Meet The Team
Megan Whitney began crafting as a young child, trying her hand at every craft she could get her hands on, including knitting, crochet, watercolor painting, and sewing (which quickly became her favorite thing to do!) Megan attended Lehigh University and earned B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering, then worked in commercial construction for 9 years.
Upon leaving the corporate world in 2007 to be a stay at home mom, Megan relied heavily on sewing as a creative outlet for survival (and sanity!) while raising three young daughters. Soon after, she opened an Etsy shop and sold her creations online, then started teaching sewing in her home. In 2015 she opened Urban Sewciety in Westfield, NJ, where the Sewciety Kids Sewing Program was born.
She lives with her husband, three kids, two dogs and a cat in Fanwood, NJ.
Meg Bulthaupt is a life-long resident of Cranford, NJ. She earned a Masters degree in Family and Consumer Science Education from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Meg learned to sew from her grandmother at the age of ten years old.
In high school she took every sewing class offered, then continued developing her sewing skills in college - when she wasn’t studying, she was sewing! Meg began teaching sewing in her hometown and at various schools in New Jersey. In 2016, she became an instructor at Urban Sewciety.
The two Megans soon realized they made a great team and joined forces, becoming business partners in October 2016. Meg can be found in the studio teaching the kids’ after school classes and designing projects for kids’ and adult classes.
She lives with her husband, Joe, and daughter in Cranford, NJ.
About Us
The Sewciety Kids Sewing Program was born at Urban Sewciety, a fabric shop and sewing studio in Westfield, NJ. Megan Whitney opened the studio in 2015 in a cozy 350 square foot space and began by offering just a few classes, including one which quickly became our most popular - a mommy & me beginner sewing class. Kids loved this class and wanted more, so she started offering after-school courses for kids. Kids came, made cool projects, had tons of fun, and still wanted more! Suddenly, dozens of students were enrolling in after-school classes. After just one year, Megan took on a business partner, Meg Bulthaupt, and the business expanded to a 1,600 square foot space to keep up with the demand. Two years later, the business was bursting at the seams again and moved to a 3,300 square foot shop.
Meg and Megan had only one problem - they were continually running out of content because the same students kept coming back wanting more. They knew the classes were successful because the projects offered were modern, fun, appealing, and relevant to kids’ lives. But the ongoing process of coming up with new ideas, creating the patterns, testing them and revising them was difficult and very time-consuming. Megan searched for an existing sewing curriculum that would take the burden of creating new content off their shoulders. When she found nothing that would meet their needs, the pair set out to create their own curriculum.
Today, the Sewciety Kids After-School Program at Urban Sewciety has over 200 students enrolled and continues to grow. During the summer, 300 plus students enroll in Summer Camps.
At Sewciety Kids, our mission is to provide individuals and businesses with a modern, proven sewing curriculum that kids LOVE. We strive to foster a relaxed, supportive, fun, and creative environment for students and want to help you do the same.