Cocoon Makers looking for new home

After more than 13 years as an organization, the Cocoon Makers are looking for a new home.

The Cocoon Makers were started by two women, Linda Hall and Marilyn Pol, who had a shared concern for homeless members of their community. The group began making what it called cocoons, or quilted bedrolls for homeless individuals, but now makes a variety of projects for different organizations. Hall has since passed and Pol has retired from the group, but the Cocoon Makers have continued in their absence, according to member Sarah Richards.

The Cocoon Makers have moved between several different locations before coming to their current location at Maplewood Christian Church. The group moved after its former permanent spot at the Rausch elementary school building lost its boiler and wasn’t able to be heated during the winter, Richards said. 

“Because we’re temporary, we can’t receive donations, so we’re working off of what we have,” Richards said. 

Some members will work on projects outside of meeting times because of their current space’s limitations, but most sewing occurs when the group meets. The Cocoon Makers are in search of a new location where they can store supplies more permanently and are currently in talks about two potential locations.

“The Maplewood Church has been very kind to us, very hospitable. They give us a corner that we can keep our machines in, but there are all those other things that you use when you sew that you can’t keep there,” Cocoon Makers member Jodie Litowitz said.

Litowitz often works to organize the fabrics donated to the Cocoon Makers and has been a member since her retirement in May 2019.

“I was looking for things to do during my retirement, so I looked online, and found that there was this group that sewed, and I’d been sewing since I was 14. I thought, ‘oh maybe I could try this and meet these people,’ and I did. I really enjoyed meeting them, and then not too long after that, we had to shut down. So I hung in with them through [the Covid-19 pandemic], and we kept in touch,” Litowitz said. “I love it. I like taking care of the fabric room and organizing the fabric room so others can use it to make things of all kinds.”

Although the Cocoon Makers are best known for their cocoons, the group sews many different items from its donated fabrics. The Cocoon Makers have made pajamas, facemasks during the Covid-19 pandemic and quilts for the Court Appointed Special Advocates program and for the Center of Hope during the holidays, among other things.

“People wonder why we want a rent-free space [but] it’s just not in our mission to collect funds, and that’s the reason we’re looking for a rent-free space,” Litowitz said. “Since our mission is not to make money or to raise funds ourselves, we use only things that are donated to us, fabric, sewing machines. And so when we have a home, we’re looking for people to donate anything from sheets to fabrics, and we ask for people to join us. We’d like people to join us.” 

The Cocoon Makers meet every Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the Maplewood Christian Church. You can find their Facebook page here.