see, Penelope is a trailer. A pink vintage Shasta Airflyte-style camper, to be exact.
“She’s a little bit quirky, but she’s also quite proper,” laughs owner Annabel Wrigley, an Aussie author, DIY maven and mother of two living in Warrenton, Va.
Wrigley runs Little Pincushion Studio, where she teaches kids how to sew and writes about crafting projects for her book series, We Love to Sew. Business has been steadily growing since she opened in her home six years ago, she says, with a stream of girls — and a few boys — signing up for her after-school classes and summer camps. Two-and-ahalf years ago, she expanded to a separate studio space in Old Town Warrenton. But parents from all over the area told her they wished she were closer; their little crafters-intraining just couldn’t make the trip to her small town an hour’s drive west of Washington, D.C.
At the time, Wrigley says she and her husband had been looking around for a camping trailer. Seeing the influx of creative food trucks, an idea came to her: “I thought I should do a sewing studio in one.” She could take the crafts to her students.
The process of fixing up an antique trailer or converting an old food truck into a portable studio was daunting, Wrigley says, but she found the perfect solution at CH Campers in Tennessee. Owner Jerry Ragon said he could build her a new trailer that would be empty inside and have the retro charm on the outside that she wanted. Starting at a base price of $8,900, “he does this really cool reproduction of the Shasta with the little wings on it from the 1960s,” Wrigley says. “I’m thrilled with how it turned out.”
An obsessive do-it-yourselfer, Wrigley says it was important that she got “a completely blank slate” to design and decorate the space however she pleased. She asked for extra-large windows low enough for little bodies to peer out of while seated and sewing. And she ripped up the blackand-white checkered vinyl floors it came with in favour of laminate wood to better hide the dirt tracked in by little shoes. She kept the inside bright white but added a touch of personality to the outside with a splash of bubble-gum pink and a jagged silver bolt down the side.
Inside the 3.7-metre-long trailer, Wrigley says, “the most important thing that I wanted was work space. It had to fit four or five girls comfortably.”
Drawing up some quick blueprints, her handy husband, Darren (whose day job is in IT), was able to build a table, seating and shelves that maximized both storage and space. He built a narrow, legless work table that was still big enough for several kid-
“I get a lot of satisfaction out of making things rather than buying things.” ANNABEL WRIGLEY OWNER OF PENELOPE
size sewing machines and bar stools. “We have brackets holding up the tabletop, so you have all this free space underneath,” she says.
Even the space around the air conditioner was optimized; they built a shelf around the unit so students could use the top for cutting and ironing.
The second-most important thing was portability; anyone who has tried to transport a car full of groceries knows how easily things tip over when making a quick turn. So, along the rear, they built a bench that opens up to store the machines when the trailer is on the move. Next to that, a storage area has a lip on every shelf for extra security.
Don’t expect to see a lot of frilly decorations or extra materials lying around. Wrigley keeps only the necessities for each day’s project on hand so it doesn’t feel claustrophobic inside.
“You’ve got to keep it uncluttered,” she says. “If you have stuff that has nowhere to go, you shouldn’t have it in there.” And as she does for her home, she says it’s important to look for opportunities to use thrifted or repurposed items — “I get a lot of satisfaction out of making things rather than buying things.” The licence plate on the trailer reads HANDMDE, after all.
Although Wrigley says the trailer feels much bigger than it actually is, she still wanted to embrace its nestlike coziness. “Kids like to learn in a small, intimate space,” she says, describing her students as less of a class and more of an old-school sewing circle. “They form fantastic bonds with each other while they’re sewing together.”
Now officially ready to hit the road, Penelope (so named by her students) has already been booked for several birthday parties and Sunday classes. She’s also available for adult craft and wine nights.
Prices start around $350 for a twohour party with two crafts and up to five children, depending on location and requests. For more information visit littlepincushionstudio.com.