There’s a craft renaissance happening on Webster Street with the 2024 opening of three new businesses, each owned and operated by Alameda residents sharing their lifelong passion for their art.
In March, Coven of Stitches, a yarn store, set up shop at the site of the former California Check Cashing Stores. Alameda Pots, which offers pottery and ceramics classes, opened their doors shortly thereafter. And this November, Arkea Tailor Shop, which specializes in denim repair, upcycling, and custom alterations, will begin operating next door to Coven of Stitches.
Coven of Stitches
Customers who enter this cozy store at 1602 Webster Street are greeted by its friendly owner, yelley elldee, and an array of colorful skeins of yarn on the walls. The store stocks knitting and crocheting needles, as well as embroidery kits and an impressive collection of charming stitch markers.
The motto of the store is, “Crafting & Community,” and elldee has consciously created a welcoming and inclusive space for all practitioners of fiber art. Coven of Stitches offers beginning and advanced classes in knitting, crocheting, embroidery, and spinning along with social crafting meetups every week. BIPOC and queer meetups happen once a month.
elldee learned how to crochet and sew from their grandmother at five years old. They laugh when they recount one of the first things they made from yarn—“A hunter green pair of underwear briefs for my dad!” As an adult, elldee joined a knitting group and then a spinning guild, where they enjoyed a community of mostly older women sharing their knowledge of fiber art.
Six years after moving to Alameda, elldee was putting together a business plan to open a yarn store when they unexpectedly were let go from their biotech job. That event fast-tracked the entire process and soon they were clearing out an old check-cashing space and renovating it into a yarn store.
“I got let go on January 19th, signed the lease for the shop on February 16th, and we opened on March 15th,” eldee recalls. The store recently celebrated its six-month anniversary.
Asked what they enjoy most about fiber art, elldee responds, “I just enjoy making things that are both beautiful and practical. I like using things I make. Maybe it’s lumpy and imperfect, but you put the hat on and you’re like, ‘I made this.’”
Alameda Pots
A month after Alameda knitters and crocheters celebrated the opening of Coven of Stitches, local ceramicists were delighted to discover that Alameda Pots had set up shop on Webster Street. The large, sunny studio features a row of potter’s wheels and offers both beginning and advanced classes in pottery.
Owner Dave Thomson is a former nurse with a lifelong interest in pottery who was inspired to open up the studio after trying to find summer activities for his three children. “We had free time and nowhere to go,” he says. There were no other pottery studios in Alameda, and classes in Oakland and Berkeley not only required leaving the island, but they often sold out quickly.
When the space at 1517 Webster Street became available, Thomson jumped at the chance to create Alameda’s only pottery studio open to the general public. As Alameda Pots approaches its six-month anniversary, Thomson says the reception from folks in Alameda “has been great! It’s been amazing and we immediately expanded and now have staff.” The diverse roster of teachers show students how to use a wheel, trim clay, and glaze their creations. Students can also learn how to make pottery from slabs of clay as well as make tiles and other sculptural forms.
Thomson explains his love of pottery to the Alameda Post, “I’m a tactile person, and I like making things with my hands.” In an age when too many people are glued to their screens, “I value it for what it is.”
A broad age range of students take classes at the studio, from age 12 to senior citizens. Some are new to pottery and others have more experience. Thomson emphasizes that he didn’t want to open a one-man art studio, but was interested in creating a space for students to come and learn.
“This isn’t Dave’s Studio, it’s Alameda Pots,” he says. “It’s something for the community.”
Arkea Tailor Shop
Many longtime residents of Alameda will remember the single white door at 1604 Webster Street near Lincoln Avenue as the former site of Tiny’s Candy Shop. Empty for almost 15 years, the narrow space is now being revived as Arkea Tailor Shop, set to open in a few weeks.
Michael Gravenson is a graduate of San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) who studied fashion design and will be doing denim repair and custom alterations with a focus on upcycling. He will also be offering Japanese mending workshops at Coven of Stitches.
Gravenson worked as a tailor at Levi’s flagship store in San Francisco and has done custom work for clients like the actor Colin Hanks, who hired him to line vintage denim jackets with the actor’s line of handkerchiefs (called, yes, Hanks Kerchiefs).
Gravenson’s passion for sewing began when he was a student at Saint Joseph Notre Dame (SJND) High School. “We had to wear uniforms and I didn’t like them so I read the rule guide book to see how much I could alter my uniform.” Gravenson tapered his pants, cropped the uniform jacket, and even made his own backpack. SJND rules allow for thermal shirts, but not sweatshirts, so Gravenson made a hoodie out of thermal shirts.
Gravenson confides that he had been scoping out the space at 1604 Webster since 2015, dreaming of opening a business there. That dream became a reality when Gravenson tracked down the landlord in 2022 and signed a lease at the end of 2023. Gravenson reminisces that for years, “We would drive by and my mom would say, ‘Look there’s your shop!’”
Jean Chen is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact her via [email protected]. Her writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Jean-Chen.
