Lauren Guthrie and Lorna Hulme of Guthrie & Ghani: How to Build a Class Business People Will Travel For
There’s something really special about a class business becoming more than just a place people attend. When customers start planning trips around you, travelling long distances to take part and seeing your venue as somewhere they genuinely want to spend time, you’ve created something much bigger than a timetable.
That’s exactly what stood out in my conversation with Lauren Guthrie and Lorna Hulme from Guthrie & Ghani.
Guthrie & Ghani has been part of Birmingham’s sewing community since 2013, combining a fabric shop with a sewing studio where adults and children can build their skills, confidence and creativity through face-to-face workshops. Over the years, the business has evolved through retail, education, online sales and in-person classes, and today people travel from across the UK and beyond to visit.
Lauren and Lorna are finalists for Children’s Activity Provider of the Year, sponsored by Thrive4Activities, and Adult Class Provider of the Year, sponsored by Lingua Forme, at The Class Business Awards 2026.
What I loved most about their story is how clearly the business has grown around experience, community and a real understanding of what people want when they choose to learn something creative in person.
From physiotherapy to a completely different kind of career
Both Lauren and Lorna came to sewing from careers in physiotherapy, which is one of those brilliant coincidences you couldn’t really make up.
Lauren worked in the NHS for five years before deciding she wanted to follow a different path. Sewing, crafts and making things had always been a passion, and when the opportunity came to renovate the building that now houses the Guthrie & Ghani shop and studio, she turned that interest into a business.
As Lauren explained:
“Sewing and being crafty and making stuff had always been a hobby and a passion of mine.”
The timing was pretty remarkable too. While Lauren was setting up the business, she was accepted onto the very first series of The Great British Sewing Bee, which aired in 2013, the same year Guthrie & Ghani opened. The programme gave the whole sewing and dressmaking industry a huge boost and helped bring the craft back into mainstream attention.
But, like so many founders, Lauren did everything in those early days. She taught classes, worked in the shop, listed products online, fulfilled orders and served customers. Over time, the business grew enough for more specialist roles to develop, and that shift became particularly important after COVID.
Rebuilding the part of the business people were craving
Like so many class-based businesses, Guthrie & Ghani’s in-person workshops stopped during COVID, and rebuilding them afterwards took time.
Lauren realised that the workshops needed somebody to really own that side of the business and bring the programme back to life properly. That was when Lorna joined in 2024 as Workshops and Events Coordinator.
Lauren described the appeal of returning to in-person learning perfectly:
“It’s so nice to be an in-person thing and connect with real people and not just be behind the screen or watching a video.”
That idea really sits at the heart of why the workshop programme works.
People can absolutely learn sewing online. There are endless videos, tutorials and digital resources available. But what Guthrie & Ghani offers is the experience around the learning: being in a beautiful space, surrounded by other people, able to ask questions, make mistakes, get immediate support and enjoy the social side of making something together.
That’s a completely different product.
Lorna brought the experience of building her own sewing school
Lorna’s route into Guthrie & Ghani is just as interesting.
After around ten years working in the NHS, she took time out to be at home with her children. Her mum taught her to sew, and what began as a new skill quickly became something she was completely hooked on.
Lorna eventually built her own sewing school and ran it for around seven years, developing experience in both teaching workshops and running a creative business. But she reached a point where growing further as a solo business owner no longer felt sustainable.
The role at Guthrie & Ghani arrived at exactly the right time, allowing her to bring everything she had learned into a larger organisation with an established audience and infrastructure.
That’s such a useful reminder that growth doesn’t always have to mean making your own business bigger forever. Sometimes the next step is bringing your expertise into the right partnership and creating something stronger together.
The workshop experience is designed to remove pressure
The majority of Guthrie & Ghani’s workshop customers are adults who want to learn sewing and dressmaking as a hobby, from complete beginners through to people returning to sewing after time away.
What’s really important is the atmosphere.
Lauren explained:
“We want to keep it informative and teach people those valuable skills, but without the pressure of having to do it a certain way or complete things at a certain time.”
That’s such a strong piece of customer insight.
For adults learning something new, particularly a practical skill, the fear of “getting it wrong” can be a huge barrier. Guthrie & Ghani deliberately removes that pressure and focuses instead on making the experience relaxed, useful and enjoyable.
The adult programme works because it offers:
- structured teaching without an assessment culture
- a friendly, relaxed environment
- support for different ability levels
- practical skills people can use independently at home
- a social experience around a hobby that can otherwise be quite solitary
That combination turns a lesson into something people genuinely look forward to.
Children are looking for creativity away from screens
The children’s side of the business has grown significantly too, with after-school classes for children aged seven and above alongside home education sessions during the day.
Lorna believes part of the appeal is that sewing offers something increasingly rare for young people: practical creativity away from a screen.
She said:
“Parents are looking for something to get their kids off screens.”
But the value goes much further than simply switching the phone or tablet off.
Children learn to use their hands, improve dexterity and concentration, make creative decisions and experience the satisfaction of producing something tangible. Teenagers, in particular, are drawn to the individuality of making or adapting clothes that nobody else has.
There’s also a clear connection with sustainability and the growing awareness younger people have around fast fashion. Basic sewing skills can allow them to alter, repair and upcycle clothing, giving old pieces a new life rather than automatically replacing them.
For children and teenagers, that means sewing can offer:
- creative freedom and individuality
- practical life skills
- an alternative to screen-based hobbies
- confidence from making something themselves
- awareness of sustainability and clothing consumption
- social connection with other young people
That’s a pretty powerful set of outcomes from one class.
Making something yourself changes how you value it
One of my favourite parts of the conversation was Lorna talking about the sense of ownership that comes from making something yourself.
When you’ve chosen the fabric, learned the skill and sewn every stitch, the finished object means something completely different from something you picked up in a shop.
Lorna explained that there’s a real self-esteem benefit in being able to say, “I made this,” and that the focus required for sewing can also have mental health and mindfulness benefits.
She also talked about the importance of the social side, because sewing can easily become a solitary hobby at home. Classes give people the chance to share that interest with others, make friends and create together.
That’s the bit class businesses do so well.
The technical skill may be the reason somebody books.
The connection is often the reason they keep coming back.
How do you become a destination rather than just a venue?
The combination of the fabric shop and studio has created something incredibly valuable for Guthrie & Ghani: people actively travel to experience it.
Lauren talked about customers coming from across the UK and even internationally, including somebody travelling from Shetland for a workshop and visitors from America planning trips around a visit to the shop and studio.
That is such an interesting position for any class business to think about.
What makes somebody willing to travel for you?
Usually, it’s not one single thing. It’s the whole experience working together.
For Guthrie & Ghani, that includes:
- a beautiful, distinctive studio space
- specialist expertise
- an established retail offer
- a strong sewing community
- workshops people can’t easily replicate at home
- the chance to shop, learn and connect in one place
The business has become a destination because the different parts reinforce each other.
Keep giving customers somewhere to go next
Lauren and Lorna are also very conscious that people need a journey.
A beginner might first come along to learn the basics, but the business doesn’t want their relationship to end once they can use a sewing machine. The programme continues to evolve so people can build confidence, learn more advanced skills and ultimately become capable dressmakers in their own right.
Lauren explained:
“We’re always building on what we’re able to offer and ensuring that we can take people on that journey.”
The next evolution could include more immersive, longer-form experiences and retreats, potentially combining several days of sewing with accommodation so people can completely step away from everyday life and immerse themselves in the craft.
That makes complete sense because it builds on the thing customers are already travelling for: the experience.
You don’t have to be naturally creative to learn a creative skill
Near the end of the conversation, Lauren made a point that really sums up the accessibility of what Guthrie & Ghani is trying to create.
Everybody wears clothes, and every item of clothing we buy has been made by somebody.
Lauren said:
“There’s no reason why anybody can’t learn to do that as well.”
That sense of possibility is such an important part of any teaching business.
People often arrive believing that a skill belongs to “creative people”, “sporty people”, “musical people” or whoever else they’ve decided they aren’t.
A great class breaks that belief down.
It shows somebody that they can learn.
And once they make the first thing they’re proud of, that confidence starts travelling with them.
Watch the full interview
In our full conversation, Lauren and Lorna share how Guthrie & Ghani grew from Lauren’s passion for sewing into a destination fabric shop and studio, how Lorna helped rebuild and grow the workshop programme after COVID, why children and adults are increasingly drawn to practical creativity, and what the next stage of the workshop experience could look like.
👉 Watch Lauren and Lorna’s full finalist interview here.
Lauren Guthrie and Lorna Hulme are finalists for Children’s Activity Provider of the Year, sponsored by Thrive4Activities, and Adult Class Provider of the Year, sponsored by Lingua Forme, at The Class Business Awards 2026.
And if this has got you thinking about the experience YOU create around your classes, not just what you teach but how people feel when they walk through the door, who they meet, what they remember and what makes them want to come back, then you need to join us on Saturday 10 October at the National Conference Centre in Solihull.
Whether you teach sewing, swimming, dance, languages, tutoring, baby classes, fitness or something completely different, this is YOUR sector and this is your room.
👉 Book your ticket, join us for the day and come and celebrate with us at The Class Business Awards afterwards. I genuinely cannot wait to have everyone together in one place.
