Photo by Erin Nelson.
Cobbie Llewelyn, owner of the Smocking Bird, works on a piece in the Homewood shop Nov. 4. The Smocking Bird will be moving to Vestavia Hills by the end of the year.
After 40 years in Homewood, The Smocking Bird sewing store is moving to Heights Village in Vestavia Hills.
Cobbie Llewellyn, who co-owns the business with her husband Charles, said it will move from its location on Linden Avenue in December and, hopefully, open in Heights Village at the beginning of 2021.
“This ended up being a good time,” Llewellyn said. “We’ve got a lot of cleaning out to do and organizing.”
Llewellyn said part of what motivated the move is the allure of Heights Village, the successful shopping center in the heart of Cahaba Heights.
The Smocking Bird will be a good fit with restaurants in the shopping center, Llewellyn said. The business community there is great, with businesses supporting one another, she said.
Located just off Cahaba Heights Road, Heights Village is much more visible than the Homewood location, so Llewellyn said she hopes the increased visibility will lead to more customers for the business she has owned since 2017.
When she was at home raising her children when they were younger and not yet in school, Llewellyn took solace in sewing. It was an outlet, and it turned into a passion, she said.
So, when the opportunity to take over the longtime Homewood business came up after all three of her children were in school during the day, she and her husband saw it as a calling and have run the business ever since.
The Smocking Bird offers fabric, sewing machines, supplies, patterns, imported laces and custom children’s clothing. Sewing classes are offered for adults and children and for sewers of all skill levels.
For more information, visit thesmockingbird.com.
