Sewers know where to go for help. Sewing classes and clubs are common fair for most of us; blogs and sewing websites are another easily accessible tool. As we all know, AllFreeSewing.com offers tons and tons of sewing ideas and resources. Now with the opening of Sweat Shop about a year ago, the residents of Paris have an additional resource: a sewing cafe.

Photo Credit: Munia Sbouri

For the sewers of Paris, sewing with a friend or getting a project done when your home machine is on the fritz can be done for an hourly fee.

The brainchild of designer Sissi Holleis and Martena Duss, Sweat Shop functions like a fashion cybercafe, where sewing machines can be rented by the hour. Eric Wilson of the New York Times reports, “They are also selling kits, which cost 30 to 100 euros (about $42 to $140) and include all the materials needed to create a design, like an easy printed top by the Antwerp label Pelican Avenue.”

Although by-the-hour sewing spaces are available in places like Texas, California, and London, very few places offer a genuine, cafe-like setting.  Following in the footsteps of Linkle in Berlin, Sweat Shop not only holds special events and classes, but also serves coffee and snacks.

Lizzie Davis of The Guardian tells us that the goal of these two ladies was to help re-connect the amateur sewer to his or her craft. In a city with a global fashion reputation, ordinary Parisians are very disconnected from the do-it-yourself fashion world. Holleis and Duss are trying to minimize this gap.

What an interesting and relaxing way to get together with people that love to do the same thing. If you’ve ever wished for a place to get together with some friends, drink some tea, and work on a project, this place is the answer. Too bad there aren’t more of these cafes all over the world. I know I would jump at the chance to go every time my machine is acting up or I want to avoid making a mess in my tiny apartment.

Let’s face it, the economy’s been rough on a lot of us and more people are taking to making their own clothes and household items. One day soon there may be a sewing cafe popping up in your neighborhood.

So I have to ask: would you go?