TheĀ Fabric & Fiber Studio

A working studio for committed textile practitioners

This is not a course. It is not a membership. It is not a place to consume content and feel inspired.

It is a place to work.

The Fabric & Fiber Studio is a small, application-based studio environment for textile makers who are serious about elevating their craft through applied mentorship, direct critique, and disciplined practice. If you are actively making, ready to examine your work honestly, and willing to do what it takes to close the gap between your vision and your execution - this was built for you.

Enrollment is limited. Entry is by application.

What Happens Inside The Studio

Each three-month cohort is built around three core elements:

Live Studio Critique The heart of the studio. Members bring real work-in-progress (physical pieces, collections in development, professional practice questions) for direct critique and applied mentorship. This is where the real work happens.

A Focused Deep-Dive Each month includes one short, focused topic chosen in response to what I'm seeing in the work. Not curriculum. Not pre-packaged content. Just applied insight where it's actually needed.

Selective Office Hours Available for targeted questions, feedback clarification, and troubleshooting. Capped to ensure depth over volume.

The studio runs in cohorts of six to eight practitioners. That's intentional. Small enough for real attention. Serious enough to matter.

The StudioĀ Is For You If:

You are actively making work and ready to have it examined honestly. You want to strengthen your technical understanding, sharpen your decision-making, and develop the kind of craft literacy that comes from sustained engagement, not shortcuts. You receive critique with openness and respond to it through action. You are self-directed, responsible for your own follow-through, and ready to commit to three months of serious work.

The Studio isĀ Not For You If:

You are looking for motivation, reassurance, or step-by-step instruction. You want a supportive community where showing up is enough, or you prefer encouragement over honest assessment. You are not currently making work, are not ready to have it examined directly, or tend to collect resources without applying them. You struggle with follow-through or prefer consuming content to doing the actual work of making and refining.

What Changes - and How

This is not a transformation program. There are no before-and-after promises here and no guarantees beyond this: if you bring real work and genuine engagement, you will leave with a clearer, more capable relationship to both.

The people who do this work become more precise in their decision-making, more honest about what their work actually requires, and less dependent on external validation to move forward. They stop guessing why something isn't working. They develop the ability to diagnose their own work, and respond to it intelligently. That's not a flashy outcome. It's a permanent upgrade in how you think and work.

In plain terms, here is what serious practitioners take away from the studio:

The ability to diagnose your own work rather than guess at it. Decisions grounded in understanding rather than habit or hope. Less second-guessing, fewer stalled projects, and a calmer relationship with your own practice not because the work gets easier, but because you get clearer. The shift from following techniques to making informed decisions. From repeating the same mistakes to understanding their cause. From needing reassurance to trusting your own judgment.

If someone asked me directly what people get from this studio, I would say it plainly: they stop guessing. They understand why their work succeeds or fails. And that changes how they work from that point forward.

The people I work with don't want to be changed. They want to be better equipped.

That's exactly what this studio is built to do.

Investment

The Fabric & Fiber Studio is a three-month commitment at $1,350 per term, paid in full upon acceptance.

What's included:

  • Three live group critique sessions (2 hours each) where your work receives direct feedback
  • Monthly insights addressing patterns and challenges emerging in the cohort's work
  • One 45-minute private session scheduled at your discretion during the term
  • Weekly email Q&A with expert response
  • Optional monthly office hours for additional support
  • All sessions recorded for reference

Access: You'll have full access to all recordings and resources from your acceptance date through the 30 days following the cohort end. This is a live, intensive working studioā€”not a perpetual content library.

Enrollment is limited to 8-10 makers per cohort to ensure meaningful engagement and direct access.

What This Studio Requires...

and what you can expect in returnĀ 

The Fabric & Fiber Studio is a working environment. Before you apply, it's important to understand what that means in practice.

Members are expected to arrive at every session with real work in progress and genuine questions about it. This means physical pieces, collections in development, or professional practice decisions that are already underway ā€” not concepts you're considering or ideas you'd like feedback on. WorkĀ must have already begun.

Feedback in this studio is direct and focused entirely on the work. You will be expected to receive it with openness and respond to it through action between sessions. What you do between sessions carries equal weight to what happens inside the studio.

This is not a step-by-step instructional environment. There are no reminders, no hand-holding, and no passive learning. Members are self-directed and responsible for their own follow-through.

The studio runs on a minimum three-month commitment. That s not arbitrary. Meaningful development takes time, and continuity within the studio benefits every member.

In return, you receive something that is genuinely rare: direct access to thirty years of professional product development experience, applied to your specific work, in real time. Not general advice. Not pre-packaged content. Honest judgment, focused attention, and sustained engagement with a small group of practitioners who are serious about the same things you are.

Participation is reviewed periodically to ensure the studio remains the right environment for everyone involved. This is a commitment to quality, both yours and mine.

Schedule and Time Committment

The studio runs on a consistent monthly rhythm with live sessions scheduled in advance for each cohort.

Spring 2026 schedule:

  • Welcome Session: Thursday, April 30, 7-9pm CT
  • Group Critiques: Thursday evenings (May 14, June 4, July 9), 7-9pm CT
  • Optional Office Hours: Saturday mornings (May 30, June 27, July 25), 10-11:30am CT
  • Closing Session: Thursday, July 30, 7-9pm CT

Please review these dates carefully before applying. Group critiques are recorded, but live participation is strongly preferred. If you cannot attend the majority of scheduled sessions, this cohort is not a good fit.

Future cohort schedules may vary and will be posted when applications open.

About Virginia Wygal

I spent 30 years in the textile and garment industry as a designer and Director of Product Development. I have spent my career examining why work succeeds or fails technically, structurally, and conceptually, and helping practitioners develop the judgment to see their own work more clearly.

The Fabric & Fiber Studio is built on that same foundation.

Not inspiration.

Not instruction.

Professional judgment applied to real work, in real time.

Enrollment Opens Soon

Applications for the Spring cohort (starting May 2026) open April 22 for one week only. The application window closes April 28, and enrollment is limited to 8-10 makers. Waitlist members receive first access to available seats before applications open publicly. Join the waitlist below to secure your priority application window.

If you're on the waitlist, you will hear from me first.

JoinĀ the Waitlist

If 'The Fabric & Fiber Studio' sounds like the environment you've been looking for, add your name below. Waitlist members receive early access to the application and full enrollment details before the studio opens to the public.