About

Stitch Revival Studio

Stitch Revival Studio, owned by Sharlene Young-Bolen, specializes in handknits inspired by natural fibres and needlework traditions, offering quality, one-of-a-kind handknits made with care and a close attention to detail.

Stitch Revival Studio knits are inspired by heritage pattern research, bringing back old patterns with natural and modern yarns. As well, the process of knitting has a calming, meditative quality that rejuvenates and empowers creativity. Sharlene primarily works with simple, classic patterns and focuses on smaller products and projects, allowing her more time to play with pattern, texture and colours.

About the maker

Sharlene was born in Sudbury while her father, a radar technican, was stationed at CFS Falconbridge. A few years on, the family moved to CFS Armstrong, and then eventually to CFS Barrington. Sharlene’s father was raised in Nova Scotia (his family homestead located in a small coastal village called Young’s Cove), so the eventual return to civilian life in the province was a natural transition when he left the Canadian Air Force to explore other career opportunities. The family relocated back to Ontario in the mid-80s, just as she was finishing high school, when her father accepted a position with Environment Canada.

Eventually, Sharlene found herself working for a series of small community newspapers in design and production. Creative visual communication has always been an interest and she has followed that thread through different career transitions.

She learned knitting and other stitching traditions first from her mom and then other members of her extended family. Sharlene takes various courses now and then in knitting techniques in order to continue to learn and expand her stitching skill set. She enjoys reproducing vintage patterns and has recreated a few knitted items based on the study of the original, a process she finds both fun and fascinating.

Sharlene also loves working and puttering in her very messy cottage garden where native plants, herbs and happy perennials mix and mingle and just do whatever they want to do. The natural garden world and its colours and seasons serve as an ever-constant source of inspiration for her knitting projects. Her garden sometimes even ends up in her projects, as in the case of the knitted herbal sachets that she makes on a seasonal basis.

Sharlene believes handstitched textiles provide a tangible connection to the original maker and their textile skills and cultural traditions. To be able to work within these traditions, knitting according to pattern and with locally produced fibres, is work she finds inspiring and very rewarding. She is particularly interested in where culture, family history, and craft intersect and how we express ourselves through our needlework traditions.

Thanks for visiting Stitch Revival Studio! 🙂

Notes