Love to Sew

We interview Maddie Ballard, author of Patchwork: A Sewist’s Diary! We chat with her about learning to sew during the pandemic, connecting to her roots through her projects, and transforming painful moments into beautiful work.

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

Show Notes: 

Find Maddie Online:

Maddie’s Book:

Other Mentions:

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Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Caroline: ​Hello and welcome to Love To Sew. I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns.

Helen: And I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co.

Caroline: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew and it’s essentially all we want to talk about.

Helen: We’re interviewing Maddie Ballard, author of Patchwork: A Sewist’s Diary. We chat with her about learning to sew during the pandemic, connecting to her roots through her projects, and transforming painful moments into beautiful work.

Caroline: If you love to sew, this is your show. Hello, Maddie. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Maddie: Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here.

Helen: We can’t wait to chat with you. Can you please introduce yourself to our listeners?

Maddie: I sure can. So my name is Maddie Ballard and I’m a sewist and writer of mixed Chinese heritage from Aotearoa, New Zealand, and I currently live in Melbourne, Australia.

Caroline: Amazing. And we are so excited to talk to you about your book today. But let’s just start off with a little bit about your sewing journey. Can you tell us how and when you learned to sew?

Maddie: I sure can. So I think, like many sewists, I learned to sew during the pandemic. So my partner at the time and I had just moved back to New Zealand from London and we were living with his parents in this very small town called New Plymouth. I didn’t really know anyone in New Plymouth. I didn’t have a job. He was working part-time. And so I was sort of at a loose end and, I guess, like lots of people during the pandemic, I was feeling, I guess, just, like, quite anxious and a bit stuck and looking for something to do. And his mother happened to have this really old sewing machine that she had, I think, inherited from her mother. And she sort of said, “Why don’t you have a go?” And so I had a go and I loved it. I feel like, yeah, the first time I ever used that sewing machine, which was this really clunky, kind of temperamental model, I just had a great time and I, I think the first thing I did was I hemmed a top and I was like, wow, that feels like a superpower. So I kept going with it.

Helen: Amazing. Thank goodness for all the people out there handing sewing machines off to other folks and being like, “Why don’t you have a go? Just try it. Maybe you’ll love it.” I know we have a lot of listeners who also learned to sew during the pandemic, and we were wondering what you think sewing offered people during that time.

Maddie: Oh my gosh. I mean, I think a lot of it is just that it was something to do, right? Like, I feel like a lot of people were kind of at a loose end and sewing is, as I think we all know, a great time suck. I feel like learning any, any new skill, you need time at the beginning to kind of build your skillset up. And so it just happened to be quite a convenient time to do that, I think. But I guess there was also this element that, for me, certainly, it felt like sewing kind of provided this illusion of control, maybe. It felt like we were, the, the whole world was kind of in the midst of lots of chaos and it feels like you don’t have a lot of control during that situation, but you can sort of tell yourself, oh, like, if I sew this seam, eventually I will have this garment. And I think that was kind of a really reassuring big picture thing that was going on with sewing.

Caroline: Yeah, that really makes a lot of sense. I think a lot of our listeners are gonna relate to that. And your book kind of starts out during the pandemic, so let’s talk about it. We absolutely loved your book. It’s called Patchwork: A Sewist’s Diary in the most recent US release and Bound: A Memoir of Making and Remaking in the UK release. And it’s about your sewing journey and all of the life stuff that kind of weaves in and out of it. We thought maybe before we get into asking you questions about the book, we were wondering if you would read an excerpt so that our listeners can sort of get a feel for the writing. It’s just so beautiful.

Maddie: Thank you. I, I’d love to read a short excerpt. That would be lovely.

Caroline: Amazing. We can’t wait to hear what you picked.

Maddie: Okay. “I lower the needle and the world recedes. The process of sewing a garment—printing the pattern, tracing and cutting, sewing the first and the second and the fiftieth seam—is a lesson in taking your time. There is a language of touch to be learned, too—the crunkle of freshly washed denim in the hand; the unexpected weight of silk velvet. I spend a whole afternoon wondering if the words tactile and textile might be related. They’re not, but text and textile are: both works of weaving. I learn, over the course of many sewing sessions, that French seams are my favourite way to finish fabric and that my legs are shorter than I think. I learn to sew buttonholes and flip out a shirt using something called the ‘burrito method’. I acquire more discrete, tangible skills than in several years. I stop buying clothes.”

Helen: Amazing.

Caroline: That was one of our favourites, for sure. It’s so beautiful.

Maddie: Thank you.

Helen: Yeah, your book has such a personal quality to it because it is written like a journal. Before we get into asking you questions about it, is there anything else you wanna add about describing this book to our listeners so they understand kind of what it is and where it came from?

Maddie: Oh my gosh. I always feel like I should have more of a pitch for this. I guess, like, Patchwork is a sewist’s diary. Um, so it’s sort of the story of making 17 different garments, right from when I very first started sewing until kind of like two or three years later. But it is also the story, I guess, of like moving home and going through a major breakup and, I guess, like the way that a textile craft accompanied me along all of that learning. I like to think of it also as being a kind of a record of this particular period in my life. And I think that that’s the way clothes that you’ve sewed yourself do function for a lot of sewists. I think that you wear something that you made during a particular period and you remember all the details of that period and what it felt like and what your taste was like at that stage. So I wanted to record something about that.

Caroline: Oh, it’s so true. And it’s really interesting how every chapter in the book also is sort of a record of the garment. So you list the pattern, the fabric, and the notions that you used. Is there a reason why you decided to kind of start each chapter with this structure?

Maddie: I guess, like, initially, it was just a nod to the way that I think sewists talk about their projects with each other. So I feel like when you are discussing with your friends something that you’ve made, you’ll always say what pattern you used and then, you know, what fabric you chose and whether there was anything kind of a bit funky about it. I, like, I just felt like I wanted to kind of nod to that shorthand that sewists have with each other. But I guess it’s also like I, or maybe I’m reading into this…I think, I think it was also an attempt to kind of take making seriously. Like, I wanted it also to feel like, you know, when you go to an art gallery or something and there’ll be a painting and it will list the materials it was made with. I’m not saying by any means that sewing is the same as, you know, making a beautiful painting. I mean, I think there are sort of elements of creativity in common, but they are obviously quite different. But I like the way that the listing of materials makes it into this, like, serious project that intention has gone into. And yeah, I wanted to, I wanted to make the reader think about that, I guess.

Caroline: Yeah. I love this slightly more technical start to each chapter and it feels like, almost, you’re speaking directly to the sewist because we’ll really understand when you’re describing that fabric and the pattern. And it does sort of remind me of, you know, like on social media, how when people share about a pattern, often at the end they’ll sort of list what they used to make it. So it makes a lot of sense and I think it really works for the structure. We really enjoyed that part. Sewing is also such a tactile and physical process and experience, and we know from making the podcast that it’s not always easy to put sewing into words. So how did you approach writing about sewing so that it would be understandable to non-sewists as well, but also feel true to your experience?

Maddie: Oh, I love that question. I guess, like, when I started sewing, I was so enchanted by all the different sewing terms I learned. Like, there was this whole different vocabulary that I’d never heard of or come across. And I guess, I mean, I, I think it’s like that in every niche hobby, interest area. But I loved learning it and so I basically wanted the book to kind of, like. introduce that vocabulary at the times that I came across it. So, I think, like, early, early chapters, I’ve tried to make it so that there’s not an overwhelming amount of technical language. But there are some terms that I came across quite early. And then by the time you get to the end of the book, you’ve kind of acquired, over the course of several chapters, lots of these sewing terms and you know what they mean. So yeah, I wanted it to kind of mirror that process and I wanted, like, a person who doesn’t know anything about sewing to come into the first chapter and be like, “Yeah, I can follow this. It has something to offer me.” And then by the end, feel like hopefully they have acquired some of that diction. I guess also, like on a practical level, I tried to give some context for each term so that a non-sewist could understand. I think when I was starting out sewing, you might read like, you know, like one of the big four sewing pattern companies, their instructions can be a little bit, um, impenetrable if you don’t already know the terms. So I wanted to kind of do the opposite of that and make sure that someone coming in would have, yeah, a bit of context for what something meant if they’d not seen it before.

Helen: That makes a lot of sense. I think you definitely achieved that with the writing and I loved, like you said, how people could come to the book not knowing how to sew and acquire sewing knowledge through just reading it. And, I think, also acquire a ton of inspiration and probably finish your book wanting more than ever to sew and hopefully take up sewing. So I loved that about it. We were wondering, just for fun, if you had some favourite and least favourite sewing words that you’ve encountered over your journey.

Maddie: Oh, I love this question, too. I guess, like, I’m really fond of the word “notions,” just as a, like, catch-all term for those sewing bits and bobs. I just think it’s such a fun word. If you think about what a notion is in ordinary English, like, being an idea, I just think that’s quite a poetic way of kind of encompassing all those things. And it’s kind of fun to say. I guess that’s also really fun. I do also really like the terms, like lots of the verbs for gathering fabrics. Like I feel like “shirring: is a really fun word, or like “smocking.” But I think they all have great kind of, like, texture and they’re just really tactile words, I guess. In terms of least favourite, I don’t know if I could think of a least favourite. I feel like there are some, like, I feel like the word, the French word “toile.” I feel like that’s a word that I’ve kind of come across a lot of people tripping up how to say it, like, if they’ve only seen it written down. I think it’s the kind of word that I, you know, I think it probably sort of nods towards this French history of couture and that’s kind of interesting in itself. But I do think a word like that can make sewing feel a little bit, I don’t know, like a bit exclusive or inaccessible. Um, and I’m not so fond of that.

Helen: It’s hoity-toity.

Maddie: It is a bit, yeah.

Helen: That’s so funny. I never really thought about that. But I’m not a super big fan of “toile.” I usually say “muslin” instead, but it’s partly ’cause I feel like “toile” feels weird in my mouth. It makes my tongue do weird things. I can’t explain it.

Caroline: Those crossover words are funny, too, like “burrito” or, you know, if you’re talking to someone who…

Maddie: Oh, isn’t that great?

Caroline: Doesn’t sew, they’re like, “What are you doing to your shirt? A burrito?” Another thing we wanted to talk about is just the sewing machines in Patchwork, because they sort of feel like characters, and we were wondering if you feel like they have personalities and whether you name your machines. I know a lot of sewists like to name their machines.

Maddie: I’ve never named one of my sewing machines, but I do definitely think they have personalities, for sure. The machine that I learned on was this, like, crotchety, temperamental beast from like, you know, like 50 years before I was born. And like, it didn’t have a reverse stitch function. So you had to, like, physically pick the project up, like, turn it round 180 degrees, and then back stitch, you know, three stitches, and then pick it up again and turn the whole thing around again. So it had its quirks. I think, yeah, the one I have now is my grandma’s old machine, and I think we have a good thing going on. I feel like I’ve been using it for long enough now that I feel like, I’m sure you would both relate to this, too; there’s like a feeling that if it makes a slightly different sound, I know immediately that the sound is different and that something’s not quite right. Yeah, I love that kind of, like, intimate knowledge that you, you get over a long period of using the same machine. But yeah, I definitely think they have personalities. But I’ve not thought of naming them. I do have a friend called Gabby, shout out Gabby, who has, like, bedazzled her machine with, like, hundreds of sparkly silver stickers and, like, I think she might have, like, fake rhinestones or something on there as well, but it’s just this, like, beacon of gloriousness. Like, you go to her house and you go into the craft room and it’s like this shining thing. and I’ve always thought that’s a really fun and delightful thing. She’s like, “Oh, you know, just one day I thought it looked a bit boring, so I sort of bedazzled it.” But I feel like I’ve not done that, but I kind of like that as an idea.

Caroline: Me too. Why aren’t we all doing that?

Helen: A lot of folks put their cute sewing stickers on their machine, which is really nice. I’m, like, too chicken to put a sticker on my machine. I wanna keep it pristine.

Caroline: You also talk about your cousin Lisa in your book, and we just love those parts. Helen and I love to sew together. We love sewing with other people. So I wonder, from your perspective, why is sewing with a friend so much more fun than just hanging out?

Maddie: I mean, I think on a practical level, I’m a really indecisive sewist, so I think it’s quite useful to have, like, another person whose opinion you can bounce off or, like, just someone to kind of, like, break the sewing decision inertia to just be like, “Yeah, you should just make this pattern.” Or like, “I’m making this pattern. Why don’t we both make it and see how the visions are different?” I like it on that level. I think also, like, it’s just fun to both be doing an activity that you enjoy together. Like, I think, often, I don’t what it’s like for either of you, but I feel like, for me, a lot of my spending time with friends or, like, hanging out, and I love this, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of it can just be like, let’s go and get lunch. And then like, you catch up for a couple hours and you have a great time, but you kind of go at the end of it and you’re like, oh, you know, like we could have had this conversation over any activity. And I think it’s kind of nice for sewing to be in the mix if it’s something that you both like. I think, also, maybe sewing alongside others has made me surer of my own taste. Like I think, particularly with Lisa, we have quite different styles and I often will be making something that she thinks is, like, unforgivably feminine and she’ll be making something that I think is, like, kind of horribly ugly, but it kind of works for us both. I think that’s a really fun kind of dynamic to bounce off and to kind of, yeah, like to reassert, like, what you like and what kind of clothing you wanna make for whatever sort of person you are at that moment. Or if you’re making a gift, like, does the other person think that this would also suit them, or…I think there’s something nice about that.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Yeah. I loved that moment in the book where you mentioned having different styles and getting the opportunity to see other people’s styles come to life through their sewing. And I also think it’s really fun to see other people use all of the fabrics and trims and stuff that you might never choose, but you’re intrigued by, nonetheless. You know? Like, I’d love to see somebody sew something with this, but it’s not gonna be me. It couldn’t be me. But, like, to watch someone else do it is so satisfying and I enjoy that, sewing with my friends, as well.

Maddie: Yeah. Do you feel like you both have quite different sewing styles?

Caroline: Not super different, but yeah, I think we do. We have different colour choices and pattern choices.

Helen: I would say probably sometimes very similar, also. So not like polar opposites by any means, but yeah. But we do differ. I take a few more risks, I think, style-wise, just, like, with my bold colours and prints. But we do tend to gravitate towards similar silhouettes, so sometimes we are making the same things.

Caroline: Yeah. One of the things I loved, Maddie, that you talked about was just how you and Lisa were holding each other to a higher standard when you were sewing together. Like when she told you, like, “You absolutely can’t skip the pockets,” and you told her to take the time to sew the French seams. And I really related to that ’cause I feel like when I sew with other people I’m often sort of bouncing off of them, of like, “Maybe I’ll skip this part.” And they’ll be like, “No, no, don’t do that.” So I wonder, like, what has sewing together taught you about yourself as a maker?

Maddie: Oh, it’s definitely taught me that I’m lazy. I think I, I think like, I mean, I think Lisa’s also possibly lazy to the same degree, and so we kind of correct each other in that regard. Yeah, I know some sewists who are so meticulous, like, they press the fabric every time before they sew it, even if it’s something that I think can be kind of flattened by hand. Whereas, like, I’m definitely a shortcuts person and then like I’m kind of annoyed with myself at the end when I’ve made something that’s less good than it could have been. But I definitely still do it. Like it’s a real, yeah, I don’t know. You just get in your own way, I think.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Yeah. I take all those shortcuts, too. Like, if it’s flat enough to cut out, I’m just cutting it. I’m not ironing that fabric. One of my friends that I sew with regularly is a real meticulous sewist. Like everything must be super precise. Everything has to be perfect. Topstitching, perfect. And it’s great because her stuff always looks impeccable, but we get in, like, fights about it when we sew together. ‘Cause she’ll be like, “I’m gonna unpick this.” And I’ll be like, “No, don’t unpick that. It looks great. It’s totally fine. It looks fantastic.” She’ll be like, “No, it’s not good enough!” And I’ll be like, “It’s good enough!” And we, like, start yelling at each other. So I’m trying to, like, get her to lower her standards and she won’t. And I love that about her.

Caroline: Stubborn. Yeah, it’s fun to see other people’s sewing habits, as well. Like, you know, we sew so often on our own. I feel like we develop our own little quirky things that we do. And I’ll always remember, we have a friend who, she was sewing with us one day and she just didn’t trim her threads for the entire project. And then at the end tried it on and it just was, like, hairy with threads. And we were like, “Why do you have so many loose threads?” And she was like, “Why would I do it as I go along? I just do it all at the end.” It looked so goofy, but I was like, you know what? That makes sense.

Helen: There’s a wonderful moment in the book where your grandmother gives you some of your great-grandmother’s sewing stuff, and you talked a bit about how your grandmother and great-grandmother’s relationship to sewing is different from yours. Can you touch on that a little bit?

Maddie: Yeah, sure. I mean, I think this is probably the case for lots of sewists working now. I think, for my ancestors, sewing was much less about leisure. Like, it was really a practical skill that they used as, like, it was like a domestic skill. It would be like, somebody’s coat needs to be re-hemmed. I’ll re-hem it. That would be cheaper and quicker, and I’ve got the skills to do it. I think knowing that about my ancestors makes me feel particularly lucky to be living now and to kind of have sewing as a leisure activity. ‘Cause I think it is the kind of activity that, it feels markedly less fun when you have to do it. I think lots of sewists will recognize the feeling of, like, somebody in your family thinking that it’s no big deal for them to ask you to, like, hem their pants or something. And like maybe you’ll do it if you love them and it’s not gonna be a big deal. But also I think sometimes people don’t really know how much effort or work goes into even a small sewing task or a small alteration. And they’ll kind of ask you thinking that they’re not asking something very large, but then you’re kind of in a difficult position of saying, I don’t really wanna do that. So I feel particularly lucky kind of knowing that, for me, I can really just define sewing as this leisure activity. And isn’t that a privilege to kind of have it as this wonderful, fun hobby when I know that, particularly for my great-grandmothers, but I think also for my grandmother, it would’ve been more just something they had to do to kind of keep the household running. Despite that, I do think, like, there’s a similarity between our experiences, as well, in that I think sewing is still something creative. Um, knowing that it’s something that the female members of my family have done for multiple generations is kind of a special tradition.

Helen: I love that. I think a lot of people connect with their grandmothers and great-grandmothers and mothers through sewing, and it can be a really special way to reflect on your heritage and your ancestry. Do you still have some of those things that you got from your great-grandmother’s sewing collection?

Maddie: I do. I have, like, a really ancient thimble that she had, and this really old, heavy, kind of like rust-speckled pair of scissors. But I think at this point they’re more museum pieces than, like, things I would actually use.

Helen: Fair enough. Maybe they can be, like, sewing room decor for you.

Caroline: Yeah. There were also several moments in the book where it felt like sewing had a real transformative power. Like you kind of used it to change a bad experience into a better one. So what do you think it is about sewing that gives it that power?

Maddie: Well, I’m a bit worried this is gonna sound really woo-woo. I think I’m, like, generally not a woo-woo person, but then I say something like this and I’m like, maybe I am. I think the outcome of, like, all creative acts is kind of a, if you go through something where you have a lot of negative feelings about something and you kind of, you’re sitting with these negative feelings, the way to kind of transform those into something else is to put them somewhere else or, like, turn them into something else or apply the energy somewhere else. So I guess it’s not just sewing but, like, any creative act. But I think, yeah, like, the way we metabolize anything hard is to feel it and then to do something with those feelings. So I think making something out of a bad experience is a way of changing that experience because it’s like you’re kind of acknowledging that the experience exists and you’re sort of looking at it in the face, and then you’re kind of also insisting that there’s something apart from it. Which is like, I guess, like the beauty or the integrity of the thing that you’ve made. I mean, I think there’s lots of ways where this kind of applies in, like, a bigger picture sense. Like, I think, like, if you look at the history of, like, protest quilts or items that people make to commemorate the death of a loved one, I think those are really, like, potent examples of when, you know, something has gone really wrong whether on, like, a large scale or personally for somebody, and they’ve turned it into something that’s beautiful or meaningful in some other way. I think, also, just, like, I feel like maybe this doesn’t happen so much in my book, but I think when you go through something hard, sewing something to commemorate that it was hard is sort of a way of saying, yeah, it really hurt and that mattered to me. And here’s the thing I’ve made out of all of that, which I think is really meaningful.

Caroline: Yeah, it is. We are powerful because we have sewing and we can use it, you know? And, I think it’s, it’s nice that, you know, we don’t always have to make a garment to wear. It can be any kind of keepsake and it’s just so special that we have that power to do that.

Maddie: Yeah. Have either of you had an experience like that?

Caroline: For me, I haven’t. I feel like I should use sewing more to commemorate those hard times or to, like, channel. I think I, I use it as a distraction a lot of the times when I need something to sort of, channel and just make myself escape. Yeah. But yeah. What about you, Helen?

Helen: Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. For me, it’s a meditative experience, where I think, a lot of that processing of emotion, whatever emotions you’re having, can happen while you’re sewing because you’re kind of sitting there with the sound of your machine and you’re going through the motions. And I do find that I get a lot of time to just think to myself. The same way I feel about gardening when I’m outside and I’m digging in the dirt and my mind is just processing information and feelings. And that can be really beautiful and really helpful to take some time to actually think about all the things that are going on instead of being distracted by shiny screens and whatnot. I think that that is very helpful in my life.

Maddie: Mm, for sure. That’s very relatable.

Caroline: I did find your book so inspiring in the way that you sort of used sewing to commemorate. And in the later parts of the book, you started to include meaningful and beautiful details in your projects. So I wonder if you could tell us a little bit more about specifically the embroidered lining in your Paola Jacket.

Maddie: Yeah, so there’s this chapter in my book that is about making a Paola Jacket. So that’s The Fabrics Store, free pattern online. And it was a jacket I’d made several times before. And I made this particular version after having a bit of an uncomfortable encounter at work. It’s kind of, somebody said something that was like a little bit of a microaggression and I kind of went home and I was like, did I imagine that? Was I making that up? Am I ridiculous to feel so kind of, like, rageful and helpless? That I decided that I would kind of put that energy into sewing. And so I made a corduroy Paola Jacket, and then I decided that I would line it by stitching in these little, like, linen squares that had the embroidered Chinese names of my female ancestors on my mum’s side into the lining. And I don’t really know, like, why I decided to do this. It was kind of a random, it just, just arrived. Um, I think I had seen a maker on Instagram whose handle is @hemelbreker who had made a really beautiful jacket which had an embroidered lining where she had taken lines from the diary of an ancestor who’d been killed during the Holocaust. And I just thought that was such a beautiful way of kind of remembering those stories and remembering those people. And I liked the idea of, also, an embroidered lining, I think. Something about it felt really private and I kind of liked that.

You know, I think, like, your feelings about complex things tend to be kind of private and you don’t necessarily need to have them on display for people to comment on. So I wanted to kind of capture all of that somehow. And I chose the names of my ancestors because I felt very close to my grandmother, particularly, and my mum’s name is also there. And, beyond that, my two great-grandmothers on the Chinese side, I didn’t really know very well, and I was, like, a little bit afraid of them. But you know, they’d had very hard lives that had, you know, they were representative of the lives of many Chinese women of their generation. So I felt like that was something I wanted to commemorate somehow. And so, yeah, and that was also really great ’cause I didn’t know their names, uh, before that experience, or I didn’t know how to write them. And so kind of getting to embroider them, which is, anyway, this very slow process, was a kind of special way of spending time with that as well.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: That’s amazing. It’s such a beautiful project and I loved that, throughout the book, you’re finding these deeper connections with your family and with your Chinese heritage. And you also made a cheongsam as one of your projects. Can you tell us a bit about that process?

Maddie: I can. I feel like it’s a very, like, grumpy chapter of the book because I actually hated making that garment. I guess, just for the benefit of the listeners, a cheongsam is like, the traditional Chinese style of dress with the kind of, like, diagonal neckline across the front that is sort of held together by particular ties. And it tends to have, like, little cap sleeves and be this quite fitted and quite feminine dress with a sort of pencil skirt. It’s something that my grandmother had worn when I was small and I kind of knew about as, like, a symbol of Chinese culture, but was not a garment I ever felt comfortable wearing. Like, I felt like it didn’t suit my body and I didn’t like that it was so tight. I felt like the fabrics that it was usually made from made me feel like I was playing dress-up. Like, I didn’t wanna have, like, a red silk cheongsam with, like, dragons on it or something. I felt like that just didn’t feel honest as to who I am or, like, what my taste is. But I liked the idea of making a cheongsam because I felt like it was a way of connecting with this heritage and I thought it might be an interesting project.

And so I made this cheongsam in the book, which is sort of a, I guess, like a slightly modernized cheongsam. Like, I changed the shape of the skirt so it’s a bit more A line and I thought it was gonna be this fun project, but actually, it was just terrible in every way. Like, I’d never wear the cheongsam I made. It doesn’t suit me and I didn’t like making it, and I, so many things went wrong during the process. I think sometimes you just have, like, a slightly cursed project that, you know, just, like, it just won’t work the way you want and you have to unpick so many seams and by the end you’re like, why did I decide to do this? But that, I think that felt kind of symbolic at the time. Like I was like, oh, I think maybe this is not quite the right iteration of this garment, or I haven’t quite landed on something that feels like me. And so I ended up making a second cheongsam-inspired thing, which is like a black top and it has the diagonal neckline, but it’s not a dress and it’s not hugely fitted. And that felt way more me, and I feel like I wear that all the time. But I suspect making a cheongsam is something that I will return to, maybe, during my sewing years. And I’m sure I’ll revisit it in the future.

Helen: I like that you’ve already made a second garment that has inspiration from it. I mean, that sounds like a real win. And one of the things we wanted to ask you about was sewing failure because, as a sewist, you know, you’ve been sewing for what, six years now; I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of garments like this that just don’t work out. And how do you push past that? Like, what’s your process like for dealing with sewing failures?

Maddie: Oh, honestly, it could be so much better, Helen. I think, truly, I just hate it. Like, I just feel really grumpy and annoyed with myself and it depends in what way the garment has failed. Like, if I’ve made it and it’s a perfectly functional garment, but it just doesn’t suit me or look the way I hoped, then I’m like, okay, this is disappointing. But it’s, like, fine, because I can give the garment away or, you know, there’d be, there’s something I can do with this, ’cause it’s in pretty good shape. Whereas if I’ve made something that, it’s just terrible, like, it just doesn’t look good, it’s like unprofessionally finished, I feel like I, there’s just no way in hell I’d ever wear it or anyone I know would wear it, that’s, like, a way more disappointing experience. I think the correct advice to give myself in this situation would be like, okay, put the garment aside for a couple of weeks or something, and then return to it and cut it into something else. Like, if I liked the fabric and it’s big enough to cut into something else, I think that’s a good way of going about things. But I feel like usually what happens is I put the garment away thinking it’s gonna be for, like, two weeks, and then I just sort of, it just sits there at the bottom of my box for like six months. Every time I look at it, I feel kind of guilty and I’m still annoyed by it, like, six months later. It’s not a great idea. If you have any advice, I’d gratefully take it.

Helen: Well, our next little question here is about quilting, and as you were talking, I was thinking about how, you know, you could cut it to make it into another garment, but also, if you’re truly dissatisfied and you know you’re never gonna refashion it, you could just cut it up into kind of, like, squares and rectangles with the intention of maybe working it into a quilt, if it’s a quilt-friendly fabric. That’s my only idea at this point.

Maddie: Mm, that’s a great idea.

Caroline: I love the idea of making a quilt out of all your failed projects.

Helen: There you go. That’s a good way to channel all that energy.

Caroline: There’s something cathartic about that. Yeah.

Helen: But yeah, we did wanna ask you about quilting because I saw that you had a quilting project in the book. And I was very excited when I got to that chapter. I was like, oh my gosh, she’s quilting now. Shut the front door. So, are you still quilting? How’s the quilting going? I need to know.

Maddie: I am still quilting. I think the quilt that I am making in the book was maybe not a good first quilt project ’cause it involved a lot of curved edges. So that was kind of a challenge. But I think now I kind of know that that’s not the way to go for me. And I do keep all my scraps and I do kind of, like, try and fashion them into quilts at the end. At the moment, I have my eye on a quilting pattern by Spaghetti Western Patterns which has got, I dunno what it’s called, it might be like the Hurry Home Quilt or something. But it’s got these really cute little blocks that are like little houses with a chimney. But they’re made of, like, lots and lots of tiny rectangles. And I was like, I think this is something I could do. And I feel like it would be a really fun, like, colour blocking kind of challenge. So that’s something that’s on the cards. I do think quilting feels quite different from sewing. Like it does feel like kind of, kind of a different discipline or like a different skillset. Particularly, like, if you look at, like, the quilts that, I don’t know, like I think lots of cities have, like, a quilting show and you go along and it’s like, you know, hundreds of women in their sixties and seventies who’ve made these incredible, really large-scale quilts that tell a story or they’ve got like the most incredible applique or…there’s just such a, like, different world of skills that I’m like, wow, I have no idea what that involves. I feel like my quilting is very amateur compared with that, but I do like it and I do feel like it does feel a bit different from sewing and that, I guess, because it’s not about fitting a garment to the body, it feels a little bit less self-referential in some way, which I kind of like. Like, I think that’s kind of a nice way of getting out of that bubble. And it also feels maybe a little bit more like an artwork because it’s something that will be on display in a way that’s, like, separate from anything else. And it’s just, like, something to be looked at and regarded, which I think is quite special.

Helen: Yeah, it really lends itself to marking occasions, too, like we were talking about before, marking times in your life or milestones in your life or other people’s lives ’cause they make such great gifts. So, obviously I’m a big fan, but I did wanna say, too, that there are so many different styles of quilting, and I completely relate to that feeling when you go to a quilt show and you’re like, whoa, like, this is quilting? I, I don’t think I could ever do this. The level of artistry at quilt shows is crazy. It’s absolutely mind-blowing. And most people, most quilters are not doing that. And it’s also, quilting, uh, it’s all quilting, you know? There’s lots of different styles and takes. So never feel like you’re not quilting ’cause you’re not doing that, you know?

Maddie: That’s very kind.

Helen: You mentioned fitting there and I wanted to ask you, like, how has your experience been fitting garments throughout your sewing journey? Are you learning alterations and adjustments and things?

Maddie: Oh my gosh, Helen. I think going back to the, like, I am kind of a lazy sewist. I think I have a much better grasp now of how to alter things, but that doesn’t mean I always do a good, thorough job of it. I think, also, like, particularly, I feel like pants are my nemesis. It feels like every time I make a new pair of trousers, I’m a different size or a different shape. And so, like, the whole process of fitting and alteration has to be, like, done again. I can’t even tell you how much, like, dread and horror I approach that with. Which I think really has just translated into, like, mostly these days I make elastic-waisted pants or I have, like, my tried and true favourites that I know how to make, like, various small alterations to already, rather than starting with a new pattern. I do feel kind of sad about that ’cause I think there are so many great pants patterns. But the lazy sewist in me just can’t.

Caroline: Pants fitting is so hard.

Maddie: Oh, they so, they really are. There’s so many factors.

Helen: It’s okay. You just might not be in a fitted pants phase of life and you might have a fitted pants phase of life later in life. Who knows?

Maddie: Yeah, we’ll see about that. I feel like both of you are very good at alterations and fitting, from what I’ve heard. Is it something that you enjoy?

Caroline: I feel like I err more on the lazy side of sewing, where I will avoid making a muslin and fitting something if I can. But I do sort of know my go-to adjustments and I’ll sometimes just make them right off the bat. I usually adjust for height and stuff. But when I have to, I do enjoy it. Like, when I know it’s a project that’s gonna take time, there’s something satisfying about fitting. But I feel like, Helen, you probably have a slightly different take.

Helen: Well, I do kind of revel in that phase sometimes because it’s so fun to just experiment and, as a pattern designer, obviously I enjoy trying things out and seeing how it looks. And so I’m already kind of trained to just do that when I’m developing the designs. And so when it comes to fitting things, I like making the muslin and I like seeing how it fits and I like tweaking and experimenting. I would not consider myself a fitting expert by any means ’cause I really only have experience with my body and, like, helping my customers over the years. But there’s so much to learn about fitting and it’s so daunting. I think everyone can relate to that. One big tip I have for fitting is, if you can, just to, like, have a bolt of muslin. ‘Cause just having the fabric right there, ready to go, makes a difference sometimes. ‘Cause you’re just like, this is what I use when I’m trying things out. And you don’t have to feel like, which fabric am I gonna pick to, like, sacrifice to this project and which bedsheet am I gonna cut up? And obviously it’s a privilege to be able to have a bolt of muslin, but that has made a big difference in my sewing, is just having it ready to go whenever I want it, you know?

Maddie: That sounds like great advice.

Caroline: It is so interesting and relatable to see how your relationship to sewing sort of changes and evolves throughout the book. And I’ve been dying to ask how has it changed since you finished writing it? ‘Cause we sort of left off and that was a couple years ago, or a few years ago. So what has changed since then?

Maddie: That’s a great question. I think I definitely went through a period of sewing less after I finished the book and particularly, like, last year I moved to Melbourne from New Zealand. And so I feel like kind of being in a new city with, like, a whole range of different fabric shops and, like, different clothing stores and different secondhand shops, like, I feel like that all became quite overwhelming. Like I think for some people maybe it would be like, “Oh, there’s all these new fabric shops. Let me sew heaps more.” But I feel like for me, it kind of became like, oh my gosh, where do I begin? I don’t have any idea, like, where to start. And I also, like, I moved into this really small apartment and I feel like there just wasn’t space to spread out all of my sewing things. And so I’d sewed a bit less then. But I think these days, like, I’ve definitely come back into it over the summer that we’ve just had here. And I feel like now I’m excited to sew things that I feel like are filling a gap in my wardrobe. Like, I think I’m way more intentional about what I’m gonna make and I think my skills have gotten better. So I feel like when I wanna make something that I can’t afford to buy ready-made, I feel like more able to do that. And so that’s kind of a, I’m just, like, a lot choosier and more intentional about what I will make and when. But that also means I think that I am sort of enjoying the process a lot more than I used to. Like, I think there’s this period for lots of sewists when they start sewing where they’re so excited about this new hobby and they’re so excited about, like, all the potential of it and, like, how gorgeous all the fabrics are and, like, how cool all the patterns are that you just make heaps in the first, like, couple of years. And some of it’s like, some of it you do a good job on and some of it you don’t, really. And I think, like, over the sort of years that come after that, you’re like, like if I slowed down and kind of just went a little bit more intentionally about it all, like, I think I would end up with something I would use more. So I think, definitely, I’ve come to that over the recent years. I think, also, now I also make more for other people, because I think I just need fewer clothes. Like, I kind of know what I’m missing, um, and what I’m actually keen to make. And then, like, if I want to sew but I don’t have anything that I need or want, it’s nice to make something for someone else.

Caroline: What have you made for other people? I’m curious.

Maddie: I do often make dressing gowns because I feel like they’re a really flexible garment. Like you sort of don’t need to know someone’s exact size to make something that they might love. And then also things like, I don’t know, like, I got through, I went through this real phase of making, like, oven mitts and like, kind of like household, like, you know, things to put like a hot pot on or whatever. Because that’s a great way of using, like, a really cool fabric but not very much of it. And yeah, it’s also really standard in size. And I’ve made, like, a few, like, aprons. I think those are always really appreciated. But I think, like, I’m hoping this year I’ll make a quilt for a friend of mine who’s having a baby. So I think that’s the next thing on the cards.

Helen: Mm.

Caroline: That’s lovely.

Helen: That’s always a fun project. Yeah. I think a lot of people can relate to this feeling of, of frantically making a ton of things when you first get into sewing. That certainly happened to me. And then slowing down a little bit. And sometimes it can even feel like, do I even like sewing anymore? Or like, if I don’t need any clothes, what am I gonna sew? And that’s when you turn to quilting.

Caroline: Oh my gosh.

Helen: Oh, sorry. I am like a broken record these days.

Caroline: No. Just trying to get everyone into quilting. I love it. Have you dabbled in any other fiber arts, Maddie, like knitting or crochet or anything like that?

Maddie: It’s funny you ask, Caroline, ’cause I, I have just got into knitting this year, as of the last, like, couple of months. So I moved into this share house that has, one of my flatmates is a really big knitter and makes, like, the most exquisite… like, I think the, the week that I moved in, she was finishing this, like, blue polo neck sort of mohair jumper. And I was like, wow, that’s so gorgeous. And I kind of asked her, she just finished it the week I moved in and I was like, “Oh, how long have you been working on this?” And she was like, “Oh, about two months.” And I was like, two months? Like, I can’t think of a garment that I would spend two months sewing. Like, it’s just an incredibly long time. And I was like, gosh, I don’t know how anyone could do that for so long. And then here I am now and I’m, like, working on my second jumper and I’m like, oh, this is great. The pace is perfect. Like, I love knitting. I do think it’s quite different from sewing, but I like that it’s portable and just like really, really slow and really kind of intentional.

Caroline: Oh, that’s awesome. I wanna see, I wanna see this jumper that you’re working on.

Helen: Well, we mentioned this at the top of the show, and we have to reiterate just how much we loved your book. Truly, and we’re not even just saying this, Maddie. It was so beautiful. I cried reading it, multiple times. And I really wanna encourage our listeners to check out this book. We both had goosebumps reading it. It was so great. So we were wondering what you hope sewists feel when they read it. I don’t know if you’re intending to make people cry, but I was moved.

Maddie: That’s very kind. Thank you. I definitely wasn’t intending to make people cry, uh, but that’s very sweet to hear. Like, I want sewists to feel seen. I felt like I’d not come across a book that was kind of not an instructional book and not a nonfiction book about fabric history. Like I wanted, like, a book about sewing and what it feels like to sew. So I’ve tried to write a book that I, I hope does that. I think also, like, I hope that the book makes people want to sew. Like, I think regardless of whether or not you are already a sewist, I hope that it makes you curious and enthusiastic about fiber arts again and, like, encouraged to go and check it out.

Caroline: Yeah, I think it will. I wanna encourage all of our listeners to get your book, read it, listen to it. I listened to the audiobook and it was wonderful to hear the book in your words. So please, please go check it out. We have one last question for you, and that is, what are you sewing right now? Do you have anything on your sewing machine at the moment?

Maddie: I love this question. I’m gonna throw it back to you both in a second. Just by the way, I’m actually, I am sewing another, like, cheongsam-adjacent dress. So I’m sewing this dress called the Aitana dress, I think it’s called, by a pattern designer called Etta Patterns. Aitana is A-I-T-A-N-A and it kind of has the, like, diagonal neckline of a cheongsam but it has these, like, big gathered skirt panels just over the hips. It’s kind of like, if either of you have seen the Henrietta Skirt by Spaghetti Western, it’s got this kind of, like, just gathered over the hips, but the rest of it is fitted. But I liked it ’cause it kind of was like sort of a nod towards a cheongsam, but not quite. And so I’m making this as we’re recording this, so in February, so it’s ahead of the Lunar New Year. And I wanted to make a dress for the Lunar New Year. so we’ll see whether or not I finish it in time. I’ve got about 10 days, but I’m looking forward to it. It’s got, like, a bit of, it’s got some technical sort of tricky bits. There’s an invisible zip insertion, which is, like, one of my personal least favourite sewing things ever. So we’ll see how that goes. But yeah, it should be quite fun.

Helen: Ooh. Yeah, that sounds great. I’m gonna check out that pattern. It sounds really cool.

Maddie: Yeah. What about you both? What are you making?

Helen: On my sewing machine currently is bunting, because I’m making bunting for my wedding. I think it’s gonna be so cute and I really wanna, like, wrap our entire tent in it. And so I made the calculation and I need 500 feet of bunting to pull this off. So I have to make so much bunting. It’s a bit daunting but, honestly, it, it’s a pretty quick sew. You know, once you make the triangles, you’re just kind of, like, stringing them along. So it’s been very fun to put that together. And I have friends helping me out. So we’re collectively working on the bunting, which is great.

Maddie: What kind of fabric are you using?

Helen: Oh, just a bunch of leftover quilting fat quarters. My friend had a whole bunch that she wanted to get rid of, so that’s been nice. And I’ve got some, and so we’re just sort of collecting a bunch of reject fabrics and using those, which is a great use of them. And I’m excited ’cause I think the bunting will be useful for other things, too. Like, obviously I won’t always need 500 feet of it, but we’re gonna make multiple strings so that, you know, you could use them to hang up at a birthday party or something like that and use them over the years for various celebrations. So that will be nice.

Maddie: That sounds so gorgeous.

Caroline: Yeah. I love that you’re gonna keep it and reuse it. It’s great.

Helen: Provided it’s not like, you know, 10 plastic bins full of bunting. We’ll see.

Caroline: Yeah. What does 500 feet of bunting look like? I do not know.

Helen: I don’t know. I don’t know yet. I’ll tell you.

Caroline: Currently, I have a shirt that I’m working on, a button-up shirt, which is actually one of my favourite things to make. I love the, like, precision of a collar and a collar stand and a placket. And working with a cotton shirting, I think, is really satisfying. So I’m excited about that. But I just finished, I have to mention this, I just finished a stuffy for my niece. She’s a year and a half and I made a little stuffy that looks like one of my dogs, Pepper. And I’d never made a stuffy before and it was one of the most joyful sewing experiences ever, especially the final leg that I finished this week, of like, painting the spots on and adding the rosy cheeks and embroidering the eyes and the nose. And I made a little dress for it. It’s the most special thing. I was like, I think I’ve peaked as a sewist. Like, I’m so proud of it. It’s so cute.

Maddie: Mm.

Helen: It’s so cute.

Maddie: Sounds adorable.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: It’s fun, like, even after so many years of sewing, you can still discover an aspect of sewing that you’ve never tried before and fall in love. It’s amazing.

Caroline: Yeah.

Maddie: Ever-renewing, hey?

Helen: Yeah, it’s true. Okay, Maddie, where can our listeners find you online and where can they find your book online?

Maddie: That is a great question. Online, I think I would say I’m generally very poor at being online. So I do have an Instagram account, but I check it sort of sporadically. So my Instagram is @maddieballard27, so M-A-D-D-I-E and then Ballard is B-A double-L A-R-D and then the number’s two seven. But I, yeah, I very rarely check it, so I apologize if you send me a nice message and it takes me, like, several months to get back to you. I also do have a substack that I sometimes use. So it is called Field Notes on Feeling, and it’s a little bit about sewing, but it’s also about lots of other things that interest me. But aside from that, you can find Patchwork online. I would recommend ordering it through, like, an independent bookseller. I think, like, in North America you can find it at most, uh, independent bookstores at the moment. But you can also order it online directly through the Tin House website or, yeah, at many other online retailers.

Helen: Perfect. And we wanted to mention that there are sewing community members named throughout the book. There’s Instagram handles, there’s indie pattern makers called out. There’s lots of mentions and people throughout the book. So listeners, you could be mentioned in this book and you won’t know till you read it, so you have to read it to find out.

Caroline: Thank you so much for coming on the show, Maddie. This was such a great convo.

Maddie: Oh, thank you so much for having me. It was really, really delightful.

Caroline: All right. Bye.

Maddie: Bye.

Helen: Bye.

Caroline: That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me, Caroline, at Blackbird Fabrics and BF patterns and Helen at Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co. We’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Helen: You can support Love to Sew and get access to bonus content by subscribing on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. You even get access to the back catalog of bonus episodes. That’s over 75 hours of Love to Sew. Go to patreon.com/lovetosew or check out our podcast page on Apple Podcasts for more info.

Caroline: You can head to lovetosewpodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, leave us a message at 1-844-SEW-WHAT. That’s 1-844-739-9428. Or send us an email at [email protected].

Helen: Thanks to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant and Jordan Moore of The Pod Cabin is our editor. And thank you for listening. We’ll talk to you next week. Bye.

Caroline: Bye.

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This episode is all about presser feet! We cover all the basics, plus take you into truly mysterious territory. Like: how do you use a ruffler foot? Do you need a blind hem foot to sew a blind hem? And does my machine have a high shank or a low shank? We’ve got your answers!

The transcript for this episode is coming soon.

Show Notes: 

From the Listener Questions Section:

Presser Feet:

Adapters:

Resources:

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Other Mentions:

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Transcript: Coming Soon!

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In this episode, we chat with Nyala Rowe from Crochet Junction! She gives us an intro to crochet, including the best beginner projects, yarn, and resources. Plus: finding crafty community, the tools you need to get started with crochet, and more!

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

Show Notes: 

Where to Find Nyala Online:

Some of Nyala’s Crochet Creations:

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Nyala’s Fave Crochet Creators:

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Pattern Companies Nyala Recommends:

Resources:

Other Mentions:

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Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

​Hello and welcome to Love To Sew. I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co.

Caroline: And I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns.

Helen: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew and it’s not the only thing we wanna talk about.

Caroline: Today we are chatting with Nyala Rowe from Crochet Junction. We get an intro to crochet, including the best beginner projects, yarn, and resources. We also chat about integrating sewing and crochet and finding your crafty community.

Helen: If you love to sew, this is your show. Hello, Nyala. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Nyala: Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I’m honestly buzzing to be here. Thank you.

Helen: Oh, we’re so stoked to chat with you about crochet today. I know our listeners are gonna love hearing about this, so can you please introduce yourself to our listeners?

Nyala: Of course. So I am Nyala Rowe, and I am from a city in the north of England called Leeds. And I no longer live there, though. I am currently very much fixed in the Midlands in England. So I’m currently just outside of Birmingham. And I am a crochet enthusiast, I guess you’d say. Crochet content creator, YouTuber. And I also teach crochet, and hopefully soon I can add to that list. Crochet pattern designer. That’s on the list for this year. So hopefully I can add that soon, but not quite. So yeah, I am 32 and I have been crocheting for coming up 10 years, actually just under 10 years now. So yeah, it’s something that has kind of taken over my life. I can confidently say that it’s a part of me. It’s not going anywhere, and it is just, yeah. I am crochet, through and through. So you can find me on Instagram as @crochet_junction, but I am Nyala Rowe.

Caroline: Oh, incredible. Helen and I are so excited to talk to you. Obviously this is a sewing podcast, but we are interested in all things fiber arts, and I, personally, really wanna learn to crochet, so I’m hoping to come away with this with a little bit more knowledge. And I know a lot of our listeners wanna get that crochet kind of one-on-one so that we can try it out ourselves, as well. Can you tell us about your journey? What got you into it?

Nyala: So it’s a strange one, really. Despite growing up in what I would say is quite a creative household, so my dad is an amazing painter and drawer, and my grandma would knit and crochet for all of her grandchildren. It was probably her only hobby, really. So I was definitely around it a lot growing up, but I just had zero interest. So I’m, I’m not someone who was taught by my grandparents or learnt from a young age. I actually didn’t get into crochet until I was 21, 22 and, I don’t know, do you guys have Wagamama over there in Canada?

Helen: No, but I, I am aware of it, but no, we don’t have it over here. Why don’t you explain it to our listeners?

Nyala: Okay. Well. So Wagamama is a restaurant chain, essentially. It is, like, Pan-Asian food. And between the ages of 18 and 24, I was a waitress there. And we used to do these really long, grueling split shifts. So we would start work at 12:00 PM and finish at 3:00 PM but then we’d have a three hour break in the middle and then start back at six, and then finish at 12:00 AM. So we’d have three hours in the middle of the day and it wasn’t quite enough time to go back home. So we would tend to just sit on our phones, doom scrolling, like, doing nothing. And I got to the point where I was like, there must be something else that I can do in my time that’s just a little bit more productive than this. I felt like my brain was kind of rotten. So I Googled it and I said, what can I do in my spare time? Something with my hands. And what kept coming up was knitting.

So the next day, on my split shift, I walked into Birmingham City Center, and in Birmingham you’ve got the Birmingham Ragmarket, which is, like, this massive market and it’s got lots of like independent traders in there, and there’s a woman in there that sells yarn and everything you need. So I bought some knitting needles, some yarn, and I went back to work, got a YouTube video up and decided to knit a scarf. So I started knitting this scarf and I thought it was going really, really well. I was loving it. I was really, really enjoying it until I got to the end of the scarf and I realized that somewhere along the way I’d gone wrong and it was just really misshapen and I mean, I would like to say it had character, but my friend looked at it, and she said, “Hmm, have you thought about crocheting instead?” And at that time, I knew what crochet was in that I knew kind of how crochet looked. I could, if somebody showed me something that was knitted and something that was crocheted, I could tell the difference between the two. But I didn’t really know what the difference was. So the next day I went and I got a crochet hook instead of knitting needles. And I used the same yarn and I decided to start crocheting a blanket. And hand on heart, ever since that day, I have had a project ongoing ever since. I got completely addicted to it to the point where, I mean, I was only young, so I was still kind of going out. I was going out after work and I’d get home at like three in the morning and then just start crocheting. And I was just so addicted to it. It just felt like a really good way to pass the time. It was so relaxing and it just, I, I had to do it before I went to bed. It really just set me up for a good night’s sleep. And ever since then, I’ve just been completely addicted.

Helen: Oh my gosh. What a fun story. I absolutely love it. Also, I’m imagining at 3:00 AM, after being out with your friends, like, you’re a little drunk, right? Like, drunk crocheting?

Nyala: What I will say is, there isn’t many pictures of my first blanket, and we’re gonna keep it that way because, let’s just say, it’s an interesting make.

Caroline: Oh my gosh. No, I was gonna say, good on you. ‘Cause when I used to do split shifts as a server, I would just, like, go out to eat and drink in between with my server friends and, like, I didn’t do anything productive.

Nyala: Listen, that’s what I was doing for probably the first four years, so I was definitely with you on that. But it got to a point where I was just like, there’s got to be something else I could do. And I think, as well, it was okay if, if you had, like, other friends that were on split shifts as well. But sometimes during the week it’d just be you and you’d just be sat there and I was like, oh, this is just, it’s a bit boring. So, but yeah, I’m glad, I’m glad it ended up that way. I’m really, I’m really glad that I found crochet. But it was kind of a weird introduction, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Caroline: Mm. Well it’s so nice, and I love this idea that you’ve basically had a project on the go since that moment. Can you tell us, like, what is it that you love so much about crochet?

Nyala: I think, for me, there’s quite a few things. It’s relaxing, first and foremost. It’s really, really relaxing and really mindful, but also it’s something that you can do whilst doing other things. So crochet isn’t something that I kind of have to stop my life for. It’s intertwined in everything that I do. So if I am, if I’m reading a book, for example, I will listen to the audiobook and crochet. If I am watching my favourite sports, which are Formula One and tennis, I’m gonna be crocheting alongside that. If I’m traveling, I can crochet. If I’m just chilling on the sofa with my partner, I can crochet. It’s like, it’s not antisocial and it’s not one of those hobbies that you kind of have to go to a special place to do. You can just do it anywhere you want, and I love that about it. I also love that, like I said, I never really grew up seeing myself as a creative person, but it is definitely a creative outlet and it allows me to express myself and really just find joy in doing things with my hands. So I love that part of it as well.

And then, also, one thing that I love about it a lot is the community aspect of it. And this is something that I kind of didn’t learn about until I was a good few years into my crochet journey, really. When I first picked up crochet, I was very much a crochet loner. So I would, I would crochet kind of on my own. I had a flatmate and I would crochet in the house. And I went to a craft group quite early on and I had a really bad experience there. I didn’t enjoy it. And I was like, I’m, I’m just never doing that again. And it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that’s when I started sharing my crochet online. That’s when I created Crochet Junction on Instagram. And at that point I found that there’s this whole world, this whole community of people that are crocheting, knitting, and doing all sorts of yarn that I just never really knew existed.

So I built up a really good relationship and, in fact, I built up good friendships with people online. During that first year, year and a half of the pandemic, I had something I hosted on Zoom. Such a throwback. And basically every Thursday night on Zoom, I had something called Hook Club, because you use a crochet hook to make your projects. So we had Hook Club every Thursday and we would just, it was just like a group of like, say, 20 women who, we’d never met in real life before. And we would all just sit, we all had our individual projects and we would just chat and it was so fun and it was like this real community. And then when the world started to open back up again, it kind of fizzled out, which was really sad. And I definitely felt there was, like, a bit of a void because I do think the older you get, the harder it is to kind of make new friends.

So by this point, I’m, like, in my late twenties and I’ve got a very solid friendship group that I, I love dearly. But you know, sometimes it’s nice, ’cause none of my friends in real life crochet, so as much as they’ll entertain me and they’ll act like they’re interested when I’m telling them about, “Oh, I’ve seen this new yarn,” and they’re like, “Okay.” Like, they’re not really that interested. So it definitely felt like I was missing something. I, I really wanted to be part of like a, a real life crochet community. And it wasn’t until 2024 that I went to another craft group, local to me, and I was so nervous, unbelievably nervous. I don’t know why, but I really was. And I get there. And it was just brilliant. and it’s just opened me up to this whole other world again. I met one of my closest friends, she’s called Lauren, and we now just, like, we crochet. Well, she knits, I crochet, and we take our projects everywhere. It doesn’t matter where we are. She’ll come round and we’ll watch a film and we just crochet together. We go to yarn shows, we go yarn shopping, we’ll just go to different cities and check out the new yarn shops, and it’s just a real community sort of spirit. And everybody, apart from that first craft group that I went to where I had that bad experience, ever since then, everyone in this sort of community is just so warm and welcoming and it’s just such a huge part of my life now that I just couldn’t imagine, I just couldn’t imagine life without it, to be honest.

Helen: That’s so beautiful. I’m sure a lot of our listeners can relate because I know that we have all sorts of people out there hanging out and sewing together, and I’m sure there are people out there too who are still looking for their community and have yet to find it. So it’s really encouraging words from you to just keep trying, keep going out, putting yourself out there. You might meet your sewing bestie or your crochet bestie. You never know.

Nyala: Exactly. And whenever I post about it online, that I’m going to my wool club or I’m going to the craft group, people are always like, “Oh, I wish there was one near me,” and things like that. But what I say is, if there isn’t one near you, start it, because there’s someone else near you that wishes that it was there as well. And I just think sometimes we can really just kind of get inside ourselves, but there’s so, there’s such a huge community of people out there that just wanna be with like-minded people. So I mean, if you’re local to me in the Midlands, reach out to me and I can give you all the good spots. But other than that, I would say just start it.

Helen: Amazing. I’m curious, and I know our listeners probably are too, do you do any other fiber arts? Do you sew at all, perhaps?

Nyala: So, despite learning to knit first, ever since that dodgy scarf experience, I haven’t picked up knitting needles again, which is a travesty. And there isn’t really a reason why other than I don’t really have time because I’m so obsessed with crochet. And last year I was like, you know what? I’m gonna learn to knit socks. I don’t wanna learn to knit anything else. I just wanna learn to knit socks. Because I do think it’s the one thing that, crocheted socks, really, in my opinion, they don’t really work. They’re a bit chunky and they’re a bit thick. Whereas, with knitting, it’s a little bit more delicate. So it, it lends itself to socks. So I went and I, I went to Manchester, which is about an hour and a half away from me, to my favorite yarn shop. And I picked up some knitting needles and some new yarn, and those knitting needles and the yarn are still just sitting on a shelf and I haven’t done it. So the answer is no, I don’t knit. And I, and I would like to, but I don’t yet.

Sewing, on the other hand, sewing…I’m a little bit worried here because you guys are, like, experts, right? So I don’t wanna give off any sort of impression that I’m, like, a sewist, ’cause I’m not. I can get by. So for a lot of my projects, I’ve, I’ve recently kind of caught a bit of a bug for making bags, crochet bags. And for that, really that’s where the sewing kind of came into it because I like to line the bags with fabric. You don’t have to, but I do think it just makes things look a little bit more finished and you can kind of have a little bit of fun with, like, nice bright patterned linings and things. So I started sewing linings into bags, but I was using, I don’t know if you’ve seen them, they’re like handheld sewing machines. That was my introduction to sewing. I think they’re quite handy. You would probably look at it and laugh, but I think they’re quite handy. And as someone who doesn’t sew, I think, like, a proper sewing machine can be quite intimidating. But it wasn’t until, when I went to this craft group and I met Lauren. So Lauren is one of my closest friends. We’re convinced that we’re related somewhere along the line. And she’s a knitter, but really, like, first and foremost, she’s a sewist. And I dunno if you guys have heard of or watched the Great British Sewing Bee. She was actually on there, so she is, like, next-level sewist. She’s, she’s amazing. Like, honestly spectacular. So, becoming friends with her, when she saw me pull out this handheld sewing machine, she was like, “No friend of mine is gonna be walking around with a handheld sewing machine. We need to up your levels here, babes.” So since meeting her, I, now I can get by. She showed me the ropes. And I can confidently line a crochet bag. I still haven’t made any clothes, but this year she’s gonna teach me how to make, I really want, like, a sort of dressing gown, robe situation. So she said that we’re gonna sit down and she’s gonna teach me how to make that. But as it stands, I’m very much a beginner-level sewist. I’ll put it that way.

Helen: That’s amazing. You’re still a sewist. It a hundred percent counts. If you sew, you’re a sewist. There’s no barrier to entry here.

Caroline: Yeah. So you’ve mentioned blankets, bags. What other kinds of projects do you like to crochet?

Nyala: So bags is probably number one, simply because it’s kind of like a medium-level project in that it’s not super quick, but it doesn’t take that long, either. So you can get through them fairly fast and they’re still interesting. And also, with bags, I wear them a lot, so it’s something that I can constantly just reach for and wear and get a lot of wear out of them. They’re instant conversation starters as well. So whenever I’ve got, like, a cool, funky bag on that’s crocheted, people are always asking questions about it. So bags are definitely my number one at the minute.

Blankets, like I said, that was kind of what I used to gravitate towards. Um, at the minute, not so much. I’m definitely kind of in my, like, accessories, homeware sort of era. So I’m really enjoying doing, like, plant pots, baskets, candle holders, things for around the house. Maybe that’s the sign of me just kind of getting older. I’m not sure, but like, I’m, I’m more interested now in trying to make my house pretty. I do, every now and then, make cardigans. So one thing about me is, if I’ve got an event coming up, best believe I’m gonna be crocheting something for said event. So for example, last year I went to Wimbledon, so I made a bag for that. In October, I went to the Knit and Stitch Show, which is like a massive yarn show and sewing show in London. And so I crocheted a cardigan for that. So cardigans are definitely something that I do like to do as well. Oh, and hats, hats is always a good one. My partner’s bald, so he needs all the hats he can get. So I really like to make him hats as well. That’s, that’s, that’s a very selfless thing that I like to do. But yeah, mainly, at the minute, to be honest, bags and baskets. They are my hyperfixation at the minute.

Caroline: Ooh, fun. Oh, we love your bags so much. And one of our questions was gonna be, do people ask you about them? So you’ve already answered that. I know if I saw one of your bags on the street, I would be like, “Where is this from? Did you make it? I need more details.” They are incredible.

Nyala: Oh, thank you. This is kind of what’s prompted me to kind of release some of the bag patterns, because for every bag that I wear and I share, if it’s not somebody else’s pattern, I tend to have made it up myself, self drafted it. And I will always write a pattern, but it’s, that imposter syndrome kind of creeps in and I never release them. So I’ve kind of, I said it was my New Year’s resolution for last year. I’ll be honest, I’ll hold my hands up. It was my New Year’s resolution for last year to start a YouTube channel and release a pattern. I started the YouTube channel, but I haven’t released a pattern yet. So I’m definitely gonna do it this year. So, yeah, it’s, it is all that interest that I get from people just asking about the bags and things like that that’s kind of made me think, do you know what, just put the bag patterns out there. It seems like people like them, so just put the patterns out. So that’s, that’s the plan.

Helen: Absolutely. I think people will be thrilled to see some patterns for these incredible bags. And I mean, you mentioned that crochet makes you feel a lot of joy, earlier, and I think that really comes across in your makes on your social media. Your whole account is very joyful. There’s a lot of yellow. It’s so bright and cheerful and gorgeous. And I would love it if you could describe your personal style to our listeners and what kinds of things you like to wear.

Nyala: Personal style. Okay. So for me, I mean, colour, for me, is everything. So I’m always drawn to bright colours, as you mentioned, specifically yellow. Yellow is my favorite colour, and it has been since I was a child. I just find it, it’s joyful. It’s happy. And one thing about me is, if I’m having a particularly bad day, those are the days where I’ll wear the most colour because it just, it perks me up and it just, it makes me feel happy. And it’s almost kind of like a fake-it-till-you-make-it sort of situation. So I love dressing in a nice bright maximalist sort of style. I’m an autumn girl so, like, I like nice chunky, cozy things. I like to be warm and snuggly. I don’t mind summer, but really and truly, as soon as it, as soon as those leaves start to turn orange, that is, like, my sweet spot. So I like cozy fits that are still bright, inviting. I really enjoy just comfortable things, If I’m completely honest with you. I am someone who just likes to get cozy, snuggle up with my crochet, get a film on, listen to an audio book, candles. Like, I’m not the party girl anymore. I’m definitely the cozy indoor girl. So I just, like, my personal style is very much just carefree, but joyful, fun, bright, and cozy. I would say, cozy number one.

Helen: That’s perfect for crochet.

Caroline: So fun. We definitely encourage our listeners to go and check out your social medias and see how beautiful all of your makes are. I think we should get into the 101 stuff and kind of introduce our listeners to crochet. This is the first episode we’ve ever done about crochet, so we had a few basic questions that we were hoping you could help us with. First of all, can you just briefly explain the difference between knitting and crochet?

Nyala: Okay. So the, the main difference, I suppose, is that with knitting you’re using two needles and with crochet you’re using one hook. So there’s, I suppose, different categories when it comes to the differences. So the fabric that knitting creates tends to be a little bit more delicate and a little, has a bit more drape. Whereas crochet tends to have more structure and texture. Obviously, there is nuances to that. There are ways in which you can manipulate crochet so it has more of a drape and things. But generally speaking, crochet tends to have more structure and more texture and tends to be a little bit more sturdy, whereas knitted garments tend to have a little bit more fluidity, and on average they’re just a bit more delicate, I would say. With regards to the end result, knitting tends to be slower. So knitting’s slower than crochet. I don’t actually know the reason why for this. I think it’s more to do with how you manipulate the yarn. So when it comes to crochet, what you’re actually doing with the crochet hook is you’re essentially just making knots over and over again, different types of knots. So the work comes together quicker than it does with knitting. But what also that means is that, with crochet, you use more yarn. So I think it’s about 30% more yarn that you use with crochet as opposed to knitting. So you may need six balls of yarn for a crochet cardigan, and you may only need three balls for knitting. I mean, you would never need three balls, but that is just an example. So yeah, I would say crochet is the speedier of the two but it also, a lot of the time, ends up being a little bit more expensive because you’re using, you are using more yarn as well. I’d say that knitting is probably more associated with more, like, classic garments and crochet is often associated with more, like, bolder, vintage-style garments. And I’d say that crochet, it’s more portable, so it’s easier to kind of transport and do on the go simply because, with crochet, you are working each stitch as you go. So you make the stitch and then you’re done with it. Whereas with knitting, you have all your stitches lined up on your needles and you’re kind of working them off. So if you are interrupted or, you know, it’s your, it’s your time to get off the bus and you haven’t finished working that row, you might be in a bit of bother when you put it in your bag and then take it back out later. Whereas with crochet, you have a little bit more security with your stitches in that way.

Helen: Hmm. That’s really interesting. I’m fascinated by the yarn amount difference because I feel like, in my head, crochet has holes in it. But I know it doesn’t always have holes in it. But you know what I mean, that classic, like, seventies crochet has all the little holes in it, and unless you’re knitting lace, knitting is more solid. So it’s interesting that it uses more yarn.

Nyala: It’s because of what you’re doing with it. So because you’re making these knots, it just naturally takes up more yarn. And then what happens is, with crochet, like I said, it’s better suited to things that need a bit more structure. So for example, like I’m enjoying making a lot of baskets and bags. While you can make baskets and bags with knitting, it’s more suited to crochet just because you just get a bit of a denser fabric and it’s kind of a bit stiffer. Whereas with knitting, it’s just a little bit more, it’s a little bit more elegant, I would say, or can be more elegant. I don’t wanna upset anyone. It can be more elegant.

Caroline: Knitters, don’t come for us.

Helen: I know, all the knitters out there are gonna be like, “It’s super portable. It’s really easy. Yeah.

Caroline: We’re gonna have to do an episode about knitting after this.

Nyala: You have to. Please, take some of the heat off me.

Caroline: I do think that crochet feels like it’s, like, more three-dimensional, almost like there’s more thickness and depth to the stitches.

Nyala: One hundred percent. There’s more texture.

Caroline: Yeah. More texture. I’m always impressed, though, with just the amount of projects that you can do with crochet. Like when I look at your projects and other people who are really inspiring that do crochet, I’m like, wait, you made gloves? You made this beautiful full-length cardigan. You can make tops. You can make all kinds of things. It’s not that sort of, like, I don’t know, traditional grandmother making blankets and rags and things, you know?

Nyala: And I think crochet is, is definitely having a moment at the minute. And I do think that the, I, I mean, I, I love a granny square, for example. I love like a traditional sort of granny square project, and there’s definitely a space for that, but there is kind of this modern crochet movement at the minute, which I completely welcome. And it is, like, making things like face towels or coasters, scrunchies, like just little kind of cute little things that you can make for around your home and things. One of my favourite projects that I made a few years ago was like a massive, like, sort of foot pouf for my friend who was, just given birth and she wanted something to, like, rest her feet on that was really, really pretty. And just things for around the home. I think crochet is definitely more suited to those household items. So yeah, there’s a massive modern crochet movement at the minute. And one of the first books that I ever, crochet books that I ever purchased was by someone called Debrosse NYC. And she has just the most stunning sort of homeware crochet patterns that, they’re just so modern, and they’re just so far away from that traditional sort of grandma doily style that you that you kind of…

Caroline: To be clear, too, I have nothing against the doilies or the granny square. I’m like, grannies, don’t come for us. We love you.

Helen: I love a granny square. I just started crocheting. I was, like, preparing for the episode. I’m like, hey, I, I have a crochet hook around here somewhere. I know I do. I dug it out and I started crocheting and I was like, I’m making some granny squares. I’m figuring it out. And it was not that hard. It was so fun. Like, it’s just like you said, a bunch of knots. And it’s so satisfying. I’m like, okay, one more knot. One more knot. One more knot. One more knot.

Nyala: Exactly. Just keep going. Before you know it, it’s four in the morning.

Helen: Yeah, exactly.

Nyala: What are you making at the minute?

Helen: I’m just using some leftovers from knitting projects to make granny squares and I have like four or five of them now. And I don’t know what it’s gonna be, but I’m just making a bunch of different colours and see where it goes.

Nyala: I love that. And that’s the beauty of granny squares. You can start a project and you just don’t know where it’s gonna go. So that’s one thing that I really like about granny squares. ‘Cause you can just…like, I have a bag of granny squares. Don’t ask me what they’re for, but every now and then, I just need…they’re, they’re like a palate cleanser for me. So I just need to just sit and make some granny squares and I put them in that bag and one day they’ll be something, but I just dunno what, and they’re great for, like, really portable as well, granny squares, you know? You can just have them in your bag.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. I’m, I’m imagining maybe a blanket one day, but I also might not make that many, in which case, maybe a bag or something. I don’t know. We’ll see where it goes, but…

Nyala: Don’t be surprised. Once you go crochet, You never go back.

Helen: We’ll see. We’ll see. But…

Caroline: We’ll see.

Helen: We’ll see. No, I, I do love it. I think it’s so cute and portable, like you said. I love that aspect of it. I’ve been doing it in front of the tv, which has been very relaxing. But for our listeners who don’t know, maybe you could just tell us briefly what a granny square is so we can catch everybody up to speed.

Nyala: So a granny square essentially is a crocheted square using yarn, and it’s worked in the round. So it’s, yeah, you start in the middle, you work your way out. And traditionally, granny squares are made up of lots of different sort of fun colours. A lot of the time, like contrasting colours. So they’re nice, bright, fun projects. And once you’ve done your squares…so you can, technically a granny square can go as, you know, it can go as big as you want. You could just do a whole blanket that’s just one big square. But traditionally, people tend to do maybe like four or five rounds, depending on how thick the yarn is that they’re using. And then you will, by some method, tend to join them all together. And then you can create fun projects like blankets or bags or cardigans, jumpers, anything like that. But yeah, it’s, it’s basically a crochet square, worked in the round, often from the center out, and then you just build it as you go. And you can make ’em as big or as small as you like. By the way, once you master a granny square, I believe it just opens, that the world’s your, your oyster then, because granny squares basically teach you the stitches that are used for most crochet projects. And once you can do a granny square, you can do a granny hexagon. And once you can do a granny hexagon, you can do a granny triangle, which then just opens so many doors. Like if you search “hexagon cardigans,” for example, they’re just two massive crocheted hexagons. And you join them up the middle and it makes, literally, a body and sleeves. They’re so simple and a really good beginner-friendly project.

Caroline: So would you say a granny square is a good project to start out with as a beginner?

Nyala: 100%. Controversially, I didn’t start with granny squares, so I, I didn’t actually learn to make granny squares until a good few months into my crochet journey. But, having taught a few workshops now, and I’ve got a beginner’s workshop coming up in a couple of weeks. During that beginner’s workshop, I’m gonna spend the first 30 minutes kind of just going through your basic stitches and then we’re gonna move on to making granny squares simply because, like I said, I think that once you master a granny square, it just opens up so many other doors for you when it comes to crochet. And they’re so versatile. So you can, you know, during that workshop, the workshop’s only two hours, but you’ll be able to make, you know, a couple of granny squares and then you can take those home with you and just the world’s your oyster and you can keep going. So definitely I would say that granny squares are great for beginners.

Caroline: Mm. Amazing. Okay. Can we take it back for a second and talk about what tools you need to just get started? Like if I wanted to just go to the store, get what I need to make my first project, what would I need?

Nyala: So you’re gonna need some yarn and a crochet hook and scissors. Those are, like, your fundamentals to get started. Some patience, as well. That will help.

Caroline: That’s free.

Nyala: Those would be your essentials. But then, in addition to that, I think good things to always have on hand as well are stitch markers. Especially for beginners, if you are gonna be crocheting in the round, or even if you’re crocheting straight lines, stitch markers are really good so that you can pop them in the first stitch of your round and the last stitch of your round, just so that you can kind of keep on track and make sure you’re not adding any stitches. That tends to be, like, something that beginners will do. Something definitely that I did is you end up adding stitches in the wrong places so your project becomes misshapen. So stitch markers are always a good thing to have on hand. A project bag, just to kind of, you know, keep yourself nice and organized. Do as I say, not as I do, because I’m definitely not organized when it comes to my crochet there. If you ask, if you ask my boyfriend…just leave it there. But there’s stuff everywhere. But yeah, a nice project bag just to keep all your things nice and neat in there. But yeah, I think, main things: grab some yarn and a hook and some scissors and you’re good to go.

When it comes to beginners, I would always say the chunkier the better when it comes to the yarn. So use a chunky yarn or a super chunky yarn, just for while you are finding your feet. It’s easier to kind of grasp how to hold the yarn and the hook when the yarn is thicker. It’s easier to see your stitches and it’s easier also to see your mistakes. So if you are using, like, a really fine yarn, mistakes tend to go missed, especially when you’re a beginner. And it can just be quite fiddly. So I do think that, depending on what you wanna make, but people do tend to…I would say DK yarn, which stands for double knit, is, like, probably the most common yarn weight. But I would stay clear of that as a beginner and move towards something like chunky or super chunky. Just until you get your bearings; then you can fly.

Helen: And I know that there are different sizes of crochet hooks, but how important is it to use, like, the right size hooks? I know in knitting it’s actually quite important. So how does that work?

Nyala: Mmhmm. It’s important but, to me, I don’t think it’s set in stone. But it’s taken me quite a long time to kind of realise that, or maybe that’s just, that just comes with experience. I think, as a beginner, when you buy your yarn, if you look on the back of it, it’s always gonna tell you what knitting needle size you need and what crochet hook you need. As a beginner, I would always stick to that, as I did, because if you end up using a hook that’s too small for the yarn that you’re using, you can end up with, especially with crochet, you can end up with something, a garment or an item that’s gonna be incredibly stiff, hard to manipulate. And if you use a hook that’s too big for the yarn, it’s gonna be hard for you, then, to manipulate the yarn, and it might be a bit too loosey-goosey. However, as your confidence grows and you have a little bit more, I suppose, creative freedom over what you’re making, it’s important to kind of trust yourself a little bit. So for example, I’m making a scarf at the minute and the yarn that I’m using, I’m using aran weight merino, and it calls for a five millimeter crochet hook. But I know that, one, I’m a tight crocheter anyway. My tension tends to be quite tight and I know that about myself. Maybe it’s all the stress, I’m not sure. but I tend to crochet quite tight. But also, I really wanted the scarf to have quite a lot of drape to it. So that is something that you have to consider with crochet, because you do get a denser texture. If you want something to be a little bit more flowy and a little bit more carefree, just go up a couple of hook sizes and then you’re gonna get a little bit more of a drape. But that all comes with, like, time and experience and things like that. But yeah, it’s not set in stone. But definitely, for beginners, just stick to what it says on the yarn.

Helen: Fair enough. What about patterns? Because you’ve mentioned that you might be making some patterns this year, which is very exciting, so I imagine you do kind of draft your own or make up your own patterns, but do you ever use other designers’ patterns? Where would you recommend finding a good crochet pattern?

Nyala: I use patterns all the time because, especially with bags, I really enjoy kind of drafting my own patterns and making it up as I go along. But there’s a time and a place for everything. So there’s certain things, like if it’s a gift or if I’m making something for the first time or if it’s just not something that I’m very comfortable with…so like, in the world of crochet, you’ve got, like, your standard sort of crochet where you can make garments, blankets, things for the home, and stuff like that. But then you have got the other side of crochet, which is like amigurumi. And amigurumi is, essentially, like a lot of the times it’s making like toys or figurines and things with yarn. That scares me. I’ve been crocheting for almost 10 years and for some reason amigurumi scares me. I’ve done it a few times and every single time I do it, I love it. So don’t ask me why it still scares me, but it does. So my little brother, for example, there’s quite a large age gap between me and my youngest brother. So he’s only seven. And often he will ask for a crocheted teddy bear or a crocheted octopus or something along those lines. That tends to be amigurumi. So when it comes to things like that, I’m always gonna follow a pattern because it’s just not my forte and it’s just not a place where I feel comfortable.

But in addition to that, there’s a lot of pattern designers that I just love anyywhere. So I find a lot of patterns through Instagram. I find them on Etsy. Controversially, I don’t use Ravelry. Lauren told me recently that I need to start using Ravelry as a resource. So Ravelry is a good place, a good place to go for patterns, and I know a lot of people do use it, but personally I just don’t. And I also use Pinterest as well. And YouTube, YouTube as well. Massive resource there for patterns and tutorials. So, yeah, I, I love following a pattern. Some of my favourite makes have been other people’s patterns. My favourite pattern designers are probably Yarn Theory, who is on Instagram and YouTube, actually. And you’ve got Realm Designs, who is a UK pattern designer. She does lots of, like, cool sort of funky retro style crochet garments, hats, accessories, things like that. And then you’ve got the absolute G and GOAT that is Toni from TLY Yarn Crafts and she’s on YouTube and it was actually her blanket tutorial that was the first tutorial that I ever watched. She is amazing. She’s like the gold standard and, yeah, her patterns are always top-tier.

Helen: Wow. Okay, great. We’ll link all of that up. And I’m sure, much like sewing patterns in the sewing community, you can check hashtags and you can go on Ravelry and see all the different projects that people have made using those patterns. You can do some research beforehand and see what you might wanna do with the project, which is amazing.

Nyala: Yeah. 100%.

Caroline: So you mentioned beginners maybe using a chunkier yarn to start out. We talked a little bit about DK weight. Do you have a favourite type of yarn that you like to work with?

Nyala: When it comes to weight, I was gonna say the chunkier the better, but that’s not entirely true. But I do lean more towards chunkier yarns, so it’s very rare that you’ll see me using anything thinner than a DK. So if we was to start from the bottom, so you’d have, like, your lace weight yarns, and then your fingering weight yarns, and then your DK. Even DK, for me, it’s just a bit, Ooh. I just, I dunno. I just like things to feel like they’ve got a bit of substance. And I also like projects to work up quite quickly. So the chunkier the yarn, the quicker the project. So a lot of the time I am using aran weight yarns or chunky yarns, especially for things like baskets, because I just think they look better and they’ve just got more structure to them. But in terms of fibers, I absolutely love crocheting with cotton. So cotton is really fun to crochet with ’cause it’s so versatile. You can crochet, like, nice little summer outfits or things for the home. Cotton aran is 100% my sweet spot. I know that mohair is having, like, a massive moment at the minute. And you know, I, I like mohair. I think it’s fun and it’s pretty to look at. It’s very delicate and it’s gorgeous, in all fairness. But if I was gonna use mohair, I would hold it with an additional yarn. So I would use, like, a mohair and a DK just so it’s a little bit thicker. But there’s plenty of, like, gorgeous patterns at the minute that are all just mohair and very delicate and silky. But I just, it’s just not for me.

Caroline: That makes a lot of sense. I agree. Mohair is so beautiful, but it would intimidate me. It looks so sort of delicate and …

Nyala: It’s super, it’s really delicate and, and the, the hardest thing about mohair, and it’s not just mohair, it’s a lot of natural fibers. So one thing I would say for beginners is, there’s loads of different types of yarns that you can use. Acrylic yarn is, so, it’s, it’s not got any natural fibers in it. It’s a manmade yarn. And acrylic tends to be on the more affordable side. So I’d say for beginners, when you, when you’re first starting out, acrylic’s like a really good place to start. And then when you start like venturing into, like, real wool and mohair and things like that, one thing that happens or that can happen is, if you make a mistake with mohair, trying to, we call it frogging, which is basically just trying to undo your work, can get quite tricky because the fibers sort of stick together. So a top tip from me, if you ever are in a situation where you’re trying to pull your work apart or trying to undo some stitches and it’s just knotting up and not working: pop your project in a bag, put it in the freezer for like an hour or two and then take it out and it will come away loosely. So there’s just something to bear in mind.

Helen: Cool. I love a tip like that. That’s so fun.

Caroline: Okay. I have a super beginner question. As someone who doesn’t crochet, doesn’t knit, I feel like I’m gonna get roasted for this, but can I just go to a yarn store and the same yarns that can be used for knitting can be used for crochet? Like it’s, like, full crossover of materials?

Nyala: Yeah, 100%. So, full crossover of materials. However, there’s certain materials, and I, and I’m speaking more from a crochet perspective here, just because that’s what I know about more. There’s certain things that I would crochet with but wouldn’t knit with. So for example, a lot of the bags that I make, I’m using, like, braided cords. So they’re like macrame kind of cords. And the reason I like to use those is because they’re just really sturdy, they have great longevity, they don’t wear down, and they’re stable. Especially for bags, when you’re gonna be putting a lot of things in them, you need it to be able to kind of hold the weight. So it’s really easy to crochet with those sort of cords. I think it would be harder to knit with them. I think it is definitely doable, but those sorts of fibers are definitely, like, more suited towards crochet. But if you walk into any yarn shop there’s gonna be walls and walls of yarn, yet nine times outta 10, anything that you can use to crochet with, you can use to knit with as well.

Caroline: I love this. It’s like two hobbies in one.

Nyala: It is, it is like two hobbies in one, but then at the same time they’re so different. So I don’t know if you guys were able to watch any of the new show, it’s a, it’s a British TV show, it’s called The Game of Wool.

Helen: No, I haven’t.

Nyala: Have you heard any of the, have you heard any of the controversy around it or any of the drama?

Caroline: No! Oh no. Tell us!

Nyala: Oh my gosh, girls, let me get my tea. No, it’s a new show, so it’s kind of, it’s a very sort of similar sort of format to The Great British Sewing Bee and The Great British Bake-Off. But it’s called The Game of Wool: Britain’s Best Knitter. Already controversial, because they do knitting and crochet. So the title was a bit…

Caroline: Wow. Okay.

Nyala: Um, but yeah, on that show it kind of demonstrates how different the two sort of techniques are. So one week they would be asked to crochet something and one week they would be asked to knit something and to be able to do the two so well is, like, an amazing skill, because I think to a lot of people who are just not involved in that world, you’d think, well, if you can knit, you can crochet. And that is just not the case at all. They are two very, very different skill sets, in my opinion. Well, I’d say in a lot of people’s opinion, according to the feedback from the show. So yeah, they are very, very different skills. But there’s definitely some, some crossover there in terms of the materials that you can use. I would say that maybe the troubleshooting can be quite similar. So as a crocheter, once I’ve got into knitting, it might be easier for me to spot where I’ve gone wrong, or easier for me to not make as much mistakes because I’m kind of used to crocheting. But again, even, like, with sewing, I would say, sewing would really help out anybody that’s wanting to get into, like, fiber arts, because if you’re wanting to crochet garments, for example, and you’re used to sewing garments, you are already kind of aware of, like, how a garment’s constructed and, like you, you know that you’re gonna need a back and you’re gonna need two front panels and sleeves. And so all that sort of stuff kind of helps. But yeah, it’s, knitting and crochet are definitely two very different skill sets. And the worst thing that you can do to someone that’s crocheting is say, “Oh, what are you knitting?” Because, just, just that, that will be like World War 3. Don’t do that.

Caroline: Oh!

Helen: I love this kind of drama. It’s my favourite. It’s my favourite kind of drama, to be honest. It’s amazing.

Nyala: I’m, I’m so here for it.

Helen: I wonder if it’s similar to the sewing garments and the quilting communities. Like, you’re using the same materials, you’re using the sewing machine. There’s so much crossover, so many similarities, and yet, very different communities, very different skill sets. And not everybody does both, even though they both sew. So I wonder if that’s kind of a similar analogy.

Nyala: I reckon so, because I know, like I said, my friend Lauren who does, so she started out, I think her first project was, was a quilt. We’ve got a festival over here called the Festival of Quilts. And when you go there, it’s very much, like, quilt-focused. Like, they don’t wanna talk about dressmaking, don’t ask me about dressmaking. It’s very much focused on quilts. So yeah, my good, good friend Lauren, Lauren Tedstone, she is always giving me, giving me the tea and the goss in the, in the sewing world.

Helen: Amazing. I love that. Okay. Well, speaking of sewing garments, um, I think our listeners might be curious about, first of all, like, what would be a beginner, a doable garment crochet project? And then secondly, like, could they incorporate crochet into their sewing garments in different ways? Are there ways that you’ve seen people do that?

Nyala: Yeah, so I think what I mentioned earlier, really, like, with the hexagon cardigans, that’s, like, a really great place to start because you’re essentially just making two big hexagons. And it’s so simple and so easy, and it kind of sounds quite hard to picture, but when it’s laid out in front of you, it all makes sense. But if I was a beginner again, I would definitely lean towards, like, hexagon cardigans or crocheted cardigans in general. Especially because, when it comes to a cardigan, they’re a little bit more forgiving in terms of fit. So jumpers, you know, you, depending on, obviously, your body shape and size, but you’re a little bit more restricted with jumpers when it comes to fit. Whereas, like, cardigans, you know, you slap some buttons or a tie on there, everything’s gonna work out. And I do think that there’s definitely room for crossover when it comes to sewing and crochet. Like I said, I like to sew linings in my bags. There’s absolutely no reason why you couldn’t, you know, sew a lining into your cardigan. I, currently I’m working on some projects at the minute where I wanna make some scarves, and because of the type, my hair type and texture, I can’t wrap a crocheted scarf around my hair because it’s gonna cause too much friction and breakage. So I’m gonna sew, like, silk linings into my crocheted scarves and things like that. There’s definitely some cool sort of innovative ways that you can combine the two.

Helen: Oh, that’s really cool. What a great idea. I saw a cool video online, too, where someone was crocheting onto the bottom of just, like, a T-shirt, to make it longer, and it looked so cute.

Nyala: Oh my gosh. Yeah, you can, because…that’s such a good idea, actually. Like, you can crochet onto the bottom and do like, like a little scalloped edge on the bottom. Or crochet collars, as well. A really kind of cute, like, decorative way to kind of just make a plain T-shirt have a little bit more character. So you could do, like, a crocheted collar or, there’s, like, crocheted stitch work that you could do on, like, your button band. So yeah, there’s definitely, there’s definitely, like, fun, interesting ways that you can incorporate the two, for sure.

Caroline: Ooh. And I’m just looking at the hexagon cardigans and they’re so cute and kind of, like, oversized? So I feel like the fit would be pretty easy.

Nyala: Yeah, that’s exactly what I mean. They’re super oversized and I recently made one with the chunkiest yarn that you could ever imagine, and it is the most obnoxious, just big, chunky, cuddly, squishy thing. And I just love it so much.

Caroline: Yeah. Cozy. I love it. Do you think it’s hard to get a good fit, generally, on garments in crochet?

Nyala: I don’t think that it’s hard, but I think that it all just comes with, like, time and experience, really. I think, for myself, I definitely lean towards more oversized fits in general. And I do think that oversized dressing and, like, baggy things are a bit more trendy at the minute. And if you wanted something that’s a little bit more tailored, you can achieve that with crochet because there’s things, there’s little things you can do. Like you can add elastic into things, for example, just to give you a bit more shape. But also, we have something called blocking, which is basically what you do after the fact. So once you’ve finished crocheting your garment, what you can do is you can have a wet block or steam block and basically you would, if you’re steam blocking, you would steam the garment and if you’re wet blocking, you would submerge it in water, drain the water out, and then you wanna pin it basically into shape so you can pin it into shape using blocking mats. And what this does is it kind of relaxes the stitches and relaxes the fibers and just helps you kind of get your desired shape. So if you’ve made something, for example, and it’s a little bit snug or a little bit too small, don’t panic, you can, a lot of the time, kind of aid that and help that with a bit of blocking and that can kind of help you get the more desired shape that you was after. And it does also make the garments look a little bit more polished and finished off as well.

Helen: Yeah, I understand that blocking is completely transformative. Sometimes, like, it can really make a huge difference. I love the before and after blocking videos. Those are always fun to watch. Okay. What about time spent? Obviously crochet’s gonna be a little slower than sewing, for the most part. Makes sense. You’re making the fabric one stitch at a time. But how long would you say it takes to, let’s say, make this hexagon sweater we’ve been talking about?

Nyala: It’s gonna depend largely on the yarn that you use. So the chunkier the yarn, the quicker the garment’s gonna come together. And also it’s gonna depend on your general speed, like how fast you are as a crocheter. I would say I’m quite a slow crocheter, to be honest. I didn’t use to think that, but having watched Game of Wool and they have literally like eight hours to pull something together, I’m like, okay, I can’t do that. So there’s definitely, like, a personal element in it. But for a cardigan, I would say on average maybe three weeks. And that’s, you know, if you’re doing it kind of outside of everyday life. So you are doing it in the evenings or doing it on the weekends, I would say a good three weeks, if you’re lucky enough that, I dunno, say you’re on holiday or you’ve got plenty of free time and you’re not doing anything else, you could easily crochet a cardigan in probably like four days. But I’d be careful with that. You have to take breaks, take breaks and stretch, stretch your fingers because, like, obviously, like, repetitive strain is, like, so common. So you have to, you know, make sure you’re taking breaks and really stretching out your fingers. And I really make sure that I do that a lot because this hobby, it just means so much to me and I would hate to, like, lose it by, you know, having, like, ailments when I get older where I can’t, like, use my hands anymore. And it is definitely like a strain on your body. So if you are gonna put in a session then, you know, just make sure you take breaks.

Caroline: Yeah. Learn the stretches that you need. I can’t imagine this show, Game of Wool, like, if they’re like, “Make something in eight hours,” like, it feels like a recipe for injury. Like, just furiously knitting?

Nyala: It is. And so this was kind of how my YouTube channel came about, because me and my friend Lauren, we would sit and watch a Game of Wool and, like, react to it. And I would post that on YouTube. And that was, like, one of our things. We were like, “How are they coping?” Because I know, for me, if I’m sitting and I’m crocheting for eight hours, gosh, I’m gonna be stiff as a board. But what happened was, it was kind of, again, just like, it just goes to show this amazing community, that two of the contestants from the show actually reached out to me after seeing my YouTube videos and they were like, “We’d love to come on your channel.” So Lauren and I traveled down to London to meet with them and we got all the behind-the-scenes tea and we got all the gossip on the, what happened on the show. And one of the things that I can share, there’s a lot that I can’t, but one of the things I can share is that they actually had, like, a physio on set. So they had a physio on set. They had people bringing them, like, hot water bottles and going through stretches with them. And they were, like, really well looked after and they would get like massages and stuff after, like, long filming days. So they were looked after, definitely. So, yeah. But it’s, it’s still gonna be, like, a strain.

Helen: Well, and on top of that, all the stress. Like, I mean, I’ve seen the Sewing Bee and, you know, the Pottery Throw-Down, Bake-Off. Like, those people are stressed out.

Nyala: Yeah, exactly. And I think, out of all of those things that you’ve just mentioned, like, knitting and crochet takes the longest. Like, you can make a dress in a day. Obviously they are asking them to do it in a few hours, but that’s kind of like just a little bit of time pressure. Whereas, like, with knitting and crochet, to ask someone to, like, crochet, there was one week they had to crochet a mohair sweater and they had like 10 hours to do it. And I’m just like, whoa. They are like, honestly, the talent on that show is next level. And now, having met two of the contestants, they’re lovely people as well. So hopefully it gets, um, season two so I can commentate on it all over again.

Helen: That’s amazing. We’ll definitely link up that commentary video for our listeners too, so they can check that out.

Caroline: Yeah. So you did mention YouTube already, but are there any other learning resources that you would recommend for a beginner?

Nyala: Yeah, so like I say, I learnt it all on YouTube, so it’s probably very, like, quite a modern way to learn, I suppose. But it’s a, it is great if you are a visual learner because you have the video there in front of you. You’ve got someone talking you through it. You’ve also got people in the comments as well. Like, don’t skip looking at the comments because, nine times outta 10, if you are stuck on a bit, somebody else got stuck in it as well. And then people tend to, like, help each other out in the comments. So YouTube is definitely number one. Number two would be, like, going and finding local workshops or events where you can go and get kind of in-person help. I’m a visual learner. I know a lot of people can sort of look at books and things like that, but for me, I, I definitely need, like, that visual assistance when it comes to learning to crochet. So yeah, if you can’t, if you can’t make it out to anywhere that’s got classes or anything like that, for me, 100% YouTube is, like, the place to be.

Caroline: Okay, amazing. And can you recommend any inspiring crochet accounts? Obviously we’re recommending yours to all of our listeners.

Nyala: Thank you.

Caroline: But what are your favourites?

Nyala: My favourites would be, um, so we’ve got Realm Designs, who I mentioned earlier. She’s, like, a British designer. She’s got a book coming out soon, actually. She’s amazing. I did a pattern test for her last year. All of her designs are, like, really fun and colourful and she brought out this tulip cardigan where basically it’s just a cardigan made up of rows of tulips and it’s just so fun and sweet and great for springtime. You’ve got Love Indy. She’s really cool. She does more, like, crochet wall hangings, very sort of Y2K vibes, very nice, cutesy sort of things. I just finished some mittens by Cosmaudi. I, I hope I’m saying that correctly. But her Instagram is, like, top-tier. Really nice kind of aesthetically pleasing sort of crochet videos. And the mittens that I’ve just done was the first pattern of hers that I followed, but it was also an, an excellent pattern, as well. So, yeah, she’s really fun. Katie Joslin. She’s kind of a new account, actually, but she does a lot of, like, crochet garments that are just very pretty and very nice. And she’s, she’s lovely as well. And then I have to, I have to shout out my girl, Keisha, who is Knitted by Kee. She is a knitting and crochet genius. And lots of…so for me, my, my favorite colour is yellow and, like, my whole page is yellow. She’s the orange girl. She’s 10 outta 10. And then, then if I’ve got time, I have to shout out, I’ve spoken about her a lot, but Lauren Tedstone, Made by Lauren Tedstone. Your listeners will absolutely adore her because she’s all sewing and knitting and she’s just 10 outta 10 as well, so I have to shout her out.

Helen: Oh, amazing. Yes.

Caroline: And we’ll see her on your YouTube channel as well, right?

Nyala: Yeah, she’s, she features heavily on my YouTube channel. So the YouTube, we do, like I said, we did the watch parties for the show, but then I’ve got a lot of vlogs on there and, you know, I do share a lot of crochet-related content, but also I’m, I’m an oversharer. So on all of my platforms, it’s not just crochet, it’s me as well and, like, everybody that’s kind of in and around my life. So you’ll get to meet all the characters on the, on the YouTube and the Instagram.

Helen: Amazing. Okay. Before we let you go, we need to talk about one of the projects that you made that we just thought was absolutely incredible and so inspiring, which is your book blanket. So can you tell our listeners about this book blanket please?

Nyala: I can! I love the book blanket. It’s a little bit bittersweet, to be honest, talking about this, but I wish I could say who the first person was that came up with it. Sadly, I can’t, I, I genuinely don’t know. But I’d, I’d seen it on TikTok a couple of years ago, that people were starting to crochet a book blanket and it, and it piqued my interest because, as well as crocheting, I love, love to read. So essentially, what a book blanket is, is for every book that you read, you crochet a square. It can be a traditional granny square or any type of square. You crochet a square in the colors of the book cover. So for my book blanket, I’m doing, like, these sort of retro flower squares that tend to use around four colours, and I’m just using the colours that are in, in the books. Sadly, though, I’ve kind of let myself down a little bit because I, I started it last year and I was hoping to, basically, do one for every year. But what happened was, I was on a roll until maybe like August, and I was reading like four books a month, doing really, really well. And then, I dunno, the sunshine came out and the thing with the UK is, when the sun’s out, you can’t just let it go by. Like, you have to get outside and get into it. So what that meant was my reading kind of slowed down. So I haven’t ended up with enough squares to create a blanket. So we’re bringing it into 2026 as well. Which is, it’s like, it’s, it’s, it’s a good thing and it’s a bad thing ’cause I wanted to start a new book blanket this year. But actually, it’s fine. I’m just gonna continue with this one and I’m about halfway through. But it’s, honestly, it’s a great way to kind of, you know, like people talk a lot about like, habit stacking. I like to do hobby stacking. So I’m reading and I’m crocheting and it’s just, it’s just a great way to tick, like, two hobbies off at once. I adore it.

Caroline: I think you can give yourself a pass on this one. You gotta enjoy the sunshine when it comes out. Over here on the west coast of Canada, we can relate. It is the rainforest out here, so we are outside when it’s sunny. Um, and there, yeah, you’ve got many years ahead to continue with this. This is incredible. It’s so fun and colourful and I really encourage our listeners to go check out this project. Do you have a favourite book that you can recommend from all the different books that you’ve read so far?

Nyala: I do. There’s two. The first one is, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. At the minute I’m trying to read books that are, like, quite joyful and happy and just like, just really good old-fashioned escapism. And this book follows the journey of a girl called Eleanor and you will just, you’ll fall in love with her. She’s a bit quirky, little bit odd, but she’s, she’s, she’s amazing. And it’s just a story of her life and the interesting kind of turns that it’s, that it’s taken. So that’s a great book. I love that book. Have either of you read that?

Helen: I have, yeah. It’s really good. I loved it.

Nyala: Isn’t she cool?

Helen: Yeah. Mmhmm. Yeah. Amazing. I’m sure our listeners would love that one, too.

Nyala: And then, secondly, The Names by Florence Knapp. That book, it’s a new book actually, that was an interesting one. And that is all about kind of the power of the name that you choose for a child. So it shows basically three different universes. So this woman has a baby and it shows what her son is like when he’s named one thing, a second thing, or a third thing, and how it shapes who he is as a person. Very interesting kind of concepts. I really like that one as well.

Helen: Wow. Okay. Would you recommend that for somebody who’s currently in the process, not me, personally, but anyone out there who’s currently in the process of trying to name their child, or is that a bit, is it too much for them?

Nyala: It is a bit deep in parts, so there’s definitely trigger warnings there. But yeah, I suppose so, because I do think it is important what you name your child. So it would definitely cause food for thought, but just, just proceed with caution because there’s some quite deep and dark bits. So just, yeah, take your time.

Helen: Okay. Amazing.

Caroline: Sounds incredible.

Helen: We’ll link all of this up.

Caroline: Adding it to my list. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show today. This was so much fun. Can you tell our listeners where they can find you online?

Nyala: Oh, thank you for having me. I’m honestly, I’m overwhelmed. I’m so happy to be here. you can find me on Instagram @crochet_junction. You can find me on YouTube @crochetjunction29. And you can also find me on TikTok @crochet_junction. But I will be very honest, guys. TikTok is, yeah, TikTok’s not really for me, so we’ll just stick to, stick to the Instagram and the YouTube. That’s, that’s where all the fun’s happening.

Helen: Amazing. We’ll definitely link everything up and I can’t wait to continue my crochet journey. Thank you for inspiring us.

Nyala: Yay. I’m so excited. I, I can’t wait to see what you make.

Helen: Okay, well take care, Nyala, thank you! Bye!

Caroline: Thanks so much.

Nyala: Bye guys. Take care. Bye.

Helen: That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me, Helen, at Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co. and Caroline at Blackbird fabrics and BF Patterns. We’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Caroline: You can support Love to Sew and get access to bonus content by subscribing on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. You even get access to the back catalog of bonus episodes. That is over 75 hours of Love to Sew. Go to patreon.com/lovetosew or check out our podcast page on Apple Podcasts for more info.

Helen: Head to lovetosewpodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, you can leave us a message at 1-844-SEW-WHAT. That’s 1-844-739-9428. Or send us an email at [email protected].

Caroline: Thanks to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant and Jordan Moore of The Pod Cabin is our editor. And thank you all for listening. We’ll talk to you next week.

Helen: Bye bye.

Caroline: Bye.

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We each sewed a bag in secret, and in this episode, we reveal them to each other for the first time! We chat about the patterns and fabrics we chose, what techniques helped us out during the sewing process, and how we plan to style our new bags.

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

Show Notes: 

From the Listener Questions and Feedback Sections:

Previous Episodes Mentioned:

Caroline’s Bag:

Helen’s Bag:

A post shared by a n n i e c o l q u h o u n (@anniepickle)

Other Mentions:

Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Helen: Hello and welcome to Love To Sew. I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co.

Caroline: And I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns.

Helen: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew, and it’s basically all we wanna talk about.

Caroline: We each sewed a bag in secret, and in this episode we will reveal them to each other for the first time. We’ll also chat about the patterns and fabrics we chose, what techniques helped us out during the sewing process, and how we plan to style our new bags.

Helen: If you love to sew, this is your show.

Caroline: Hi Helen.

Helen: Hi Caroline.

Caroline: How are you?

Helen: I’m great. I’m buzzing, as always. You know I love these episodes.

Caroline: I know, these episodes are the best. People are gonna get sick of us talking about how much we love these episodes, but I really can’t stress enough how much I enjoy these We Sew episodes.

Helen: I know, and I was thinking about how you could transfer this to the outside world. Like if you have a sewing friend, you could do this. Not on a podcast. You could each decide, you’re gonna make a theme, something, a bag, for example, and make them and then get together and reveal them to each other. It’s just that accountability, that motivation.

Caroline: Yeah, the deadline.

Helen: The deadline. Yeah. It’s so much fun. So try it.

Caroline: And sewing around a theme is so fun. Like, if you’re not on social media, you’re not participating in any of the, like, I don’t know…people on socials do that, where it’s like, “This month we’re doing this.” Or like, here’s this other kind of, what are these called? I’m, I’m blanking.

Helen: Like a club, like a sewing club. Yeah, there’s lots of those out there, too. A lot of fabric stores run those kind of clubs, and those are really fun as well. Quilting bees or quilting guilds are really good for that, too. They do, like, monthly challenges and everybody does the same style of quilt or something. It’s really cool.

Caroline: But if you wanna do it with a friend, you should.

Helen: The reveal is the best part. It’s so, so good.

Caroline: The reveal is absolutely the best part. Okay. Before we get too far into this, we wanna remind you all that the best way to support the show is by joining us on Patreon or Apple Podcasts subscriptions.

Helen: Yes, you get access to bonus content every month. We do bonus episodes and we have a lot of fun catching up with you all on those more casual bonus episodes. Very chit chatty. You can hear all about Caroline getting her face lasered.

Caroline: Wow. That’s the hook this month, hey?

Helen: You won’t believe what happened.

Caroline: You won’t believe what happened, to be honest. Oh my gosh. You can hear all about the chair drama in Cancun.

Helen: The chair drama. Yes. My vacation chair drama.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: But yeah, it means so much to us if you’re able to support us, even if it’s just for a month or two. You can hop in and hop out. And if that’s not in the cards for you right now, we totally get it. We’re just really happy that you’re here and you’re listening. It means a lot to us.

Caroline: Yeah, and if you wanna support us for free, you can rate us or review us on Apple Podcasts. Please leave us a nice review. We haven’t asked for this in a while, and we’d love to get some more recent reviews up there, so that would be so lovely. But above all, thank you all so much for listening and for cheering us on. I can’t believe we’re at over 300 episodes now. Honestly, over 400 if you include the bonus episodes. We’ve been podcasting for a while, so. You know?

Helen: A hot minute, a hot decade.

Caroline: It’s been a hot minute. Yeah. And you’ve been there through it all, so thank you.

Helen: Thank you, thank you, thank you. We’re gonna start off this episode with a couple of voicemails from listeners, and this first one is from Brianna.

Brianna: Hello, Helen and Caroline! I am Brianna from Utah, USA, and two things: one, in the Sewing Fashion Trends episode, you mentioned that you were worried about the points of your shirt turning up while you moved around, and I had the idea that you could get some lightweight boning and sew on some channels to the lining, it’d probably have to be hand sewed, but It should keep it down. It’s, like, very lightweight, boning, maybe even just zip ties. ‘Cause, you know, boning is not just for holding people in, it’s also for holding clothes in place. And second: I called in a couple years ago about “what did you learn with sewing?” And I mentioned that I learned that finishing seams was not optional, and you mentioned on the podcast that wanted to hear the story. So I was 15 or 16 or something and I said, “You know what, I’m gonna sew my own prom dress.” So I got a pattern for a simple A-line skirt and matching shirt, and some polyester brocade fabric, and sewed it up and did not finish the seams. And they frayed straight up to the seam line, but not past it. Thank goodness. I think it might’ve also helped because I think it was lined. Anyway, so I decided I really liked this pattern, but I don’t like the inside. I might try out this newfangled French seam thing I’ve read about on the internet. And what do you know? The inside looked a lot better. Love the podcast. Thank you. Bye.

Caroline: Hi Brianna. Thank you so much for calling us. So the episode with the top that Brianna mentioned was episode 291, this was We Sew Fashion Trends. Helen, do you wanna talk about this top that you made?

Helen: Yeah, so I sewed a top with a kind of corset shape that comes to two points at the front and Caroline wondered whether the points would kind of flip up when I sat down. And they definitely do. Um, it’s not super egregious or anything, ’cause it is a thicker fabric, but it’s such a great idea to add some lightweight boning to prevent that flipping from happening. And for any fitted bodice, boning helps the garment keep its shape and prevents it from collapsing into the folds of the body. If I were going to go back and do boning on this top, I would have a couple options. I could add some boning channels to the inside of the top, like Brianna mentioned, and I’d sew them on with black thread to match the outer fabric. Easy to do, but lines of black stitching would show on the outside. The second option would be to take the top apart and sew the boning channels into the lining layer only and then reassemble it. That’s obviously a lot more work, but the finish would be similar to what it’s like now. And if I just made the top again, I could add some boning. So we’ll put a couple of articles about inserting boning in the show notes so you can check them out and try it yourself.

Caroline: Yes, these are great ideas. And back to Brianna’s voicemail. First of all, it’s so cool that you sewed your own prom dress. I bet you looked and felt amazing and I’m really glad that the fraying didn’t go past the seam line. It kind of reminds me of those old embarrassing stories section they used to have in teen magazines. Like, “Can you believe my prom dress split and everyone saw my underwear?!”

Helen: I remember those stories. I loved those.

Caroline: Yeah. Oh my gosh. But we all learn this lesson at some point. Finishing seams seems like something you can skip, but if you wanna wear clothes more than once, or even just once, it’s definitely something we’ve all gotta do. So don’t skip it.

Helen: Especially with poly brocade. Like, as soon as she said that, I was like, “Oh no. That is such a fray-y fabric.”

Caroline: It really is.

Helen: I’m glad it didn’t fray past the seam line. She got away with that one.

Caroline: Yeah, definitely. Phew.

Helen: Phew.

Caroline: Alright, our next voicemail comes from Samantha.

Samantha: Hi, my name is Samantha. I’m a flower farmer in the New York Hudson Valley. I love to sew. Last year I took the Seamwork personal style workshop, which was really great. It helped me understand that I feel best when I’m wearing really bright, fun and colourful clothes and also that I spend most of my time not wearing these kinds of clothes because I’m wearing farm clothes, which is workwear like overalls or Carhartt pants. And these are usually not available ready-to-wear in the fun, bright colours that I like. They’re usually dirt brown or other kinds of variations on that boring theme. So I wanna sew my own workwear but I can’t get over this idea that I’m gonna spend a ton of energy doing that and the clothes will immediately get ruined. Clothes that I wear to the farm get really gross. They get dirty, permanent dirt on the knees, like, grass stains everywhere. I want to feel good in the clothes that I wear to work. So how can I get over this mental hurdle that stops me from wanting to sew fun farm clothes for myself? That’s my big question. Thank you so much. I love you both. I love the podcast and thank you for your help. Bye.

Caroline: Okay. Samantha is living my dream life, by the way.

Helen: I know.

Caroline: Flower farmer in the Hudson Valley? I’m sure it’s, like, not as incredibly beautiful and glamorous as I imagine it will be, but oh my goodness. How lovely.

Helen: Hi, Samantha. Oh my gosh, you have such a cool job. Sounds kind of idyllic, honestly. Flower farmer. What? Great job, great hobby. I’m already a big fan of yours and I love this question. Here’s something to think about. Okay, if you get your me-made farm clothes dirty, then are you ruining them or are you helping them to fulfill their destiny?

Caroline: It’s so true. This is what you made them for. Also, prints are better at hiding stains than solids. So what if a bright floral print isn’t as practical as plain brown? Even with some discoloration from mud and grass, there’s still gonna be a lot of brightness there.

Helen: Yeah, the main thing, I think, is to choose hard-wearing fabrics so that you don’t have to repair them so much. And sometimes it can be hard to find hard-wearing bright floral fabrics. So that’ll be a little bit of a challenge. I’m thinking about, like, IKEA canvas.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: ‘Cause they always come in fun colours and that stuff is pretty tough. So maybe that would be something fun to play around with. And you could just make one pair of fun overalls to start off with. Wear them to work, let them get dirty, wash them like you would wash your regular workwear, and then just see how you feel. You don’t have to commit to making all your workwear super fun and playful, but if you wanna experiment with this, I think giving it a try, putting in the effort to make that one piece that’s really stand out and amazing, and then just letting it get wrecked over time, that would be a fun experiment for you, just to give yourself permission to try it.

Caroline: I am thinking about some of the really fun printed cotton twills that we’ve carried in the past at Blackbird, and we have some fun ones coming out this year. I think a pair of overalls in one of those would be really cool. Or just like a bright-coloured canvas or bull denim, like, if you wanted to go solid. Okay. I had another idea. What if Samantha kind of embraced mending, but in a fun way? So if you, let’s say you make a me-made pair of overalls and they get holes and they get dirty and kind of threadbare in certain areas. What if you slap on a bright-coloured contrast patch in, like, a fun shape or something?

Helen: Yeah. Applique flower knees or, yeah. Fun, colourful stitching. Different ways you could embellish.

Caroline: Exactly. And then you’re, like, reinforcing your clothes, but in a fun way that’s gonna probably make you smile and also add more colour. And you’re just kind of, like. leaning into the fact that these clothes are not gonna stay pristine and perfect, and you have a way to sort of, like, build on that. I don’t know. I really do think, like, whether the clothes are brown or bright coloured, they’re gonna get ruined. And wearing something that you made, that fits you, that’s exactly what you had in mind, it’s gonna make you happy. And yeah, I know probably letting go of like your me-mades getting holes in them and getting really dirty is a little bit difficult, but try to reframe it.

Helen: I can understand the struggle. I will also say that one of my favourite things in my wardrobe is my gardening overalls, my Yanta Overalls. They’re, they’re just denim. They’re not that exciting, but I wear them all the time. They’re disgusting.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: They’re covered in dirt. Like, there’s dirt, like, embedded in them now, and there’s paint on them ’cause I wore them when I painted my shed. Like, I’m letting them get ruined. But I’m having the best time ruining them, and they still have lasted a long time. It’s going on, like, five years now, and I’m still wearing these overalls and I plan to continue and add patches and stuff. So it’s kind of the perfect long-term project if you’re willing to put in the effort to do some upkeep on them over time, which it sounds like you are, if you love to sew.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. They tell a story.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. Also, I think you’re gonna get so many compliments. If you’re, like, in a flower garden doing work and you’re wearing flower overalls, people are gonna flip out.

Caroline: Yes, totally. We’re doing some really fun printed twills with like these, like, daisies on them and this, like, kind of drawn-on plaid in the background. It sounds kooky, but they’re really fun and some really bright colours, so I think you might like them. But yeah, I’m sure you can find some other cool stuff online.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Yeah, I still think, like, a bright colour, like a bright green or pink solid overall would be so fun.

Helen: You could pre patch, too, like sew on patches onto the knees in maybe a solid colour on top of a printed canvas, and then when those knees get worn out, just replace them so you’re keeping the underneath knees more pristine.

Caroline: A hundred percent. Yeah. All right, let’s get into the main part of our show. Even though this whole episode is about us sewing bags, it’s not necessarily about sewing bags in general. So if that’s what you’re looking for, we’re going to mention a few episodes off the jump that you can go and check out. So, episode 249: Sewing Bags has the most general info. There are a ton of resources linked in the show notes for that one.

Helen: We also have episode 170: Sewing Accessories. It’s about more than just bags, but we did discuss bags in this episode.

Caroline: And then episode 81: Bag Making with Anna Graham from Noodlehead is an interview with an amazing bag pattern designer. Anna Graham is still making bag patterns and she’s, like, the OG, I feel like.

Helen: I know. Yeah. Her bags are so beautiful. If you’re looking for a bag pattern, definitely check out Noodlehead. And then we have episode 175: Leatherwork with Treasure from Nikki and Mallory. And this covers a different type of sewing, one that goes really well with bag sewing, ’cause we talk all about working with leather with her.

Caroline: Yeah. And then one honorable mention: if you’re a subscriber, mini-episode 75 is called New Bags, and in that one we share some cool bag patterns that came out in the two years since Sewing Bags was released.

Helen: Yeah, there’s a lot of really cool bag patterns kicking around the indie sewing world at the moment. I’ve been seeing so many cool ones, and I’m dying to know which one you chose.

Caroline: Ah. Oh my gosh. Me, too. Okay, before we do a reveal, I wanna know, Helen, what is your purse-onality like?

Helen: I see you did there.

Caroline: Do you need me to do it again? Purse. Onality.

Helen: Your purse-onality.

Caroline: No, but really, what kind of bags do you usually like? Do you take a bag everywhere? Do you just use your pockets sometimes? What features do you love in a bag? What do you carry in your bag? Like, give me all the details.

Helen: I’m definitely a bag person. I pretty much always have a bag if I’m leaving the house, almost always have a bag. For a dog walk I often won’t, but sometimes I will just ’cause it has all my stuff in it. It has my tissues and my lip balm and my mints and my halls and, like. all the things I might want. So if I’m going for a longer dog walk, I usually just bring my purse.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And I do like to stick to a purse for a while. I put all my stuff in it, and then that’s my bag every day and it’s grab and go. And I don’t switch bags a lot. I do have, like ,special bags for special occasions, going out to dinner, something fancy. But on the day-to-day, I always have pretty much the same bag and I’ll switch it, maybe every six months I might move stuff over and try a new bag for a bit. I like a medium size. Our Orbit Bag is a great size. It holds all my stuff really well. And my Bestie Bag is my other go-to favourite. They’re both, like, a really good size, fits all the essentials. I don’t need a ton of pockets. Zipper pockets and stuff. I don’t need that. I just kind of throw it all into the void and hope for the best.

Caroline: I feel the same way. I do love an outer pocket, but for the main compartment, like, I, my intention span is too short. Like I’m not, I, when I’m putting something in my bag, I’m not thinking about what pocket it goes in. I’m just, it’s going in there. No matter what happens, it happens.

Helen: I know. An outer pocket can be really nice, especially if it’s zippered, ’cause then it’s really secure, for certain things. But yeah, I mostly just throw it all in there. And then if I’m going on an outing, or I need to bring something, I’ll just grab, like, a little collapsible tote bag and bring that with me for a jacket or a larger item. How about you? Do you stick to one bag? Are you switching it up?

Caroline: No, I do switch it up. I’m similar to you in that I’ll usually put all my stuff in a bag and I’ll use it for a little bit, but it’s not six months. Like, it’s usually a few weeks and then I’ll swap it out. But I am, like, a certified bag lady. Like, . Like I, I always have way too many bags on me. I commute into work. I’m driving most places ’cause our house is a little bit outside of the city. So it’s not a huge problem that I always have bags, but I frequently get, like, laughed at when I walk into the office because I’ll have, like, my Miabag and then I have, like, I have a bit of a Baggu obsession, like, you know, those, like, nylon, like, shopping bags. And Baggu has a bunch of different styles of bags. So I have, like, my Baggu lunch bag and then I have a Baggu shopping bag with, like, my laptop. I have all these things that are stashed in there, my charger. And then I also am, like, carrying my water bottle and my coffee under my arm and I’m, like, always like struggling to, like, hold everything.

Helen: Sounds like you need a cart, like one of those rolling carts.

Caroline: Yeah. And I’m literally just going from my car to my desk. It’s like 50 feet. It’s not that far. But yes, I think the concept of, like, one bag fitting everything that I carry around with me is a bit of a fantasy. But if we’re talking about, like, purse, like the essential bag that if I were to, like, go to dinner, what am I bringing? It is usually like a Mia bag or a Bestie Bag. I’ve been really into Mia now because I do love having the outside pockets to stash my, like, phone and keys and lip gloss so that they’re not in the void.

Helen: And a water bottle could go in there, too.

Caroline: Water bottle. Yeah. And, like, depending on my outfit, I cycle through different Mias, usually. And then if I’m going somewhere where I don’t wanna bring as much stuff, I’ll use my, one of my Bestie Bags. And then when I go on dog walks, I usually just grab my essentials and throw them into, like, a little pouch, kind of fanny pack style bag. I don’t have a me-made one, but those are really handy. I just kind of wear them crossbody, so I have, like, treats at the ready in front of me, you know, and I can just pull those out easily, or like poo bags and stuff.

Helen: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sam and I have one of those little dog walkie bags, too, but he usually wears it.

Caroline: Yeah, but I totally relate. Like, when you’re out and you don’t have your, like, emotional support, like Halls and Kleenex, like…

Helen: I know.

Caroline: It’s, uh, it’s a disaster.

Helen: Especially tissues. I have the runniest nose known to man, and I need tissues at all times. So bags are important. I don’t know how people function without them. Like, Sam doesn’t carry a bag very often and his pockets are always full and he always needs to put stuff in my bag. I’m like, more bags. Everybody needs more bags.

Caroline: Oh my gosh. Shea, always, things are always falling out of his pockets. Like, I’ll walk around the house, I’ll be like, “What’s this like Kleenex on the floor?” Oh, it fell outta Shea’s pocket. Like, “Where’s your phone? Oh, it’s in the couch ’cause it fell out of your pocket.” Like it’s just, things are constantly just, like, overflowing out of …

Helen: I know. It’s not good. There’s a reason why bags are so great.

Caroline: But Shea has, like, not to out him, but he has, like, fanny pack trauma from his childhood because he’s a type one diabetic and he used to always have to carry around his, like, insulin and test strips and stuff. And I think, people are cruel in school, so, so he refuses to carry around a little pouch.

Helen: I almost made, I didn’t, this is a bit of a spoiler. Something I didn’t make for this episode was a bag for Sam, because he wants one, and we were looking at bag patterns. I was like, “Oh, maybe that would be a fun project for this episode, to make you a crossbody bag in the style that you want and the size that you want.” ‘Cause he can’t really find one in store that appeals to him. So we didn’t, I didn’t end up doing that. Sorry, Sam, but maybe next time.

Caroline: Yeah. Instead, you made something for yourself, I hope. I don’t know. Maybe you didn’t. We don’t know. Oh my gosh. Okay. Are we gonna do our reveals now?

Helen: Yes. Who wants to go first?

Caroline: Yay. I’ll go first. I’ll go first. May I?

Helen: Yep.

Caroline: Okay. I’m gonna send you a picture and a video.

Helen: Oh, it’s so cute! Oh my gosh. Okay. I’m watching the video. Oh, the colour. This is adorable. I don’t recognize this bag. Tell me everything.

Caroline: Okay, so this is the daughter Judy Ru bag. And it’s soft, it’s slouchy, it’s pretty roomy, it’s fully lined. It’s got a little bit of, like, a bucket-y shape, but there’s some cool, like, V style lines in it and there’s a cool strap that’s sort of like a continuous strap that creates two straps, I guess.

Helen: Yeah, I love the style lines on it. It’s so elegant and fun.

Caroline: Yeah, and it has, like, a really cute little tie closure, and it has a hard bottom. So there’s actually like a piece of cardboard in the bottom, which helps it to really keep its shape. Only one view. I chose this pattern because I’ve honestly been dreaming about making this pattern ever since it came out. And I believe it used to be, like, a subscriber-only pattern, but she recently released it on her website as a pattern you can purchase.

Helen: Oh!

Caroline: So it was like a bit of a no-brainer when I knew we were doing this episode. I was like, I’m finally gonna make the Ru Bag, because obviously I’ve been into our bags, but I love branching out. And um, yeah, this one is, it did not disappoint. I really love it and I love the colour. Okay. I’ve made it out of Water Resistant Nylon Taslan in Blackberry. And I have to admit, I did not used to be a purple girl, and I think I’m a purple girl.

Helen: I feel like I have a memory of you saying that you don’t like purple very much on the show, so this is a shock.

Caroline: I am, I’ve been so into, like, chocolate brown lately, and I feel like purple and brown are really having a moment. I think they look really fun together. And this particular purple, it’s, like, a little bit dusty, but it still has a depth to it. It’s, like, kind of a deep eggplant-y color.

Helen: I love it. I thought this was the washed cotton, sandwashed cotton…

Caroline: Or the lived-in twill, maybe. Oh, sandwashed. Yeah. It does have a bit of a sandwashed look, right, because of the, yeah, the nylon, the texture.

Helen: It’s the texture. I really like that nylon Taslan fabric. I have some of it in my stash. It has a really cool feel. I’m excited to hear about your experience sewing with it. And the lining is so pretty. It’s like a blue, bright blue striped lining, so it really pops when you open the bag.

Caroline: Yes, I know. I love the lining. I went with one of our shirtings from our exclusive collection. It’s the Candy-Coated Stripe in Cobalt and Currant. And this bright blue isn’t a colour I wouldn’t necessarily wear, like, in a top, but I really loved this combo. So when I saw that it worked well as a lining, I was like, “Oh, perfect way I can work that in without, you know, making a shirt with it.”

Helen: This is such an ideal tote. I could see this being so handy. Like you were saying, you’re always carrying a million things. This would hold a lot of stuff. It’s very open, like, it’s not secure, necessarily. Is there an option for a zipper or anything?

Caroline: No. So I was going to talk about that later…

Helen: Okay.

Caroline: When we talk about, like, styling and wearing the bag. ‘Cause I have been wearing it. And I have thoughts.

Helen: It looks like it would be great for certain applications. I totally see this as, like, a poolside or beach bag. I love the little tie closure. Yeah. Great job. It looks really nicely sewn.

Caroline: Thank you. Yeah, I’m pretty proud of all my topstitching. And the v shapes were a little bit tricky. I also have thoughts about that, sewing those up. But it came together fairly quickly, other than the little, like, fiddly bits. Yeah, I’m super happy with it. I know I’m gonna use it. Yeah, I have thoughts about construction. I have thoughts about styling. I have a funny story for you that I can share later. But I feel like we should reveal your bag and then we can, like, get into the more nitty-gritty stuff. Right? Okay.

Helen: Agreed.

Caroline: Because I’m dying. I’m dying to see it.

Helen: Your mind is gonna be literally blown.

Caroline: I know it will. You probably made, like, a insane, like…

Helen: No, it’s not that. It’s not that wild.

Caroline: Million pockets, zipper.

Helen: It’s the fabric that’s gonna blow your mind. It’s so beautiful.

Caroline: So excited. Oh yes. Okay. Wait. I love the colours. This fabric is insane. Wait, Helen. You did the wavy squiggly squiggly guy. What is this one called? What is this pattern called?

Helen: This is the Wavelength Bag by Thalia’s Threads.

Caroline: It’s so cute.

Helen: It’s been on my list for a while.

Caroline: Look at your incredible sewing on this.

Helen: Thank you. It’s such a fun bag. For those who aren’t familiar with it, it’s got, like, this wavy edge all the way around, and you do that on both sides and then you bind it. So it’s, like, a lot of binding waves, but it is worth it.

Caroline: Yeah, wavy binding. Oh my gosh. The butterflies. This fabric is incredible. It’s, like, cream with, like, denim blue and bright red, and you did the bright red binding.

Helen: Yes. Okay, so let me tell you about this fabric. It was a dress that I bought at a thrift store like a decade ago. This dress is in rough shape. The hem is like frayed. The arm holes are frayed. I bought it purely for the fabric ’cause it’s literally incredible. It’s got like jaguars and butterflies and flowers and it’s so colourful and fun, and I just used it to cut out the pieces for the bag. And so there’s a couple, like, sneaky little seams here and there. But other than that, I think it, it turned out really well. I was able to put a butterfly on one side and a jaguar on the other. And then I had the perfect colour of red linen, cotton/linen blend to do the binding. And it matches so perfectly. And then for the lining, I did hot pink, same as I did for my Bestie. I love using this, uh, cotton poplin for my lining.

Caroline: Amazing.

Helen: I love it so much. It was so fun to sew and it’s such a, like, showstopper, like it really stands out. And I had a lot of fun making it.

Caroline: It is insanely striking and impressive and, like, the shape, other than the waves, the shape of the bag is fairly simple. It’s just like a crossbody kind of crescent style bag. Sort of a similar shape to Bestie, even. But then the edges being wavy just takes it to the next level. And I am dying to hear about how that was to sew because, just looking at it, I’m, like, getting stressed about, like, roping and, like, waviness in, in the binding. But I think the colour you picked is incredible. Like, this turned out so, so cool. It’s so awesome. Wow.

Helen: Thank you. It was really fun to make. And I will say that I almost picked this fabric for our We Sew the Good Fabric episode. ‘Cause it’s another piece that I’ve been hoarding for a decade, being scared to use. And so this was kind of like We Sew the Good Fabric part two, for me.

Caroline: Mmhmm.

Helen: Yeah. It was worth it, though. It felt like the right project for this application.

Caroline: Oh, it’s so great. Okay, so tell me what your sewing experience was like with the pattern and all of this binding. I’m dying to know.

Helen: Okay. The sewing, the pattern was great. It’s a fairly simple bag shape, crescent shape, but you do have to cut all the waves, which was weird ’cause I’ve never cut anything so wavy. So like, you’re going along with your rotary cutter and you’re like, woo, woo, woo. And like the strap is wavy. Everything is wavy. It feels so weird to cut out something that’s so wobbly and wild. And it was really fun ’cause I’ve never made anything this shape before, so it felt really new and fresh. And then when it comes to the binding, yes, it took time. I personally like binding things. So, caveat there, if binding’s not your favourite, this might not be the pattern for you. I like applying binding to things. I think it’s kind of fun. It is tricky to get those peaks and valleys looking really smooth. But she does give you advice in the pattern about, like, kind of stretching it out a little bit in the, in the valleys so that it doesn’t get too bunchy, and then leaving some slack in the peaks and trying to get, like, the right tension in your binding so that it doesn’t get bunchy or roping or anything like that. It’s definitely not perfect. Like, it looks really good in the video, but if you look up close, there’s lots of spots where I missed the binding and had to go back and resew it, or there’s, like, spots where the, the stitching is showing on the canvas fabric from the other side of the binding. And I didn’t wanna bind it by hand ’cause that would’ve been a whole crazy project. So I just sewed it on the machine and I was like, “I’m gonna get what I get and it’s gonna be fine.”

Caroline: And it was just, like, one pass? Like you’re going…

Helen: No, I sewed it on in two passes. So it did take a while, ’cause you basically sew the whole bag together. So you’re sewing both the wavy, long wavy edges all the way around to sew the bag pieces together. And then you sew the binding on first, pass both sides all the way around, and then you do the final pass. So three passes on both sides. So it’s a lot of waves. I did kind of feel like I was getting dizzy at my machine ’cause they’re pretty tight. So you’re like, whoop, whoop, whoop. Like, and it starts to feel like you’re on a boat or something.

Caroline: Yeah. I feel like the red is so bright that it, like, distracts you from any imperfections.

Helen: Yeah. And the busy print, too. Yeah. Yeah. You can’t really see the imperfections and, like, I don’t think anyone would notice unless they were looking real up close, which at that point, someone’s stolen my bag.

Caroline: Yeah. Oh my goodness. Oh my gosh. No, it’s, it’s such a showstopper, like, it’s really, really special. This bag, what a cool bag.

Helen: Thank you. I know, I’m so excited about it. I was really inspired by the product listing for the Wavelength Bag ’cause she includes a lot of tester photos and a lot of people used a really bold binding colour, which helps the waves really pop. And there was one in particular by @anniepickle that had a really similar look to it. It was like a cream background with a bright floral and then a red binding. And it made me think of this fabric, which was deep in my stash, and I was like, oh, I have a fabric kind of like that. And I pulled it out and it just all came together. So thank you, Annie, for the inspiration.

Caroline: Amazing. Oh, awesome. Okay. It’s looking so good.

Helen: Thank you. Okay. How about you tell me about these Vs and sewing with this nylon.

Caroline: So, sewing with the nylon wasn’t really an issue. Like, it was a little bit lightweight. The fabric is only four ounces, so I have used a similar fabric, not this particular one, but I made a nylon Mia bag last summer, so I kind of had a bit of experience working with this style of fabric. And what I did with my Mia was underline all the pieces. So I, I repeated that process. I underlined all of the outer pieces with cotton muslin to give it a little bit more structure, and I’m really happy that I did that because it just added the perfect amount of heft to the fabric. But that is annoying. Like, to take some slippery nylon and, like, underline every single piece. Like, I used a lot of pins and I took my time and I tried not to be, like, too much of a perfectionist and it ended up being totally fine. I think the trickiest part with this bag is all of the corners and the Vs. So kicking it off, like, there’s little darts. If you look at the bottom part of the bag, like the, there’s like a little rectangle at the bottom and that has cardboard sandwiched in, which is really cool. I’ve never used cardboard in a bag. She just says to use, like, a scrap piece of cardboard. So I’m like, hopefully I don’t spill anything in this bag, ’cause I don’t know how this cardboard’s gonna hold up. But I thought it was kind of fun that I could just, like, pull something outta the recycling and use it.

Helen: Yeah. Yeah. You could do, like, a piece of plastic or something, too.

Caroline: I was gonna say, yeah, I bet you if you wanted something that was more guaranteed to last, like a, a piece of plastic would totally work. I can always replace it. But anyways, so you have this piece of cardboard in the base, but then you also have your outer part of the bag. There’s corner darts and you have to join, the four corner darts meet the corners of the rectangle, and you’re kind of, like, sewing this rectangle into a box. And those corners were really hard, especially when you’re dealing with this rigid cardboard. You can’t get in quite as far. And her instructions have you sew the darts all the way to the end, and then she’s just like, “It might be difficult to join the pieces, so, like, take it in several passes.” I think difficult is an understatement. It was impossible. I was like, this is not even, like, I don’t even know how to get this under my machine. So what I ended up doing was, I went back, I unpicked the seam allowance of the dart. So I basically sewed my darts up until half an inch from the end, not the dart end, but the seam allowance end.

Helen: Yeah, to open it up.

Caroline: To open it up. And I reinforced that line so that it wasn’t, wouldn’t, like, unravel or anything. And then that helped enormously, because it just gives you that freedom to pivot your pieces properly so that you can get things to lay flat under your sewing machine.

Helen: Ooh, hot tip. I love it.

Caroline: Yeah, so if you are able to leave that seam allowance open, I mean, I think it would be, depending on the fabric, it could be a little bit tricky. And you are risking, if things don’t line up perfectly in that corner, like, you know, ending up with, like, a little hole, almost, or like a part that looks unsewn. But for my purposes it worked out perfectly. Um, you just have to still take your time with it. But once I did that, that came together really well and I learned my lesson and did the exact same thing for the Vs. So again, she’s having you sew all the way to the edge, but if you sew only till the seam allowance, it gives you that freedom to take, like, two Vs, but you have to put them right sides together. So one stays in a V shape and the other one, the other V gets, like, inversed, right? To fit it together. So you need to be able to, like, pivot, but if it’s sewn all the way to the end, you can’t, like, get to the corner properly.

Helen: Yeah, without, like, snipping into it or something. You have to open it up.

Caroline: So I, I kind of left that part unsewn and it ended up working out perfectly. So that’s my hot tip. If you make this pattern, I think that could be tweaked. That process could be tweaked a little bit and it comes together a lot more smoothly, at least for me. I can’t speak to, like, the leather of it all. ‘Cause I know one of the fabric recommendations for this pattern is leather. And I feel like that changes the game a little bit. There were some tips throughout the instructions of, like, hammer your leather here, or, you know, a couple of extra little tidbits. But using fabric, I think made the process a little bit easier than working with leather.

Helen: How was lining it? Like, did you just bag the lining in?

Caroline: Yeah, the lining was basically, it wasn’t bagged. It was, once you construct the body of the bag and the body of the lining, you just put them together and then you’re attaching the, like, edging and the strap.

Helen: Oh, the strap, right?

Caroline: So, and yeah, there was, like, some tricky bits but, like, the bag itself is fairly simple, like, no zipper, no inner pockets, so you could really focus on the construction and getting your, like, edge stitching really nice. Obviously I used my edge stitch foot and it looks perfect. So.

Helen: Yeah, your favourite.

Caroline: Thank God for my, my baby, my edge stitch foot, my pride and joy. And yeah, no, it, so it came together really well. I’m really happy with it. The one, like, dramatic moment was, of course, Helen. This happens to me every time I sew with synthetics. But at the very end, I’m doing my final little flourish, my final little press, and all of a sudden my iron is too hot and it got a little shiny in one spot. And I felt it, like, as soon as I put the iron down. I didn’t even increase the heat. I think it must have just been…

Helen: Sitting for too long.

Caroline: Sitting for too long or something. As soon as I put the iron down, I was like, “No!” Because you, you can, like, feel it, like, stick a little bit, you know?

Helen: Yeah. Mmhmm. That’s the melting that’s happening.

Caroline: But luckily it was just a little spot and it’s kind of in a spot that, like, you don’t really see, so it, it’s fine, but I was a little bit like, “Curse the sewing gods!” Why does this always happen to me with synthetics? I’m too rushed.

Helen: Well, yeah, it sounds challenging. I think bag making in general always presents awkward corners, angles, wrangling the fabric, getting it under the machine, thick parts, zippers, like, there’s all sorts of things going on with bag making that makes it extra challenging. So there’s always something.

Caroline: Mmhmm. Yeah. Totally.

Helen: Did you modify your pattern at all, like make any changes to it?

Caroline: I didn’t, no. I think I would, I don’t know if this would be possible, but I think it would be really fun scaled up. I think, like, looking at the photos, I thought it would be slightly bigger. It’s like a medium-sized bag, I would say. So having something a little bit bigger might be fun. More of like that hobo style bag, you know?

Helen: Yeah, yeah. That could be a good beach bag. Yeah, I didn’t modify mine too much. She does include a little strap lengthening piece ’cause you can make the Wavelength Bag more of a, like, shoulder bag. And it does come in two sizes. I made the larger size, but you can also make, like, a really cute little mini wavy bag.

Caroline: Oh, cute.

Helen: And if you do that with a shorter strap, it’s kind of like a little evening bag. Like you just wear it on your shoulder. But I knew if I did that style, I would never use it. Like, it would be very rare. Maybe going out for dinner or something. But I wanted something I could potentially use more on a regular basis. So she includes these little strap lengthening pieces, which is basically like a couple of extra wavy bloops.

Caroline: Mmhmm.

Helen: And you just kind of, like, stick them onto the, stick them onto the handle until it’s the lengthy one. So I added two sections of wavy bloops.

Caroline: Okay. Great. Yeah.

Helen: To make it long enough to basically sit across my body and under my bust, ’cause that’s where I like my bags to sit.

Caroline: Perfect.

Helen: Yeah. But other than that, I didn’t change it. I did eliminate the outer pocket. There’s, like, an outer little zipper pocket and I just thought it was gonna break up my print too much and I didn’t wanna break it up, so I skipped that.

Caroline: Yeah, you have to preserve that special print. Are you happy that you finally used this, like, beloved fabric that you’ve been saving?

Helen: I really am. It just feels like the perfect project for it, and I’ve had it for so long and I’ve never really been able to figure out what to do with it. I was thinking about making a denim skirt at one point, but I don’t really wear denim skirts and there’s not enough of it to make a jacket or something like that. And it’s canvas, so the options felt really limited. And then a bag just felt like the perfect thing. I added some interfacing to it. I used the classic bag making Pel;on SF101, often recommended for bags. It works a treat. It’s got a good stiffness to it. You can iron it on. This fabric is like canvas weight, but not super heavy. So it really helped to have that added structure. So I interfaced everything, all the outer fabric, with the Pellon SF101, and that really worked well.

Caroline: Okay. Awesome. That’s great. Have you worn your bag out and about?

Helen: I did, I wore it out for my friend’s birthday dinner. It was actually right after the Holmes Dress launch in March. And the three of us all wore our Holmes Dresses.

Caroline: Aw!

Helen: It was really cute. We were celebrating the launch for me and it was my friend’s birthday and my other friend got a promotion at work, so the three of us, like, went out for dinner and we all wore matching dresses.

Caroline: Oh, nice.

Helen: And I brought my bag. So that’s the one time I’ve used it so far. I haven’t, like, rotated it into my everyday bag rotation. Like, I haven’t moved all my stuff over to it and been like, this is gonna be my bag for a bit. It does feel, like, a bit eye-catching for that.

Caroline: It’s quite a statement bag for, like, every day. Like how do you, how do you work that with your outfits every day, you know?

Helen: I know. It’s a good going out bag, for sure, especially if you want a larger size. And I do think, in the summertime, maybe the summertime is the time for it to be an everyday bag. ‘Cause it has summery vibes. I think it might make more sense with a summer-y outfit. Uh, so I might put it in regular rotation. I mean, my regular rotation Bestie Bag is also pretty, I don’t know. It’s black and white, but it’s, like, eye-catching in its own way. Yeah. So I feel like it’s not that much of a stretch for me. I just need to move all my stuff over to it, and then I’ll use it for six months, like I said.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. You just gotta make the switch.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. What about you? Do you plan to use this bag regularly?

Caroline: I immediately switched all my stuff over after I finished making it ’cause I was so excited about it. Okay. So my critique of the bag design, and this is just, like, personal preference, is that it’s so open. So, like, there’s no zipper and the way that it’s shaped, it’s sort of, like, flutes out, right? So even though it has a tie in the center, if you, like, put the bag down, the sides are just, like, an invitation to look in your bag, you know?

Helen: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Reach right in there.

Caroline: Yeah. My funny story is that I brought it to Costco. Me and Nat from the office go to Costco together a couple times a month and it’s always a fun outing. And I had my bag, like, in my cart. ‘Cause also, I’m so used to a crossbody bag, Helen, that a shoulder bag…

Helen: It feels weird.

Caroline: It feels weird. It’s, like, so much harder to just have it on you all the time. Like it’s, it’s kind of a distraction. So I was like, I’ll just set it in my cart. But I kept, like, getting distracted and, like, turning around or, like, walking away from my cart and then looking at my cart and seeing just, like, my bag, just, like…

Helen: Open.

Caroline: Open! My wallet, my keys, my phone, just like, woo, here I am, you know, like in the middle of busy Costco in downtown Vancouver. And I was just like, oh my gosh, I’m so silly. Like, why am I doing this? So I don’t know that it can be an everyday bag for me. But it’s really fun. It’s really special. Like, I would totally bring it out to dinner, like a day to the farmer’s market where I’m, like, kind of carrying it around and I wanna throw some veggies in there. Like, yeah, I will for sure use it. Practicality-wise, I think the openness of it makes me a little bit nervous. Also just, like, things falling out, I’m like, are things gonna fall out? Like, I don’t know. You know, I’m, I’m so used to my bags really containing everything quite securely.

Helen: It looks like the perfect kind of substitute for a tote bag, like just grabbing it to throw a jacket in, or if you’re bringing something over to your friend’s house, you need a bag to carry it. That kind of thing it looks like it would be perfect for.

Caroline: But it’s, like, also such a cool purse. Like, I love the vibe of it. I love the style and aesthetic of it, so I’m like, I wanna wear it with my outfits. I also am obsessed with this colour. Like I’m, like, picturing all the ways I can wear it, but on a, like, practical level, I’m like, I don’t know if I’m gonna love using this bag as much as I love looking at it, you know?

Helen: Lessons are learned. I mean, I feel similarly, just because mine is so flamboyant…

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah.

Helen: So out there, I’m not sure if I’m gonna use it a ton. But I have zero regrets about making it because it was so fun and it’s so beautiful. And sometimes you just gotta make something for fun, you know?

Caroline: A hundred percent. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay. Anything else you wanna talk about? Bag, related to your beautiful, beautiful bag?

Helen: I think the only other little piece of advice I have, if you’re gonna make this bag, with regards to the binding, and I’ve said this on the show before, but: make your own binding. The store-bought binding just does not follow curves the same way that making your own binding with, like, a cotton or cotton/linen blend. I really like a cotton/linen blend for binding. Or the Go-To Cotton/Linen Blend at Blackbird. That one’s really nice. I’ve used that before. I think just making your own out of a softer material makes a huge difference when it comes to being successful on all of these curves. But it does take extra effort, so it’s worth it, though. I do think, in the end, you’ll be glad you did. ‘Cause it’s harder to turn all these curves with that store-bought binding. Especially don’t do polyester binding.

Caroline: Oh gosh. Yeah. Don’t do that.

Helen: Yeah. But that was the hardest part of this bag and otherwise it was really easy to make and it’s so much fun. So I would highly recommend the pattern. It was well done, drafting, instructions, all that. Definitely, definitely a good make.

Caroline: Yeah. One of my favourite things about doing these episodes is getting to try different designers, different pattern designers, different styles, different instruction manuals. Like, it’s just, like, a fun stretch of our, like, creative muscles.

Helen: Yeah, bag making in general, I feel like, stretches my creative muscles. Like we were saying, it’s tricky at some points to do the actual sewing, but you also get to think about what you like in a bag and you can make your customizations and you can add pockets where you want them and you can do fun details like colourful zippers or really cool fancy webbing. There’s so many ways to add personality to a bag and so many ways to customize. So yeah, make a bag. I really loved it.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. And a bag, a handmade bag can look really professional and ready-to-wear and cool and it’s not, you know, just a quilting cotton tote anymore. Like, there are so many patterns out there.So.

Helen: So many. Yeah, I’m dying to make more. I even started working on a bag pattern, Caroline.

Caroline: Ooh. Oh my gosh.

Helen: This really inspired me. But I a hundred percent guarantee you, you will never, ever, ever guess the direction I’m going with this bag.

Caroline: It is in the shape of a dog.

Helen: Oh my gosh. You know…

Caroline: A wiener dog bag. That’s my guess.

Helen: You know, Caroline, you’re not far off. Can’t wait to share more!

Caroline: Oh my gosh. No, I can’t wait to hear more. We’re also thinking of doing another bag pattern next, as a little palate cleanser.

Helen: Love that. Yes.

Caroline: And yeah, I just, I love, I love making bag patterns. I love sewing bags. I hope that our listeners will join us this week and sew a bag, or at least dream about sewing a bag. And tag us in your me- made bag posts on Instagram if you already have one up. We’d love to see what you’ve made and we can share it in our stories. And let us know what you think of our bags. Go check them out. You gotta look at the pictures to go along with this episode.

Helen: Yes. They’ll be up on our website and then we’ll be posting videos on Instagram later this week. So check it out.

Caroline: Check it out. Thank you for listening. Everyone, go make a bag. Yay!

Helen: We will tote-ally catch you later.

Caroline: Mmhmm. Bye.

Helen: Bye. That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me, Helen, at Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co. and Caroline at Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns. We’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Caroline: You can support Love to Sew and get access to bonus content by subscribing on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. You even get access to the back catalog of bonus episodes. That’s over, honestly, a hundred hours of Love to Sew. We’ve been saying 75 for a while. I think we’ve broken a hundred. You can go to patreon.com/lovetosew or check out our podcast page on Apple Podcasts for more info.

Helen: Head to lovetosewpodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures of our bags from this episode. If you’d like to get in touch with us, you can leave us a message at 1-844-SEW-WHAT. That’s 1-844-739-9428. Or send us an email at [email protected].

Caroline: Thanks to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant and Jordan Moore of The Pod Cabin is our editor. And thank you for listening. We’ll talk to you next week.

Helen: Bye.

Caroline: Bye.

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Today’s guest is Leila Kelleher: professor of fashion design, co-owner of pattern company Muna and Broad, ready-to-wear designer for A Space in Between, and co-author of the new book, Plus-Size Patternmaking for Womenswear! We talk with Leila about this groundbreaking book, her practical, neutral approach to plus size design and pattern drafting, and how to use the book as a home sewist.

The transcript for this episode is coming soon.

Show Notes: 

Find Leila Online:

Other Mentions:

Transcript: Coming soon!

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This is our 300th episode celebration! We chat about 9 years making Love to Sew, including the guest we were the most nervous to interview, our 2026 TNT patterns, and the advice we would give the 2017 versions of ourselves. Plus: fun games, Love to Sew stats, and more!

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

Show Notes: 

Previous Episodes Mentioned:

Sewing Patterns:

Notions and Tools: 

Other Mentions:

A post shared by Helen’s Closet (@helens__closet)

Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Helen: Hello and welcome to Love To Sew. I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co.

Caroline: And I am Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns.

Helen: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew and it’s all we ever talk about.

Caroline: This is our 300th episode celebration! We chat about our nine year journey of making Love to Sew, including the guests we were most nervous to interview, our 2026 TNT patterns, and the advice we would give the 2017 versions of ourselves (before we started podcasting). Plus fun games, Love to Sew stats, and more.

Helen: If you love to sew, this is your show.

Caroline: Hi!

Helen: Hi! I feel like we should have had some champagne at hand or something, Caroline.

Caroline: I know, a little pop.

Helen: Wait, I can do a good pop. Here we go. [Popping sound.]

Caroline: Yeah, yeah. Wow. It is before 10:00 AM, so I will be cheersing you with my coffee.

Helen: Exactly. The beverage we are usually drinking.

Caroline: Yeah, it’s true. We are very often drinking coffee and not champagne during recordings. Maybe we should change that.

Helen: It would be a different vibe. It’d be either a different vibe or just, like, a more intense version of the same vibe.

Caroline: Yeah. Oh my gosh. I can’t believe we’re at 300 episodes.

Helen: I know. Happy 300! Cheers to us!

Caroline: Happy 300! Cheers to us!

Helen: This is such a milestone. It’s pretty amazing.

Caroline: I know. It really is. And I can’t wait to talk about it. But before we do, we do wanna remind all of you lovely listeners that the best way to support the show is by joining us over on Patreon or Apple Podcasts subscriptions.

Helen: Yes, and over there you get access to bonus content every month. And we do have a lot of fun catching up with you all on those more casual bonus episodes. Probably the highlight of my podcasting. But we’ll talk about that later.

Caroline: Yes, we will. And it really means a lot if you’re able to support us, even if it’s just for a month or two. But if that’s not in the cards for you right now, we totally get it. You’re here, you have 300 episodes of us talking to listen to, if you’d like.

Helen: I know. If you want, feel free. We do get the occasional email from someone saying that they’re listening to our show chronologically and they’re, you know, halfway through, or “I’ve listened to a hundred” or something and I’m always very impressed by the dedication.

Caroline: Yeah, we’ll talk about that, too, in a sec, I think.

Helen: But yes, thank you so much for listening. Honestly, we would not have hit 300 without you lovely listeners, so thank you, thank you, thank you.

Caroline: Yes. Absolutely. And one more thing: if you want to support us for free, you can go and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. We haven’t been asking for this that much over the years, but it’s been a long time since we talked about it. We’d love to have some more recent reviews up there. It really does help people discover our show. And yeah, that would be so nice. Thank you.

Helen: Yeah. Give us a little 300th birthday present and leave us a review.

Caroline: Only good reviews, though, please. Uh, but thank you all so much for listening and cheering us on. And yeah, Helen, let’s talk about 300 episodes. I can’t believe it.

Helen: 300 episodes of the Love to Sew podcast, Caroline. That’s 295 hours or 17,734 minutes of Love to Sew.

Caroline: Wow. And that’s not even including our 96 bonus episodes and 77 mini-episodes. It’s also not including this episode.

Helen: Amazing. Yeah, we’re recording it right now. We don’t know how many minutes it’s gonna be.

Caroline: Yeah. If you’re lucky, it’ll be long.

Helen: Also: 96 bonus episodes. We’re coming up on another milestone over on Patreon. We gotta do something for that.

Caroline: I know. And we only do one of those a month, so really, that’s a lot of years of bonus episodes, as well.

Helen: It’s true. It’s so true. That’s a lot of sewing info, a lot of personal stories, a lot of listener feedback and tips. We’ve had so many great community episodes where we’ve heard from the sewing community and it’s been amazing. It’s been such an incredible journey.

Caroline: Yeah, I totally agree. I love the, like, mix, the variety of different types of episodes that we do. We get so many different perspectives and we also get to chat, just the two of us, just us friends.

Helen: Yeah. Yeah. Which has been so special. And we have a lot of listeners out there. In the time we’ve been making the show, we’ve had 7.3 million downloads of the podcast. So mind-blowing, like, so many people.

Caroline: Yeah. Just to be in the millions is wild to me. Like, 7.3 million. What? It’s so great. And we wanted to mention our five most downloaded episodes, which, Helen, I was kind of surprised by this list. Were you?

Helen: Me too. I was so surprised. I mean, pleasantly surprised. I’m happy that these are at the top, but they weren’t the ones I was expecting. But at the same time, I can see why. There’s all sorts of great information in all of these episodes.

Caroline: So coming in at number five: Cutting Patterns and Fabric. We talked about rotary cutters versus scissors, tracing, transferring, cutting mats, DIY cutting tables, and lots more. Cutting out can be, like, a third of the overall sewing process. So it does make sense that people would want some tips. I also wonder if part of the mass appeal of this episode comes from the debate that we had, the cut versus trace debate. ‘Cause I think that happened on this episode.

Helen: Yeah. And we had a poll going on Instagram that might have boosted the numbers for this episode. People have lots of strong feelings about this, um, and continue to. And you know what? There’s no right answer, so it’s great. Number four, we have: Sewing Careers. I had no idea this episode was so popular, but it does make sense because we do get emails about this quite often, um, at both of our businesses. People wanting to start sewing businesses or turn their sewing into some kind of job or some way to make a little extra income. Who doesn’t wanna do what they love for a living? I mean, it’s pretty amazing.

Caroline: I know. I was really surprised by this one ’cause I feel like I often almost stop myself from talking about business. ‘Cause I’m like, “People don’t wanna hear about that. Like, the people who listen to our show just wanna sew. It’s a hobby.” But coming in at number four, maybe we should talk more about…

Helen: I think people listening are gonna be like, “You try to stop yourself from talking about business? That’s a surprise to me.”

Caroline: Listen, guys, I could talk so much more about business.

Helen: We do talk about it on Patreon a lot, too, but I think it’s kind of, I always enjoy a peek behind the scenes of people’s working lives, whether they’re running their own business or having a career in a field that I don’t have a lot of familiarity with. It’s always so interesting.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. Number three is: Sewing Spaces. Organization, storage, DIY solutions: this episode had a lot to offer. And we also loved getting a peek into your sewing setups. So it does make sense that this one was popular. Everyone loves a cozy sewing space.

Helen: Yeah. Well, and if a third of the sewing process is cutting out, a third is organizing fabric and your sewing tools, and having a space to actually sew.

Caroline: Yeah. And avoiding actually sewing.

Helen: Yeah, making space to sew. And then a third is sewing.

Caroline: Yeah, totally.

Helen: Coming in at number two, we have: What I Wish I Knew When I Started Sewing. I love this episode. There was so much great stuff in here. This one was a community episode with so much information for newer sewists and advice passed on from experienced sewists to new ones. I just loved the concept of this one.

Caroline: Yeah, me too. This was a really good one. And then at number one, if you can believe it: Fitting Expert Advice with Alexandra Morgan. I was surprised by this one, too. I mean, I loved this episode. It was really cool. It was a fun concept. We had listeners send in fitting issues, including pictures, and then Alexandra Morgan gave amazing advice. And she also taught some overall fitting concepts that are so good to know, and she’s just really knowledgeable. So I feel like there was a lot to learn in this episode and that sort of interactive nature of it was really fun.

Helen: It was really cool. It was like getting an in-depth course, almost, in podcast format, ’cause you could follow along with the pictures and listen to her advice. And I learned things in that episode, for sure. And I always point people in her direction for fitting advice ’cause she really is an expert. Maybe we should have her back on, do a part 2.

Caroline: I was just gonna say, I feel like we need to do another one.

Helen: Yeah, that would be so fun. Very cool.

Caroline: It is wild to think about how many years we’ve been making the podcast and how it’s evolved and all the people we’ve talked to over the years. It’s just, it’s making me feel a little nostalgic.

Helen: Aw. I know. It’s crazy. We’ve, we’ve chatted with so many incredible people on the show, and we’ve learned so much making the show and in this episode we’re gonna chat about our long journey making Love to Sew, so far. And our assistant, Lisa, has written out some really fun questions for us to answer. So we’re kind of gonna do our own little interview. And after that we have a couple of games, just for fun. So it’s gonna be great.

Caroline: I know. It’s gonna be really fun. I love it when we do games on the show, selfishly.

Helen: Me too.

Caroline: So fun. Okay. So we’re kind of gonna interview each other a little bit, right?

Helen: Yeah, let’s do it.

Caroline: Okay. So we’re gonna start by talking about our lives before making the podcast. Helen, what was the podcast that made you a podcast listener?

Helen: Oh, okay. I’ve mentioned this on the show, I think, years ago, but my first podcast, my first podcast love, was a local podcast called Stop Podcasting Yourself, which is hosted by, co-hosted by the husband of one of your Blackbird Fabrics girlies…

Caroline: I know, Abby. Shout out to Abby.

Helen: Abby! She’s amazing. Yeah. I was obsessed with and am obsessed with that show. It’s so funny and great and they are on episode, like, 938 or something now, so they’re creeping up on a thousand. Goals.

Caroline: Yeah. Oh my gosh.

Helen: Um, but yeah, they started really early in the game, so they were an early podcast and definitely were what got me into listening to podcasts. It’s a comedy podcast, if anyone wants to check it out. It’s very funny.

Caroline: Yeah. Cool. For me, I feel like I am in the pool of a lot of people, and it was definitely Serial. Like, Serial is what got me into podcasting. Before then, I was, like, truly like, it got me into listening to podcasts. I didn’t really listen to podcasts at all before then. Then, yeah, it really hooked me, along with a lot of other people, I think. And then I remember, like, searching for podcasts that I could binge after that. It was early in my business, I was working alone in my apartment and I just wanted stuff to listen to. So I went back and listened to all the old Radiolab episodes and Criminal with Phoebe Judge. Those were, like, two other ones. Those, so those three podcasts, I feel like, were what really hooked me into listening to podcasts.

Helen: Yeah, it’s fun to think back on those early days. I got really into Radiolab, also, around that time, which had a very high production value, and they were doing all this research and preparing these incredible episodes and storytelling and it was just kind of mind-blowing. Like, prior to podcasts existing, there was the radio, but there’s something so intimate about the podcast format, especially if you don’t have advertisements breaking it up, like we don’t…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And you just get to cozy up with some friends and listen to a story, or listen to a funny interview, or listen to something inspiring and insightful. It’s just really cool.

Caroline: Yeah, it really is.

Helen: I don’t know how else to say it. It’s so cool.

Caroline: It is the first thing I reach for, like, during the day when I am doing other things, when I’m driving or doing dishes or sewing, I’m always like, “Do I have a podcast to listen to?” That’s the first thing I do.

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: So yeah, it is, it is still something that I use, a media that I turn to constantly.

Helen: Do you know why they call it a podcast?

Caroline: Why?

Helen: It’s a play on the word “broadcast,” but it’s because you would listen on your iPod.

Caroline: Oh wow.

Helen: Right? It really timestamps it.

Caroline: The more you know. That’s wild. Wow. Okay. It makes sense. Makes sense. Wow. iPods. Okay.

Helen: Caroline, did you ever think about making a podcast when you were listening to podcasts back in the day? Were you like, “I wanna have a podcast.”

Caroline: No.

Helen: So then how did we end up here?

Caroline: I know. We were talking about this before hopping on recording because, like, my answer’s definitely no. Like, I definitely never thought about making a podcast that wasn’t about sewing. Even when we decided to make this podcast, I wasn’t like, “My dream is to become a podcaster.” You know? We just wanted to talk about sewing together.

Helen: I know. We were both into podcasts and there weren’t really a ton of sewing podcasts, so we were like, we could contribute to this space and talk about sewing and have a podcast all about sewing for people who love podcasts and love sewing. But I totally agree, it wasn’t like a dream or a goal to become a famous podcaster. And in many ways, I still don’t think of myself as a podcaster.

Caroline: I know.

Helen: 300 episodes later, I’m like, “Podcaster? Me?”

Caroline: Yeah. I 100% agree. I don’t really think about myself as a podcaster. Which is silly, ’cause we’re podcasters. We are.

Helen: Yeah, we are.

Caroline: We definitely are. But I just don’t feel like I’m in the same field as a lot of the podcasts that I listen to. And I think part of it must be because, you know, we’re talking about something that’s so niche, right?

Helen: Yeah. I think the, the fact that it is a niche show for people who like a very specific thing. And there’s lots of shows out there like that, so it’s not that different in many ways, but we’re never gonna have broad mass appeal to everybody, or be discovered by the world and have all of a sudden a ton of people listening to the show. It’s always gonna be kind of a members-only situation where it’s only for people who love sewing, and I kind of love that about it. It feels more intimate that way.

Caroline: I love it, too. I have a question for you. Do you think that you knew what you were getting yourself into, back in 2017, when we talked about starting a podcast together?

Helen: Oh, this is a good question. I feel like it’s expected that I will be like, “No, I had no idea it was ever gonna be this,” but I kind of did. It felt like a big moment at the time. I can remember the feeling of launching the show and it felt like we were launching something big and something that was gonna have an impact and something that was gonna reach a lot of sewing people. I really did feel that when we launched it. So in a lot of ways, I’m not surprised.

Caroline: I have, like, goosebumps, you talking about the, us launching the show. ‘Cause I remember the moment, I remember recording some, like, Instagram stories together and being able to announce it and the excitement in the sewing community. I remember feeling so, like, bolstered. And I was buzzing because people were really pumped and we were really pumped. We shared that excitement and we had a lot of listeners right from the jump. We were so lucky that so many people listened to the show from the beginning. So yeah, you’re right. It did feel like something big. I don’t think I understood, I guess, the amount of moving parts. Like, when we were like, “Let’s make a show.” We, like, didn’t know audio. We didn’t know how to publish the show. There were so many things to figure out, but we did it. We were also, like, young and, I don’t know…

Helen: Naive.

Caroline: Not like, not, yeah, naive, but also, like, we had so much energy, you know?

Helen: You’re like, “I’m so tired now.”

Caroline: Yeah. I’m so tired now. No, but we were, like, the, it, that fresh newness that, like, you know…

Helen: Yeah, an exciting new project. And we both had just started businesses in the past, like five years prior to that. And so we’d had the experience of figuring things out and getting things off the ground, and that can be really thrilling and really fun and confidence-boosting. So I think we were ready for the new challenge. And thank goodness for the internet. I mean, we just watched YouTube videos until we knew enough about what we were doing to do it.

Caroline: Yeah, and we haven’t really changed our process in terms of, like, recording equipment and I think it’s, that part has worked pretty well for us from the beginning.

Helen: This is the same microphone we bought nine years ago, Caroline.

Caroline: Yeah, I know it is. We had to buy a second set of equipment when we moved far away from each other and we stopped recording together. But apart from that, yeah, we’re still using the same equipment. And don’t make me learn anything else. ‘Cause I, I already, with this, I’m like, if anything goes wrong, I’m like, “Help! Somebody help!”

Helen: I know. We’re definitely not, we have not become experts in nine years. We’ve just become really, really good at turning on this one piece of equipment and hoping for the best.

Caroline: I do think it’s made it… this whole, like, process of, like, learning, podcasting and growing over the years in this, like, it’s been so much more fun because we’ve been doing it together.

Helen: Yeah, it’s true.

Caroline: Even from the beginning. Figuring all that stuff out was really fun ’cause I, we knew we had each other to lean on.

Helen: Yeah. Well, I think we’ve always been a really great team, too. Like, we’ve always been on the same page as far as how much effort we wanted to put in and what we wanted the show to be and how we wanted to communicate with our listeners. And I feel like we’ve been right by each other’s side the whole time and that’s made it really easy to make the show what it is.

Caroline: I know. What a gift to be on the same page with your business partner.

Helen: Yeah, it’s true. So true. Okay, well, things were pretty different back then. Do you think that, like, the media landscape has changed? “Do you think it’s changed?” Yes. How is it different, I guess, from when we first started the show?

Caroline: No, it’s exactly the same. Blogs.

Helen: Blogs. Yeah.

Caroline: Pictures. Filters on Instagram. No. Like, video, a hundred percent. Video and short-form content has become so much more prevalent, especially with podcasting. When we started, we were like, “Yeah, we’ll do a podcast. Never put me on a video.” Like, that’s always been a hard line.

Helen: And we’ve stuck to our guns on that one.

Caroline: And we have stuck to our guns on that one. Who knows, you know, in the next nine years what’s gonna happen, but at this point I’m like, I love showing up to podcasting with you in my pajamas…

Helen: Me too.

Caroline: And my hair kind of messy, no makeup, you know?

Helen: It’s a fun experience, too. Like, our guests sometimes come on to the recordings with us and they’re like, “Oh, you’re not filming this?” We do warn them about that ahead of time. But sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle of communication. And so they come on, they’re like, “Oh, I thought we would be filming this.” ‘Cause most podcasts are filmed now and put on YouTube or social media. And we’re like, “Oh no, we don’t. We don’t do that.” And they’re relieved.

Caroline: Yeah. It takes, like, a layer of pressure off.

Helen: Exactly. And then you have this really nice conversation that feels, like, similar to how it felt to talk to your friend on the phone in 2002. You know, like, there’s no video involved. You’re just having a nice long chat and you’re just listening. I love that feeling, so.

Caroline: Yeah. It makes you feel more present.

Helen: So yeah, I don’t think we’ll change.

Caroline: Yeah. I don’t think we’ll change, either. We do see each other when we record. Like, we are on a video chat, so we can see each other’s faces.

Helen: But they’re not, though The guest isn’t.

Caroline: Yeah. The guest isn’t, it’s true. And, obviously, we’re not recording ourselves, so you all will never get to see my beautiful pajamas. Never!

Helen: The bad lighting and the microphone in front of the face. You are not missing anything.

Caroline: But I, I love that we have our podcast in a time when people are consuming these, like, short videos and it’s like, scroll, scroll, swipe, swipe, you know, and we still can hook people for, you know, an hour every week during our season and have that sort of intimate connection with our listeners. That just feels, like, so much deeper and more meaningful than some of the, like, media that’s out there. And I, I don’t know, maybe, I don’t know. I don’t wanna make it sound like we’re better than that because, you know, there’s a place for all of it.

Helen: Well, we’re also doing that.

Caroline: Yeah. We are also doing that, for sure. But it’s something that feels special and old.

Helen: I think so. And I know we have listeners out there who have been listening for nine years. I know they’re out there listening right now and they’ve listened to every episode and that’s incredible. Like, that’s so much time to spend getting to know people. And I wish it could be more two-sided. Thank you for listening. And yeah, I do think it’s really nice to have something like that. It’s like a calm in the storm, sometimes, when I put on my favorite show and I put down my phone and Instagram and just sew and listen to a podcast. It’s such a relaxing feeling. Whereas media these days feels quite chaotic. So it’s nice to have respites.

Caroline: Totally. Okay, Helen, so if you could go back and give yourself one big piece of advice before you started Love to Sew, what would it be?

Helen: Oh, okay. I think this could go for most things, not just starting Love to Sew specifically, but: make what you wanna make and the people who wanna take it in and support and cheer you on in that will find you. That’s it. Like, that’s all you have to do. There is no pleasing everybody. There’s no making something for everyone. You have to just follow your heart and your creative spirit and make what you wanna make. And if people don’t like it, that’s okay. It’s fine.

Caroline: Mmhmm.

Helen: I think I was really overly concerned about that at the beginning and I would take criticism really hard and would try to change the show if people said they didn’t like this or that about it. But that’s not what we’re doing here. If it’s not for you, that’s okay. There’s other things out there for you. You know?

Caroline: That’s really great advice. I love that advice. I feel like I went in a similar direction. But I was, it was more like…

Helen: Tell me, tell me.

Caroline: I just, my thought is, I realize this is a little bit in opposition to something that we asked for at the top of the show, but: just don’t read the reviews. And absolutely do not go on Reddit.

Helen: Oh my gosh. So true.

Caroline: That’s my advice to my younger self. Like, just, I think if there’s a way to get someone to, like, send you only the good stuff, like, that would be the way to go. But if you’re making, like, a public, something that anyone can listen to or watch…

Helen: Consume. Yeah. It’s tough.

Caroline: Just avoid the, avoid the criticism. It’s tough. It’s tough.

Helen: Yeah, it is tough. ‘Cause sometimes you just, like, wanna see it. It’s like you can’t not see it.

Caroline: Yeah. You can’t look away.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. Especially if you know it’s there. It’s very hard to not look at it and it, it just, yeah. I don’t know.

Helen: Over the years, I’ve just learned how meaningless it is, though. Like, like I was saying, it just doesn’t matter. If somebody wants to write a review saying that they think we say “like” too much or…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: We laugh too much. Sorry I’m laughing. Come on. Like, I don’t care that you are bothered by me laughing on my podcast. You don’t have to listen to it. It’s okay. Bye.

Caroline: A hundred percent. Yeah. I do think, like, I, and probably we, I don’t wanna speak for you, but I think you would probably agree, like, we’ve gotten so much better at receiving feedback, you know? If we do see those critical things, being able to process it in, like, a healthy way.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: You know?

Helen: But a big part of that is, like, having each other and our assistant to help us, like, process it. It hurt, it still hurts. I’m not saying I’m, like, immune to it. It definitely bothers me and it hurts, but we can laugh about it together or talk about it if it’s more serious. You know, we definitely get serious feedback about the show, too, and we take it on, and we talk about it. And it’s really helpful to have a team to process that kind of stuff with. Don’t go it alone.

Caroline: Don’t go it alone. Yeah. And I mean, the vast, the vast majority of the, the feedback and the messages and the reviews and all that are super positive, super supportive and lovely, so, yeah.

Helen: Oh, yeah, Glowing. Yeah. For sure. For sure. Yeah. Especially after nine years. I feel like all the people who are annoyed by our laughter are long gone by now.

Caroline: Exactly. They came, they went…

Helen: Yeah, exactly. We’ve only got the core crew left and we’re happy about it.

Caroline: The OG. Okay. We wanted to get into some questions about making Love to Sew. So let’s walk through the process of making an episode, because a lot goes into it.

Helen: Yes. Okay. Well, at the end of every season we have a brainstorm…and it’s a bad one.

Caroline: No, our brainstorming sessions are so fun.

Helen: I’m just kidding. I mean it’s a big storm. That’s what I meant. It’s a bad storm, you know, like it’s a big…

Caroline: Okay, okay, okay. I understand. Sorry. We set aside several hours and we, we, I mean you, me, and our assistant Lisa, come in with ideas. We all come in with a list of guest ideas, topic ideas, community episode ideas, and we pitch our ideas to each other. And then we look at everything together and we sort of pick out our top contenders for the season. We usually try to have a balance of different types of episodes. And then we select our lineup and we put it in order and we lock it in.

Helen: That’s the hardest part, too, because we all have so many ideas, and the guests, especially, oh my gosh, narrowing down the guests is like an hour in and of itself. It’s just us being like, “But if we talk to this person, then we won’t get to talk to this person.” And, like, it’s agonizing, but we get through it, we narrow it down. We often shortlist people for the next season and stuff like that. We’re like, “We’ll talk to them eventually.”

Caroline: Yeah, we do have a lot of carryovers where we’re like, “Just put them on the short list. Short list.”

Helen: I know. And I wish we could make more episodes, but we have found a balance that works really well for us running our respective businesses and the podcast. So we try to stick to that. And the brainstorm is so much fun ’cause there’s so many ideas. And you’d think after 300 episodes we would’ve run out of topics, but no.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. And we, we try to go deep in these brainstorms, ’cause it’s our opportunity to talk about, okay, not only this is the topic, but what exactly do we wanna dig into for that topic? So we are sure that there’s, like, enough meat there to make a whole episode. And that our assistant, Lisa, kind of understands the direction we want to go for that episode. Because she’s doing a lot of the prep. I mean, all of the prep, really.

Helen: Yeah. That’s what happens next, is that Lisa takes away the episodes and she starts prepping the more intensive research-based episodes where we’re talking about a specific topic, specific sewing topic or fabric, and starts diving into research, finding reliable sources, putting together the episode docs. And we go away and start diving into the guests and watching all of their content and listening to other interviews they’ve done and getting to know them a little better. And all three of us gather information about the guests. And then we come back together and we have a second brainstorm for each guest where we talk about them and we talk about what we think would be interesting to chat with them about, how we wanna approach the interview. And we kind of make an outline for the guest interview so that everybody is really prepped on what this guest is all about.

Caroline: Yeah, I love that. This is something that we added a couple years ago, maybe a year and a half ago, doing this, like, secondary team brainstorm for the guests. ‘Cause it used to be a little bit more, like, separated where we would each definitely research the guest, but we didn’t have that moment where we could come together and talk about it together to really, sort of, to hone in on the direction we wanted to go for the interview. And that has helped us feel, I think, even more prepared for guest interviews. On the same page. And it’s just been really fun to have that opportunity to really dive in, even more, into the guests, you know, the different things that they do online and the content that they’ve created in the past and all that.

Helen: It’s kind of a love fest. We should be recording them to send them to the guests so they can listen to us just talk about them for an hour, being like, “Did you see this? It’s so amazing. They’re so cool.” Yeah.

Caroline: Totally. So yeah, Lisa creates these scripts for us, and then we go in and we review them, we tweak them if we need, we give them a really thorough read through before we hop on to actually record an episode.

Helen: Mmhmm. And she’ll often leave spots for us to add our personal experiences and anecdotes. If we’re talking about something specifically related to sewing, obviously, there’ll be a part where she’ll ask, like, have you ever done this or worked with this fabric, or that kind of thing. And as we record, we also ad lib and throw things in and try to make it feel natural. But having the script has been really helpful for us, especially when we’re trying to go through a lot of information in an episode.

Caroline: Totally. And sometimes the outline for the episode is pretty bare bones. Like our We Sew episodes are just a series of prompts and questions to make sure that we cover all the things we want to cover. But those episodes are fun because they’re, they are a little bit more ad-lib and a little bit more improvised. And we get to just share in that excitement of the thing that we made.

Helen: Yeah. I’m really enjoying the addition of the We Sew episodes. They’ve been so much fun and a great way to, like, encourage me to get outta my sewing comfort zone and make things I wouldn’t normally make, or patterns I wouldn’t normally choose, or would love to make, but don’t feel like I have the time or the motivation to go for it. So I’m loving the We Sew episodes.

Caroline: Me too. And then once we are ready to record, we get together and we do that. We try to batch our episodes. We try to do at least two episodes in one day. Doesn’t always happen, but we try our best. And usually, recording for one episode, how long would you say it takes? Like two hours? Because we usually chat before and we chat after.

Helen: Set up, chatting before, chatting after. There’s always, like, guest chat before and after. Yeah, we’re not in a rush. We like to take our time. Our episodes are longer and we don’t have, like, a time limit on them, so we let them go what feels natural. And then we do send it to our editor after the recording, Jordan from The Pod Cabin, and he’s amazing. He tightens everything up and takes out pauses or if we have to do a little sidebar and talk about something before we do the actual recording part, he can cut that out. All sorts of stuff, which is really, really helpful. So we don’t worry too much when we’re recording, about awkward pauses or anything or talking over each other, ’cause he can sort that all out.

Caroline: Yeah. And then once he is finished editing, he sends over that first edit to our assistant, Lisa. And Lisa does the first listen and goes back if there are any notes or changes. Any little tweaks. Usually, I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually listen to the show after it gets edited.

Helen: Yeah, no, I don’t, either. There are some times I do, there are some episodes, some interviews I like to go back and listen. Because I’m in the interview and so I’m multitasking in some ways ’cause I’m trying to prepare for the next question and listen at the same time and actively engage with the guest. And it can feel overwhelming and sometimes it feels almost like I’ve blacked out.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And so it’s fun to go back and listen to the interviews and really listen to what they’re saying and take it in a second time. So that can be really fun. And sometimes if we have a really, really good time on an episode, I’ll listen back just ’cause I think it’s cute.

Caroline: Yeah. Same. Yeah. Once in a while I’ll, I’ll listen. But yeah, usually I’m like, “I was there.”

Helen: Yeah. I remember. Well, and that kind of brings us into our next question, which is, you know, we’ve said on the show previously that we cringe a bit thinking about people listening to the really early episodes of Love To Sew, going all the way back to the beginning, and what about them makes us feel that way? Feel the cringe? And for me it’s definitely the listening-to-your-own-voice feeling. It’s like listening to yourself on a voicemail or a voice memo, any kind of recording of your voice. It’s always a bit surreal and it feels almost like a stranger. You’re like, I, who is that person? I don’t, that’s not me.

Caroline: Yeah. And a lot of like, why did I say it like that?

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: You know?

Helen: Yeah. So I still feel that when I’m listening to the show sometimes, but I think that’s just natural. Everybody, you know, kind of feels awkward about the way they sound.

Caroline: Yeah. For me, I think, especially with the early episodes, I feel a little cringey just ’cause it was such a long time ago. Like, we were baby podcasters, you know? We were a little bit less experienced. I think another part of it is that we edited the show back then ourselves. So, like, I am intimately acquainted with those early episodes because we would trade off and each edit an episode. And I just remember all the things I had to cut. Every um, every breath, every cough, like, every single tiny detail of those episodes. And so, yeah, I’m like, I don’t need to listen to that again. I just remember how long I spent editing them.

Helen: Oh yeah, you can get really stuck in the weeds when you’re editing your own recording and try to take out every little thing. I think I, I feel similarly cringe about the first few episodes ’cause we were so young. But that feeling is fading as time goes on because, now, almost a decade later, it’s starting to feel like this beautiful time capsule of our lives back then. And it’s feeling less embarrassing and more just like, wow, like we did that. Like that’s, it’s incredible. We put ourselves out there in this way and I’m just, I’m more proud than I am cringe, you know?

Caroline: I hear you. When I was thinking about this question, I was reflecting on, like, when we started the show, I was in my third year of business. I had just hired my first employee. I had just moved into my first office. Like, so many big milestones were happening. And part of me does kind of wanna go back and listen to some of those early episodes to just hear… We used to also do a lot of catch up at the beginning of the show, remember? Before we had our bonus episodes. So just hearing about, like, what was going on with me back then, I feel like that would be kind of fun. So.

Helen: Well, sometimes we get emails from listeners who are back in those early episodes and they’ll write us to say, “I just listened to an episode where you talked about moving into your new office and now you have a warehouse.” And that’s amazing. And it’s so sweet to receive those messages of people being like, “Wow, you’ve really accomplished a lot. I’m listening to you talking about it, and here you are. That’s amazing.” And they feel the need to reach out and tell us about it, which is really cool.

Caroline: Yeah. Even you moving to Vancouver Island, like, that was six years ago. We talked about that on the show. Like, I can’t believe that was six years ago. Yeah.

Helen: Time flies.

Caroline: Time flies. So, we learn a lot when we are prepping episodes. Helen, I wonder what topic had the info that surprised you the most?

Helen: Ooh, okay. This was kind of a tough one. I was scrolling back through, and there’s so many episodes that we’ve learned a lot from, but I would say, generally, the fabric deep dives for me have been the most informative. It’s an area that I don’t know a ton about, and learning about the process, making fabric, manufacturing fabric, all of the different steps involved, it’s kind of mind-blowing and it’s been really cool to research for those episodes and watch videos about the fabric manufacturing process and learning a bit more about that has been really eye-opening.

Caroline: Yeah. I really like the fabric episodes, too. And even I, as a fabric shop owner, learn a lot in those episodes. For me, Projector Sewing, this is a more recent one, but I had no idea how it all worked. So it was really fun to dive into that and interesting to learn about it. And, yeah, I mean, I’m still not a projector sewist, but it’s probably something that I wouldn’t have delved into unless, you know, we had the show. So I thought that was kind of surprising and interesting. And then I also wanted to shout out Rose Parr and Sewing Ergonomics because I think about that episode a lot. Like when I’m in my sewing room, I’m like, “Get up, walk to the ironing board, don’t wheel over, do the shoulder stretch.” You know, like, there’s certain things that I really try to incorporate that I had no idea about before, really. I mean, obviously, you know, you know, stretch when you’re sewing, don’t be the, like, gremlin at the sewing machine for hours and hours. But putting that into practice and having some, like, concrete ways to kind of make sure that you are moving correctly and stretching and all of that has been really helpful.

Helen: That’s a good one, for sure. Okay. What about guests? Which guest were you the most nervous to interview, Caroline?

Caroline: Okay. This is, like, a throwback ’cause I feel like we’ve talked about this before, but Gretchen Rubin was, I was so…remember, we were so nervous?

Helen: We were so nervous. And it wasn’t anything to do with her, really, ’cause she’s a professional podcaster. She’s lovely to chat to. She’s absolutely amazing. But we were pretty early on in our podcast career at that point, and we just never thought we would interview somebody like her. And it was, it felt really, really crazy at the time, I remember.

Caroline: More recently, though, Patrick Grant.

Helen: That was my answer. Yeah. I was really nervous. Not, again, lovely man. And, yeah, he was so great, but we were so nervous. And remember, he was, I’m not trying to throw him under the bus, but he was late for the interview and he, like, called us from his car.

Caroline: Yeah, there was traffic.

Helen: And it was like, he was trying to get home in time to do it, and he was so apologetic and we were like, “It’s fine.”

Caroline: We were like, “You’re Patrick Grant, you can do anything. We’ll be fine with it.” Often, like, I’ll feel, I feel nervous before almost every guest interview, no matter who it is. Like, you know, this is the most nervous, but I still get anxious and heart racy before we do our interviews. It’s a lot of pressure. We wanna do right by our guests. We wanna have a smooth interview, we want them to feel good. But usually I would say, like, 99.9% of the time, afterwards we’re like, “That was great. Whew. Like, no problem.” Right? I feel like we always feel good about it after.

Helen: I do. And I always feel so lucky to have had the chance to talk to people for that amount of time and to discuss everything that they’ve accomplished in their life. Like, it’s just so fun to interview somebody. It’s a really unique opportunity to get to know somebody. And afterwards, I always have a bit of like a, a body high.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Like I’m just, like, really excited and I rush to tell Sam all about the interview and it’s a wonderful feeling. So it’s a real rollercoaster of anxiety beforehand and then flying high after.

Caroline: Mmhmm. Yeah, I agree. This is a fun question. We did a TNT pattern episode six years ago and I feel like our tried and true patterns have changed, for sure. I can pretty much guarantee I would’ve been going on and on about the Mandy Boat Tee. Uh, she was my girl back then.

Helen: Mandy Boat Tee and the Morgan Jeans, I remember, too, were on your list. Yeah.

Caroline: What were yours? Do you remember?

Helen: Mostly my own patterns. And I am sorry to say that it’s still the same now, not the same patterns, but I just, like, wasn’t sewing a ton of other people’s patterns at that time and I’m still not. I mostly just use my own patterns, but I think I had, like, Ashton Top and Blackwood Cardigan on there and then now I’m like, Cameron Button Up, June Pants, Tofino Top. Some of ’em are recent ones that we’ve released, are more of my TNTs now. My style has definitely evolved a lot. So of course your TNT patterns are gonna change over time.

Caroline: Yeah, same. Mine would definitely be Nicole and Carrie, are two knit tops at BF Patterns. June Pants is on my list, too. I love my June Pants. I’ve made a few pairs. I have more on my to-sew list. The Nikko Top. I don’t know if I would’ve mentioned that in the last one, but I feel like I’ve been making the Nikko Top for years and years and I still love it. I love, I still love wearing some of my OG Nikko tops. And then the Clo Bias Cut Skirt from Soften Studio. That is a TNT for me. I have two or three of them now. And again, I need to make more this summer. I love wearing that skirt. It’s so simple. Such a quick sew. It feels so good. It’s comfortable, but it’s chic. I love it. It’s a great pattern.

Helen: Oh yeah. It is so cute. Yeah. That made me think of when we did our Vests episode and I made the Quinn Vest. And I wear both those Quinn Vests all the time and I really wanna make like eight more. So, although I’ve only made it twice, I’m gonna put it on my TNT list.

Caroline: Yeah. Are there any gadgets or notions that you discovered through making the podcast that are must-haves for you nowadays?

Helen: Ooh, okay. The ones I thought of were: when we interviewed Saremy Duffy and she talked about using her awl for more than just poking holes in fabric, or a stiletto, some people call it, or have something similar. It’s just like a long pokey metal thing.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And you can use it for getting in really close to your sewing foot if you’re doing something fiddly. And I do that sometimes if I’m, like, really trying to, like, get in there and I’m like, “Okay, this is a moment where I’m gonna sew through my finger. I can feel it.”

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And so I get my awl out and I’m, like, using that instead, to save my little fingies. So that’s been a good one. And then, also, when we interviewed David Paige Coffin about shirtmaking and he talked about using the hemostat. Do you remember that?

Caroline: Yes. I almost put that one down. Oh! The hemostat.

Helen: It’s so great. You, you can, it’s like a long pair of tweezers with, like, a little bent end. You might have them for, like, your serger kit, or sewing machine kits sometimes have them for pulling threads. And you can use that for turning your collars inside out and, like, folding the corner of the collar perfectly, to turn it right side out without having to trim the corner. And that’s definitely become my go-to way to do collars. So thank you, David.

Caroline: Yeah. Thank you, David. My favourite snips in my sewing room, the ones that I reach for all the time, were a gift from a listener and I wish I knew their name. I’m so sorry. If you sent us these, please email us so we can shout you out on the show. ‘Cause you have a pair of these too, right, Helen?

Helen: I do, they’re so great.

Caroline: So it’s the Clauss five inch thread snips. It’s these little red scissors. We’ll link them up in the show notes. But they’re just the perfect size. They’re so sharp. They’re red, so they’re easy to find.

Helen: That’s true.

Caroline: I just love them. I use them every single time I sew, so.

Helen: Wait, do you have them there in front of you? Did you bring them to the recording?

Caroline: I’m literally holding them. Yes. How gorgeous are these?

Helen: You’re so cute. They are so gorgeous.

Caroline: Yeah. I’m holding them right now.

Helen: Yeah. And they have a little finger loop thing that you can also, like, put around your neck if you wanna hang them around your neck.

Caroline: Yeah. Which is a crazy thing to do.

Helen: I know, especially with open scissors like that. I’ve never been a neck scissor wearer.

Caroline: No, I’m too scared. I have too many folds in my body. Like, too many rolls that these, like, little pokey things can get stuck in.

Helen: Yeah. Oh my gosh. So true.

Caroline: Uh, yes. A couple other ones that I wrote down, not necessarily things that were discovered through the podcast. They might have been, but I don’t fully remember, but more just things that have added to my sewing tool arsenal since we started making the show. So the Clover Bias Tape Maker, not the whole, like, Simplicity Bias Tape Maker machine, but those little metal bias tape makers that you can get in different sizes that just help you to fold the bias tape. And you can sort of run it through as you’re ironing at your ironing board. Those I use a lot. Anytime I need to make bias tape, unless I’m making a ton of it, I’ll pull one of those out. We sell them at Blackbird. They’re great. And then: clips. I never used sewing clips before and in the last few years I just, I love a sewing clip, a little Wonder Clip.

Helen: I know. Me too. I just posted a video about this not long ago and, like, whether people were pin people or clip converts.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Because I’m such a clip convert. Like, I still use pins, of course. There’s lots of situations where a pin is better than a clip, but my default now is clips and then pins are like my specialty tool, which is a real shift for me. But I do love a clip. They’re so fun.

Caroline: Yeah, I love them too.

Helen: Okay. Caroline, what are some of the coolest experiences that you’ve had because of Love to Sew?

Caroline: Okay. I put down traveling together, like getting to go to New York together. We’ve been to Stratford, Ontario together. Montreal. Portland. Those have all been really fun trips and I feel like we wouldn’t have done them if it wasn’t for the show. And then, like, meeting listeners randomly is also really crazy.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: And I love it. Like when we get recognized, I’ve been recognized in really random places, like, different, like, Gulf Islands where it’s like, there’s not that many people on this island. And what are the chances that I’m, like, sitting down for lunch at this little restaurant and someone is like, “Are you Caroline from Love to Sew?” Like, that has been so fun and so cool and always kind of trippy, but I love it. That part has been cool. And then, of course, like, getting to connect with the community. I feel like we’re in this, like, really cool, fortunate position where we get to be able to do that, to connect with guests and listeners. And it’s not really like anything else, so.

Helen: Yeah, it is really special. And, like, those trips that we did, most of them were for events of some kind. We’ve done meetups, we’ve done Stitchfest down in Portland. We went to Pattern Review Weekend together. And in all those situations we got to meet and interact with so many community members and connect with people in person. And that has been so much fun. I agree. The traveling has been amazing. And the opportunity to meet people. And even if you’re traveling somewhere and you wanna get some tips about what to see there, you can just put it out there on Patreon and somebody will hook you up. It’s amazing.

Caroline: I know, I know. It’s crazy. I love it. Helen, what’s the most annoying thing about being a public figure?

Helen: I am laughing at “public figure” ‘cause that feels like a stretch to me.

Caroline: Yeah, we are not public figures.

Helen: My dad likes to say I am a “sew-lebrity,” which feels slightly more accurate. Very, very, very niche known person.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: But I mean, I do have a business that’s named after me. Um, and I’m the face of it. And that does bring challenges when you’re running a business. And I think it’s not so much an annoying thing, but the thing that’s the most challenging about it, for me, is just not wanting to let people down. The pressure of putting yourself out there and not knowing what the response is gonna be does wear me down sometimes. And I have to be conscious of that and take breaks from social media and engage in my quote-unquote “actual life.”

Caroline: Yeah

Helen: Because I get a little bit sucked up in the business and the sewing community sometimes and I just need to, like, take breaks and step back at times. And that can also feel bad. And it is a balancing act, for sure. So yeah, there’s challenges, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I love, like you said, when people recognize me, I love getting emails from listeners and customers who feel a connection with me and that is a beautiful thing, so I definitely wouldn’t change it.

Caroline: Yeah, I’m gonna agree with everything you’ve said on that one.

Helen: Yeah. You always wanna put your best foot forward and like…

Caroline: And also, LOL. We’re not public figures.

Helen: No. It’s true. Thank goodness, too. I wouldn’t wanna be more famous than this, I’ll tell you that.

Caroline: Yeah, absolutely. I’m not cut out for that. Do you have an episode that you are most proud of?

Helen: Ooh. Not a single one, but I think the episodes that I feel most proud of are probably, like, our community episodes and, like, sharing our listeners’ perspectives on things, especially the more touchy-feely ones, like Sewing Love Letters, or Why Do We Sew, and just getting the opportunity to share other people’s stories and hear what motivates them to sew and the people in their life who have influenced them in their sewing. It’s always really inspiring and really beautiful. So probably those ones.

Caroline: Yeah, I feel similarly. I wrote Sewing Makes You Love Yourself because I feel like we were so vulnerable in that episode. It is one that I don’t know that I can go back and listen to again.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: But it’s also one that I feel like a lot of people bring up when we meet them in person as an episode that really resonated with them, uh, or made them feel seen. And I know at the time when we recorded it, it was a vulnerable episode for us. So yeah, I think that I’m proud of that. I’m proud that we made that episode.

Helen: Yeah. Really opening up about your deepest, darkest insecurities in public is very terrifying. But it’s proof that that vulnerability is what connects people because, like you said, people bring it up and they feel a connection because you were vulnerable with them, and that’s really amazing.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Okay. Caroline, why don’t we do some questions about our personal sewing journeys and fun sewing questions?

Caroline: Yes. Okay. This is gonna be fun. Helen, is there a sewing project that 2017-you would be shocked that 2026-you has accomplished?

Helen: Definitely all of the quilts I’ve made, every single one. I feel like my past self would be shocked. I never thought I would get into quilting. I just had it in my head that it wasn’t for me until I tried it and then, lo and behold, loved it. So you just never know where this sewing journey’s gonna take you.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: How about you, Caroline?

Caroline: A hundred percent my wedding dress. I’m pretty sure I said on the show in the early days that I would never make my wedding dress. I definitely told people that I’d never make my wedding dress. So yeah, I’m really proud that I did that. I’m kind of shocked that I decided to go ahead and do that, so, yeah.

Helen: I’m so glad you did. It was so beautiful and such a wonderful sewing experience, too, to have under your belt.

Caroline: I know. And I’m so excited to see your wedding dress!

Helen: Ooh, I know. Me too.

Caroline: You’re in the thick of it right now.

Helen: I am. I am. And the thick is thick.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: No, it’s great. I am enjoying the process, but it is, it’s a big project and there’s a lot of pressure on it, so it, it’s challenging in many, many ways.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Okay. What about a dream sewing project that you would like to do one day? We ask our guests this question sometimes, so I’m curious if you have one.

Caroline: This one’s hard because I, I’ve made a lot of cool things over the years that I’m really proud of. A thing that I feels, like, insurmountable, but I also, I know I can do it, is I really want to finish a king size quilt for my bed, my bedroom. So, I’m gonna put that out in the world. I know I’ve, like, talked about wanting to make quilts. I should probably not start with a king size quilt. I probably won’t. But eventually, I really wanna make a beautiful king size quilt, so. And finish it. ‘Cause I’ve been known to do a, make a quilt top and then never finish it. Never finish the quilt.

Helen: Could you just take that quilt top and, like, add a bunch of borders to it to make it bigger, and then just go with that?

Caroline: No, no. I’m over them. I’m over, I’m over it.

Helen: You want the dream vision. I appreciate that. You can do it.

Caroline: What about you?

Helen: I feel similarly, that I’ve made so many things and often just make whatever I feel like making. But the thing that did come to mind for me is, like, a long, fitted wool coat…

Caroline: Ooh, yes!

Helen: With a lining, and I want it to be, like, fitted in the bust and then, you know, and the waist and then kind of a bit of a flare at the bottom, like the kind of coat that somebody would wear whilst riding a horse. I want it to be dramatic. I want it to be impractical.

Caroline: I feel like By Hand London has a really great, uh, like, full, is that the Rumana coat?

Helen: Yeah, the Rumana Coat has been on my sewing list for a long time. It’s probably the pattern I would use for this, but exactly that kind of vibe.

Caroline: Totally. Yeah, that’s a great one.

Helen: That would be so fun.

Caroline: Do you have a city that you would love to go fabric shopping in?

Helen: Probably like Delhi or Mumbai. All the gorgeous cotton block prints. It would be so incredible to fabric shop in India. How about you?

Caroline: Oh, Tokyo.

Helen: Ooh, yeah.

Caroline: Yeah. The Nippori Fabric District is supposed to be incredible and Japanese fabrics are just so beautiful and high-quality and, like, it would just be such a dream. It’s like a whole neighborhood just devoted to textiles. So yeah, I would love it. Someday I would love to go to Tokyo.

Helen: Ooh, I see this in your future.

Caroline: Yep. I think I could do it. Alright, so in an early episode, Helen, if you can believe it, you said that you would never make a quilt and I said that I would never make a bag and you now have a business around quilts and, honestly, I have a business around the Bestie Bag.

Helen: It is true. It’s so true.

Caroline: Our most popular pattern, our first pattern. So tell us what you would never make now, so that we’ll know exactly what you’re going to be doing in nine years.

Helen: Oh my gosh. It’s so funny that we both said that and, I mean, I’m not surprised in some ways ’cause I do remember being, like I said, adamant that quilting was not for me. But I’m trying to think of a sewing-adjacent thing that I wouldn’t do. Like, I probably wouldn’t get into, like, upholstering furniture.

Caroline: Okay. I put the same thing.

Helen: Is this the final frontier of sewing?

Caroline: I’m never upholstering a couch. I’m never doing it.

Helen: But you have upholstered, ’cause you’ve done chairs and benches and…

Caroline: Yeah. But that’s like, I do easy stuff where it’s like, you’re wrapping fabric and you’re stapling it on the back, you know? But like, a fully upholstered couch?

Helen: That’s true. It’s a whole other skillset. I, you’d have to learn so many things. I don’t think I’m interested, but now I feel like I can’t trust myself at all, so.

Caroline: I also put, and this is, I don’t know if this counts because I have made this before, but I’ve kind of lost interest in making this ever again, and that is: a bra.

Helen: Oh, yeah.

Caroline: I got really into bra making and, like, absolutely no shade to people who love bra making. I think it’s amazing that you can make your own bra. But it’s fiddly. I feel like the fit has never quite worked for me. I don’t, I don’t know. I just, I can’t be bothered anymore.

Helen: There’s a lot of hurdles, yeah, but it can be really freeing if you struggle to find underwear that fits properly. I’ve moved on completely from underwire bras, so I can’t see myself ever sewing one again. But I could see myself sewing bralettes, so I wouldn’t rule it out, you know?

Caroline: Yeah. I don’t know.

Helen: You’re like, “I got bigger sewing fish to fry, I’m not gonna make my underwear anymore.”

Caroline: Yeah. I gotta make my king size quilt. It’s gonna take me 10 years, probably.

Helen: All right. This is slightly more touchy-feely and less about our personal sewing, but: thinking about the online sewing community and how many different phases and movements and different directions it’s taken since we started podcasting, what direction would you like to see the sewing community going into the future?

Caroline: I have a very simple answer, and it might be obvious, but I just wanna see even more size inclusivity. I still, not infrequently, find patterns that I love that don’t come in my size.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: And it’s such a bummer. It’s such a bummer. And I just think it needs to be the new normal that folks are making size inclusive patterns. And it, we have come a long way in the sewing community,

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: But we could go even further.

Helen: Yeah, a hundred percent. We actually have an episode coming out next week with Leila Kelleher of Muna and Broad, and we’re gonna be chatting with her about size inclusive drafting and patterns and the fashion industry. And that is gonna be really interesting. So I think we do need to continue pushing for this. ‘Cause we’re seeing backsliding in ready-to-wear and…

Caroline: Ugh, yeah. Devastating. It’s devastating. Yeah. What about you?

Helen: Okay. I said in person, because…

Caroline: Ooh, okay.

Helen: As much as I love the online sewing community, it’s becoming harder and harder to connect online. And thank goodness for things like Threadloop and these more, you know, designated communities where people are chatting about sewing, not necessarily on the mass scale of social media, but I think in-person connection is gonna become increasingly important to making the sewing community thrive and grow. And you know, I’m talking about local events, guilds, maker spaces, brick-and-mortar fabric stores. You know, we lost Joann’s and that was a huge loss for a lot of people. Having fabric stores opening that can fill that hole that are independently owned and also a place for people to gather. I just think that there’s still a lot of opportunity for in-person connection. And I know you’ve been, at Blackbird, experimenting with this more, too, with in-person shopping days and inviting people into the store. And I feel that that is the direction that people are craving, you know?

Caroline: No, it’s totally in line with what I’ve been craving. And we’ve loved doing our in-person shopping events and I want to continue to do them for the foreseeable future and I love meeting people IRL. So yeah, I totally agree. More in-person stuff.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: I’d love to know what our listeners think about this, too. Send us a message, send us an email.

Helen: We’ll prompt. Yeah, we’ll prompt on socials because I think it’d be really cool to see what people have to say and try to implement some of the suggestions.

Caroline: Mmhmm.

Helen: Okay, let’s play some games. I wanna play some games. Let’s play some games.

Caroline: Let’s play some games. We have a couple really fun games lined up that Lisa, our assistant, prepped for us. The first one is Would You Rather: Sewing Edition.

Helen: I love this. Okay, Caroline, would you rather give up your serger or your rotary cutter?

Caroline: No brainer. Rotary cutter. Bury me with my serger.

Helen: Oh my gosh. Okay, I’m going, I’m going serger. I don’t think I could give up my rotary cutter.

Caroline: No! Helen!

Helen: I love my rotary cutter. I use it for everything. I cut out patterns with my rotary cutter. I cut out fabric with my rotary cutter. I am always zipping around with that rotary cutter. I can’t imagine cutting out a quilt without a rotary cutter. Oh, just, no. No.

Caroline: Uh, yeah. No, I, no, I’ll do scissors. I can’t. I love my serger.

Helen: I am happy to flat fell a seam to keep my rotary cutter.

Caroline: No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Helen: Okay, well, good. I’m glad we were divided on that one.

Caroline: Would you rather sew an invisible zipper or a welt pocket?

Helen: Oh, invisible zipper.

Caroline: I agree.

Helen: Yeah, sometimes I can get into a welt pocket. It’s just stressful.

Caroline: It’s so stressful.

Helen: Like, “Cut into your project.” No, thank you. You know, invisible zipper, at least you can go back, fix it.

Caroline: Yeah. A welt pocket can’t be undone. It can’t be undone. Yeah.

Helen: Would you rather hand sew an entire garment or do a rolled hem on 10 yards of chiffon?

Caroline: Okay. Clarifying question: is this a hand sewn rolled hem? Or is this a machine sewn?

Helen: Oh no, I was assuming a machine sewn rolled hem and then that the garment doesn’t have to be made of chiffon or anything. You know, just hand sewn an entire garment of your choice.

Caroline: Ooh. Okay. I think hand sew an entire garment. ‘Cause I actually think that would be fun. And I, I would love to do that someday. But I’m not, like, I’m not mad at 10 yards of chiffon rolled hem. Like, I think that could also be fun.

Helen: If you had that rolled hem, rolled hem foot, you’d be good.

Caroline: Yeah, exactly. If I had that rolled hem foot that we talked about on the show, I think I’d be golden. I did do a lot of rolled hems in college.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: It’s like riding a bike, you know?

Helen: I have not done a lot of rolled hems. I don’t feel super confident. I have not worked with chiffon very much. And I agree that I think hand sewing an entire garment would be pretty fun. I’ve often thought about, you know, bringing something like that on a plane, for example, and just, like, taking my sewing with me in different situations and just hand sewing like an Ashton Top or something. I think that could be really cool. So I would like to do that.

Caroline: Yeah. this is making me think of when I brought embroidery on the plane ride to Portland and I feel like it was kind of turbulent or like…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Like, like I just remember, like, shaking….like, my hands, like, going, as I was trying to embroider these tiny little flowers.

Helen: I remember.

Caroline: And it really wasn’t working, but I was so determined. So the situation has to be correct. You know?

Helen: You need a smooth ride.

Caroline: Yeah. Helen, would you rather take a sewing retreat to a sunny beach or a cozy cabin in the woods?

Helen: Ooh, I gotta go cozy cabin. I love me a sunny beach, but a sunny beach, to me, is like, I just wanna be lounging and swimming, whereas a cozy cabin screams all day sewing marathon. So, yeah.

Caroline: I agree. Yeah. Cozy cabin all the way.

Helen: Would you rather make a formal gown for an award show or an elaborate costume for a convention?

Caroline: I’m going formal gown.

Helen: Yeah, I thought you would. I could see it. I’m going elaborate costume, obviously.

Caroline: I knew you would.

Helen: That would be so fun. I’m not, like, I haven’t been to, ever been to, like, a big convention like Comic-Con or something like that. But I mean, the level of artistry involved in the costumes for these events is insane and so incredible, like just mind-blowing. So it would be really fun to go and it would be really fun to make a cool costume for that.

Caroline: Yeah. Would you rather sew a quilt on a tight timeline or only sew one garment a year?

Helen: Uh, a quilt, obviously. I could sew a quilt on a tight timeline. Don’t threaten me with a good time.

Caroline: Yeah, I mean, I would literally do anything except only sew one garment a year. That’s simply not enough.

Helen: I guess if it was like your elaborate awards show gown, maybe it could take you a year.

Caroline: I don’t know.

Helen: You could milk that.

Caroline: Yeah, I’d need the palate cleanser, though. I need to whip up a little knit top or something, you know? In between steps. No, I would actually, I think I could and would sew a quilt on a tight timeline. Even though I don’t quilt. I’m like, I’ll do it.

Helen: Also, a quilt can be any size, so if you want to just make a little snack mat…

Caroline: Yeah, a little baby quilt. Yeah. I’m like, I’ll probably do that anyway, at some point.

Helen: We found a loophole.

Caroline: Yeah. Alright. That was fun.

Helen: Yes. Okay, we have one more game, and this game is called Who Said It? We’re gonna read a quote from an episode of Love to Sew and then we’re gonna guess which guest or host said it.

Caroline: Okay. This is gonna be hard. We’ve interviewed so many people over the years, Helen.

Helen: I know, I think, a prediction: we’re not gonna get any of these.

Caroline: I know. And so, we haven’t obviously seen the answers, but we are gonna reveal them after we answer, so, okay. So the first quote is, “I am huge into housecoats. Like, I will throw on a housecoat in a heartbeat.”

Helen: Part of me thinks this is me, but I, I’m gonna go Terrance Williams because he is always wearing those beautiful dusters and I feel like, potentially, it could be him. What about you?

Caroline: Oh my gosh. Okay. I was gonna say you.

Helen: I do love a house coat.

Caroline: It could also be me, but you just, I mean, you’ve had so many house coats over the years. You’ve had patterns for house coats. I think it’s you.

Helen: Okay, should we reveal?

Caroline: Yeah, let’s do it.

Helen: Oh, Sewrena?

Caroline: Oh, Sewrena! Of course. That makes sense.

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Because we were talking with her about her style and what she, does she wear it at home, like, the full getup, and she was talking about how much she loves loungewear as well as her beautiful outfits. So this makes a lot of sense.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Okay, next quote. “I don’t sew Christmas gifts.”

Caroline: Okay. This has to be me.

Helen: This has to be you. Right? It has to be. This is so you. Okay, ready?

Caroline: Okay. Yeah, Yeah, yeah.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: Nailed it.

Caroline: I love this reputation. It’s perfect. I still don’t sew Christmas gifts, although I have, I will say, I’ve, I’ve sewn a Christmas gift or two. I don’t know when I said this, but yeah, as a policy, this is not something I like to do. Okay. The next one is, “I’m the softest-palmed cowboy you’ll ever see.” Come on, on three, Helen. 1, 2, 3…Cornelius! Come on.

Helen: Oh, I’m sorry. I was like, I cannot think of anyone who would say this.

Caroline: Really? It’s Cornelius Quiring, of course!

Helen: Of course. That makes so much sense. Of course. Amazing. Okay, next one. “But it is, you know, this is, I say, I’d be happy in a garret, you know, give me a garrett and a candle, a spool of thread, a needle. I’m good. I’m fine. I’d be perfect in the 17th century. My harpsichord and my sewing supplies. It’d be great.”

Caroline: Okay. I think this is Bernadette Banner.

Helen: Yeah, it has to be, right?

Caroline: It has to be Bernadette Banner. Yeah.

Helen: Oh, Susah Khalje!

Caroline: Oh, Susan Khalje! Okay. Okay. I stand corrected.

Helen: Love it.

Caroline: Okay. “I love octopuses, and I loved them before the Octopus Teacher came out.”

Helen: This is me.

Caroline: This is you?

Helen: Yeah, I remember saying this. I remember getting flack for saying “octopuses” instead of “octopi.” Corrected.

Caroline: Oh no, you’re scarred. It’s you.

Helen: So don’t remind me. I got it now. No, it’s true. And I still love octopuses.

Caroline: Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay.

Helen: All right, next quote. “Well, one thing to remember is that the people who are truly not good at it are not anywhere near it cause they don’t even, they don’t even try. Like, they’re not even trying to sew or do a holiday decoration or whatever. Like, they’re not even in the game at all. So you’re already, just by the fact that you’re doing it, you’re, like, already at the tippy top.”

Caroline: Okay. I wanna say this is Elise. Elise Cripe. But I’m not sure. I think a lot of our guests could have said this.

Helen: It’s such a great quote. I wish it was me, but I know it’s not. I’m gonna go Alexia Abegg.

Caroline: Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Ready?

Helen: Yeah,

Caroline: Gretchen Rubin! Our fave.

Helen: Of course.

Caroline: This makes sense. Yeah.

Helen: It makes sense. I feel like I can remember her saying this now and being very impressed with it at the time. The sentiment is so real. Like, don’t be afraid to try because, even if you just try doing something, you’re already at the tippy top of people doing that thing. Most people just aren’t even doing it.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. Wise words. All right. The next one is, “I mean, sometimes it goes spectacularly wrong. I mean, there are a few times when things have gone really badly awry.”

Helen: Okay, so for our listeners, what we have in front of us is a document where the guest’s name is blacked out with black highlighter on black ink. And this one is so long. Like, whose name is this long?

Caroline: I know. It’s really throwing me off because I have a guess, but their name is not long.

Helen: Right? Okay. Because I feel like our guest with the longest name is probably Bhiravi Rathinasabapathi from Quilting 101, but even her name I don’t think is this long.

Caroline: Yeah. What about, um, no, because I’m like, could it be an episode? We’re just using this black, this black wall of…

Helen: We’re getting, we’re sleuthing.

Caroline: Yeah. And like, could it be one of the episodes where we had more than one guest? But I feel like it’s just one person that would’ve said it. I’m just gonna tell you what I think. Maybe this is, um, like Lisa’s trying to throw us off.

Helen: Oh, true. Okay. I also have someone in mind, so yeah, let’s hear it.

Caroline: I think potentially Wendy.

Helen: Ooh, okay, yes.

Caroline: Yeah, Wendy Liu.

Helen: Yeah, from WithWendy,

Caroline: From WithWendy.

Helen: I think it’s Jasika Nicole…

Caroline: Oh, okay.

Helen: Talking about, like, experimenting with sewing shoes and stuff, and, like, she’s such a prolific maker and I could totally see her saying sometimes things have gone really badly awry.

Caroline: Okay.

Helen: Revealing. Oh!

Caroline: Ah, Patrick Grant!

Helen: Okay. It’s really long because he’s, it says that it was in reference to talking about Sewing Bee challenges, of course. Talking a little, getting a little behind-the-scenes insight into how they pull off all those fun challenges. And I guess sometimes they do go awry.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. Whew. Okay. The next one is…

Helen: Yes, “I’m a total weirdo, and I love failure, and I think everybody else should, too.”

Caroline: This one’s hard. I don’t know.

Helen: See, this one I thought was Elise Joy, or Elise Cripe.

Caroline: Okay. You know what? You might be right on that one. I don’t even have an answer for this. I don’t know.

Helen: You have to guess somebody.

Caroline: Ah, okay. What about Tabitha Sewer, because remember she was talking so much about making, like, costumes and she was so experimental with a lot of her makes? feel like it could be Tabitha.

Helen: Totally.

Caroline: I don’t know. Who is it?

Helen: Ah, Maressa Fernandez.

Caroline: Of course. Maker Affirmations.

Helen: That was a fun interview. Yes.

Caroline: That was a great interview.

Helen: Oh, I’m gonna go back and listen to that one, actually. I have such fond memories of that one.

Caroline: Alright, the next one is, “I had, like, friends messaging me from, like, a nearby restaurant being like, ‘Oh my gosh. Like, the weather’s so great. Come, we’re out on this patio.’ And I’m like, ‘I can’t. I have to cut and layer, like, 20 layers of tulle circle skirt.’ I was just like, why am I doing this?”

Helen: Okay. Christine.

Caroline: Oh yes, I think you’re right. I think you’re right.

Helen: But who were you gonna say?

Caroline: I was, okay, I was gonna come back around and say Wendy again.

Helen: Like, just everyone’s Wendy. This could be Wendy, though, for sure.

Caroline: It could be Wendy. ’cause she was always making some crazy things for her YouTube.

Helen: Yeah, I think you’re right. I think you’re right. I thought Christine because, well, she’s always making all those amazing costumes, but the, the, but the wording does sound more like Wendy.

Caroline: yeah,

Helen: Ready?

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Yeah, you’re right.

Caroline: Oh, it is Wendy. Okay. At least I was right one time about Wendy.

Helen: That’s true. Vindicated.

Caroline: Yeah. Oh, that was really fun. I wanna do that more.

Helen: That was fun.

Caroline: Let’s have a little segment on every episode. “Guess who said it?” Um, I think we did pretty decently well. No?

Helen: Yes. I mean, not bad. We got our own ones right. That counts for something.

Caroline: We got our own ones right. Yeah. I love it. You love octopi and I don’t sew Christmas gifts. It’s a fact.

Helen: Except that you have sewn Christmas gifts since then.

Caroline: I know, but at the time I didn’t.

Helen: It’s true.

Caroline: I like to be able to pull that out.

Helen: You’ve really grown as a person.

Caroline: Oh, thank you. I feel the growth. Absolutely. Oh my gosh. Okay. This has been really fun. This episode has been really fun and we’ve also had so much fun making and sharing the show with you all and the past 300 episodes. So thank you all so much. Thank you to every guest and every person who has listened, commented, reviewed, DM’d, called in, emailed or otherwise been part of the Love to Sew community. I truly cannot believe that we are celebrating 300 episodes today. It’s a huge milestone. I’m so happy to be able to reflect with you about it.

Helen: That was really special and fun and it truly is such an amazing community, the sewing community as a whole, and our Love to Sew listeners, especially. We love you so much. Thank you for supporting us over the years. It means more than we can say. It’s really a gift. So thank you, thank you, thank you. And we’re really happy to be chugging along, sharing our sewing info and tips and questions and our lives, and continuing to make the podcast. So here’s too many more episodes!

Caroline: Here’s to that. Do a little pop.

Helen: Clink!

Caroline: Oh yeah. A little clink. Clink!

Helen: That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me, Helen at Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co, and Caroline at Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns. And we’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Caroline: You can support Love to Sew and get access to bonus content by subscribing on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. You even get access to the back catalog of bonus episodes. That’s over 75 hours of Love to Sew. Go to patreon.com/lovetosew or check out our podcast page on Apple Podcasts for more info.

Helen: You can head to lovetosewpodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, you can leave us a message at 1-844-SEW-WHAT. That’s 1-844-739-9428. Or send us an email at [email protected]. We truly do love hearing from you.

Caroline: We do. And thank you to our amazing podcast team who have helped us make this happen over the years. We’re so happy to have you guys in our corner. Lisa Ruiz, our creative assistant, who really helps make the show amazing. And Jordan Moore of The Pod Cabin, our editor, who makes us sound amazing. And thank you to all of our listeners. We wouldn’t be here without you. And we will talk to you next week.

Helen: Talk to you next week.

Caroline: Bye.

Helen: Bye.

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This episode is all about sewing rainwear! We talk about some of the most common waterproof fabrics and define terms like “hydrostatic head rating” and “DWR.” We also share some great indie patterns for raincoats, jackets, and hats. And we give tons of tips for sewing with waterproof fabrics, sealing seams, re-waterproofing, and more!

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

Show Notes: 

From the Listener Feedback Section:

A post shared by Miriam Orr (@rbjaneite)

Resources:

A post shared by TIKKI Studio | a space for sewing + creating (@tikkistudio)

Products:

Sewing Patterns:

Where to Buy Fabrics (and Sealing/Waterproofing Products) for Rainwear:

Transcript:

Caroline: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Helen: Hello and welcome to Love To Sew. I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co.

Caroline: And I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns.

Helen: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew and it’s essentially all we wanna talk about.

Caroline: This episode is all about sewing rainwear. We talk about some of the most common waterproof fabrics and define terms like “hydrostatic head rating” and “DWR.” We share some great indie patterns for raincoats, jackets, and hats. And we give tons of tips for sewing with waterproof fabrics, sealing seams, re-waterproofing, and more.

Helen: If you love to sew, this is your show.

Caroline: Well, hello Helen. How are you?

Helen: Hello. I’m good. How are you?

Caroline: I’m so good. it’s kind of ironic ’cause we live in the Pacific Northwest and it’s always rainy here, but today is a gorgeous day and I don’t know…

Helen: The sun is shining on the day that we’re recording.

Caroline: Maybe we should have waited for a rainy day to record.

Helen: It would have been more appropriate. But I think I have the years of experience required to discuss sewing rainwear, or at least wearing rainwear.

Caroline: We’ve put in our time. We’ve put in our time.

Helen: No, but to be honest, I haven’t sewn a ton of, like, rain fabrics. I’ve made some jackets that are, like, semi-waterproof, but I haven’t delved deep into the world of sewing super-waterproof fabrics. So I’m very excited to talk about this today because I’m actually working on a little raincoat pattern. So this is really good research.

Caroline: Yeah, I was waiting for you to drop that hint because I’m really excited about your raincoat pattern and I feel like this episode is really timely because it’ll be coming out later this year, right? Hopefully.

Helen: Yeah, that’s the plan. Sometime in 2026. Don’t hold me to it, but I’m working on it and I’m excited about it. So it will come to fruition at some point, some rainy day in the future.

Caroline: Perfect. Okay, Before we jump in, we wanted to remind you all that the best way to support Love to Sew is by joining us on Patreon or Apple Podcast subscriptions. You will get access to bonus content every month, and we have so much fun catching up with you all on those more casual bonus episodes. Over on Patreon, you get photos. And you will see a preview of Helen’s raincoat pattern if you join the Patreon.

Helen: It’s true.

Caroline: So, just saying.

Helen: It’s true. I love talking about the behind-the-scenes of patternmaking and what we’re working on and all the Blackbird Fabrics collections you guys are doing. It’s really fun to just chitchat about what we’ve got going on behind the scenes and catch up about our personal lives, too. And it means so much to us If you’re able to support us, even if it’s just for a month or two. You can just sign on and listen to a bunch of eps and then leave. That’s totally fine. And if that’s not in the cards for you right now, we totally get it. We just appreciate you listening to the show.

Caroline: And if you wanna support us for free, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. We haven’t asked for this in a long time, but we would really love to see some more recent reviews. So thank you all so much, if you can take a minute to do that. But above all, thank you all for listening and cheering us on. We love you.

Helen: We love you. Thank you. Okay, we’re gonna start off this episode with some listener feedback. Listener Miriam shared a project that she made her daughter that is so brilliant. It’s a dress-up doll made of two pieces of cardboard. The top piece looks like a paper doll with a painted face, hands and legs, but the hair and dress-shaped body is cut out. Miriam’s daughter takes fabric scraps and layers them in between the cardboard pieces to give the doll pretty dresses, tops, skirts, cool coloured hair. It’s such a smart way to take your little scraps and turn them into something that can be used and enjoyed, maybe even played with while you’re sewing. And Miriam does just that. She takes the dress-up doll and scraps out when she’s sewing so her daughter can play with that instead of being tempted to grab the sharp sewing tools. So we’ll link up Miriam’s Instagram post in the show notes for this episode so you can have a look, visually. It’s like a reverse paper doll, almost. It’s so cool.

Caroline: It is so cute. I love it. Next up we have an email from Andrea. “A year and a half ago I was the kind of person that refused to even reattach a loose button. Sewing and I were not friends. When shopping, I was limited to the kind of clothes that would fit my body with proportions far from the standard block, and what others considered fashionable enough to produce. Then I had the epiphany that the only thing keeping me from having the fancy, well-fitting wardrobe of my dreams was the fact that I couldn’t sew. A trifling matter. I bought a machine and some patterns secondhand, and got started. I quickly realized that, for me, the appeal of sewing was to make the clothes I designed in my mind; therefore, patternmaking must be the way to go. My pants sloper was, like, the third thing I ever made! My reasoning was that I started with the trickiest sloper and it would all be downhill from there. It was not.

“It wasn’t the smoothest or quickest process, but now I have a set of slopers for pants, skirt, bodice, and sleeve, and I have started making designs from them. I’m currently working on a spontaneous project for an off-the-shoulder dress with a structured, stays-like bodice with boning. And I honestly do not consider any of my projects as “hard” or “easy”. Instead, I’ve come to think of them in terms of how labour-intensive they are. This shifts my way of thinking from “Can I do this as an inexperienced sewist?” To “How much work must I put in to make this?” For example, would a project where I have to make a new pattern and research methods, like how to put boning in a bodice, be more labour-intensive than, say, remaking a previous pattern? Or sewing up a few silk-scrunchies? This means that the only limit to what I can make is my imagination and the time I’m willing to put in. And it doesn’t have to be perfect. I just have to be happy with the results! I hope that by sharing this I can inspire other new sewists, because I have yet to come across a problem that I couldn’t solve with a good internet deep-dive, some trial-and-error, and a healthy dose of “woman up!”

Helen: Oh my gosh, Andrea, I absolutely love this. Thank you for this incredible email. I really like the perspective shift of thinking about projects in terms of how much time you’re willing to spend on them, rather than whether or not, like, it’s possible for you to accomplish them, if it’s too hard for you. I mean, we’ve said on the show many times before, “You can make anything!” And you really can, with the research and the knowledge. You can gain the skills. You can do it one step at a time. It’s just going to take time. So it does open up a lot of possibilities for sewists of all levels. And your story really shows that even beginner sewists can do things that are usually called advanced, like drafting their own patterns. Love your attitude, and I hope this perspective shift inspires our listeners out there, too.

Caroline: It inspired me to reattach some buttons, to be honest.

Helen: It’s true. We all have some buttons waiting to be reattached that we can go and do.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Now, that is not a time-intensive project.

Caroline: Alright. Let’s get into the main subject of this episode. It is all about sewing rainwear, which might feel intimidating, but you can sew anything, remember? We’re gonna talk about some of the most common waterproof, water-repellent, and water-resistant fabrics out there, plus where to get them and how to sew with them. And we’re gonna share some indie rainwear patterns as well as some tips for adapting non-rainwear patterns. And we’ll walk you through the process of sealing seams and waterproof treatments to fabrics and more. It’s a lot. We’re talking about everything.

Helen: There is a lot of things going on. And if you live in a very dry climate, just keep listening, ’cause it might be interesting for you. I don’t know.

Caroline: Yeah. Mmhmm.

Helen: I’m sure you’ll learn something even if you don’t get to apply it. Okay. First, let’s clarify something. Waterproof, water-repellent, and water-resistant are all words that you’ll see when you’re shopping for fabrics. But how can you tell how effective a fabric is at actually keeping the water out?

Caroline: There’s a rating system called the hydrostatic head rating that’s used to measure just how waterproof fabrics are. The higher the rating, the more waterproof the fabric is. So to be called waterproof, the minimum hydrostatic head rating is 1,000 millimeters. And this is the height in millimeters of a water column that can stand on it before leaking. So under that, it’s not really suitable for rainwear. From 1,000 to 5,000 millimeters, you have moderate protection that’s good for on and off rainfall. From 5,000 to 20,000 millimeters, you have storm-level protection that’s good for extended exposure in regular rainfall. Above that, you’re looking at waterproof fabrics that are made for hiking in storms, basically.

Helen: Yeah, so in general, the word “waterproof” indicates the higher rated fabrics, “water-repellent” is less effective, and “water-resistant” is the least effective. But this isn’t an exact measurement, obviously, like the hydrostatic head ratings. And you might not see the head ratings in the fabric listings. You’re more likely to see words like waterproof, water-repellent, water-resistant. So if you want something that’s really gonna keep the rain out, you probably wanna look for the word “waterproof.” But again, each fabric store is gonna label these things a little bit differently. So you might just need to ask to get more details, in that case.

Caroline: Yeah, I have personally never seen a hydrostatic head rating from any of the fabrics that we carry at Blackbird, but I imagine more technical fabrics or stores that carry more technical fabrics might be able to provide that information. We generally err on the side of caution and call most of our, like, rainwear fabrics “water-resistant.” And then, you know, you can do your own testing, order a swatch, that kind of thing.

Helen: Yeah, you don’t want, like, people going out and making a tent or something out of the fabric and then being very disappointed.

Caroline: Yeah, exactly.

Helen: I mean, for a lot of just regular daily wear, to and from your work or to and from your car, a water-repellent or water-resistant fabric is gonna do the trick. It doesn’t need to be completely waterproof unless you’re out hiking in the rain. But again, it’s really gonna depend on your intended end use for the garment. So another pair of terms you might see when you’re shopping for fabric is “soft shell” and “hard shell.” And in general, hard shell fabrics are completely waterproof. They’re not as flexible, so they can get kind of clammy if you’re being really active, like hiking. But they will keep the rain out if you’re in it for an extended period of time. Soft shell fabrics are softer and more flexible, and they’re less waterproof. And they’re best for lighter rain or if you won’t be out in it for a long period of time. But they’re a lot more comfortable for moving around and you don’t get that clammy feeling.

Caroline: Mmhmm. Yeah, I had like a rubberized, almost, raincoat that I loved, but I would get so sweaty in it. And when you move around, it’s like, “ee-ee ee-ee ee-ee,” you know?

Helen: I know. But then when you get caught in a deluge, you feel, like, superhuman.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Yeah. Until, like, the fronts of your thighs/bottom of your leg is just soaked, anyway. You’re kind of screwed in a deluge, anyway.

Helen: It’s raining… Oh, I thought you meant from the sweat.

Caroline: Oh, yeah. No, I mean…

Helen: “It’s raining on the inside of my jacket, too.”

Caroline: It’s true. That, honestly, is not wrong. One last term before we get into specific fabrics, and that is: “DWR.” So this stands for durable water-repellent treatment, which is a coating that’s applied to the right side of the fabric to increase its water resistance. Common coatings include fluoropolymers, silicones, and hydrocarbons. Oils, dirt, and friction can wear down the DWR over time, so you may need to reapply it eventually. And you’ll be able to tell because if you sprinkle water on the fabric, it’s gonna soak in rather than bead up and sit on the top. Gear Aid and Nikwax are two companies that make waterproofing products that you can use to renew the DWR of your garments.

Helen: Amazing. Now that we’ve covered some of those terms, let’s get into the common types of fabrics that you can use for rainwear. There are some really cool technical fabrics that use multiple layers of materials. Gore-Tex is one of the most well-known. Technically, Gore-Tex is just one of the layers in the fabric. It’s a special membrane that does not allow liquid water, like rain, to pass through. But it does allow water vapor to pass through, like the steam created by your body heat and your sweat. That prevents the moisture inside the fabric from condensing into drips, which can happen with fabrics like vinyls. But Gore-Tex isn’t the only waterproof technical fabric out there. There are a bunch that have fun names like eVENT, Darlexx, and Taslan. Each of these has an intricate and scientific construction process that we don’t have time to describe or, frankly, understand completely. But it’s really interesting to look into if that’s your kind of thing. Um, and we’ll link up some sources in the show notes for you.

Caroline: PUL fabrics are made of a layer of cotton or polyester fabric that’s coated with a backing of polyurethane. PUL stands for polyurethane laminate. And these fabrics look like regular cotton or poly wovens from the outside. They’re durable, flexible, and they can be washed over and over. PUL Fabrics are a popular choice for the outer layer of cloth pads or diapers, and sometimes they’re called TPU fabrics. TPU stands for thermoplastic polyurethane, which is actually the film that’s applied to the cotton or polyester to make it into PUL.

Helen: Another fabric you might see out there is ripstop nylon. This is a water-resistant fabric on its own, but it’s not waterproof unless it has an added coating. So for example, ripstop silnylon has a thin coating of silicone on one side that makes it waterproof. The word ripstop refers to the weave. It has raised lines going through it that make a grid, so if it gets ripped, the grid part stops the rip from going any further. So it’s literally. Rip. Stop. Cool!

Caroline: So literal.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Waxed cotton is woven cotton fabric that has been covered with a wax coating. The wax fills in the gaps in the weave of the fabric so that water can’t pass through. You can buy waxed cotton by the yard or you can apply the wax yourself. It comes in a bar, like soap, and you rub the wax onto the fabric and then heat it with a hairdryer to melt it in. If you want to wax your own coat or jacket, you wanna wait until you’ve finished assembling to apply the wax. That’s how manufacturers do it, so that you can get into those, like, seam crevices and things. One little note: even if you buy pre-waxed fabric, you will need to rewax your fabric over time as the finish wears off.

Helen: Yeah, I have a little bag, Costa Tote that I made out of waxed canvas years ago and, just ’cause I like the look of waxed canvas. So I’ve never re-waxed it, but at this point it is basically just a cotton tote bag. There’s no wax left on that thing.

Caroline: Do you wash it, ever? Like, do you throw it in the wash, or?

Helen: No, I don’t. I, it’s my gym bag, so it, like, gets a lot of use and it’s just kind of, like, a throw it over my shoulder when I’m going to the gym and then throw it into the closet when I get home. So it’s pretty worn out at this point. But yeah, I’ve never washed it and…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: I feel like I’m confessing something. I’ve never washed my gym bag, you guys.

Caroline: To be clear, I wasn’t like, “Do you wash it? Ew!” It was more, I’m just curious how the fabric performed being washed. But you didn’t wash it, so that’s fine.

Helen: I’ll never know and I never will.

Caroline: One thing I do love is the look of waxed canvas. Like, I think you can use it, like you said, for projects that don’t necessarily need to be water-resistant just because it has, like, such a cool patina to it, or it can get such a cool patina to it.

Helen: Yeah, I totally agree. I absolutely love the look of it. And I’ve been meaning to make a waxed canvas coat for a while but I’ve only really made accessories like bags and aprons and stuff, uh, which it is really good for. One thing to keep in mind is that waxed cotton shows creases, and that can be a really cool look if the creases are where the fabric naturally folds when you wear your garment. But be careful not to fold up your waxed cotton garments when you store them. You wanna roll them or hang them instead. And if you accidentally get some unwanted creases, you can heat up the wax and kind of rub it in to remove the crease. Or just embrace the creases. As we said, it is kind of part of the whole overall look. And waxed cotton is also known as oilskin in some parts of the world, so you might see it called that instead of waxed cotton.

Caroline: Vinyls are another rainwear fabric option. Like PUL fabrics, they’re made of plastics that are bonded to fabrics. And some are made to look like leather. Pleathers can have a backing that looks like real leather or one that looks more like cloth. And if you’re using one that doesn’t have a pretty wrong side, you might wanna choose a pattern that has a lining. There are also clear vinyls, like the ones used to make a shower curtain. A see-through rain jacket would actually be so cute and you could finish it with colored bias binding. Be careful when you shop for vinyls, though. Many of them are made to be used for upholstery and those can be way too thick for garments.

Helen: Another option is a tightly woven fabric, like a gabardine, that can be water-resistant. During World War I, the British military commissioned Burberry to make garments for soldiers. Burberry used wool gabardine that was treated with lanolin. And today, gabardine just refers to the weave. It can be made of wool, cotton, polyester, or other fibers. Many gabardine fabrics are already water-resistant, but look for DWR-treated fabrics if you really want to keep the rain out. Caroline, am I saying gabardine right?

Caroline: Yeah, you are.

Helen: Okay, good. I had a moment halfway through that where I was like, “Oh, I don’t know if this is how you say this.”

Caroline: Yeah, I think you nailed it.

Helen: Thank you. Thank you.

Caroline: Wool fabrics can be really absorbent or really water-resistant, depending on how much lanolin they have. Lanolin is a natural oil that coats wool when it’s on the sheep. It’s similar to sebum in humans. It can make wool feel softer. It’s antimicrobial and it’s water-resistant. Many wool fabrics have been scoured to remove the lanolin. You can re-lanolize your wool by melting some lanolin in hot water and then soaking your wool fabric. Just be careful not to agitate your fabric because that can shrink it and felt it. We’re gonna link an article about lanolizing wool in the show notes. You can see how the whole process works. I’m gonna be honest, this feels a bit intimidating to me.

Helen: It’s funny, just the concept of shearing the sheep and then taking out the lanolin and then making the fabric and then putting the lanolin back.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: But wool fabrics can be naturally water-resistant. I’ve experienced this with wool coats, like, in a light rain. It totally does the trick. And then if you hang it to dry when you get home, it actually functions fairly well as rainwear. So, definitely an option if you don’t wanna sew with some of these, like, plastic fabrics.

Caroline: Now that we’ve talked about some of the most common rainwear fabrics, let’s share a few tips about working with them. So, for any fabrics with a coating, which include many rainwear fabrics, you wanna avoid making any more holes than you absolutely have to. This means using clips rather than pins, or at least pinning well within the seam allowance.

If you have to unpick a seam on waxed cottons, you can rub your fingers over the holes to warm the wax and reseal it. But I would really recommend clips. I feel like pins in a coated fabric or a heavy fabric can even, like, hurt your fingers as you pull them in and out. Or push them in and pull them out. So I think clips are just, like, the way to go.

Helen: Yeah, for sure. Rainwear fabrics do tend to be thicker than a lot of garment fabrics, so use a longer stitch length to accommodate them. The longer stitch length can also prevent cracking on coated fabrics. Like, if your stitches are too close together, you’re almost, like, perforating the plastic and then it can actually tear. So you wanna space your stitches a little further out. Do some tests on some of your scraps before you get sewing and find the right stitch length for your project.

Caroline: Microtex needles can prevent ripping on coated fabrics. They have a finer, sharper tip that pierces through the fabric more cleanly.

Helen: And you wanna avoid ironing waterproof fabrics. They tend to be melty, and we don’t want that. If you absolutely have to, use a pressing cloth and a very low heat. Otherwise, you’re gonna wanna try finger pressing. If you want seam allowances to lay flat, you can also add some topstitching or do flat felled seams and things like that. Finger pressing works really well on a lot of these kind of, like, plasticky fabrics, or waxed cottons also finger press, as well. I have a little seam roller thing that I use when I’m quilting, and it’s like a little steam roller, but in tiny plastic form. And you just roll it over the seams and that can be really satisfying.

Caroline: Does it heat up at all? Or it’s just, it’s just, like, a plastic thing.

Helen: It is just a little plastic rollie guy. Yeah.

Caroline: I love that. I feel like that’s a, the quilting tool that crosses over to garments.

Helen: It’s true. Yeah, it does come in handy when you have something you can’t press.

Caroline: One quick note about ironing wax cottons: your iron will remove the wax, so you wanna avoid doing that. It’ll also probably get wax all over your iron and be a big old mess. So try to avoid that. And then, some of these fabrics have at least one sticky side. So try a walking foot, roller foot, or Teflon foot so that they glide smoothly. Or you could try that hack of putting scotch tape underneath your regular machine foot to mimic a Teflon foot.

Helen: Love that tip. Okay. Where can you buy all these magical water-repelling fabrics? Caroline, tell us about Taslon, because I know you guys have that in your shop right now and I got some and it’s really cool. I love how lightweight it is.

Caroline: Yeah, we have this water resistant nylon Taslon which is really beautiful, lightweight. I love that it has this sort of papery, crinkly texture, kind of similar to nineties windbreakers. It’s a really great fabric. We’ve been carrying it for a little while now and we really like it. And we’ve been thinking about carrying, like, a lighter weight version of it that would work well for like, almost like board short style clothes, you know?

Helen: Yes, love that. Or track pants. Tearaways.

Caroline: Yeah. So not necessarily water-resistant, but just that same sort of, uh, texture, of that, like, crinkly, lightweight fabric. We also carry waxed cottons and we carry a specific refinishing wax that works really well. That one comes in a tin, not a bar. But it works really well for re-waxing garments. But yeah, there are other places in Canada that you can get some water-repellent fabrics. I know one of them is up near you, right, Helen?

Helen: Yes, I have to give a shout-out to Discovery Fabrics up in Campbell River. It’s on Vancouver Island, where I live. It’s only about 45 minutes from my house, so I’m very spoiled. I get to go there and look at the fabrics in person. They have an amazing selection of technical and outerwear fabrics. Check out their “outerwear and technical performance shells” section to find the kind of stuff we’ve been talking about. And also, their customer service is excellent if you email them with questions. They are so knowledgeable about these kinds of fabrics. So, definitely a great resource there.

Caroline: And Core Fabrics has a nice water-resistant fabric section with waxed cotton and soft shells. And they even have some designer deadstock fleece back fabric right now.

Helen: In the US, Seattle Fabrics has great waterproof, water-resistant, and DWR fabrics and has all the seam sealing tape and sealants that you need. And Ripstop by the Roll has silnylon in apparel weights. So check that out.

Caroline: We would love to find options for every country but, unfortunately, that’s beyond what we can do in this episode. But here are some search terms that you can use either in English or in the common language of your country: Technical fabrics, waterproof fabrics, water-resistant fabrics, and outerwear fabrics. You can also search for specific fabric types that we’ve mentioned in this episode. On Etsy, you can narrow the search by items that ship to and from your country.

Helen: Yes. I love that feature of Etsy. Very nice.

Caroline: Mmhmm.

Helen: Okay. We’ve talked a lot about fabric. Let’s talk about patterns, finally. There’s so many cute patterns out there that will work for rainwear. I will say, there’s not a ton of raincoat-specific patterns out there. But the thing is, most coat patterns could be made in rainwear fabrics, and boom, you got yourself a raincoat. So just be open-minded when you’re looking at patterns that are out there. If you want a long and warm waterproof coat, then you might like something like a parka. The TN-34 Parka by Merchant and Mills has a classic fishtail shape with a hood, pocket flaps, and a full lining. And then the Hoodie Parka by The Assembly Line has a more feminine A-line shape and a high neck with a hood. And that one’s unlined. But both of those would make great raincoats.

Caroline: There are good options for shorter rain jackets, too. The Eden Coat by Tilly and the Buttons has cute and functional rainwear details like storm flaps, a back cape, and flaps over the pockets. The Whitney Raincoat by Amy Nicole Studio has a swingy shape, raglan sleeves, and a three-piece hood. This one is so cute colourblocked.

Helen: Yes, I really like the Whitney Raincoat, and I know that Amy has some resources about sealing seams because I was reading them the other day, in preparation for my raincoat pattern and it was, uh, really great resources over there on her website. Rain hats are another great project that you can do and they’re practical for if you don’t have a hood on your favourite jacket. The Sou’wester style has a shorter brim in the front and a longer one in the back so that the water doesn’t fall into your collar. Imagine a traditional fisherman and you’ll picture the exact kind of hat we’re talking about. Twig and Tale has a pattern for one that has multiple sizes for kids and adults. And the Nor’wester Hat by Green Pepper has an optional cozy fleece lining that can extend down over your ears.

Caroline: Green Pepper Patterns has some really cool patterns, too. I had never heard of this company before and I love their selection.

Helen: Same! Yeah, so many fun, outdoorsy patterns. Definitely go check out Green Pepper just to see their whole pattern selection. They also have a really cool roomy rain poncho pattern that folds into its own kangaroo pocket when you’re not using it, which is really cute. Lightweight, quick to make, and it will keep you dry.

Caroline: And like we already mentioned, Helen, you have a raincoat pattern coming out later this year and our patrons have already seen some previews over on Patreon and everyone is really excited about it. So we uh, can’t wait to see that, hopefully, this fall.

Helen: Yeah, I’m so pumped about it. It’s really fun designing a raincoat ’cause, like we said at the top of the show, we live in the Pacific Northwest. It’s very rainy all the time. It’s been raining my entire life, it feels like. And I can’t believe I haven’t put a raincoat in my collection yet. So it feels very appropriate to me and my lifestyle. And it’s really fun to design one that fits everything I want in a raincoat. I’m making my dream raincoat, basically. So I’m excited to share it with y’all.

Caroline: Okay, so, moving on. This next topic is a biggie and it’s super specific to rainwear, and that is: sealing seams. Even if you have really great waterproof fabric, your seams are going to be a weak point. And if you don’t want water to get in, you’re gonna have to seal them up.

Helen: And just to note: if you’re making something that you plan to only wear in light showers, you probably don’t need to seal your seams. It’s just for those garments and accessories that are truly dedicated to keeping you dry in normal to heavy rains or over prolonged rainy periods.

Caroline: So there are two options for sealing seams: tape and liquid sealants. Seam seal tape is waterproof and iron-on. To apply it, you’re gonna need to do some tests on scraps of your shell fabric. You want the iron to be hot enough to melt the glue, but not hot enough to melt or distort the fabric. So start testing with low heat and then increase if it’s not working properly. You apply the seam tape on the wrong side of the fabric ,covering the seam and the seam allowance. And you may need to trim down the seam allowance so that the tape covers it completely. Closet Core has an article about making a waterproof Kelly Anorak with some pictures and tips on the seam sealing process. And Core Fabrics also sells seam seal tape. So we’re gonna link everything up for you in the show notes for that.

Helen: Liquid seam sealants work on the same principle, but instead of a solid tape, they are a liquid that you can apply onto your seams. Closet Core recommends using these only on the wrong side of your seams, since they do leave a bit of a sticky residue. Most fabrics can be sealed with an all-purpose seam sealer like Seam Grip WP, including unwaxed canvas, nylon vinyl, PUL, or non-silicone technical fabrics. For fabrics that are coated with silicone, choose a silicone-based sealer like Seam Grip + SIL. So just make sure you’re getting the right liquid sealant for your fabric. And there are specific ways to seal different kinds of seams. We found a super helpful set of diagrams on the Gear Aid website, so we’ll link it up for you.

Caroline: And a few tips for using liquid sealants: You wanna wear gloves. If you get it on your hands, don’t wash them to get it off. Some seam sealants set with moisture, so it’s just gonna accelerate them sealing. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for removing the sealant from your skin. You want to test your sealant out on scraps first so that you can see how it works with your fabric. Sew a sample seam and apply it exactly how you plan to apply it on your garment. It’s worth it to take the time to make sure you get a great finished product. And then, if your fabric is smooth and cleanable, like nylon or vinyl, wipe it clean with rubbing alcohol before you apply the sealant. And if the sealant is tacky after curing, you can sprinkle some cornstarch on it and then dust the excess off.

Helen: Ooh, Caroline, I’ve never worked with either of these seam sealing methods, but I’m going to, because I need to experiment with this for this pattern. So I’m excited to give these a try and see which one works better for me.

Caroline: Yeah, I can’t wait to hear about your experience with this. I’m sure you’re gonna be doing lots of little tests for your pattern.

Helen: Yes, I do like the testing phase. It makes me feel like a scientist in my lab.

Caroline: Yeah. And then, to seal seams on waxed cotton, you wanna add extra wax to the outside and even inside of your seams. Seam tape and liquid sealers are not gonna stick to waxed canvas. So this is your best and pretty much only option here.

Helen: More wax! Alright. Before we wrap up this episode, we wanna share a few more tips for making rainwear. If you’re using truly waterproof fabric, you may want to add some ventilation. So, for example, you can add zippers underneath the sleeves of your coat so that you can air out your pits when it’s not raining too hard. Tikki Studio demonstrates how they did this with a ready-to-wear jacket in an Instagram reel that we’ll link up. They opened up the side seam and all the way up to the sleeve seam and then inserted an invisible zipper. Such a great detail on activewear jackets. One of my favourite ready-to-wear jackets has this detail and I pretty much leave them open all the time because I love the ventilation.

Caroline: Yes. Something else to think about is covering up any openings with flaps and laps. If you’re using a pattern that’s made for rainwear, they will probably have already baked this into the design. But if you’re adapting a pattern, you might want to add flaps over the pockets and laps over any zippers to keep the water out. We’re gonna link up some tutorials for adding flaps and laps for you in the show notes. I just love saying flaps and laps.

Helen: I was thinking that, too. Flaps and laps has a real ring to it.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: You wanna add your flaps and laps wherever possible. Lots of flaps and laps.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: The more flaps and laps, the better. Okay. Another way to keep water out is to cinch. You can add drawstrings to your hood, hems and cuffs as extra protection against the rain and the wind. The main thing to consider with this one is whether your fabric will scrunch up well. Stiffer fabrics like wax canvas will probably not want to gather up. Soft shell fabrics and PULs will scrunch way better. And those lightweight nylon Taslons will scrunch really well.

Caroline: Mmhmm. And most rainwear fabrics do not need to be pre-washed but, as always, you wanna check the care instructions and follow those. Just keep in mind that washing waxed cotton is probably gonna remove most of the wax.

Helen: Yeah, so just never wax your gym bag, is my hot tip from this episode.

Caroline: Never wash your gym bag.

Helen: Yeah, never.

Caroline: You said “never wax your gym bag.”

Helen: Oh!

Caroline: If you wash your gym bag, wax your gym bag. But never wash your gym bag and you’ll be fine.

Helen: Also: flaps and laps.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Alright. That’s all we have for this episode, and clearly we need to stop recording because we’re just gonna fall into a pit of giggles. If you’ve ever sewn rainwear, reach out to us and let us know any tips you’ve learned, favourite fabrics you’ve used, or wild seam sealing stories you have. We’d love to learn from you and share them with the rest of the class. And stay dry out there.

Caroline: Stay dry.

Helen: That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me, Helen, at Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co. and Caroline at Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns. We’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Caroline: You can support Love to Sew and get access to bonus content by subscribing on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. You can even get access to the back catalog of bonus episodes. That’s over 75 hours of Love to Sew. Go to patreon.com/lovetosew or check out our podcast page on Apple Podcasts for more info.

Helen: Head to lovetosewpodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. We’ve got all of those lovely fabric stores linked up for you. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, leave us a message at 1-844-SEW-WHAT. That’s 1-844-739-9428. Or send us an email at [email protected].

Caroline: Thank you to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant and Jordan Moore of The Pod Cabin is our editor. And thank you all for listening. We’ll talk to you next week.

Helen: Bye-bye.

Caroline: Bye.

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Our guest for this episode is Sydney Graham! She designs comfy, stylish patterns and makes amazing sewing content on social media. We chat with her about her fascinating career journey, creating work/life balance, and her dreamy DIY sewing spaces.

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

Show Notes: 

Find Sydney Online:

Sydney’s Personal Style:

Sydney’s Sewing Spaces:

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Sydney’s Patterns:

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Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Caroline: ​Hello and welcome to Love To Sew. I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns.

Helen: And I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co.

Caroline: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew and it’s literally all we wanna talk about.

Helen: Today’s guest is Sydney Graham. She designs comfy, stylish patterns and makes amazing sewing content on social media. We chat with her about her fascinating career journey, creating work-life balance, and her dreamy DIY sewing spaces. Oh, and it’s Sydney’s birthday today. Happy birthday!

Caroline: Go wish Sydney happy birthday! If you love to sew, this is your show.

Helen: Hello, Sydney. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Sydney: Hi. Thank you for having me.

Helen: We’re so excited to get to know you a little bit more today. Can you please introduce yourself to our listeners?

Sydney: Sure. So my name is Sydney and I am a sewing pattern designer and content creator for the most part. And just general fan of all things crafty.

Caroline: Amazing. And a question that we ask all of our guests is: how and when did you learn to sew?

Sydney: Oh boy. So when my husband and I were dating, on my 19th birthday, he bought me a sewing machine. I had, sort of, just offhand mentioned that it might be fun to learn how to sew. He tucked that away, bought me a sewing machine, and from there, my mother-in-law, his mom, showed me how to set it up and the general beats of how to use a sewing machine. But I didn’t really use it much for the first, like, year or two after that. It kind of just felt overwhelming. I sort of half-started some projects and never really finished them. But the first project that I really made, that really was like the gateway drug to sewing for me, was my daughter’s baby blanket. I made her a quilt out of just some flannels I got at Joann and it was super easy. It was just squares pieced together. I backed it with that, like, really soft minky fabric. And from there is when I realized, like, “Oh, we’re just sticking pieces of fabric together with thread. Like, this is not intimidating.” If you just think about it from that perspective, then, then I could make a ton of things. And from there, my love of sewing ignited.

Caroline: Yes. And that’s such a cute story for your first sewing project. And you still have that blanket today, right?

Sydney: Yes. It’s so not made well. Like, when I look at it now, I’m like, oh gosh. But yeah, she kept it for a super, I mean, we still have it, like I said, but when she was a baby, she’d like, use it. She used it to death. She ran it into the ground. So we do still have it. I’m going to hang onto it forever. It’s a special memory on, like, many fronts.

Caroline: So special. So for those who don’t know, you have an amazing collection of sewing patterns and you create a lot of sewing content online. But we actually wanted to take it back to the beginning, because you have a really interesting career journey. Your first business was a children’s clothing brand. Can you give us a bit of a sample of, like, what a day in the life was back then?

Sydney: Yeah, so I had that business for five years and it changed a lot throughout the years, from what my days looked like. In the very early days, I was really just, like, fiddling around with my sewing machine because, I mean, part of this was that I had not…since making that baby blanket, there was no in-between before I started my business. Like, I made that blanket and then pretty soon after was like, “I’ll just make more blankets” and started a business with it. So while I was building that business, I was also learning to sew. So in the early days it was a lot of just, like, tinkering around with things, guessing how to make things, coming up with new ideas. It was very, like, chill and fun. I was not super busy with it. Didn’t have a ton of sales for the first, like, year or two. So it was a lot of, like, getting things done during nap time. And, you know, my daughter was a baby, so. It was, you know, a lot of, a lot of that early, early mom life. And it was just, like, fun and relaxed.

But the last couple years it was a much different story. My business had grown a lot, which was great, and it was very, like, exciting and fun, still. But because the business had grown, but I was still doing everything myself, it was pretty miserable. So every day I would sew anywhere from, like, 12 to like 20 hours a day. It was crazy. There was so many days that I would not sleep at all. And I feel like sometimes that’s an exaggeration of, like, “Oh, I didn’t sleep much,” but like, genuinely, I was not sleeping. It was very unhealthy. So really, it was just long, long, long days, no sleep, my back hurting, you know, making all the clothes, doing all the website stuff, doing the social media, taking the pictures of everything, fulfilling all the orders. I didn’t ever hire anybody or get help for the most part. So it was just really intense, I would say.

Helen: Yeah, it really sounds intense. I can’t believe you were doing all that while raising a child at the same time. I’m impressed and also a little scared.

Sydney: Yeah, no, it, it wasn’t great. It wasn’t great and, I mean, that’s why I stopped doing it, is because it got to a point that was like, “I can’t sustain this anymore.”

Helen: It is also interesting to hear about your journey of starting to sew and then immediately turning that into a business. Did you think that that was gonna happen? Did you want to start a business? Did you have kind of an entrepreneurial mindset, or was it just on a whim, “I’m just gonna go for it?”

Sydney: Yeah. I mean, at the time, I don’t think that I would’ve considered myself entrepreneurial at all. I mean, I don’t, I don’t really come from that sort of background or anything. But now, like, knowing myself better, I mean, I was 20 at the time, so now that I, like, know who I am more, I do feel like that is very much a trait of mine, of like, anything I do, I want to do it to the max and, like, you know, make it as big as it can be, which I’m working on. That’s not always the best thing to do. But yeah, I didn’t necessarily, when I started sewing, think, like, I wanna make this big business. I wanna make this a big thing. But I was, sort of, also, at the same time, kind of just in a space where I have a young kid, I had, just, the job that I had before she was born was I was a nanny and that family didn’t really need me anymore. So I was kind of in between, like, career stuff and school stuff and just sort of like, “I don’t really know what I wanna do with my life but I need, I need some sort of outlet. Like, I can’t just sit.” I mean, obviously, having a baby, being a young mom, it’s, like, a lot of work, too, for sure. But I just was like, “I need something else to have as an outlet.” And so it sort of was born from that. And I did not think it was gonna turn into anything big at all. So just taking it one day at a time, one step at a time, it kind of just grew organically.

Helen: I mean, it’s amazing that you experienced so much success with that first business and I’m sure you learned a lot and we’ll get into what you’ve taken into your new business. But tell us what happened after you decided that you needed to close this business and move on.

Sydney: Yeah, so when I decided to close, I felt like a huge failure. Which was crazy to think, you know, ’cause like I said, the business was great. I was getting a lot of orders, which was amazing. But I felt like a failure ’cause I was like, “Even with this, like I couldn’t make it work. Like, I couldn’t hack it.” And I also felt like, “I have no skills,” you know, because I didn’t have a four-year degree. I didn’t have, like, all this work history. So who’s gonna hire me? Like, “I have nothing to offer,” is kind of how I felt. And so, for, there was, like, a summer between when I decided I was gonna close, before I officially got hired, where I did a bunch of job interviews and none of them wanted to hire me. And it was things that you don’t need a lot of experience for. And I was like, “Yeah, I am a failure. No one wants to hire me. I have nothing to offer.” Whatever. It felt very affirming of all of these negative thoughts that I had had. But once, you know, I had gone through all that and actually I had two job offers at the same time. I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this. One of them was for the company I got hired from, which was a women’s hat company. But the second job offer I had was actually at Riley Blake Fabrics. Are you guys familiar?

Caroline: Oh yeah.

Helen: Mmhmm.

Sydney: And I always think about, what if I had chosen them instead? ‘Cause I kind of had to pick, like, which one I wanted to do. And the Riley Blake job that they were offering me, it was about cutting fabric for quilts packs, I think, like quilt patterns. Like, anyway, so they needed someone to cut the fabric, but also, like, organize the process of how they did that. Anyway, so that was an interesting thing to me. And I, you know, I knew of their fabrics and their company, but eventually I decided to go with the other business which, like I said, was a women’s hat company. And the role that I was hired as was the administrative assistant, which was great because it allowed me to, it was a very small company and I was able to really work hands-on with all of the different departments and managers and whatever. It was a pretty close-knit team and close-knit group. And so I could take my experience that I had, you know, in all parts of my business, which was very, very small scale, and then also see all parts of this business that is a bigger, obviously bigger business than mine, but another small business. And it was really interesting and fascinating and I learned a lot doing that. And then, through the years that I was there, moved on to the marketing team and eventually, to be the social media manager for them.

Helen: Ooh, amazing. I can see a lot of parallels from that to what you’re doing now.

Sydney: Right? Yeah, definitely.

Caroline: Both of those jobs seem like they would’ve been great fits. Or the Riley Blake one seemed like it would’ve been a great fit ’cause there are parallels there, too, with what you were doing in, in your business. But yeah, hindsight is 20-20, see, what you did, ended up doing, and how that sort of led you to where you are now. I’m also thinking about, like, those early days, like, what was that like, going from working for yourself, so hard, so in your business, to working for someone else again?

Sydney: Yeah, it felt great. I really loved it. Because when you’re doing everything yourself and for yourself, it’s like, you have to hustle every single day or you can’t get groceries. You know what I mean? And like, working for somebody else, there is that comfort that, even if it’s a slow couple weeks or whatever, like, your salary is the same. Like, if you’re showing up to work, if you’re doing what you’re supposed to do, it’s all the same and there’s not as much variable. So it did feel very nice to not need to, like, run a sale because we had, like, an unexpected car payment or something like that. So that was very nice. And it was very nice to socialize with people. That’s something that, you know, that first business, it’s just me doing everything. And then, even now, for the most part, it’s just me. And so it was very nice to have a team of people to work with. And there were several people there that I became close with and a few that I’m still in, in touch with that, I really miss having that now. Like, having a team of people to celebrate your wins with and talk through the things that aren’t working. And yeah, for the most part, I really, really loved it.

Helen: That sounds great. I could totally relate to that, like,wanting a little bit more human interaction in my day and I have to force myself to go out to get it. Were you sewing during this time? Did you take a break from sewing when you started working a regular job again?

Sydney: I did take a long break. I, like, shut my machines away in a closet. You know, I was so burnt out. There was a lot of, like, trauma, really, around sewing for me. So I took a long break, and it was probably about a year or more before I cracked my machines out again. And one thing that’s nice is that, when I was doing my business, it was all baby stuff and kid stuff. And so I had never really sewn for myself. And so that was something that helped reignite that for me, is that I had a new frontier to explore even though I had done so much sewing up to that point. The whole arena of sewing for myself, I had not even started yet. So it definitely motivated me to kind of get into that.

Helen: Oh, that’s amazing. So when did you have the idea to step into the online sewing world?

Sydney: So I think I probably just started on Instagram, like, searching for different things and, and to this point, I had never followed a sewing pattern. Like, all of the things that I made in my business were just stuff I self-drafted and sort of had guessed my way through. And so I started seeing, on Instagram, people were, like, making patterns and talking about pattern designers and, like, this whole world that I had no idea how it worked, what it was. At the time, let’s see, it was like 2021-ish. So the things that were popular then, Helen, one of the first patterns I ever used was the Gilbert Top from you.

Helen: Oh, really? Oh, that’s awesome.

Sydney: Yeah. So I feel like there were a few patterns around the time that were really popular and I started sort of dipping my toe in that. But also, like, my true love and what I always go back to is just self-drafting, making things up. I sort of have a hard time following instructions. I’d rather kind of just go with the flow. So I dipped my toe in some patterns just to see, like, what’s all the fuss about over here. And then I also would do basically what I did with my kids’ clothes, which was take something that already existed or a picture I saw of something or whatever and see if I can remake it, but better, or tweak things or make it my way or change this and that. And yeah, that’s still what I love to do the most, for sure.

Caroline: When you discovered the sewing community and started getting into making clothes for yourself, did you kind of have an inkling that you maybe wanted to pursue a career in content creation and sewing pattern design, or did that come later?

Sydney: It wasn’t like a fully formed thought. I did have requests for my patterns for my kids’ clothes. Like, even when I was fully running that business, people would ask if I had patterns to sell. And it was an idea of like, “Oh, I guess that could be cool.” But again, what I had at the time were just, like, stuff I was sort of making up. Like, like my really shoddy, not well-made, like, traced printer paper pattern pieces, you know, that I was using. I didn’t have, like, files to send to people. It was like, “Okay, that could be a fun project, like, making a pattern for this. But I have no idea how to do it.” So I never really thought that I was for sure gonna pursue that. And then as far as the content creation side of things, that’s something that I really enjoyed with my first business and really took off. And it was, my only marketing was Instagram, really. And so I enjoyed that and I liked it. And then when I was working for the hat company, I definitely gravitated toward the social media part of things and the marketing side of things. And those were the people that I worked alongside the most. And so social media is just fun to me. And it also comes quite naturally. Like, it just makes sense to me. And so I would sort of post for myself, just for fun, not really with any sort of agenda of building anything or getting anywhere. But I found that my love for sewing and my love for content creation was quite a good marriage. Like, those things work well together, for sure.

Caroline: Yeah. Heck yeah, they do. And you’re so, so great at it. Your content feels so relatable and natural, and I just think there’s a reason why people love you and follow you. Your creativity really comes through and it’s, it’s just, you’re very fun to watch. Can you take us from, you know, you’re working for someone else, you’re in this marketing position, to, sort of, where you are at this time, where you’re kind of working for yourself again. How did that happen?

Sydney: Yeah. And I think it probably was always meant to get back to me working for myself. That’s definitely what I gravitate toward, I guess. But I needed that break of a few years of working for somebody else, both for, like, my own mental health, but also to learn other things. Like, there are things I learned working at that job that I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to really learn those things or get that perspective just working for myself. So I’m very grateful for that time. But you know, after I sort of healed a little bit and learned more, I started getting that itch again of like, “Oh, I just feel like I could really do this. Like, I feel like I could build something. I feel like I could do it better this time because I learned so much from the, my first go around of working for myself and things that I just wasn’t really thinking through.” And I mean, that’s why I got to the burnout. And now that I’ve had a little bit of time to reflect and a little more experience, I thought, like, “I think I can, I think I can do it in a way that is, is more sustainable, healthier, and just all around more fun.”

So yeah. About at the three year mark of working there, I had been sewing more for myself. I had kind of started posting, really just on TikTok. TikTok was growing a lot. I mean, it had grown a lot by that point, but that’s when I was really getting on it. And it was so much fun. Like, TikTok felt like what Instagram felt like in 2015, like all the excitement and like, “Oh, what’s this new thing?” And it feels so, like, organic and fun. That’s what TikTok felt like to me. And so I was having so much fun sewing and posting things there that it just got to a certain point where I was like, “I really, like, I can’t stop thinking about this. I just really, really need to do it. Bite the bullet, figure out how to make patterns. ‘Cause I feel like this could work.”

Helen: Well, yeah, and I’m sure having that feedback from the community asking for the pattern, seeing the things you’re making and saying, “I want that too! Can I have it too?” was really motivating for you. So how did you learn how to get that printer paper pattern into a digital file?

Sydney: Right. So that is where I was. I was like, “Okay, I know how to make something for myself and have it fit fine in, in the weird roundabout way that I’ve figured out. I do not know how to make, like, a professionally made, good pattern that I could sell to somebody.” So I was sort of aware of some people on Instagram, right? Peripherally. And I came across a post from Jessica Capalbo from Jessilou’s Closet where she had talked about how she had a handmade, like, made-to-order business and she had kind of switched over to the patternmaking side of things. And I was like, “That’s basically what I’m trying to figure out how to do.” So I DMed her, just like, “I don’t know where to start. Do you have any advice at all? And she was so nice and we started chatting and she was talking to me about the Confident Patternmaking course that she had taken and was now helping with. And, you know, she was talking, talking through the options with me and giving me advice and whatnot, and I thought that maybe that’s something I could do eventually. They didn’t start their next class for like several months and it was a big chunk of money. Especially as someone who I had never in my life had a big chunk of money sitting around. It was very much paycheck to paycheck, and so I thought, well, maybe I can do that in a few months but, I don’t know, like, we’ll have to see how it shakes out. And Jessica offered that, for maybe my first pattern or two, I could outsource some of the work to her. Things that I didn’t know how to do, like grading the patterns or digitizing them. Like, I didn’t know any of that stuff. So if I could make a pattern for myself that fit me on paper and send it to her, she could help me with the rest of the process and kind of give me advice on even, like, instructions and things like that, things I didn’t know how to do.

So my first pattern, which was the Lane Pants, she helped me do the grading and the digitizing of it. And then I did, you know, I patterned it on paper and I did the instructions and all of that stuff and the video tutorial and whatnot. And it was kind of just like, “I don’t know, we’ll see how this goes” because I, I really didn’t know what to expect.

Helen: Aw, that’s so nice. I love this story of comradery in the sewing community. It’s really heartwarming and I’m so glad she decided to support you in that way because those pants are popular. So it really did work out.

Sydney: It did. And it’s funny, when they launched, like, yes, it went well when they launched. But, you know, I was, I mean, I still kinda feel this way. I’m, I’m nobody, like, I was nobody. And so it’s like, I guess I’m launching this thing into the world, but it’s not like I had, I mean, even though I had had my business before, it’s not like I had hundreds of thousands of followers or anything like that. And so they did okay. Like when they came out, like, I was very happy about it, but they really didn’t take off and, like, gain the popularity that I feel like they have now until like six months to a year after they were launched.

Helen: I mean, that’s interesting to hear and, I’m sure, helpful for other pattern designers just getting started, that it’s not overnight success every time you launch a pattern. Sometimes they do grow on people.

Sydney: Totally. And I also think, this is actually something that I think about a lot is, you know, we don’t always have to be putting out something brand new to, like, get people talking or get traction or traffic or anything like that. I mean, one thing that I try to do with my patterns that comes naturally, really, is just like, “How many things can I make out of this one pattern? Or how many different ways can I interpret it?” And so that’s sort of when the pants actually took off is, like, I made them, I put them out there, but then over the next few months, like, every time I thought of a new thing I could do with them, like add a ruffle or make shorts out of them or crop them or whatever, and then I’d make a new piece of content about it, then it got more traffic. And gave people more ideas. So that’s definitely advice I would give to somebody who was looking at making patterns, is: once something’s out, that’s not it. Like, keep talking about it, keep sharing it, keep making it and, you know, I, all of my patterns, I love, so I keep making more versions of them. It’s not like you put it out and then you never talk about it again.

Caroline: Yeah, you never know what’s gonna resonate with somebody in the sewing community. And also, the longer a pattern is out, the more versions are gonna be out there by community members and word can spread that way. So I’ve loved seeing all your versions of the Lane Pants over the years that they’ve been out. I love the ruffle hack. I love the shorts. I love the, I think you did a tapered version at one point. But it’s such a great pattern and it really transforms depending on the fabric that you use. It’s definitely a Birdie fave at the warehouse. I’ve made a couple versions and it’s a great, great pattern. So kudos to you for your first pattern being such a success.

Sydney: Oh, thank you. Yeah, I love getting tagged in, obviously anytime anybody makes anything, but the Birdie team, for sure. I’m always like, “Ooh, so excited.”

Caroline: Yeah, we love you over there. I wonder, you kind of alluded to this already, but I, I wonder if you could give us some examples of things that you kind of learned from your first business that carried over into your current business and made it better.

Sydney: Yeah. I mean, the biggest thing that I think I learned from my first business was that I’m really not scared to try anything or any, anything that comes up that I’m like, “Oh, I’d want to do that, but I don’t know how to do it.” I know from experience and from practice that I’m gonna figure it out. Sure, I don’t know how to do it right now, but if someone else can do it, I can do it. So I think that that’s something that I did not have when I started that business. I very much felt like, you know, some people are either just, like, naturally skilled at certain things or naturally know things, or you have to, like, go to certain schools or take courses or whatever to do things. You can’t just like make it up and, and that’s something I think I’m, is a strong suit of mine now and something that helped even when I was working at the hat company. I think that’s why I was able to kind of move through the different departments and, and help out with a lot of different things, is because the team around me knew that they could pass me something and, even if I didn’t know how to do it then, that I, I would figure it out. So that’s probably the biggest thing that I’ve carried over to now, but also something that I very much learned the hard way in my first business was just piling on, piling on, piling on, never delegating anything, never thinking like, okay, what’s the smartest way to do this? I just felt like, “Well, I can do anything, so I’m never really gonna strategize too much.” And now that’s something that I think about a lot and that I’m willing to drop things, or, you know, if, if it’s not the smartest way to do it, I’m willing to, to stop doing it entirely or to delegate it to somebody, or, I’m, I’m a lot more thoughtful about processes now because I know what it looks like when, when you just say, “Ah, I can, I can add that to my plate.” And you do that 20 times and then you’re in a pickle.

Helen: I thought you were gonna say you’re at a picnic. You have so many plates, you’re at a picnic.

Sydney: That’s, yeah. That’s true.

Caroline: So you talked about 20 hour days in your previous business. Can you take us behind the curtain and, and what does a workday look like for you right now?

Sydney: Yeah, my days are very different. I feel like it’s not like a typical, maybe, nine to five. I’m sure you guys can relate to this a ton, too. Some days I do sew all day long. Like yesterday, I was working on a YouTube video, so I was making a few different sewing projects, and so I literally sewed all day long. So like some days looked like that, and then there are some days where I’m just fully at my computer doing admin things that you don’t even think about, like trying to figure out a sales tax thing or trying to, like, figure out website functionality or there’s an issue with, you know, the way that your Instagram’s connected to your Meta account or like, whatever. There’s a bunch of weird things like that that you would just never think of that do sometimes suck up a whole day. So there’s a lot of variety. Sometimes I feel a bit bogged down by the admin stuff. I’ve tried to set a New Year’s resolution this year that, instead of starting off my days answering emails and getting to the admin stuff, ’cause I always tell myself I’ll do that for a couple hours and then I’ll get into the creative stuff and, before you know it, it’s like five o’clock and I didn’t do anything creative that day. So I’ve been trying to, first thing in the morning, start off with the creative stuff, whether that’s sewing things or pattern design or whatnot. And then after lunchtime, I allot myself time to dig into the more boring stuff.

Helen: Mmhmm. I use this strategy, too, because I was finding the same thing, or I was getting really bogged down in the mornings doing all the boring admin things. Also, because sometimes those tasks seem easy and like they’re gonna be quick and then you just do a bunch of these little tasks, but then they turn out to be not easy or quick and it takes up a lot of time. So I have a strategy where in the mornings I work on the patterns. I’m like, “What I do is I make patterns. So in the morning we’re doing pattern work and we’re gonna focus on that for, like, the entire morning and then afternoons are for everything else. And it’s made a big difference, for sure.

Sydney: Yeah, definitely. I feel like I’m in the exact same boat.

Helen: Well it sounds like you have a much better balance now, so I’m very happy to hear about that. But let’s talk a little bit about your patterns. They’re so stylish and they’re so wearable, and we are wondering what your design process looks like for making those comfy, but cool and kind of trendy designs.

Sydney: Yeah. So usually it starts with an idea that I see either somebody else wear, like on TikTok I see somebody wear something or I see something on Pinterest. Or even, like, I have an item of clothing that I love 90%. And from there I take that, try to make it myself, try to, like, tweak things, try to improve it, try to make it better. And that’s, I feel like that is the recipe that works the best for me. When I try to just think up, like, a bunch of random elements of a garment, it never seems to quite come to fruition in a way that, that feels, like, wearable and feels like my style. I would much rather be inspired by things that I see out in the world.

In fact, another New Year’s resolution for me, this might seem crazy, but it was to buy more clothes because in the past couple years, I’ve really found that, anytime I see anything, I’m like, “Well, I’ll just make that.” Like, “I can make it myself and I’ll make it better.” But then you don’t actually end up making everything you think to make, right? And so I was really in a rut of like, I don’t know how to phrase this, like, never engaging with clothing that was different or new. Like, basically I just would wake up and be like, “What 12 pairs of Lane Pants do I wanna wear today?” And it was getting a little bit stale of like, “I need more inspiration.”

And so I, instead of buying clothes, ’cause I also don’t want to contribute to waste, obviously, but I’ve started, like, a subscription rental service where I can, like, try out some different clothes each month. And that’s actually been already, like, it’s gotten my creative juices spinning a ton of, like, trying out silhouettes that I might not have thought that I liked or, you know, experimenting with different things. And I have already, from that service, like, I’ve gotten an item of clothing, sort of liked it and just, like, remade it in a way that I liked way better. And now I have, like, a handmade version of that that is like 10 times better than the original. So yeah, I just find a lot of inspiration from, you know, things I already have or, or things I’m seeing out in the world.

Caroline: Oh, I love this idea. I feel like, as sewists, it’s hard to buy things ‘ cause we’re, we are, we’re always convincing ourselves we can make it. I have found it freeing in the past to give myself permission to buy things once in a while. But I love this perspective of, you know, shopping ready-to-wear or, you know, your technique of borrowing, that’s also so great, thrifting is another way to do it, as, like, almost like a fuel for your creativity so you’re not just always sort of feeding into those same things that maybe are available in the sewing community or in your pattern stash. So that is great. I love this idea. Like, I wanna do some clothing rentals.

Helen: Yeah, so smart.

Sydney: The one type of garment that I used to, like, let myself buy was knitwear. Like sweaters and stuff. But then I started knitting a few months ago and now I won’t even buy that. And it’s like, ugh. It’s so funny, ’cause especially with knitting, it’s like, I can, it’s so slow. You can only knit like a couple sweaters every winter and it’s like, I’m never gonna, you know, I, I, I need to allow myself, like, like you said, give yourself permission to, sometimes it is okay, you, you can wear things that you didn’t make with your own hands.

Caroline: Yeah, it really is. You have mentioned before that you quit wearing hard pants and underwire bras, which is something, personally, that I can relate to a lot. I think a lot of our listeners can relate as well. So can you just tell us a little bit more about what was behind that decision for you?

Sydney: Yes, totally. So, I really hate being uncomfortable, which I think most people would probably agree. But I sort of had a realization like three, four years ago, specifically about pants. Like, I just hate jeans. I’ve always hated jeans. And I think this is something that also draws me and a lot of people to sewing is you, there are certain things that you feel like just never fit you right. And it, it makes you feel like your body is the problem. Right? And like, with jeans, especially, or really any pants with, like, a zipper and buttons, I have such a large waist-to-hip ratio that I have never worn a ready-to-wear pair of pants that was, like, a hard pants, right, that didn’t have a huge gap in the back. And so it’s like you have to pick: are you going to be wearing pants that are super, super tight on your hips and have a big gap in the waist? Or are you going to have something that fits your hips and then you’re just, like, swimming in them?

Anyway, it was just never great and it made me feel like, it just made me feel like my butt was huge and I hated it. And so a few years ago I came to the realization that actually I don’t have to wear jeans. Like, there’s no rule that says you have to, and if you wanna wear elastic waist pants every day, you can totally do that. So I put all my jeans in my closet and I thought, “I’ll stick these up here and I’ll just see how long it takes before I, like, want to wear them.” And I never reached for them ever again. And so it’s just like, why? Why was I keeping these around? So, yeah, I mean, it is all about comfort and it–same thing with bras. Like, I hate wearing bras, so I just don’t.

And another thing that I think about is: so many people talk about wearing…what they wear is about being flattering. Or like, “Oh, I could never wear big pants and a big shirt ’cause then I’ll just look like I’m wearing potato sacks.” And for me, I’ve sort of come to a place, this is not always how I thought, but I’ve sort of come to a place in the last couple years that’s like, I never think about what’s going to be flattering. I never, I’m never gonna be thinking about, like, what’s gonna make my body look the best? Pretty much all I’m thinking about is comfort and confidence. Because there is, there are certain things you wear that you feel confident in, like, you feel nice in. But I really never, ever think about, you know, dressing for what, what’s gonna make my body look the best. And I think that that’s been really freeing and has played a huge role in the whole, no hard pants, no wire bras. It’s just all, all big, flowy and comfortable and it’s totally fine if I look like a potato sack.

Helen: Well, the thing is, you don’t, because a potato sack is boring and you look cute, so it’s actually quite different. I do love, also, the, just the direction that fashion is taking at the moment where more voluminous silhouettes are more in style and volume on volume is very in. So it’s fun to play around with being ultra comfortable and seeing if that fashion style works for you. Big inspiration you are, Sydney.

Sydney: Oh, thank you. That’s sweet.

Caroline: Your social media obviously is so much fun to watch. So we wanted to talk a little bit about that. My first question is just: do you have a favourite platform? I know you mentioned TikTok earlier, but where are you at right now with that?

Sydney: Yeah, I would probably say TikTok is my favourite. If YouTube counts, that might be a close second or maybe tied for first. I’ve been really enjoying long form content, especially on YouTube. There’s, like, certain vloggers and stuff that I really like just kind of peacefully checking in with their lives, you know? They feel like my friends. And so I’ve been loving YouTube, for sure, but TikTok I think is probably still number one. It just feels so much more creative and organic to me. I mean, I know it’s changing a lot. I feel like a couple years ago it was maybe a little, maybe, maybe a little better. But yeah, I just think TikTok has so much more opportunity for creativity and growth and, yeah, just like giving your perspective organically. Whereas Instagram still has its positive sides, for sure, but I, I tend to feel a lot more bogged down, overwhelmed, bored on Instagram.

Caroline: Mmhmm.

Sydney: I don’t know if that’s bad to say.

Caroline: Yeah. No. If, if it’s possible to feel both overwhelmed and bored, Instagram will do that. Yeah.

Sydney: Yes. Yes.

Caroline: You are just so natural in front of the camera, and I also am loving your long form YouTube videos, so it’s fun to hear that you’re enjoying making them, because I hope you continue to make them because it’s so fun to watch. But how do you get comfortable in front of the camera? I need to know.

Sydney: Oh man, it’s gotta just be exposure therapy. I mean, at this point, I’ve been doing it so long that it just feels really normal and natural to me. But, you know, I guess when I think back, like when I started my first business is when I sort of started showing up on camera and on social media. At that time it was, like I said, just Instagram and really Instagram stories for the most part is where, like, I would show up. But yeah, like, the businesses that I would follow around the same time, in 2015-ish, were all one person or very small team. And, and they were all sharing, you know, Not just the things they were making, but the stuff they were up to in their day-to-day lives. And that was always really interesting to me. And I found it very fun to follow along with them. Again, they felt like friends. They felt like people I knew. And so when it came to my own business, it just felt sort of like, yeah, this is normal. This is how you do it. And it does help that when you’re starting out, it’s like, yeah, 50 people are seeing this, so like, who cares if it’s dumb? And then, just over time, it just became more normal and more natural. I think that the way that I’ve shown up, at least, like, my life and, like, the behind-the-scenes type of thing has changed a bit.

Like when it, it’s interesting. I hadn’t really thought about this but, like, I don’t really show up on Instagram stories too much anymore. But I do document a lot of behind-the-scenes random stuff on YouTube. So, you know, the platforms change and, and where I want to be present changes a little bit, but overall it just feels sort of, like, normal and no big deal at this point to be on camera. Although I do share things about my life. I do talk through things that are happening, but there is a lot that I, you know, don’t really share. And specifically, like, I don’t share my kids online or even, like, my husband. Really, like, family life stuff I don’t talk a ton about just because that feels like mine, I guess. I don’t know. And it, it doesn’t feel like something that I super wanna share or, or talk about. I, I would never wanna be like, like a family of vloggers or we’re like, all like, everybody knows my whole family. Like, I don’t know. That feels a little bit invasive to me.

Caroline: Mmhmm.

Helen: Yeah, I mean, it’s good to set boundaries around social media, for sure, and decide what things you wanna talk about and what things you don’t. And we’ve also seen you take some social media breaks, which seems like a great idea for mental health and just letting yourself live your life instead of living online. So tell us a little bit about taking social media breaks.

Sydney: Yeah. You know, it’s not always intentional. In fact, I think most of the time it’s unintentional. One that comes to mind is a couple years ago I built a shed in my backyard. The home we were in at the time was just teeny tiny. I had no space to work, really. So I built a shed in my backyard and I did most of the labour on that. And so during that, like, seven to eight week period when I was building the shed, you know, finishing all the inside, putting in flooring, doing the ceiling, building benches, all sorts of stuff, I just, like, forgot to post anything. I was just so, like, I’d wake up in the morning–I literally was like Bob the builder. I’d wake up in the morning and just, like, go in my backyard with all my power tools and be a carpenter for a while. And so I kind of just forgot to post. And there were times where I’d be like, “Oh shoot. Like am I going to lose everything that I’ve been working on? Am I gonna, like, is everyone gonna forget about me?” Whatever. There would be, like, moments of that, but for the most part it was like, “I’m liking this, like, I’m enjoying this and I kind of just wanna focus on this for now.” And it turned out that it was totally fine and I came back when I wanted to and it felt like a great break. And, and I even felt, came back with more ideas, more creativity, more momentum than I would have if I just, like, forced myself to post every day.

Which is one thing that working in, you know, the corporate world, even though it was small business, that I did kind of get burnt out with social media, because, you know, it’s not all up to you. You have a boss who gives you posting requirements of like, you, you have to post this many times a day on this platform and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so it gets to a point where it doesn’t feel very organic. And I am a big believer in: just post when you want to. And if you don’t really feel like it for three weeks, that’s totally fine. And actually, there is no, like, algorithm god that’s going to strike you down. Like, you’re gonna be fine. So just do what you wanna do and don’t get too stressed out about what you’re supposed to do.

Caroline: Mmhmm.

Helen: Oh my gosh. It literally just felt like you were talking directly to me. No, thank you though. I needed it.

Caroline: Yeah. Well, and I think it is one of the things that makes you so relatable as somebody who is, you know, the face of your quote-unquote business, but you’re also creating content and sharing behind the scenes. Like, you’re not tied to this, like, daily posting. It can feel more organic. It can feel more just like whatever’s going on in your life. And I think people relate to that and they like to see that. And I certainly support social media breaks. I think it’s important. And it’s encouraging to know that it didn’t, you know, make you lose followers or make people stop following along. Everyone’s gonna be there when you get back.

Sydney: Yeah, totally. And I’m also a believer in, like, if they’re not…lik0e for example, when I closed my shop, I had built up, like, a moderate social media following. I was, like, happy with that. I think I had, like, maybe 16 or 17,000 followers at the time, and I closed my shop and, like, I told everyone, “Right, like, I’m closing, this is why,” whatever. Lost a bunch of followers. Totally fine. And then over the next few years, I kept that same account. And so I’d post things that, like, I was sewing for myself or, you know, just random things that had nothing to do with sewing. It was just, like, my personal account now, like, whatever. And I had, like, a huge exodus of followers. I think I’ve, I lost maybe six or 7,000 of them. And it’s like, that’s totally fine. That’s completely understandable. Like, they signed up for one thing and then I changed the script on them so they’re totally allowed to leave. And even now, like, if I did have a bunch of people intentionally choose to unfollow me for a certain reason, like, I genuinely feel completely fine about that because if they don’t wanna be here, like, I don’t want them around. So I don’t know. I feel like a lot of times people think of social media, like, as having one goal. And the one goal is to get as many followers and as many views as possible. And I don’t really have that mindset. My mindset is more like, I’m going to share when I want to and what I want to, and if people are interested in that, great. And if they’re not, that’s totally fine.

Helen: Because you’re gonna find your fans and your people and people who align with your values and people who like your design aesthetic and all those important things. And there’s people out there for everybody.

Sydney: Yeah, 100%. Yeah.

Caroline: So you mentioned your shed and we definitely need to touch on your home decor. You moved into a new house recently and you’ve been sharing that process a little bit, of setting up your sewing studio in there. And we just love your style. It’s very calming and you have these, like, little cute creative touches throughout. It definitely has that, like, crafty vibe. So can you just tell us: what are your, like, essentials for creating that beautiful and practical crafty sewing space?

Sydney: Yes, I have really been loving my sewing space. I really have the goal of letting it evolve over time. I really didn’t want to move in, buy a bunch of, like, Target furniture all at once, you know, just to fill the space. Like, I want it to kind of be something that grows and builds and I try to, as much as possible, kind of look out for, for the right thing, maybe like secondhand or like at vintage shops. Keep my heart open to, like, what is intended to be in this space instead of just what’s the cutest thing online at the moment or whatever. So I feel like, you know, bringing in a lot of those older features or older elements and designs is something that’s important to me in my whole house, too. But yeah, just thinking through colours. I have a lot of Pinterest boards about my sewing room and my whole house.

But yeah, I, I guess, sewing-specific, I have sort of come up with my ideal layout, and I think that’s something that was born very much in my first business, is figuring out the most efficient and ideal sewing layout, which I feel like everybody sort of has. I’m sure you guys have the same thing where it’s like, I definitely want, like, a really big standing height table that I can, like, cut everything on. And I really want, like, for me, it’s really important to have a really big ironing board. I hate the, I hate the really, like, skinny ones that have the, come to a point. So I have, like, a really, really big ironing board. And I like to have, you know, a lot of natural light, which isn’t always an option. I’m very grateful that my sewing room has a lot of natural light. Big desks, big surfaces to put things on. And I recently got a kind of comfy chair for my sewing room so that I wasn’t, it wasn’t either standing or a desk chair were the only two options. So now I have a comfy chair that sometimes, at night, I just go in there and, like. knit on my own and, like, hide from the rest of my family, which has been really nice. So, yeah, it’s like a very cute, comfy, cozy space that I’m very happy with. And I hope, you know, I hope it looks different in six months and I hope it looks different in a year and in five years. And it just keeps evolving and becoming more of, like, I want it to be like a little witch troll cave full of trinkets.

Helen: I love that. You do such a good job of incorporating the DIY elements into the space. I loved the little floral elements that you painted on your cupboard doors. Those are so cute and whimsical. And you were telling us before we hopped on the recording that you just sewed a bunch of stuff for your kitchen, right?

Sydney: Yes. Yeah, I have an area of my kitchen, it’s sort of like a nook where we have a little teeny table and it’s something that’s sort of just been neglected since we moved in. It hasn’t been a priority. And for some reason…my whole house is very, like, mid-century. It was built in the fifties, so there’s a lot of, like, really warm, rich wood and, like, a lot of wood paneling. And for some reason, whoever did the kitchen said, “Let’s make this whole kitchen gray and cold and just depressing.” And so that’s been something that, you know, long-term, maybe we’ll redo, but it’s not a priority to, like, overhaul the kitchen right now. But there’s this corner of my kitchen that’s very just dead and gray and cold. And I wanted to add some kind of warmth to it and some more, like, texture and colour and whatnot. And so I made curtains for the windows. We have, like, a really pretty, like, corner window in the spot. So I made curtains for that. And then I made some cushions to go on my little folding chairs that are really, really cute. I used some, like, Merchant and Mills stripes that I’m, like, completely obsessed with. And then I made a little quilted table runner that I did a little bit of patchwork on that I think turned out really cute. So now that space is, like, really warm and cozy and inviting and I can eat my breakfast there and not be, like, super depressed.

Helen: It sounds lovely. I can’t wait to see your video about all of these decor items.

Sydney: Yeah.

Caroline: So we wanted to talk a little bit about your personal style as well, which we absolutely love. And we have an episode called What’s Your Me-Made Style, where our listeners shared, like, their style phrase, which is a few words that encapsulate how you like to dress. So we were wondering if you could tell us what your me-made style phrase is?

Sydney: Yes. I just listened to that episode yesterday actually, and it was so fun to hear everybody’s ideas. Everyone’s so creative, like, I was like, “Oh my gosh, these are all so good.” Okay, my style phrase, I feel like I’m just totally ripping it off from a different character, but have you guys seen the book Little Witch Hazel?

Helen: Mm, no, I don’t think I have.

Caroline: No.

Sydney: Okay. You have to google it and I hope that, when you do, you’re like, “Oh yeah, that totally is her.” ‘Cause I feel that way. I do get comments sometimes from people being like, “Oh my gosh, you look just like that character from Little Witch Hazel. So she’s, she’s like a little, I think she’s a witch. Pretty sure she’s a witch. And she almost looks like a little gnome and she has, like, really big pants and sweaters and she has braids and, like, a cute little red hat. And it’s like, yeah, she looks so comfy and she’s just like living in the forest, living her best life, being a cozy, crafty witch. I love it.

Helen: Oh my gosh.

Caroline: Okay. I’m googling it right now. And it is, it’s you.

Sydney: Yes.

Helen: Yeah. It’s so cute.

Caroline: It’s so cute. I love the colours, too. These are like the colors in your wardrobe, in your home. Like, it totally works.

Helen: There’s some shots of Little Witch Hazel in her house and her house also looks like your house, so.

Sydney: Okay, perfect. Yeah, no, that makes me so happy. She is. She’s a style icon, so I’ll take it.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: She is, I think you need to go full Little Witch Hazel for Halloween, though, and make a whole outfit.

Caroline: Oh my gosh.

Sydney: Oh, for sure. Oh, I love that idea.

Caroline: So where do you find inspiration for your sewing projects when you’re just making clothes for your, for yourself?

Sydney: Yeah, I feel like, I mean, kind of same with my patterns, really. I mean, it, it all kind of is married together. My patternmaking process and making things for myself looks very much the same because, like I said, I really don’t use a ton of patterns. My go-to is very much self-drafting. So, you know, I’m, again, just looking to the things that I have in my closet that I really love, but maybe wanna tweak, or things that I see other people wearing. I have a lot of saved folders, like on Instagram and on TikTok, where I’ll see somebody wearing something and I’ll be like, “Oh my gosh, I totally want to make that.” So yeah, inspiration from the community and, and my own closet, I guess.

Helen: How do you feel about fabric? Does fabric play a big role in your pattern development and sewing things for yourself?

Sydney: I feel like I might have a sort of non-traditional way that I use fabric or…I don’t, I didn’t think that I did originally, but now that I have patterns and, you know, I hear from people who are making my patterns–I never really realized that people buy fabric specifically for projects, which maybe is crazy, but I’ve always kind of just, anytime I see something, like, see fabric out and about that I like, I’ll grab it and I won’t have a plan for it. Like, I basically never have a plan for fabric I buy. And so I just kind of shop my own closet. And like, for example, the stuff I made for my kitchen this week. I knew the items that I wanted to make. I knew I wanted to make curtains. I knew I wanted to make cushions, whatever. And I knew the colour scheme I wanted. Like, I kind of had a mood board of the colours. And then I just went to my closet and I was like, “Okay, what makes sense? Like, what would fit into this?” And if I don’t have something that fits exactly the vision, then usually I’ll patchwork it. Like that’s why I made my table runner a patchwork kind of quilt thing, is because I couldn’t find a fabric that I already had that was checking all the boxes. And so I was like, “Well, I could just patchwork something that would, that would work.” So fabric definitely plays a role, but less around, like, I have a specific garment in mind that I wanna use this specific fabric for. It’s more like, there’s a vibe of fabric that I like. I really love, you know, like, ginghams. I mean, I love all..basically, go to Blackbird. All of that stuff is the stuff I love. But like, I just, there are, like, certain things that I love and gingham stuff, geometric stuff, whatever, linens and, and yarn dyes and all of that stuff. But for the most part, I just kind of work with what I have instead of, you know, trying to find the exact perfect fabric for a specific project.

Caroline: Mmhmm.

Helen: That makes a lot of sense. And I love the way that you incorporate patchwork into your makes and into your patterns. You have several patterns that encourage people to patchwork scraps together and make use of what they have, which I think is really wonderful. And I noticed you’ve been doing some quilting lately. I’m very excited about that.

Sydney: Yeah. I sort of dabble. It’s so funny. I would definitely consider myself, like, not, I, like, I wouldn’t say like, “Oh, I’m a quilter.” Like, I don’t feel like I’m a quilter because there are, there are quilters who are, like, so hardcore great at it, like have all these techniques. It’s like, quilting feels like such a specific niche part of sewing that I, I don’t wanna claim that ’cause it’s like, I don’t actually really know what I’m doing. All my quilting is kind of just made up. But it’s definitely something that I’m drawn to. Like, I love the look of it and I love to play around with it. But yeah, I’m not, I’m not a pro quilter by any means. Those people are such artists.

Helen: There is definitely a wide range out there, but I like to say: if you quilt, you’re a quilter, because we can’t be gatekeeping quilting. Come on.

Sydney: You’re, you’re probably right.

Caroline: So it doesn’t have to be a future pattern, but do you have a dream sewing project that you would like to make for yourself?

Sydney: Ooh, dream sewing project. So many of my projects are kind of like, they come to me one day and then I make ’em the next. And so there aren’t a lot of things that it’s like, “One day I wanna make this.” But one thing that comes to mind is that, this isn’t really, like, garment sewing, so I don’t know how relevant it will be to people, but I really, really, really want to reupholster my couch. I don’t know if this counts as a project. But we got this, we got this couch on Facebook Marketplace that I really love the bones of, and I love the frame of it. It’s kind of like a, there’s probably a technical term for it and I just don’t know it. But the frame is like a wooden frame and it’s kind of open and then there’s, like, cushions on top of it. Like, it sort of almost looks log cabin-y. Anyway, and I really, really love the look of the couch, but whoever made the cushions made it out of this, like, brown microfiber, like it looks like the type of fabric or upholstery fabric that you would see in like a frat house and not on like this really gorgeous, like, mid-century wood frame. And I hate it. I hate it so much and I really want to reupholster it. I’ve never upholstered anything or made couch cushions for anything. So that’s something that I’ve sort of had. I mean, we have the couch. We got the couch and I thought–see, again, this is something where I see it and I’m like, “Well, like, I’ll just make cushions for that.” And it’s been like six months and I don’t, I haven’t gotten any further. So I guess right now if I could snap my fingers and have a, have a sewing project be done, that would definitely be the one.

Helen: Oh, I think you can do it. It’s nice that the cushions are separate, so it’s definitely doable. And I’m sure you will eventually do it, but yeah, it’s hard to work on those bigger projects, especially when you have to learn some new skills, too.

Sydney: Yes.

Helen: Okay, before we wrap up, Sydney, we know you have a busy work life. You have a family, you’re knitting, you’re crocheting, you’re quilting, you’re hiking, you’re sewing, you’re decorating. Um, how do you do it? What’s, how, what’s your secret?

Sydney: It’s so funny. I think it’s such a great perspective that, like, you, you list all those things and I’m like, “Oh my gosh. Yeah. Like, that’s a lot of stuff.” To me, I, every single day I feel like I didn’t do enough stuf. Like I am, I could be doing so much more. And I think that that’s probably how everybody feels. Like, I see all the people that I follow and I’m like, “Oh my gosh, they’re doing, they’re doing all this stuff. Why don’t I have time for all of that stuff? Why don’t I have hours enough in my day?” So yeah, I think it’s, it’s helpful that I’m on both sides of it to kind of give myself that perspective that, like, they probably feel like they’re not doing enough, too. So I guess that’s one answer, is that, like, I’m really not accomplishing as much as it seems, I guess. But then on the other side of it, I am in a very fortunate time in my life where I’m, like, young enough that I have energy to do things and, like, I still have so much ahead of me that I can do and I’m hustling every day and whatever. But then at the same time, like, my kids are older. My, my oldest is 11. And so they’re in school all day. You know, I don’t have little teeny babies strapped to me anymore, running around my feet. I’m able to have, like, full work days and I have, you know, a partner who takes care of a bunch of house management stuff and, you know, I’m not, I’m not kind of like a one, a one person team with teeny tiny babies anymore, which, you know, has definitely, there are seasons of my life that, that’s been more, more of a time suck than it is now. So yeah, I, I think that I’m in a really fortunate time of my life and I’m really enjoying having older kids. At the time when they were younger, it felt like it was never gonna end. You know, babies are just so much work. But yeah, I guess I’m, I’m on the other side of it a bit now and I’m very grateful for that.

Helen: Aw. Well, I think that your attitude comes across in your content because you do seem really happy and like your creativity is really flowing these days, and we’re loving watching every second of it. So thank you for sharing.

Sydney: Thank you. That’s sweet.

Caroline: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show. We, one last thing we wanted to ask you was just if you wanted to tease any future projects for our listeners before we wrap up.

Sydney: Sure. I do have like 10 ideas in my head right now of, potentially, patterns. I mean, this is, another thing I’ve sort of been trying to work on is, instead of creating things with the intention of them becoming patterns, I want to work from a space of like, I have an idea of something I want to make for myself and maybe it will become a pattern one day and maybe it won’t. Because that’s how my first few patterns came to fruition. I think that that definitely allows creativity to, to flow a bit more when, when I’m thinking about it from that perspective. So a few things that I really want to sew for myself that may become patterns and may not: I definitely want to make my perfect shorts pattern. I know that I’ve made a hack for the Lane Pants to become shorts, but there are just certain limitations with that. And, you know, it’s, it’s more of a hack and less of a pattern, for sure. Like, it’s just a video of, like, if you wanna do it, here’s where to cut and whatever. But I have so many ideas for really, really cute shorts, and it would probably be my most, like, versatile pattern because I’d wanna make versions, you know, with ruffles and stripes on the side and a split hem and blah, blah, blah. So I’ve been thinking about shorts a lot lately. I need to get on that because we’re coming into spring here. But then I also really want to make a pouf for my sewing room to store scraps in. And I think I’m gonna try to make it a fun shape, like a star or something like that. You know, that, like, zips open and you can keep little things in there. So that may become a pattern. It may just be something that I have for myself and my sewing room. But those are the two that are really, really on my mind right now that I’m probably going to start, like, really making in the next couple weeks here.

Helen: Ooh, I love these ideas. Very exciting. Well, thank you, again, so much, Sydney. It was a pleasure chatting with you and hearing all about your business and your lovely patterns. Where can our listeners find you online?

Sydney: You can find me on any social media at @hisydgraham. I’m mainly on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Caroline: Awesome! And we’ll link up everything we talked about today and your socials in the show notes. Thank you so much, again. It was so great chatting with you, Sydney.

Sydney: Thank you. It was so fun talking to you guys. I’m, like I said, big fans of you guys and big admirers of both of your businesses and your style and your sewing and, yeah, I’m just happy. Happy to chat with you guys.

Helen: Aw, thank you. Okay, well, we’ll talk soon. Take care.

Sydney: Thank you. Bye.

Helen: Bye.

Caroline: That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me, Caroline, at Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns, and Helen at Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co. We’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Helen: You can support Love to Sew and get access to bonus content by subscribing on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. You even get access to the back catalog of bonus episodes. That’s over 75 hours of Love to Sew. Go to patreon.com/lovetosew or check out our podcast page on Apple Podcasts for more info.

Caroline: You can head to lovetosewpodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, leave us a message at 1-844-SEW-WHAT? That’s 1-844-739-9428. or send us an email at [email protected].

Helen: Thanks to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant and Jordan Moore of The Pod Cabin is our editor. And thank you for listening. We’ll talk to you next week. Bye.

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We’re back for the spring season with an episode all about sewing hats! We share special materials and techniques you’ll only see in the world of hatmaking, talk about hat styles from easy to advanced, and reveal the hats WE made!

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

Show Notes: 

From the Catch-Up Section:

Helen’s Cap:

Caroline’s Gardening Hat:

Caroline’s Tuque:

Caroline’s Hood:

Resources:

Hat-Making Materials:

Sewing Patterns:

Tools:

Other Mentions:

Transcript:

Caroline: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Helen:​ Hello and welcome to Love To Sew. I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co.

Caroline: And I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns.

Helen: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew and it’s basically all we wanna talk about.

Caroline: We’re back for the spring season with an episode all about sewing hats. We talk about special materials and techniques you’ll only see in the world of hat making, talk about hat styles from easy to advanced, and reveal the hats that we made.

Helen: If you love to sew, this is your show.

Caroline: Hi.

Helen: We’re back, baby.

Caroline: We are back for the spring season. I’m so excited.

Helen: Me too. And before we get into it, as always…

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: We want to give you a little reminder that you can join us over on Patreon. If you missed us over the winter break, we were over there chatting up a storm about everything that’s going on in our lives and sharing it with our Patreon and Apple Podcast subscribers. So you can always join us over there if you want more content. You get access to bonus content every month and we have a lot of fun catching up on those more casual episodes.

Caroline: We really do. It means so much if you’re able to support us, even if it’s just for a month or two. But if that’s not in the cards right now, we totally get it. If you want to support us for free, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. We haven’t asked for this in a while, and we would really love to get some more recent reviews, so please do.

Helen: Yes, please do. And above all, thank you so much for listening. Thank you for joining us for our Spring 2026 season of Love to Sew. Oh, it’s gonna be a good one.

Caroline: It is.

Helen: We have so, so many fun things planned.

Caroline: Yes, we have a great season planned. So like we said, this is the first episode of our spring 2026 season. We have so many exciting topics and guests coming up, plus lots of our new favourite format, the We Sew episodes, including this one today. But before we get into the main topic, let’s do, like, a little mini-catchup, Helen. Give people a taste of what we do on Patreon and Apple Podcasts.

Helen: It was a pretty great winter break. Obviously, the holidays are always lovely, and we came out swinging in the new year with a couple of new patterns. We had our Solstice Hoodie and our Evergreen Sweatpants come out the first week of January, which was really fun. Great way to kick off the new year. And I have even more exciting news because, later this week on March 12th, we’re gonna be launching a new pattern, and I’m so excited. The Holmes Dress will be coming your way on March 12th, so keep your eyes peeled for that. And other than that, it’s officially my wedding year, Caroline. It’s official.

Caroline: Oh my gosh. I am so excited that I’ve already booked my ferry, my hotel. We’re, like, eight months out and I’m like, “I can go now. I’m ready.”

Helen: That’s good, though. Things get busy around here in the summer, so I’m glad to hear it. And we’re not eight months out, Caroline. I got the six month notification the other day.

Caroline: It’s true. Oh my gosh. Six months. What month is it? I don’t know. It’s been a blur.

Helen: And by the time this episode comes out, it’s gonna be, like, five months, like, it’s…August feels so far away. But I have to keep reminding myself that it’s not, because I have so much to do and, like, it’s still winter, so I’m just like, “Whatever. I mean, I got tons of time.”

Caroline: You’ve been really checking things off the list, though. Every time I talk to you, I feel like you are working on a new project. You’ve got so many things on the go. You’re totally making progress.

Helen: Yes, we’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting at this point. I’ve got my photographer, we’ve sorted out all of our rentals, all the stuff we need to rent for the wedding, which is more than you think. So many things. Turns out every person needs a fork. What?

Caroline: That’s crazy.

Helen: Yeah, a lot of that kind of detail stuff has already been sorted. So we’re in the, like, DIY phase where I’m like, “What can I make for the wedding and how long is it gonna take me to make it?” So that I can make sure that it gets done, including the wedding dress. So I am working on my own wedding dress, which I’m sure we’ll share more about as time goes on, and I’m very excited to share with our listeners. So more on that later, but so far, so good.

Caroline: Oh my gosh, yes. I have seen a couple of iterations, but I don’t think you’ve decided on your final design yet.

Helen: No. I’m still in the design phase. I’m just, ideas, you know.

Caroline: Like I said, you have so much time and you’re so not a last minute person, so I just, like, have so much faith that you’re gonna get it all done. And also, you’re in the best phase right now. The DIY phase? What a dream. With lots of time ahead of you.

Helen: That’s true. So fun. And we’re doing a lot of stuff for the wedding ourselves. Like we’re catering it ourselves, which I know people are gonna be like, “Oh my God, don’t do that.” Don’t worry. It’s okay. It’s gonna be great.

Caroline: If anyone can do it, Sam can do it.

Helen: Sam can do it. Sam and Melinda, my friend who’s hosting our wedding, both worked as professional caterers and event food people. So they have a lot of experience and they know what they’re doing and it should be good.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Yeah, and the wedding’s cazh, so we’re just gonna pull it off and everyone’s gonna get something to eat and it will be fine. And then we’re also all growing all of our own flowers.

Caroline: Wow.

Helen: So that’s the other thing we’re doing right now, is starting all the flower seeds so that we can grow all the flowers. My friend has a big garden that she’s just, like, letting me grow, the entire thing is gonna be flowers.

Caroline: Wow. Is this the pepper patch? Have you converted the pepper patch into a flower patch?

Helen: The pepper patch is now a flower patch, plus the rest of her garden. ‘Cause she’s like, I’m just gonna focus on the wedding. I’m not gonna do tomatoes. I’m not gonna do veggies.

Caroline: Oh my gosh.

Helen: I’m just gonna do flowers. So the whole thing is gonna be flowers, which is gonna be so fun and so beautiful. And yeah, we’re probably gonna have a lot. So that’ll be magical, to have all these flowers that we grew ourselves and, yeah, I’m excited.

Caroline: Wait, what kind of flowers? I’m so excited for you. That’s so fun. Have you picked all your varieties?

Helen: So many. I don’t, I want just, like, a smorgasbord of color and texture and, like, I don’t really have a strong theme. If anything, the theme is rainbow. Like, give it to, everything, I want it all. So we’ve got lots of straw flowers and…

Caroline: Oh, I love straw flowers, they’re so beautiful.

Helen: We’re gonna do dahlias and zinnias and, oh my gosh, sunflowers, everything, purple tansy. We’ve got a bunch of dried flowers from last season that we already grew and dried. So there’s tons of like, textural things like sea holly and stuff like that. It’s gonna be really cool.

Caroline: Wow. And you’re gonna make all your flower arrangements, of course.

Helen: Yes, of course. I mean, I’m sure they won’t be professional, but they will be flowers in a vase and they will look great.

Caroline: Oh, that’s fun. I have great memories from the day before our wedding when all of the gals from my family came together and we all arranged all of our, like, table flower arrangements. ‘Cause we got flowers from a farm in bulk. That’s gonna be great. It doesn’t have to be, like, a fancy professional arrangement. Flowers just look good no matter what you do.

Helen: No, flowers are beautiful. Yeah, exactly. And I’ve been collecting all these glass coloured vases, so it’s just gonna be, like, a real feast for the eyes. And our wedding’s late August, so I think that will be good timing for a lot of the flowers, plus the dried ones that we have. So I think we’ll have a, an abundance. It’ll be great.

Caroline: Oh, I love it.

Helen: Yeah. I’m so excited. More on the wedding as the months go on. And then when we come back for our fall season, I’ll have much to talk about because I will have just gotten married, so that will be really fun.

Caroline: Aw, okay, well, we can look forward to that. We’ll look forward to our next beginning of the season catch-up already.

Helen: What a teaser.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: No, you’ll have to join us on Patreon if you want all the nitty gritty about the wedding.

Caroline: Yeah. We’re gonna be catching up about it every month. It will be the focus of our catch-ups. Absolutely.

Helen: But Caroline, tell me about your winter break and what’s been going on with you. What’s new?

Caroline: It was really nice. I mean, I feel like I got a lot of relaxation in, and we stayed here in Vancouver for the Christmas break, the holiday break, and our families came to us. Shea’s family came down. I hosted a dinner with them and my brother came to that, as well, with his family. And then my parents came down and we did a whole Christmas dinner with them a few days later. And It was just, like, really lovely and cozy and tons and tons of family time and lots of just, like, recharging for the new year. Last year was wild. And it ended up working out, things worked out, things were fine, but it was, like, a stressful year at work. And obviously, so much going on in the world that was stressful, as well. So it was really nice to just have some downtime. And that’s kind of my ,like, mindset going into this year, too, is like, I just, I don’t wanna be stressed. I feel like a broken record. ‘Cause I know I’ve talked about this on the podcast before, but owning a business can be stressful and I’m just, like, really focusing on balance, really focusing on, like, taking the time off that I need and getting outside, seeing the sun every day, even if it’s covered in clouds.

Helen: Very important. Mmhmm.

Caroline: So yeah, this year so far has been a lot of that, like, just balance. I’ve been getting into swimming again, which I’m really excited about. So I’ve been doing, like, a weekly lap swim at the community pool near me, and that has been really fun. And I, I used to be a swimmer, synchronized swimmer when I was a kid, so it’s also very nostalgic, just like, the pool smell and pool vibes.

Helen: So great.

Caroline: So that’s been really good. And lots of walks and things. Shea and I have been getting into the habit of going down to this dog beach near our house. So we go a few times a week with our two dogs and they love it so much and it’s just been this, like, really nice kind of ritual that we have now where it’s like, “Let’s just drive down to the beach.” Takes like 15 minutes and we get a good like 30 minute walk in and the dogs run around and they get to socialize with other dogs a lot. And, um, having that as, like, part of our routine has been really awesome, too.

Helen: Oh my gosh, and the days are getting longer. So, soon you’ll be able to go after work and watch the sunset.

Caroline: Helen, yes! I know. Yesterday when I left work it was still light out and I, like, did a happy dance. I was like, “Finally, I’ve been waiting. I’ve been waiting for this day.” Yes. Oh my gosh, it’s the best. But at Blackbird, we have exciting things happening, too. We did some little experimentation before the break, before the holidays, with in-person shopping. We set a few days and wanted to try it out and see how it went. And I can’t remember if I’ve had a chance to talk about it on the main podcast, but those in-person shopping days were so successful. Like, we heard the local community loud and clear: you all want to come and shop in person. We had so many people come in, they were so busy, they were so fun. Everyone really showed up and just showed us, like, okay, this is something that we need to be doing. And so we committed to doing once a month in 2026 and it’s been going really well. So I’m excited to keep doing it. And we’re trying to announce the dates as far in advance as we can. It’s a little tricky because we kind of have to time it with, like, our big releases. We don’t want to be really busy with, like, shipping orders when we are also doing an in-person shopping day ’cause inventory can get tricky. So we can’t announce them too far in advance, but we’re trying our best and we’re also trying to have some variety in terms of, like, what day of the week and time. And we might experiment with a weekend day in the next few months, So it’s just really exciting. It’s a really nice change of pace to have people in our space and get to, like, meet our local customers. And there’s been people traveling from out of town to come and you got to come to one of our in-person shopping days.

Helen: Oh, it was so fun. I loved it.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: The vibes were so good and seeing the fabrics in person, even for someone like me, who buys a lot of Blackbird fabrics and have experienced most of the things you carry, like, getting to see the deadstock and the, like, more unusual fabrics in person was so fun. And it really gives you a better idea of the textiles and what you’re gonna make with them. And you can look at them in the mirror and see how they complement your skin tone and stuff. It, it’s so fun. And there’s so much of that happening in-store and everybody was, like, deciding what they were gonna make and talking about their projects together, which is just delightful. It’s a great place to be.

Caroline: Yeah, it’s, it’s such good vibes. Like, it is so fun to talk to people about what they wanna make. And when you were there we got to have some really fun chats with folks about what they were planning and helping them pick out fabrics. It’s fun to see what is popular in person, too. ‘Cause sometimes it’s different than what’s popular online. So I think it could impact our buying decisions a little bit moving forward. And another fun thing is that, historically, we’ve sort of declined certain types of deadstock, like, from local designers that is in small pieces. ‘Cause it takes time to photograph and make listings and, you know, ship out fabrics. So small cuts are not worth it to put on our website, unfortunately. So we’ve had to kind of pass up on some really cool deadstock in the past because we just were like, we can’t justify putting five meters online. You know? It’ll sell in a second. But now, because we’re doing this in-person shopping thing and we can just sort of price things as they come in and not have to put them on the website, it’s opening some doors in terms of what we can accept. So that’s really exciting. If you do come in person, you’re gonna be seeing some exclusive deadstock finds and, you know, little things that you’re definitely not gonna see online. And we’re also thinking about what is gonna sell in person. So more, like, cute things that are tough to ship or, I don’t know, the kinds of things that you would see in a retail shop versus online.

Helen: Yeah, totally. Fun notions and stuff or just, like, sewing accessories and things. I could see people grabbing that kind of stuff in person, for sure. Yeah. Ooh, I’m excited for you. And people are definitely gonna travel if they know that it’s an option. Like, Vancouver’s such a great travel destination and I’m sure people would love to visit Blackbird, so they’ll be planning their trips around this.

Caroline: I know. Especially in the summertime, it’s such a great time to visit. So we will try to announce our dates in advance as much as we can and we’ll be definitely doing a weekend day upcoming. So yeah, looking forward to that. Well, on that note, should we move on to talking about hats?

Helen: Yes. We’re back again. We’re ready to put on our thinking caps, so to speak, and talk all about sewing hats, which is a subject we haven’t explored much on the podcast, and we also have not explored much in our personal sewing practices. So this was a really fun opportunity for us to try sewing hats and experiment a bit more. I know we’ve both sewn bucket hats, but today we’re gonna talk about all sorts of other hats that you can make and, yeah, let’s get into it.

Caroline: Let’s do it. So hats are a little bit like lingerie or bags…lingerie, linger, lingerie? We’ve talked about this on the show before

Helen: I think it’s, uh, I think it’s, linger-y.

Caroline: Linger-y. Okay, perfect. However you pronounce it. It’s beautiful, but it is a lot like lingerie and bags. They don’t use a lot of fabric, which is really nice. And there are some styles that are really simple to make and quick to make, which is amazing.

Helen: Mmhmm.

Caroline: There are also special techniques and materials that you don’t see in regular garment sewing and that can scare people away. So today we’re gonna talk about some of those and hopefully demystify them. And we’ll also talk about different hat types and patterns. And to cap it all off, surprise! It’s not really a surprise ’cause we’ve already teased this, but this is like a hybrid We Sew episode, so at the end of the episode, we’re gonna do a big reveal and talk about the hats that we sewed. ‘Cause we sewed hats today. Well, not today, but…

Helen: Yes, and I cannot wait to see your hat. I’m so excited.

Caroline: Oh, I am so excited to reveal it to you. So yeah, let’s get going Helen. Let’s do it.

Helen: We’re gonna start by going over some of those special hat materials and techniques. The biggest thing that separates hat sewing from garment sewing is probably the structure. There are definitely less-structured hats that are easy for beginners to sew, but there’s also a whole world of highly-structured hats that you can learn about, and there are some in-between hats that have just a little bit of structure.

Caroline: A lot of hats, especially the kind that you can buy patterns for, use regular degular fusible or sew-in interfacing. And the weight you use depends on the style of hat and how flexible you would like your brim to be. So the shorter the brim, the less structure it’s gonna need to hold a good shape. For example, if you’re using a lightweight cotton to make a bucket hat, you can use medium weight fusible interfacing on the brim. And if you’re making a sun hat with a wider brim, you might need more structure, either a stiffer interfacing or millinery wire around the edge or both. So we’re gonna talk about that wire in a minute. One benefit of using regular interfacing is that they are waterproof and washable.

Helen: Buckram is an interfacing that’s specific to hat making. It’s a loose weave cloth, usually cotton, that’s been treated with glue or sizing. It’s very stiff and lightweight. And you connect pieces of buckram by wetting the edges and then sealing them with the tip of an iron. And buckram hats cannot get wet. They’re not supposed to get wet. So keep that in mind. The process of making a buckram hat goes like this. You’re gonna make your mockup, and you can make mockups out of poster board so that it has a similar structure to the buckram. Of course, if you have a pattern, you might not need to make a mockup to check the shape. But if you really wanna get it right the first time, it’s always a good idea to make a mockup. And then you make the structure of the hat out of the buckram. Connect the pieces using that wetting and ironing process we talked about. Use a press cloth to avoid getting any sizing or glue on your iron. Then you add your millinery wire if you need it, and use your main fabrics to cover the buckram structure. This is traditionally done by hand, which makes sense because the 3D shape isn’t always possible to wedge into your machine without crushing it. And then, finally, you add any of the embellishments. So we’re gonna link an article from Threads where milliner John Koch teaches how to make a fascinator base with these techniques. It’s really cool to see the process, so definitely check it out. And by the way, “millinery” is another word for hat making, if you’ve not heard that term before. But yeah, picture all those amazing hats that the royal family is always wearing. The fascinators, you know, with all the structure and then all the accoutrements on top, feathers and all that jazz. You can make that. You absolutely can. It’s totally possible, using buckram. Incredible.

Caroline: Okay. Small side note: my niece, who is six, went to a friend’s birthday party and it was fascinator themed, so they all, all these little kiddos wore fascinators. I don’t know, kids these days, just…

Helen: That’s so fun. I love that as a theme. Or you could make little fascinators as a party theme. That would be fun.

Caroline: Yeah. Millinery wire is another way to give structure to your hats. You can make a channel at the edge of your brim where you can insert the wire, or if you’re making a hat out of buckram or something similar, you can hand sew it to the edge of the structural layer with a whip stitch.

Helen: And for some hats, you can use a brim insert. You can buy pre-cut brim inserts. Some are flat, some are shaped. Picture, like, a baseball hat. And you can take apart a worn out hat to reuse the brim insert, which is a great way to repurpose. Former guest, Cornelius Quiring, has a video with a free pattern for sewing a baseball cap, so you can see exactly how to insert that brim into the cap and topstitch it.

Caroline: Some people make their own brim inserts out of things like flexible plastic cutting boards, plastic binder covers, or even cardboard if you don’t plan to get the hat wet. Just keep in mind that if you want to do topstitching, you’re gonna want to choose a material that you can sew through. I don’t wanna give a spoiler, but I really would love to make a cap one day.

Helen: Oh, I see, so you didn’t make a cap. Interesting. Well, I don’t wanna give any spoilers, but sewing through these cap inserts is actually not as hard as you might think.

Caroline: Oh my gosh! Okay.

Helen: Okay, we’re gonna link a few online shops in the show notes for this episode where you can buy some of these specialty materials. Judith M., hatmakingsupplies.com,, and Petersham’s are all great places to go to get these kinds of supplies.

Caroline: So we have a few sewing tips for sewing hats. Some hats need hand sewing, so being confident about your hand sewing skills is really gonna come in handy for adding embellishments, too. Sometimes you can use a regular straight needle, and sometimes you actually need a curved needle. So if you ever feel like you almost need to bend your needle to get it through the stitches, that’s when you want a curved needle.

Helen: Those curved needles are so cool. Like, you would feel like a total badass if you’re using that curved needle.

Caroline: I’ve never used a curved needle. I gotta get into it.

Helen: Oh, so you didn’t use a curved needle? Just gonna narrow it down and then guess what hat you made. If you’re not feeling super confident in your hand sewing skills, we do recommend watching Bernadette Banner’s video about hand sewing. One of our favourite hand sewing tips is to sew a few back stitches right on top of each other at the beginning and end of your seam. It’s way stronger than just a knot, which can actually pull through your fabric. And it looks nice, too. So Bernadette Banner has a ton of resources about hand sewing. Definitely check that out.

Caroline: And you can add some structure to your brim by top stitching lines across it, like quilting. The closer together the lines are, the firmer the structure is going to be.

Helen: I’ve done this on the brim of a sun hat before, in lieu of interfacing. If you just sew a ton of lines in a circle, like the rings of Saturn, it adds a lot of structure. And then you can actually, like, fold it over on top of your head and stuff, like, it’s really cool. A hump jumper is a really handy tool for getting your seam started when you’re sewing with thick layers. It’s just a tool that you slide under the foot and it evens the foot out so it’s not sitting at an angle. And if you don’t wanna buy the special hump jumper tool, you can slide something under the back of the foot, like a flat needle pack. Those little plastic needle packs work really well. And if you have a machine with a little black button on the side, that’s a self-leveling presser foot, so you can use that instead of a hump jumper. You push that little button and it prevents the foot from angling forward and backwards. So we’ll link an article that explains more about how to use that.

Caroline: Okay. Okay. So we also have a few fabric tips. If you’re making a summer hat, you want to think about choosing lighter fabrics. Denim and canvas seem like a good idea until you’re out in the heat wearing two layers on your head. If you absolutely must use a heavier fabric, use a lighter one for the lining.

Helen: I did that for my first sun hat. I used denim. Denim on denim, double layer denim.

Caroline: Yeah, that would be hot, for sure.

Helen: It’s so hot. It was so cute and it held its structure really well. And it looked great in my sewing room. And then as soon as I wore it outside, I was like, “Major mistakes were made.” You might wanna choose smooth lining fabrics for your hat lining, like satin or rayon bemberg. They’ll cause less friction on your hair. And you can even add a satin lining on hats that wouldn’t typically have them. Melly Sews has a tutorial for making a stretch satin-lined beanie. That’s pretty cool.

Caroline: Ooh, that would be comfy. I feel like I would take it off and my hair would just, like, stick up from the static, though.

Helen: If it was poly satin, probably. If you used, like, actual silk to line like your bucket hat, I mean, power move. Love that.

Caroline: That would be fancy. And before we move on to some of the popular hat styles that you can sew, we want to talk about a medium-effort option, which is buying ready-made hat bodies and then embellishing them yourself. It’s amazing how much more affordable a hat is if it doesn’t have a hat band on it. Hat bodies, also called hat bases, are finished hats that just aren’t decorated. So you can find them in straw, raffia, felt, poly braid, and more. Just make sure not to buy unblocked hat bodies, because those are for hat makers who plan to block them into a different shape.

Helen: And most hat bands and embellishments are just tacked onto place with hand stitches. Easy to do and undo when you wanna change it up. And a great excuse to use all those fun trims that you always see at the fabric store that you wanna use, but you can’t think of what you’re gonna use them on.

Caroline: Mmhmm. Embroidery would be so beautiful on a hat.

Helen: Yes, I did a little craft with my friends where we took store-bought baseball hats and we, like, hot glued designs onto the front of them and then embroidered over it to get it to look, like, kind of three-dimensional. You see it a lot on social media and Pinterest.

Caroline: Oh, how cute! Yeah.

Helen: And it actually worked really well and it was super fun. You get this, like, bubble embroidery look and the inside’s just full of hot glue, which is hilarious.

Caroline: I love it. That sounds really, really beautiful and fun. I wanna see this hat that you made.

Helen: I haven’t finished it.

Caroline: Oh, okay.

Helen: It’s half done and it looks incredible.

Caroline: It’s in the pile. It’s in the WIP pile. Oh my gosh. Okay. I can hardly wait. But before we get into the hats that we made, let’s talk about some of the most popular hat styles that you can make, starting with the easiest one.

Helen: Yes: berets. Berets are super easy. The simplest kind is made from just three pieces. A flat circle, a flat circle with a hole in it for your head, and a strip of binding. You can use a thicker fabric like a traditional wool felt, or you can interface a lighter weight fabric. We’ll link a free tutorial by the last stitch that will show you how to draft your own beret. Our assistant, Lisa, made a beret recently and it was the cutest thing ever. So, definitely recommend checking out berets if you haven’t thought of making one.

Caroline: Yes. Okay. The bucket hat is a sewing community favourite for a reason. You can make it with regular sewing materials, and it’s super cute. I love when people make matching hats to go with their me-made outfits. The brim is short enough that you don’t have to worry too much about adding structure. Regular medium weight interfacing is totally fine. And sun hats are usually like bucket hats, but with wider brims. You may need to add millinery wire or stiffer interfacing, but it’s worth it to make a custom, one-of-a-kind sun hat in a cool fabric.

Helen: Yes, this is the genre of hat sewing that I have the experience with. Until this episode, I’d only ever made bucket hats and sun hats and they’re so easy and fun to make and great presents, too, for other people. Great scrap-busters. Yeah, just awesome project all around. A soft tuque, also known as a beanie, is also pretty simple to sew. You don’t need any special structural stuff, so that’s nice. I think the hardest part is finding a nice sweater knit or fleece to make them with. But there are definitely good ones out there if you look. Teddy fleece would be really adorable. I’ve also seen some people upcycling old sweaters, even felted or shrunk sweaters that aren’t usable as a sweater anymore. You could go to the thrift store and get an old sweater and make a beanie out of that. Lots of options there.

Caroline: Ball caps are always in style. There are some great patterns out there. We already mentioned Cornelius’s free one. I hope we demystified the structure of this one when we talked about brim inserts. Don’t be afraid. You can make a ball cap.

Helen: You can! And I’ve heard that flat caps, also known as newsboy hats, are back in style. I don’t know how I feel about this for myself, personally, but Sam looks so cute in a flat cap, so I would make him one, for sure. And I definitely remember a lot of my friends in high school wearing this style of hat, so, a lot of memories when I see this style. If you’re also into this style, there are some good options for patterns. Elsewhen Millinery on Etsy has one, as well as a captain style hat, which is kind of similar. Those would be fun projects.

Caroline: And finally, rain hats are on the trickier side of hat sewing because you’re dealing with waterproof fabrics and possibly sealing seams. Luckily for you, we have an episode coming up this season that just might help you out with that. And for patterns, check out Green Pepper. They have a bunch of outdoorsy stuff.

Helen: Yeah, including a hat with, like, a brim that goes down your back. I really wanna make that one.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: So cute. Okay, Caroline. Will you show me your hat first, please? Pretty, pretty, please!

Caroline: Okay. Yay. Okay, wait, I’m gonna send it to you now.

Helen: Okay. Playing now. Ah, you did? Oh my gosh. Oh, it’s so cute. Okay. Tell our listeners about it. It’s so cute!

Caroline: Okay, so this is the Assembly Line Utility Hat. And I have made it in, like, a lighter weight twill. This is my gardening hat ’cause it has a longer brim in the back. So that was kind of my inspiration. Okay, I’ll tell you more…

Helen: Wait. Okay. I’m pausing. I’m pausing. I’m pausing.

Caroline: Okay.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: So I did cheat a little bit and make more than one hat. So I made this gardening hat. It’s green. I managed to find some elastic cord and a little cord stopper, or not cord stopper, cord…I forget what it’s called. But those things that you stick the cord in that help you tighten the cord.

Helen: Oh yeah. Toggle thing?

Caroline: Yeah. And I found one at Dressew that matches the fabric perfectly. So you’ll see in a minute ’cause I’m gonna show you a close-up. But yes, I am so happy with how it turned out. The fit is perfect. And it’s a free pattern, so that’s fun.

Helen: Oh, amazing. I want one. It looks like the perfect gardening hat. Like, a little bit of sun protection in the front, but then the back of the neck is fully covered. Love it.

Caroline: Yes, and I’m really excited about the colour. But I also made a tuque.

Helen: This is so cute.

Caroline: So this is a fleece tuque. I made it in teddy fleece and it has exposed seams and then a really, like, chunky brim. And this is actually not self-drafted by me, but drafted by one of my Birdie team members, Abby. And it’s kind of a dupe of a really cool hat. I know. It’s cute.

Helen: I’m sorry I keep interrupting you because she literally is just, like, this video has, like, what? A thousand hats in it? What happened?

Caroline: I just got really excited about making hats.

Helen: I love it. I’m gonna cop-…can Abby send me this pattern? I want it so bad. I have this exact fabric and I wanna make it. It’s so cute!

Caroline: Yes. I’ll send you the pattern. I have lots of feelings about sewing the teddy fleece. I ended up taking Abby’s pattern and adjusting it a bit for my slightly larger head and changed the brim a little bit from what she had originally drafted. But I can send you the pattern. It’s great. I love it.

Helen: It’s so cute. I love, so it’s like a panel situation and then a roll, kind of like, chunky brim?

Caroline: Yeah, it’s basically just two pieces. So there’s, like, the little triangle shaped panels, four of them, and then there’s, like, a wide brim that you fold up. It’s so fast to sew, but teddy fleece, she’s a pain. I’d never sewn teddy fleece before and…wasn’t my favorite, I’ll tell you that.

Helen: Oh yeah. Chunky. I made that Wildwood Jacket out of this fabric and it’s my favourite jacket, so I’m glad I persevered. I had to just serge all the edges. You just have to serge all the edges and then, and then it’s less of a nightmare.

Caroline: I think, because of the style with the exposed seams, I couldn’t really serge the edges. But anyways, I can talk more about it in a minute. But this one’s also in a chocolate brown, which is gonna go really well with my wardrobe. And then the last one that I made is kind of cheating ’cause it’s not exactly a hat.

Helen: It counts. It’s headwear.

Caroline: It’s a hood. So I made the Merchant and Mills Audrey Hood and it’s one of those really cute, like, hoods with a little tie in the front. And I made this reversible. So I think the pattern itself is reversible, anyway. But I did, like, a plaid cotton on the inside and a cord on the outside and it kind of matches my trench coat that I made last year. So I can pair them together. And it’s just, like, really cute and also such a fast sew. Like, so satisfying and quick to make and really, like, generous fit. So you feel really, like, cozy and protected.

Helen: Yeah, it’s so cozy. It looks like you could flip the brim back, too, if you wanted, like, to expose the lining.

Caroline: Yeah, you could totally flip the brim back. So, yeah, I made three hats. I’m just always trying to overachieve like you, Helen.

Helen: That’s why these episodes are so great. It pushes us out of our comfort zone. And we love accountability. So having a reason to sew something is always really beneficial. They’re so cute. I love them all. Probably the green one’s my favourite. It’s really cute. But they’re all fantastic. That little detachable hood is so freaking cute.

Caroline: It’s cute, right? Shea says I look like, like if I put on sunglasses, I’d look like I was like a celebrity in hiding, you know?

Helen: Yeah, totally. And I could see, like you said, matching your fabric choice to a jacket that you’ve made so that it looks kind of like it could be attached to the jacket, but it’s not. I feel like that’s so chic. It’s so cute.

Caroline: And like, it’s not waterproof. It’s definitely for the vibes, but like, I think it would work…like, often I’m, like, running from my car into the warehouse and I just don’t want my hair to get wet. So like, for those 30 seconds, I think it will totally do the job.

Helen: Yeah. Oh my gosh. Great selections. Okay. I am just playing the details portion of your video where you’re showing off the little toggle. This is so cute. I like that the brim has this cinching effect ’cause I find that hats often kind of pop off my head.

Caroline: Yeah, that was a really great pattern, too. Like, it came together really quickly and I just used medium weight weft interfacing from my store for the brim. And I feel like the structure is really nice. It’s in the lived-in cotton twill as well, so it has, like, a little bit of a washed look to it.

Helen: So cute. I think that hood would make a fantastic present. Like, you would barely need to worry about sizing and you could sew it up quickly.

Caroline: Yes. Yes. And like, you could do it in like a waterproof fabric, even like a little quilted, like some of our quilted waterproof fabrics that we have or water-resistant fabrics, I feel like could be really cute for a hood. You’d kinda have to figure out the construction ’cause I’m like, you don’t want it to be too bulky. But yeah, maybe binding it.

Helen: Yeah. Great selection. They all look really cute together, too. What a vibe.

Caroline: Thank you.

Helen: So cute. Do you have a favourite of the three?

Caroline: Honestly, I like them all ’cause they all kind of serve different purposes. Like, I’m really happy with how the tuque turned out. I really persevered on that one. This is the third tuque I made ’cause the first two failed. So, so I was just, like, trying to make it happen and I just, I’m happy I persevered ’cause it’s so warm and I think it’ll be really great for, like, really cold days or if I go to Montreal. It’s really, really warm around the ears. And I, I think it’s just, like, quite cute.

Helen: Do you make it every time in the same fabric? Like, what happened with the first few?

Caroline: I had two colours of teddy fleece that I brought home. And so, the first two I made in, like, a maroon-coloured teddy fleece. And then I ran out. So I was like, “Okay, I’ll, I’ll move on to the brown,” which I’m glad I did ’cause I like the brown more. And I was kind of saving it. I was like, “I’ll, I’ll save this for my final version.” ‘Cause I kind of imagined it would take a couple iterations.

Helen: Right, to get the fit right. Yeah. It’s hard. It’s a hard thing to, like, muslin in anything else. You kind of just have to go for it with the fabric you’re planning to use.

Caroline: Oh yeah. And, like, sewing teddy fleece, we don’t have to get into it now, but I have thoughts. I have gripes. I have feelings. Yeah.

Helen: Gripes! I love it. Okay, I’ll show you mine and then we can get into all your gripes.

Caroline: Perfect. Ah! Oh my gosh. Wait. It’s so cute. Look at how beautiful it’s finished. Oh, the inside is so gorg. Wait, this is so cute.

Helen: I love it. Okay. So I made the All Caps Cap by Minimalist Machinist…

Caroline: Oh!

Helen: Past guest. And it’s a fantastic pattern. We’ll talk about that later. But it is a five panel camp-style cap with a brim and topstitching and bias bound seams on the inside and all the beautiful details. It’s got so much going on. And, of course, I had to go extra and make it in, like, a bunch of different colours. Not multiple hats. I mean one hat in multiple colours.

Caroline: Yeah, the, like, panels. You can mix different fabrics, which is really cool.

Helen: Yeah. And she did that on a lot of her samples. So I was very inspired by all of the versions that she made with different colours. And yeah, I’m really happy with it. I have never been a hat person because I have a big head and so they just don’t fit me. Every time I try them on, I’m like, “Cute hat.”Try it on. Doesn’t fit.

Caroline: Big head club! Yeah, me, too.

Helen: That’s, like, the story of my life. So I’m just not a hat person ’cause I can’t find hats that fit. And I hadn’t really thought about making one until now, but this has really blown the door wide open because now I don’t need to rely on other people to make hats that fit me. I can make my own hats that fit me and customize them to my giant head. And it’s so fun. It was so cool to, like, go through the process of making it actually fit my head and realizing what I really need in a hat. And I will say that this one’s not perfect. I would love to make another one and tweak a few more things. Especially with the brim, because the brim, I didn’t quite cut it to fit my head right, and so it doesn’t sit straight. You either have to, like, kind of pop it down or kind of pop it up and it, like, kind of snaps down or snaps up at a slight angle and both angles look kind of dumb. So it’s pretty dorky.

Caroline: It’s like it’s, but it’s, I was gonna say it’s, like, dorky in a really cute way.

Helen: Yeah! My friend said it reminds her of the kid from Up.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: With his little hat. And like, especially when it’s pointing up, the brim, it’s really funny. And like, you can do lots of different shapes of brim, which I’d never really thought that much about. But Rachael goes into a ton of detail in this pattern about all the different brim shapes you can choose. And she gives you templates to cut your brim to size if you want more of a, like, shorter, rounded brim or you want a longer brim. I just kind of went with the size that came when I purchased the insert. And yeah, next time I think I would shorten it and cut it to my head shape better so that it just, like the, it’s a little more camp-style vibe. ‘Cause this has, like, it’s like a camp hat with, like, a baseball brim on it.

Caroline: Like you would cut, you can cut the brim at a curve so that when you attach it to the hat…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: It, like, fits your head shape.

Helen: Exactly. Yeah. And she gives you templates you can trace onto the brim and then just, like, cut it down. It’s not super hard to cut. So yeah, I’m really happy. I’m so glad that I went for it. As soon as we decided we were gonna make hats, I was like, “I wanna make a brim hat, like a baseball hat or a camp hat. Like, I wanna go for it and make, finally make a hat that fits.” Mission accomplished! So fun.

Caroline: Yeah. Oh, yay. Okay. I’m also part of the big head club. Hats never fit me and I always have to buy, like, men’s caps for them to really fit me. But I love the idea of making a brimmed cap. I didn’t do it this time, but now I’m like, ooh, I need to do it soon. It’d be so fun.

Helen: It was really fun and there’s so many patterns out there. I mean, I’ll gush more about this one in a minute, but there are lots of free patterns, like Cornelius’s, or there’s tons for any hat styles, really. There’s lots of free resources out there. So you don’t necessarily have to buy a pattern. But sometimes when you buy the pattern you get a little bit more information, which is always nice.

Caroline: Things I love about your hat: I love the pop of colour on the inside, the way that you bound it. That looks like a really cool construction.

Helen: Oh yeah, I didn’t really describe the colours. I used, like, a forest green and a royal blue and like a wine red for the panels. And then on the inside the binding is, like, a bright like butter yellow…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Which was honestly just ’cause that was the only single fold bias tape I had in my stash. And I was like, “Well, whatever. It’s the first one. It doesn’t need to be perfect.” But it actually looks really cool, so I’m glad I went with that.

Caroline: It looks really fun. Yeah. I love that you added a little label on the back.

Helen: Yes, a little Sarah Hearts tag.

Caroline: It is so cute. I love that it’s kind of like a scrap-busting project, low key. Right? Because you can use whatever you have in your stash. If it’s, like, all the same weight, I feel like that would work.

Helen: Comically, I did use denim again for this project.

Caroline: Yeah. But I feel like a heavy denim versus, like, a bull denim, ’cause it’s bull denim, right? That you used?

Helen: It is bull denim. Yeah. So it’s nine ounces and it was only one layer instead of two like my last hat that I made.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: So I think the one layer makes it better. And I didn’t have to interface because it does have structure already. So that was nice. And I just liked all the colours and I thought it would be cute. So I’m glad I went for the denim in the end.

Caroline: So, question: where did you get your…the back closure is unique. I’ve never, I don’t know where I would even buy that. The little, like, clasp thing and then also the brim. Where did you get these things? Tell me.

Helen: Oh, the snap fastener? I got those supplies from a large online retailer.

Caroline: Okay. Okay. I’m pickin’ that up.

Helen: I got them on Amazon. Yeah. But the thing about buying them on Amazon was that you had to buy a ton of them. I don’t know if there’s a place you could get less of them. Maybe at a fabric store you could get a smaller pack. So I ended up buying, like, 50 of those little clips. But I was “Like, it’s cool. I’ll just give them to my sewing friends and stuff.” Like…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: If someone wants to make a hat, I’ll be like, “I got you. I got multiple brims. I got lots of snaps.”

Caroline: Did you?

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Did you get extra brims, do you have extra brims? ‘Cause I, I might take a brim.

Helen: Yeah. I got extra brims, girl. I’ll give you a little pack.

Caroline: Woo!

Helen: Actually speaking of that, after I made this hat, it really reminded me of my cousin’s partner, Parnian, who’s modeled for us before. She has great style and she loves colour blocking, like, a lot of her clothes are multiple colours. And she sews, as well. And so, for her birthday, I put together a little hat making kit with all the same fabrics I used, ’cause I still had some of those denims left, like scraps. So I cut her enough of the denim to cut out the pieces and I, like, put in the brim and the little clips and the little, like, nylon strapping and the pattern and, like, just packaged it all up and gave it to her as, like, a little sewing kit. And it was so cute.

Caroline: Oh.

Helen: She was so excited.

Caroline: Oh, that’s so fun. Oh, that’s a really great gift idea for a sewist. Make a little custom kit.

Helen: Custom project kit. Yeah, it was really cute. But yes, I have lots of extra materials, so I’m happy to give them away.

Caroline: Can you tell me, you mentioned that you fitted this hat and there’s a lot of kind of, like, style lines to it. So did you muslin it or did you have to do any fitting after the fact, once you, like, did your first try on? Like, what was that process?

Helen: I’m laughing because I did something dumb, which I’m sure a lot of our listeners can relate to. And it was a funny moment. I, like, I did make a muslin. I printed out the largest size ’cause it was, like, just shy of fitting around my head. So I was like, “I think I’ll give this a try and we’ll see.” ‘Cause it is adjustable at the back. But I printed the pattern out at the wrong scale and I didn’t check the box. I didn’t measure the box. Who measures the box?

Caroline: Yeah. Honestly, who does? Not I.

Helen: And it was like, it’s a hat pattern. So it’s like three pages. Like, it wasn’t a big deal. So I made the muslin at like 80% size, and then I put it on my head and it was like this tiny, it was, like, hilarious. Like, as I was sewing it, I was like, “This is not gonna fit me.” I was starting to get mad. I was like, “Oh!”

Caroline: Yeah. The big head trauma came up.

Helen: “Hats never fit me and this hat isn’t designed for big-headed people and oh, I’m gonna have to make so many adjustments.” And I put it on and it’s, like, super tiny. And at that point I was like, “Okay, I feel like something else has happened here because it’s like a child’s hat.” And then I went back and checked the pattern and, sure enough, it printed it to, like, fit to page or whatever. So I had to reprint and make a second muslin. And the second one actually fit around my head. Fit as drafted, as stated in the instructions, the right circumference and all that.

Caroline: That’s so funny.

Helen: So, sorry, Rachael, for getting mad. But yeah, it was pretty funny. And then my second muslin was pretty good, but it was still too shallow, I guess. Like, it wasn’t sitting far enough down on my head to, like, stay on, which is a problem that I find with, especially with these camp-style hats. They, they have a shallower fit, shallower profile, which is really cute and it’s kind of one of the defining characteristics of the style, but it doesn’t work for my head because it literally just feels like I’m, like, I have, like, something balanced on my head. Like, it’s not on there, you know? So I added a couple centimeters to the height of the hat which I thought would be challenging because of all the pieces and how they come together. But it actually wasn’t too bad. I just kind of slashed and spread and it worked out great.

Caroline: Yeah. Awesome.

Helen: Yeah, so I just had to make it a little deeper and then it was perfect.

Caroline: Ooh, okay. I love it. I’m just, like, thinking about all the hats. I’m like, “How soon can I make a brimmed hat? Can I mine some brims and closures from, like, my discarded hats that don’t fit me right?” Maybe…

Helen: Oh, you could, totally. Did you make a muslin for any of your hats?

Caroline: No. So technically, with the, I guess with the tuque, I sort of thought it would be a muslin and it ended up being a muslin. But for the bucket hat, I went in, I was pretty confident. I’d made a bucket hat before. I checked the, like, head circumference. It was pretty spot on and I was like, “This looks like it’s gonna fit. It’ll be fine.” And it did, it’s good. It’s like, maybe it could be, like, a tiny bit bigger. Like, if I were to make it again, I might just add a little bit. But it totally fits.

Helen: Yeah, it looks like it fits really well.

Caroline: And with the hood, I was like, “There’s no way this won’t fit my, my head. It’s such a big hood.”

Helen: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Doesn’t need a muslin, for sure. Oh, that’s good. That’s pretty straightforward. Then it was just the teddy fleece that gave you grief. So tell us about that. Tell us your gripes.

Caroline: I mean, okay, so first, with the pattern, like, obviously, this was Abby’s pattern that was fitted to Abby’s head, and she lent me her hat, too, so I tried it on and it fit me and it looked like it was also made out of teddy fleece. So I was pretty overconfident when I went into it. But I think that she used a teddy fleece that was, like, a deadstock that we had. So the stretch was different. So when I made my first version, the fit was just, like, so different and it was so tight. I felt like my brains were gonna come out of my eyeballs. Like when I, when I put it on my head, I was like, “Oh, maybe this will be…” No, it was so tight. It was so tight.

Helen: Oh my gosh, so funny.

Caroline: And then I was having issues with it. I did make some adjustments to the pattern, like I just lengthened the pieces and I lengthened the brim ’cause I wanted to fold it up. Hers didn’t, like, fold up. So I had made some adjustments, but when I put it on, yeah, it wasn’t necessarily the length that was wrong. It was, like, the shape of the panels, because it was a different fabric, didn’t mold to my head the way that her version did. So I had to sort of trim off some of the edges of these little triangle pieces to, like, make it fit my head. But once I made those adjustments, that worked really well. The teddy fleece, it was just, like, one, cutting it was really annoying because my rotary cutter was, like, almost not deep enough to cut through the teddy fleece. So I had to really push hard and, like, paper was getting in the way and it was just, like, really hard to get, like, an accurate cut. And I was also wanting the cut to be really clean and straight because of the exposed seams, right? I didn’t want any jagged edges. I couldn’t just, like, trim off any mistakes. So cutting was annoying and then sewing it, the layers were so thick and not even, like, so squishy. You know, that, like, getting them under my presser foot. Like, I used my walking foot, I lowered my presser foot pressure all the way down. Even my Bernina machine, like, you can lift the foot pretty high but, like, once it was under there, like, it just felt like it was getting so squished that it wouldn’t move through the machine. So I basically had to guide it through the machine. I felt like I was the feed dogs, basically, you know? Like, I had to pull it through as I was sewing. I did lengthen my stitch length. Which I think helped because, yeah, this, like, backstitching, I couldn’t really backstitch ’cause if I would, just, as soon as I would start sewing, it would just be stitching in place, you know? So I had to, like, move it through. And then the thing that I found tough, because of having to move it through the machine, was maintaining, like, an even seam allowance and a smooth stitch line. So I found, because I’m having to pull it through the machine and line up my raw edge, I just ended up with some pretty wonky stitch lines. And there were some parts where, if I got too close to the edge and the underlayer wasn’t, like, perfectly lined up, I wouldn’t get the same amount of seam allowance or it would even, like, eat the bottom layer into the seam. So, like…

Helen: Oh no.

Caroline: It just looked so bad. So what I ended up doing for my final version is I added extra seam allowance. I also made, just made it bigger and I sewed with a wider seam allowance, and then I trimmed. So having that extra seam allowance just, like, helped it to move through the presser foot a little bit better. Like, there wasn’t as much of the possibility of a difference in height of the fabric, you know, like if you’re on the edge and it’s not perfectly lined up. So I just, like, didn’t stress too much about having the seam allowance be, like, perfect and the seam allowance even. And then I just trimmed it down to, like, a narrower steam allowance after sewing it. And yeah, I think it was also just one of those situations where, like, the first one didn’t work and then the second one didn’t work, and I was like, “I need a time out.” So I, like, put it aside. I made my other two hats and then I circled back and I was like, “Deep breath. Let’s try again. Like, what did we learn?”

Helen: Amazing. I’m glad you persevered because it’s really cute. And yeah, it’s interest–it’s good to hear about your experience. I could definitely see all of those issues. I wonder, with the cutting out, like, I’ve had that experience, too, where the fabric’s really, like, puffy, like quilting pre-quilted fabric and stuff, and, like, the pattern piece and the blade, like, separate when you push down with the blade and then the pattern piece gets moved and, like, it’s a whole mess. And at that point you’re just, like, just trace the pattern onto…like, use the chalk to put it on the fabric so that you don’t have to have the paper…

Caroline: Or, like, slowly. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. I, like, I did try cutting it with just scissors. That worked better, but it was kind of hard to get, like, that perfect, smooth, crisp cut line. I also think, like, I was maybe being a little bit lazy trying to cut it on a double layer, like…

Helen: A double layer? Okay. You didn’t tell me about the double layer.

Caroline: Yeah. So I think a single layer would’ve been slightly easier. But still, like, when you press down with your rotary cutter on the paper and the fabric, like, the paper just kind of crinkles under. Yeah. So you’re right. Tracing would’ve been good. But tracing on teddy fleece? I guess…

Helen: On the wrong side. Yeah, on the, if there’s a smooth side, on the smooth side. But yeah, I think the reason why my Wildwood worked out so well was ’cause I, like I said, I serged all the seams, so it got rid of all of the, like, fluff problems. And then Wildwood is all overlapping, so there’s not a ton of like, actual right-sides-together seams. Which, yeah, is annoying. It’s kinda like when you try to sew velvet and the nap of the velvet, like, repels each other and, like, shifts and it just, like, has a mind of its own.

Caroline: Yeah, yeah. It is still, this hat still is, like, shedding a little bit. And it’s funny, ’cause I kept having Shea try on my different versions of my hats and his head is shaved, but he’s got, like, a little bit of stubble, so it was like velcro. So he would, like, take off the hat and his head would just be covered in tiny little teddy fleece fluffs and I’d have to, like, lint roll his head, basically, afterwards.

Helen: Oh my gosh.

Caroline: So, not necessarily, like, shaved head friendly.

Helen: I bet it looked really cute on him, though. I could see it.

Caroline: Yeah, it was cute. Yeah.

Helen: Sam really liked my hat, too. And he, he wants one of his own. He’s also in the big head club.

Caroline: Yeah. Big head club.

Helen: Oh my gosh. Okay. When I was sewing my hat, there’s a couple things I wanted to mention. Firstly, I did contrast topstitching, which was a choice on my very first hat.

Caroline: Yeah, because you would have to…wait, ’cause the topstitching is also what’s locking in your binding on the backside, right? So you had to do the topstitching from the backside. Like, did you do it from the right side or did you topstitch with the binding up? And then just hope that it looks straight on the right side?

Helen: No, I did it…I’m trying to remember, ’cause it was like a month ago I made the hat. I did it from the wrong side. Basically, it’s single fold bias tape that you, like, you, you sew the seam, you trim it down nice and tight, and then you lay single fold bias tape over the seam to kind of just, like, cover it up and then you stitch on either side. And that stitching does not have to be contrast. And if I could go back and give myself beginner advice, I would say, “Don’t do contrasting topstitching on your first hat.”

Caroline: It’s like blind topstitching. It’s like topstitching roulette. Like, what?

Helen: Basically, yeah. And so I didn’t use, I didn’t use topstitching thread because that often doesn’t work well in the bobbin. So it’s a, it’s just a contrast regular thread in the bobbin that is giving it the copper topstitching look. But yeah, it’s wonky on the right side ’cause, of course, I can’t see exactly what I’m doing. The bias binding is covering the seam, so you can’t see where the seam line is, exactly. So it’s far from perfect, but from a distance, on top of a head you wouldn’t notice. So it still looks really nice and the contrast topstitching on the brim looks really good. But again, tricky to go around those curves nice and even and, like, get them looking really good. So I would probably go regular matching topstitching for my first hat. But the bias binding finish was really fun and, like, I was a little bit apprehensive about, “Oh, this is gonna be hard with the curved hat.” Like, you’re kind of tucking it under your machine. It’s like a bowl shape, and you have to tuck it under and do bias binding. So it’s awkward, but it’s also really small and the seams are short. So you get through it pretty quickly and it coming together is so satisfying. So I actually enjoyed the binding part of it and, like, sewing the little rainbow shape opening at the back and, like, sticking in the nylon, strapping, the webbing, and, like, the little clip and stuff. Like, all the details were really fun on this project.

Caroline: Yeah, I do love a small project. Like, it’s kind of like the same thing with bags and kids’ clothes. And it’s not as daunting ’cause the seam that you’re sewing is shorter. You know, the pieces are smaller and it just comes together quicker.

Helen: It does. And if you mess it up, it’s not, like, a ton of investment of fabric. And you can still reuse your other supplies. So you can try again, which is nice. I mean, you had that experience with your teddy fleece. Just keep giving it a go. But yeah, I enjoyed the process and the brim. I had never sewn with a brim before and I was very skeptical about sewing through it. I was like, oh, I’m ready to break some needles, here. ‘Cause it feels like plastic. I don’t know exactly what the one I bought is made out of but it’s kind of a soft feeling plastic. And I just put in a heavy duty needle and it went right through.

Caroline: It just went through, hey? Wow. Is unpicking, like, if you had to unpick on there, would it leave holes?

Helen: I mean, it would leave holes in the brim, but you, you wouldn’t see them ’cause it’s covered in fabric. So you can…

Caroline: So the fabric would probably still be fine.

Helen: Yeah, I would, you could probably kind of rub it and it would disappear. Yeah. I think you could probably unpick it. And, like, the brim is a little bit tricky. After you stick the insert in, top stitch it, then you have to, like, sew it closed along the edge. And so you, like, put in your zipper foot and you put your needle all the way to the side and then you, you sew right along the edge of the brim, like, not catching the brim. But you want the tension there. You don’t want your brim, like, loose in the enclosure. So it has to be, like, tight, tight, tight. So that was tricky. And then the hardest part was sewing the brim onto the hat ’cause it’s like a hard, flat piece of plastic wrapped in fabric being sewn onto a round bowl shape. So, like, getting it under your machine and getting an even seam allowance, like, that was, I was like, you know those moments where your, your fingers are, like, millimeters from your needle, your face is, like, inches from your foot, and you’re like, you’re in it.

Caroline: You’re like, “Please, please, please, please, please work. Please work. Please work.”

Helen: Yeah. And it’s a short seam, but it’s, like, the most stressful experience of your life.

Caroline: Did you use clips or did you pin it? How did you attach, like, pre-sewing? How did you…

Helen: Yeah, I did use clips. And then, there, it was a bit wonky and I had to go back and, like, fix a couple areas to get it, to get it right. But yeah, that was the hardest part. And then you sew on the little, like, brim piece that kind of touches your face. Like, the inside of the hat has, like, a facing that touches your head.

Caroline: That’s the last thing you do?

Helen: Yeah, the last thing is a bit challenging. But like I said, I loved the pattern. This pattern is so good. It’s a pay-what-you-can pattern, too, which is awesome. And it has so much information in it, like so many different ways that you can finish the hat. There’s, like, all this information about the different materials that you need, different, like, styles that you can do for the back closure, different brim sizes. It’s, like, kids, youth and adults. It has all these different options. Highly recommend if you’re interested in making this style of hat, just ’cause it was perfect for me, having never made one before. I just read the whole instruction booklet and I was like, “Oh, this just, like, a font of information.” Incredible.

Caroline: Yeah. Oh, I’m, I’m looking at the examples on Rachael’s website and they’re very cool. I love, there’s, like, a cord version.

Helen: Yeah. So cute.

Caroline: Yeah. The way that you can mix colours or you just go simple, all the same colour, but those style lines really elevate it. You know, all that shaping is really cool.

Helen: Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, it’s a great pattern. I really liked it.

Caroline: Cute.

Helen: I’m just looking at my notes if there was anything else I wanted to say. Oh, don’t burn your fingers.

Caroline: Oh, okay.

Helen: ‘Cause I was using my tailor’s ham and my iron to, like, press all the rounded seams and it’s just, like, holding small pieces and holding a tailor’s ham and holding an iron…just be careful.

Caroline: You don’t have those little finger protectors?

Helen: I don’t. I should get some, but then I don’t know if I would wear them, honestly.

Caroline: I have a set of them for when I’m in that exact situation where it’s like, you just have to get in there with your fingers to get things to sit right. And the steam. And it’s like, usually once, I’ll, like, burn myself once and I’ll be like, “Ah, okay, go get the things.” But it’s like when a dog is wearing, like, socks, you know? Or like little booties. Like, it feels, you feel like you have two left hands. And then my fingers get really sweaty. So it’s, like, kind of an uncomfortable experience but I think it’s worth it to not just burn all of the tips of my fingers off. There’s, like, a special kind of hell with, like, steam burns, too. Like when you get…

Helen: So painful.

Caroline: Oh gosh. Yeah. So I would recommend those little finger sleeve things.

Helen: It probably would be good to have that. Yeah.

Caroline: Yeah. Sewing hats was really fun. I loved this project that we got to do, uh, for the pod, and I found it really satisfying. Like I said, my favourite thing is, like, a quick project, a quick win. And yeah, there is something to be said about being able to fit something to your head. You know, we haven’t really talked a lot about size inclusivity as far as heads go. But all heads are beautiful.

Helen: Even if hat patterns are often, like, not, like I made the largest size of this hat. I’m sure there’s people out there with bigger heads than me. But, but you can adjust the size. It’s, it’s not super hard to make it bigger if you need to. So, yeah, highly recommend making a hat. So much fun. Real good palate cleanser project. Real good scrap buster. It’s got it all, really, you know?

Caroline: Yeah, it really does. Alright, well we wanna hear what you’ve got to say about sewing hats. Tell us about your favourite hat making tips and resources. Tag us in your me-made hat posts on Instagram. We’ve got a love-hat relationship.

Helen: Nice one. My hat goes off to…no.

Caroline: Yeah, my hat goes out to you.

Helen: I really do wanna see everyone’s hats, though. And I’m so curious to know how big hat making is. Like are, are there people out there that just only make hats? I wanna hear from you. Tell me about it.

Caroline: Yeah, yeah. And go check out our socials this week. We’ll be, obviously, revealing our hats on there, so you gotta get the visual to go along with this episode.

Helen: Totally. That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me, Helen, at Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co. and Caroline at Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns. We’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Caroline: You can support Love to Sew and get access to bonus content by subscribing on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. You even get access to the back catalog of bonus episodes. That’s over 75 hours of Love to Sew. Go to patreon.com/lovetosew or check out our podcast page on Apple Podcasts for more info.

Helen: Head to lovetosewpodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures of our hats from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, leave us a message at 1-844-SEW-WHAT. That’s 1-844-739-9428. Or send us an email at [email protected].

Caroline: Thank you to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant and Jordan Moore of The Pod Cabin is our editor. And thank you all for listening. We’re gonna talk to you next week.

Helen: Bye bye.

Caroline: Bye.

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In this episode, we took the plunge and sewed our favourite fabrics into showstopper garments! We reveal them to each other for the first time and share the stories of where we got our fabrics, what the fitting and sewing process was like, and where we plan to wear our new clothes. Plus, we answer a listener question about altering a pants pattern from an elastic waist to a fitted waist and share another listener’s feedback about a futuristic zipper.

The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.

Show Notes: 

From the Listener Feedback and Questions Section:

Caroline’s Fruit Print Dress

A post shared by Claire Moskal (@clairemadeit)

Helen’s Jacquard Blazer

Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Caroline: Hello and welcome to Love To Sew. I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns.

Helen: And I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co.

Caroline: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew and it’s basically all we want to talk about.

Helen: The time has come! Today on the podcast, we are sewing the good fabric. As sewists, we cherish our beloved fabrics and sometimes we get a little too attached. How could we possibly cut into something so precious? Well, we took the plunge and sewed up our favourite fabrics, and we can’t wait to share them with you and with each other.

Caroline: Ooh! If you love to sew the good fabric, this is your show. Yay!

Helen: Yay!

Caroline: Okay. I am so excited to talk about what we made.

Helen: I know.

Caroline: But we have, we have things to say first. We have things to say.

Helen: Yes. Okay. As always, if you wanna support the show, the best way to do that is by joining us over on Patreon or Apple Podcast subscriptions. If you do that, you get access to bonus content every month. Caroline and I get together and we catch each other and you all up on everything that’s happening in our lives and in our businesses and what we’re sewing and pattern releases and movies we’ve seen and all sorts of stuff. It’s super fun and it means so much if you’re able to support us, even if it’s just for a month or two.

Caroline: Yeah. And if that’s not in the cards for you right now, we totally understand. Thank you so much for being here, for listening to the show, and for cheering us on. We love you guys.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: Thank you.

Caroline: Alright. We’re gonna kick off the show with some feedback. This is from Meghan. Meghan sent us an article called “The Zipper Is Getting Its First Major Upgrade in 100 Years” in Wired. YKK, the biggest zipper manufacturer, made a tape-free zipper. It’s called “AiryString,” and it’s lighter and more flexible than traditional zippers. You know how zipper tape can kind of stick out when you’re using flowy or stretchy fabrics, or when a garment fits really close to the body? The AiryString is supposed to eliminate that. The teeth are connected by links. YKK worked with Juki to design a new industrial machine to sew them on. I don’t know whether these can be attached by home sewing machine; it looks like the industrial machine is zigzagging between the teeth in a pattern that would be hard to replicate. But I bet it could be hand sewed. As far as I know, individual sewists can’t buy these zippers yet; they’re only available for clothing manufacturers. I have to admit, Helen, when I saw this article and I saw the pictures, I felt like we were living in the future a little bit. I was like, how is this, how does this even work? I don’t, I still don’t understand fully. It’s just a floating zipper tooth string.

Helen: Yeah, it is. It’s so funny, too, ’cause it’s like, “It’s getting its first major upgrade” and I looked at the picture, I’m like, “Well, that’s just a zipper with no tape on the sides.”

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: But I am very intrigued by how they’re gonna sew it on, like, this new machine sounds really cool. And it’ll be interesting to see if that gets adapted into home sewing machines at all, or what happens in the future.

Caroline: I just have questions. Like, how do you sew this on but then have it be attached to something while that, something not getting stuck in the zipper teeth when you open and close the zipper, you know?

Helen: Yeah, right? Fascinating.

Caroline: I need more information and I’m sure that will all come to light as this zipper becomes more mainstream. But we’re…

Helen: Um, AiryString, thank you.

Caroline: Sorry. We’re going to link the article for you all in the show notes for this episode so that you can take a look and decide what you think. Let us know.

Helen: Yeah. Very cool. And next up, we have a question from Amelia. Amelia writes, “Hey there! I recently saw a tutorial that Helen posted of how to edit the Falconer pants from a zipper fly to elastic waistband. I loved that idea and it made me wonder: if there was a pair of pants that are patterned for an elastic waistband but I wanted to have a zipper fly, do you think I could re-pattern it so it could have the fly instead? I have the pattern for the Topo Pants by Leila Makes but the elastic waist is not my favourite.” Ooh, cool question.

Caroline: Yeah. Thank you for writing to us, Amelia. This is definitely achievable, but it’s gonna take more work than making regular waist pants into elastic waist. But we’re gonna lay out some steps that you can follow to make this happen.

Helen: Yeah. First, you’re gonna wanna make a muslin of the pants pattern without the waistband. And instead of widening the pattern from the hip to the waist, you’re gonna be narrowing it. So you’re gonna pinch out the excess at each seam, front, back, and the side seams, so that it fits your waist measurement with enough ease for movement. And after you feel like you have the right fit from hips to waist, you can draft the waistband piece based on that new waist measurement. And you can also play with adding things like pleats and darts to get even more fitting at the waist instead of just using those four seams, ’cause that might not be enough.

Caroline: Definitely. And make sure to leave the front seam of your muslin open where the fly is gonna be so that you can get the muslin on and off your body. You can pin it along the seam line once you have them on, just to check the fit.

Helen: And make sure to move around in your muslin. You wanna bend, sit down, squat so that you know that you have enough ease to actually wear the pants.

Caroline: Yeah, pay attention to the grainline, as well, and the seams of your pants pieces as you’re pinching out and basting. They should all be going straight down your legs without curving or angling. It can be helpful to draw the grain line in the middle of each of the four pattern pieces in marker so that you can really see it.

Helen: And keep track of the changes you’re making to your muslin so you can transfer those changes to the paper pattern pieces in the end. I would suggest copying the fly pattern parts from another pattern just because that would be easier than drafting all of those fly pieces. But if you really wanna draft your own, we have a tutorial that will link up for you in the show notes.

Caroline: And it might be easier overall to mash up a couple of pants patterns to get the look that you want. You can trace off a fitted pants pattern from hip to crotch and blend it with the topo pattern from the crotch down. And then you can use the double fronts and patch pockets from the Topo. Plus, you’ll get that drawstring detail at the hem. If you want a similar back yoke to the Topo Pants, you can use the yoke pattern pieces as a template and trace it onto your fitted pants pattern.

Helen: Ooh! Totally. Okay. Good luck with this project, Amelia. Such a great idea. Anything is possible in sewing, you know? If you, you’re like, “I wonder if I could do this?” The answer is “Yes.” It just takes a little finagling, a little experimentation. You could do it.

Caroline: It’s the beauty of sewing. Anything is possible. Alright, Helen, should we get into the show?

Helen: Yes, please.

Caroline: Okay, well, in case you all don’t already know: in our We Sew episodes, we each sew a project according to a theme, and then we reveal them to each other on the podcast. It’s thrilling for us and hopefully you, as well. And the theme this time around is “the good fabric.” So, it’s a common thing among sewists to save your favourite fabrics for the perfect time. The problem is, the perfect time might never come. And then your coolest fabrics are just sitting in your stash. So a lot of sewists like to say, “Sew the good fabric!” and that’s just what we did.

Helen: Yeah, it was such a fun opportunity to look through my fabric stash and gather a few pieces that I would consider to fit this mould of “the good fabric.” But it also got me thinking about all the different ways that one could interpret this idea of “the good fabric.” There’s fabric you picked up on vacation. There’s fabric you received as a gift. There’s fabric you got from your parents or your grandparents. There’s just beautiful fabric you bought at the store that you think is so pretty, you can’t cut it.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: It just runs the gamut. There’s so many different kinds of good fabric out there.

Caroline: I feel like, for me, it’s either something that’s really expensive that feels like it holds a lot of value, or something that I know I cannot get again, mainly, like, deadstock things. Those are some of the things that I hold onto the most, is like, if I know, even if I searched high and low, I would never be able to find this again. That makes it “good” for me and it makes me not want to touch it and to kind of, like, treat it really carefully and make sure that I am doing it justice.

Helen: Totally. I think like a lot of the pieces I pulled when I was looking at my good fabric were very unique, too. Like, they weren’t solids, they were like flashier things, more interesting prints that you wouldn’t necessarily see on the day to day, more exciting colours that you don’t encounter, like some kind of, like, weave that was really interesting. I consider those fabrics to be more precious, just ’cause they’re more exciting, I guess.

Caroline: A hundred percent. Yeah. And actually, when I was thinking about this challenge, I thought that you might pick something that you got on vacation. ‘Cause I know you’ve purchased some beautiful fabrics on vacation before. So I’m, like, so excited even just to know what fabric you picked.

Helen: I know, I’m so excited to share. I think we should talk about the fabric first and kind of reveal that to each other, and then we’ll talk about what we made with it and we can do a second reveal.

Caroline: Okay. I love this. We’re doing this in stages. Okay. Do you want to go first?

Helen: Sure. Okay.

Caroline: Ooh, wait. Wow!

Helen: Okay, I’m gonna talk about it while you look. So when I was looking at all these fabrics I could choose from, I realized that I was most scared to cut into a couple of fabrics that I’ve gotten at the thrift store over the years. These feel really precious to me because they’re really unique pieces, one-of-a-kind, like, off-chance that you were there that day, you saw this fabric, you bought it, who knows what its story is, you know, like, that’s exciting, too. So I ended up choosing this piece of upholstery fabric. I think it was a curtain ’cause it has, like, tassels along each end. And it’s kind of like a big wide panel, basically. And it’s really gorgeous. But I will say, it is also kind of fraying. It was a little worse for wear. It smelled kind of bad. Like, it’s not by any means, like, you know, super fancy, but it is, like, a jacquard weave and it has these gold lilies on it. Like, they’re actual metallic thread lilies. They’re really shiny. The background’s kind of a cream colour and then there are vines and leaves between the gold lilies and they’re also metallic greens and reds. It almost has, like, an Art Nouveau feel to it. And because it’s a jacquard, the back’s also really pretty. It’s more of, like, a red background with pink lilies. And part of what has always paralyzed me about using this fabric is that I love both sides and I could never choose which side I wanted to use. But for this episode, I was like, “I’m sewing this fabric. I have to pick one.” So I went with the “right side” of the fabric, which is the gold lily side.

Caroline: Okay. This is really in your colour wheelhouse, too. I feel like it’s gonna incorporate really well with the rest of your wardrobe. Okay. I have to say, I’m super surprised. This is not what I was expecting.

Helen: You could not have predicted this.

Caroline: You totally threw me a curveball here. I can’t wait to see what you made with it. Can I give you my thoughts on what I would make with this fabric?

Helen: Ooh, I would love that.

Caroline: Okay. I think I would do some sort of jacket or coat or, like, shacket situation, like a, like an oversized thing. And use, potentially use the tassels somewhere.

Helen: Ooh. Mmhmm. The tassels are very intriguing. They’re, like, made up of the fabric that was woven to make the jacquard. So they kind of continue off the end and then they’re, like, very loose thread kind of tassels. They’re not, like, corded tassels. And a lot of them were very tangled and kind of mangled, so…

Caroline: So you would’ve needed to, like, brush them out and stuff?

Helen: Yeah, right. Yeah. It is upholstery fabric, so it’s quite stiff. It frays like crazy. It feels like polyester. So that’s another reason I’ve never made anything out of it, because that’s intimidating. Like, what do you make with something like that?

Caroline: We also didn’t even determine, like, if these episodes need to be garments. Like, our…like, you could have gone total curveball and made a home decor item with this.

Helen: That’s true. I could have. I could hang it up and just be like, “I made a curtain.”

Caroline: Like, it’s about sewing the good fabric. We’re not saying what you’re sewing with it, so…

Helen: That’s true.

Caroline: This could be anything. Wow. I can’t wait to see what you made.

Helen: Yeah, I know. I’m so excited to share. One other thing I wanted to mention about this fabric is that the price tag was still on it when I pulled it out of my stash, and I only paid $12.99 for this.

Caroline: I know. That’s so funny ’cause I was like, “It’’s the expensive fabric” and you came in with, like, a Value Village thrifted find. Which is amazing. I love that.

Helen: Yeah, the good fabric doesn’t have to be the expensive fabric, but it also often is, so, whatever.

Caroline: Okay. I don’t have a video of my fabric, I just have a picture and I’m really curious if you’re gonna recognize it.

Helen: Ooh, I do recognize it. Okay. I don’t remember when you guys had this fabric. But this is gorgeous.

Caroline: So this, the name of it is the Designer Dead Stock Fruit Bowl Cotton Sateen. So it’s a hundred percent cotton and it’s a sateen weave, so it has a little bit of a subtle sheen to it, but it’s not too shiny ’cause it’s cotton. I got this from Blackbird in April 2021, so it’s been in my stash for over four years. And I love how striking the print is. It is directional. So that was something that I had to keep in mind. But it has this, like, subtle watercolour look and really brightly coloured bananas. The other fruit are a mystery to me. I think it’s, like, plums. There’s maybe some cherries and then a mystery, like, orange-red fruit. I don’t know. What do you think that is?

Helen: Um, like kumquat, maybe?

Caroline: Maybe. Yeah, like, some kind of interesting fruit that I, I’m not super familiar with.

Helen: It almost looks like a grape tomato, but it has a stem on it, so I feel like it’s not a grape tomato.

Caroline: Yeah, it’s, like, a sort of oval-shaped, reddish-orange fruit or potentially vegetable of some kind. Anyways, I really love this print. I’ve had it in my stash, obviously, for a while, and when I bought it I knew I wanted to make something really special with it. And I think that the main reason why I’ve been saving it is just ’cause it’s, like, so unique and I know I can’t get it again. So I’ve really been saving it for the right moment.

Helen: It’s so pretty. Mm. Oh my gosh. I’m so excited to see what you did with this. This is also not your wheelhouse, colour- and print-wise. Like, it’s pretty bold. This is, this is more my street.

Caroline: I know, I know, I know. And I can’t wait to tell you where I am hoping or when I’m hoping to wear what I made with this fabric.

Helen: Ooh. I have an idea. We’ll find out. Cute.

Caroline: Oh, okay. So should we reveal our makes?

Helen: Yes. Okay. Why don’t you go first. I’m absolutely dying to see what you made with this.

Caroline: I’m gonna send you…

Helen: Especially these bananas. Were you worried about where to place these bananas?

Caroline: I tried not to overthink it too much.

Helen: Ooh, A closeup. A little wiggle. Ah! Oh my gosh. It’s so pretty. Wait, I recognize this dress. I feel like I know which pattern this is

Caroline: So this is the Elbe Textiles Gibbons Slip Dress.

Helen: Yes, Gibbons Slip.

Caroline: It’s a bias-cut dress with a deep V in the front and a higher V in the back. I made view A, which is a midi length, but I used view B’S neckline, which originally has buttons up the middle. But I omitted the buttons and I instead did a tie, which is a hack that I’ve seen around Instagram. I believe Claire from @clairemadeit did it, and then a couple of other people were inspired by her and did it.

Helen: Cool. Yeah, it’s really cute.

Caroline: So I really loved that hack. So it’s fully bias cut and I really do love it so much. I’m so happy with it. I made a whole muslin and we’ll, we can talk about that journey in a second. But it turned out really, really well and I think it, it fits. All the adjustments that I made were, were great, so it fits really well.

Helen: Yeah, it’s hot, hot, hot, girl! It is so cute. And the pattern placement’s perfect. And it looks so good on you.

Caroline: Yeah. Not too bad, right? And I mean, it was, the pattern placement was, I didn’t think about it too much ’cause it was bias-cut, too. So I kind of, like, I only had, I think, three meters, which was enough, but I couldn’t really be choosy about how I placed my pieces. So I had to kind of go with it, you know?

Helen: So cute. Oh, it’s really gorgeous. And this bright, bold print really looks fantastic on you. It’s so, so pretty.

Caroline: Thank you. Thank you. I know, I’m so pleased that I was kind of, like, forced to sew this fabric up ’cause it’s been in my stash for a long time and I often pull it out and look at it and think about what I would make. And yeah. This pattern, as well, is one of those patterns that I’ve sort of had my eye on, waiting for the right moment exactly. And this was the moment, so.

Helen: Amazing. So cute. I love it. Okay. I can’t wait to hear more. Should we do my reveal?

Caroline: I wanna, I wanna do your reveal and then let’s get into the nitty gritty.

Helen: Okay, love it. Sending.

Caroline: Ah! Oh my gosh!

Helen: You totally nailed it with the jacket.

Caroline: Yes. It’s a blazer!

Helen: It is.

Caroline: Helen! Oh my gosh.

Helen: Not me wearing a blazer.

Caroline: Not you wearing a blazer for your work-from-home life. Look at those buttons. They’re so beautiful. Wait, what pattern is this?

Helen: Okay. So I made the Heather Blazer by Friday Pattern Co., which is kind of a community TNT, a classic, and I can totally see why. It’s my first time making it. But it’s such a simple blazer pattern. It has minimal shaping, minimal details, and I, I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just really straightforward and it gets the blazer job done quick and easy. Like, if you wanna try a blazer, this is the one. Super fast to sew. But it has a lining and it has just a nice shape to it and it really, yeah, gets the job done.

Caroline: Look at your pattern placement.

Helen: Thank you.

Caroline: It’s so good.

Helen: Yeah, I had so much fun deciding where to put all those pretty gold lilies. And I ended up making a blazer ’cause I wanted a structured jacket but I was a little worried about the fabric, the fraying, the way the pattern would look if I cut it up into small pieces. So The Heather Blazer caught my eye because it’s so simple. Front, back, sleeves. And the pockets are patch pockets. So that was preferable to me to, than welt pockets, ’cause of the fraying.

Caroline: Yeah. And you’re not breaking up the pattern too much with the different pieces.

Helen: Yeah. But it did come with a lining, which I wanted, because the fabric’s kind of rough and scratchy. So I wanted to have a nice, soft, slippy lining.

Caroline: I have to toot your toot for a second because you perfectly mirrored the lilies on the collar, on the pocket. Like, you’ve cut it out so beautifully,

Helen: Thank you!

Caroline: Like, it’s such a simple pattern; it was crafted so well. I love the contrast of the, you use the backside for the underside of the collar so you can pop your collar and see that little pop of maroon. It’s beautiful. And the structure of the fabric works so well with this pattern.

Helen: Yeah, I think so, too. It really worked out. And I said on a recent episode that I wish I was a blazer girl ’cause I really like the look, but I have nowhere to wear them. So this was kind of, I was like, after I said that on the show, I was like, well, I might as well just, I should just make a blazer, ’cause why not? And it doesn’t necessarily have to be something I’d wear every day. And this fabric screams special occasion, holiday, like, fancy night out kind of vibe. So it’s not something you’re gonna wear every day anyways. So it’s perfect for this kind of project.

Caroline: I also feel like this fabric can lean almost, like, art teacher vibe. Like, I think if you styled it with a lot of, like, earth tones and even, like, layered over, like, looser silhouettes, like, it could work maybe for more of a casual look. It really suits you. I love it. I love it. It’s so cute.

Helen: Thank you. I am really happy with how it turned out. It was really fun to use this fabric, finally, and to bring it to life in this jacket. I feel like it still captures the curtain upholstery vibe somehow. It’s, like, the maroon lining and the gold button. It’s giving, like,

Caroline: Yes, it so is. Yes. Oh my gosh. It’s really cool. It’s really cool. I can’t wait to hear about how this pattern went for you and your fitting journey and all of that.

Helen: Yeah, same. Okay, let’s get into that. Why don’t you start and tell me about your process from the beginning and the fitting and everything.

Caroline: Yes. Okay, so I did make a muslin for this. Originally, I was like, I’m just gonna do, like, a quick and dirty muslin of just the top ’cause I wanted to make sure that the chest fit well. However, when I thought about it, like, the way that bias cut dresses hang, like, the weight of the fabric pulls everything down. And I wanted to also use a fabric that would be comparable to, like, drape-wise to the fabric that I was using. I needed something drapey. Ultimately, I decided to sew a full other dress in nice fabric because I was like, “If it works, I can wear this again.” And I didn’t want to cut corners and I didn’t wanna use muslin fabric. I wanted to, like, use something that was a little drapier. So I went with one of our gingham yarn dyed linens. I didn’t take a picture of it, but it did have some fit issues. So I don’t know. I’m gonna need to do some work on it if I want to actually wear it out, but it was good. I will say, like, the first try on, I was like, “Oh, I don’t know if I like this.” I was stressing a little bit about it. So I’ll tell you the adjustments that I made initially, like, right from the jump. I graded between sizes. So I graded, I can’t remember, ‘cause they’re letter sizes, so I can’t remember what size, but I think I graded two sizes between my bust and then, like, one size up for the waist and then two sizes up for the hip. So I was, like, spanning four sizes. And you know when you grade between sizes on a side seam that’s sort of, has like a hip dip curve? It can be really easy to end up with a big hump on your hips, like, on the side seam where it’s like…every body is so different. It’s really hard to, like, eyeball that, you know?

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: So when I first tried it on, it was, like, really loose around my hips. And because it’s bias cut, that adds to the, like…fabric just doesn’t behave the way that you think it will when it’s cut on the bias. Yeah. Like, when you’re holding it up, it, it can like stretch so much width-wise, but then when it’s on the body it sort of hangs down and you don’t really know where things are gonna fall, exactly. So right away I took in the side seams where that hump was, and I basically just eliminated the hip, I keep calling it a hump, but…

Helen: The curve.

Caroline: The hip curve. My hump!

Helen: I eliminated the humps.

Caroline: And then I also, a very, very standard adjustment for me, I took in a little bit in the, like, arm, underarm kind of side seam area, ’cause I always have a bit of gaping there. So I did that quick adjustment. I tried it on; it still wasn’t quite right. And again, like, bias cut, it’s hard. So I ended up making a bunch of adjustments to the pattern and then I just, like, went for it. ‘Cause I was like, I’m just gonna, like, let go and let God and, like, hope that it’s, like, worth the good fabric.

Helen: Good for you. With the good fabric.

Caroline: With the good fabric. So I took out a wedge in the back neck line ’cause my back neck line was sort of, like, gaping a little bit. I shortened the shoulders, so, ’cause they were, felt a little bit loose. I ended up just making the whole skirt more A-line. So instead of, like, a curved side seam, I just, like, brought it out straight from the waistline. I also, and this adjustment I should make on all bias-cut things and I, I always forget, but I actually dipped the back hemline down an extra inch to accommodate my bum. ‘Cause I find, especially with bias-cut garments, because of the way it falls and because of my larger bum, like, things just sit higher in the back. And so my hemline kind of goes up in the back. So adding that extra inch really actually fixed that completely. And it was just, like, I just kind of curved down that hem line, like, in a really kind of natural way. And I lengthened it. I think I just lengthened the whole thing by a couple inches. But yeah, and all those adjustments, like, miraculously worked.

Helen: Thank goodness.

Caroline: And I think maybe also, like, the print and the fabric itself worked better for the pattern. I do like, I love our yarn-dyed linens, but with a bias cut and the gingham, it kind of, like, distorts it almost. And because it’s so fitted, it makes, like, everything show. Like, I don’t know, it just, like, wasn’t quite working for me. And maybe the colour I picked, that, like, artichoke colour, that’s like cream with, like, a dark green, and maybe it felt like it kind of washed me out. So anyways, the final version, like, everything came together and it worked really well. And then the modification to the pattern, just, like, the hack that I did, was basically eliminating, I think there was like four buttons down the front with like little loops that you insert into the binding, I just fully took those out and then, then I just made long bias-cut ties with extra bias binding. And I just sort of sandwiched those in right where it curves at the top. And then just tie that. So it was a really easy modification.

Helen: Cute. I really like that front bow. It’s so sweet.

Caroline: Yes. I know. I really love it, too. It’s, I love a bow. I’ve been sewing so many bows into my clothes these days.

Helen: Yeah,

Caroline: But yeah, I, I really love how it turned out. It was definitely, like, tricky to work with the fabric, tricky to, to sew binding, so much binding on this pattern.

Helen: A lot of binding. And the, like, bias on the fabric itself, too. So it’s just bias everything.

Caroline: Yeah, but I just really took my time and it wasn’t as slippery as, like, a satin would be ’cause it was cotton. So yeah, overall, I think it went really, really well and came together. But yeah. I wanna know, how did it go for you? What was your fitting experience like?

Helen: Well, I did make a muslin. I feel like sewing the good fabric, you know, I, you kind of, you don’t have to, but…

Caroline: You gotta.

Helen: But you gotta. So I did make a muslin. I was between sizes and that meant that I was actually between ranges because I was at the top end of the smaller range and the bottom end of the larger range. So I decided to go up and do the larger range and I made a muslin of the 1X size and it fit really well. It was a little bit big so I took it in slightly at the hips. And then I just went with that because I wanted a roomy feel. And I knew I’d probably wear this mostly in the winter time because, again, for me it just feels like holiday, feels like fancy, New Year’s kind of vibe. So maybe that’s just ’cause that’s what, what’s coming up, too. So I’m imagining wearing it that time of year and I’d probably have a sweater on underneath or something. So I thought oversized would be good. And also oversized blazers are always cool, right? Might as well go too big than tight.

Caroline: Yeah. I was gonna say, it’s already, like, a boxy style, so it makes sense to size up instead of size down. Yeah.

Helen: Yeah, so that was easy. That was really the only modification I made. Again, it’s a pretty straightforward pattern, so it was relatively easy to do a quick muslin and just have a look and make sure that it was all good. And I didn’t even lengthen it. It actually felt like the right length in the muslin, so I didn’t add length. I am pretty tall. I’m almost 5’10” and I didn’t feel like I needed to add any length to it. So that was kind of nice not to have to do that adjustment, but do know that this blazer’s a little bit long. But I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t have to do much fitting on it and I could just get right into cutting out my jacket and working on all of that nice pattern matching.

Caroline: Yeah. So how did you do the pattern matching? Did you just cut flat and cut, like, one side and then flip it, line it up and cut the other side, like, as a mirror?

Helen: Exactly. And it was such a big piece, like, it was at least like 70 inches wide. Like, it was not a standard fabric. Obviously, it’s a big curtain panel, so I had lots to work with and I could easily, like, mirror the front and back. So yeah, I cut flat and I was really careful about placing the lilies. Like, I knew I wanted a lily around the buttonhole area. And then I wanted a lily on each of the lapels and the collars and the pockets. So that was kind of my main goal. I focused mostly on the front. I was not as successful with pattern matching the back ’cause it’s, like, a curved blazer seam and, like, curves at the neck and it curves at the waist….

Caroline: Right.

Helen: And so things got a little distorted back there. But it still looks pretty good. Like, it was not so bad. I think, sometimes, with pattern matching, you just have to pick your battles, decide which area you’re gonna care about, and then not everything is gonna be perfect. But I am really happy with how all of those lilies look, especially the ones on the lapel. It just, like, there’s like a swoopy vine that comes up from the lapel and it looks so good.

Caroline: It’s so pretty. Yeah.

Helen: I really like that. And then I did add the lining. And I’m not really a lining sewist. Like, I historically just avoid them. I don’t like sewing them. We don’t have any patterns with linings.

Caroline: Oh, wow!

Helen: I know.

Caroline: Even your jacket, the Spindrift, even?

Helen: Spindrift, no. Unlined. All our jackets are all unlined ‘cause it’s Helen’s Closet and that’s what I like, baby. No, I do. We’ve done a, a couple hacks on how to line our patterns but I’ve never done, included a lining. And we’re actually working on a jacket pattern right now that does have a lining. So it was fun to sew up this blazer, too, and do the whole lining. And I do love a lined piece, like, especially a jacket. That luxurious feel of a slippery lining and you put it on and just the way it finishes all the seams and encloses everything. And I even enjoy the process of, like, bagging a coat and, like, birthing it out the little coat hole. Like, that’s fun. I don’t know what it is. I have this, like, block in my brain with linings. Or I’m like, “Oh, it has a lining? I don’t wanna do it. I don’t wanna do that.”

Caroline: It does just feel like an extra step, even though when you don’t line something, you have to finish all the seams really nicely on the inside. Lining allows you to not do that. But it just feels like, well, I have to get a whole other fabric. I have to cut out so many more pieces.

Helen: Yeah, and more pattern pieces, too. Like, as a pattern designer, it’s like a whole other set of pattern pieces.

Caroline: Oh gosh. And more pages to print and, yeah. Totally.

Helen: Yeah. It can feel like a lot. So I, I do feel like I’m growing as a sewist because I am appreciating linings more and more. And we’re gonna start adding them into our patterns, so I’m excited about that.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: Not coming for linings. But I’m sure there are people out there who can relate to my feeling of not wanting to bother.

Caroline: Yeah, I think so, too. So how did you handle, you mentioned this fabric was really fraying a lot. How did you handle that in your sewing process and, like, because it’s lined, did you leave those inner seams unfinished? Or did you finish them, like…?

Helen: I decided pretty early on to serge all of the edges of all of the outer pieces because they were just, like, falling apart and, like, the gold thread was like coming out, especially ’cause it was, like, I dunno, it was almost like plastic, like, it was just kind of popping out. And so I realized that I had to serge everything, which made me feel confident in the final piece because, even though it’s lined, I know that everything on the inside is secure because I serged all those edges. So I don’t have to worry about it unraveling over time. So I think that was a really good way to approach it. And I was also pleasantly surprised with this fabric, that it did press. I was worried it was gonna be, like, a nightmare at the iron with polyester fabric. Sometimes they just don’t hold a crease at all. I had to be careful with the heat, of course. I used my press cloth. I was careful not to burn the gold threads. But it did hold a press. I was able to get it to actually hold creases and I was able to put some interfacing on the lapel and stuff, so that was really good. It was better than expected in that regard.

Caroline: Yeah. A hundred percent. No, that makes a lot of sense. And I, I’m glad you did that ’cause I was like, I’m worried about the fraying on the inside of the jacket, just hearing about it.

Helen: I know, is it just gonna fall apart on the inside? It’s, you’re better safe than sorry. Right? Like, if you think it might fray, just do something about that now. ‘Cause it probably will.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah.

Helen: Did you add any, like, special details when you were sewing your project that you wanted to mention?

Caroline: No, not really. I feel like the design of the dress itself is, like, special, and I really took my time with doing all of the binding. One of the tips I wanted to share was just, when you’re working with a natural fiber, not to overlook, like, finger pressing. I did so much finger pressing with this make because I, there’s so much binding. And it’s like, you sew on the binding and then you understitch it and then you fold it over and then you stitch it again. And, like, there’s just so much pressing involved and it’s very fiddly and if you just use the heat of your fingers and rub the area that you would normally press with your iron, it can really work on, like, a viscose or a cotton, I’ve found. And so I did a lot of that. And linen, too. I did a lot of that for this project where, basically the whole neckline, I finger pressed everything until the final step when it was all done. And then I gave it a good steamy press with my iron and I think it worked really well. I think my binding looks, like, pretty perfect. And then the other tip I wanted to share was: I did the, like, serger method for the baby hem. I feel like tiny little, like, rolled hems, especially on bias-cut fabrics, can be tricky. And so I just, like, finished the edge with my serger and then I used the width of the serger stitch as a guide when I was folding up my hem. So I actually didn’t do it like the quarter inch. I went a little bit more. But it was just so much easier to eyeball it with that serger there. So I did, like, the width of the serger plus, like, a couple extra millimeters and folded that up, pressed it, folded it again, using that first press line as a guide. And it worked really well. And then, you know, a steamy press and it didn’t feel like it stretched out or anything. I think the hem looks really good. So those are two kind of, like, working with trickier fabric bias-cut things that I, I tried out and I thought worked really, really well.

Helen: Yeah, I like doing that too. Adding a little serging along a hem just gives it a bit more structure…

Caroline: Mmhmm.

Helen: And gives you something to hold onto. It makes it easier to handle.

Caroline: Yeah, totally. But no, it was pretty straightforward. I just really tried to take my time so that the finished garment was, like, really nicely finished. And I was really proud of it ’cause it feels just, like, a special, special piece.

Helen: Yeah. It’s nice to take your time when you’re working with a special fabric. You don’t wanna rush and then have regrets about the areas that you could have done a little bit better.

Caroline: Yeah, exactly. What about you? Did you add any, other than your beautiful pattern placement, did you add any special details?

Helen: Extra details. The only things I did a little differently was the undercollar. You mentioned this already, but I put the reverse side of the fabric on the undercollar because I really loved both sides of this fabric and I was kind of heartbroken that I didn’t figure out a way to use both of them in the project or that I couldn’t have a jacket that was both of them. And I had thought about maybe making, like, the upper collar and the lapel, the, the underside as well. But when I kind of mocked that up, just holding it up in my body, it looked a little clownish. So I was like, “I can’t have both. I have to pick one.” And just having it on the undercollar is a nice way for me to have that fabric visible so I can still see how beautiful it is, even though I ended up going with the other side. And yeah, I’m happy with that little detail. I really like a, a pop of colour on the undercollar. It’s one of my favourite things to do in sewing.

Caroline: It is very cute. Even in shirtmaking, I think it’s a really fun detail.

Helen: Totally. I also did lined pockets. They’re patch pockets on the front, so they don’t need to have a lining, but because it was such, like, kind of scratchy material, I thought it’d be nice to put, I just underlined them with the rayon Bemberg that I used for the lining on the jacket so that when I put my hand in it’s, like, smooth inside.

Caroline: Nice. Okay, I was gonna ask you what you used for your lining and how was that Bemberg to work with? Because I have come to kind of hate working with rayon Bemberg after using it to line a few things. It’s just so slippery and it’s so shifty when you’re cutting and it just feels like it never wants to behave.

Helen: Yeah. It’s wild. You, you lie, you lay it out perfectly. You, like, do all this work and you’re like, “Okay, you’re good, right? You’re good?” And you cut it out and then you hold up the pattern piece and it’s like, mrgh!

Caroline: I know. I was gonna say, you just have to, like, breathe on it and it, like, shifts outta place. Like, it’s so airy and so delicate.

Helen: Yeah. But it’s so breathable and it’s so smooth. Like, I, a polyester lining is also good but, like, I like something that has a bit more breathability and, like, I don’t know. Rayon Bemberg is the one I always go with. Not that I do a ton of linings, as I mentioned, but when I do line something, I tend to go with rayon Bemberg. And I did find it not too bad for this project. It was a more simple construction so I was able to pull it off without too many issues. But I definitely had some wonky or questionable areas where I was like, “I’m just gonna sew this together and assume that it’s gonna be fine.”

Caroline: Yeah. Honestly, I do often, like, when a pattern piece…maybe I shouldn’t say this, but you know what, I’m just gonna say it. When a pattern piece shifts and you hold it up and you’re like, you know, the “mrgh” thing where you’re like, “Oh god…”

Helen: It’s off-grain or it’s wobbly. Yeah.

Caroline: I usually don’t recut. I’m usually like, let’s just go with it. And I can’t really recall a time when, like, after the fact I’ve regretted not re… like, I just think it usually works out.

Helen: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I’m sure, to a point, it has to be, like, good enough for it to work out. But yes, I agree. I rarely recut, too. I just kind of am like, “Okay, well this should be, this’ll be fine.”

Caroline: Especially in a lining. Like, linings get so, like, sweaty and wrinkly and they just kind of, like, they’re just in there. They’re just doing their thing. They’re serving their purpose. They don’t need to be perfect. Nobody sees them.

Helen: They can get, like, a little bit wonky in there.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: It’s no big deal. No, it was fussy though. But it was worth it. ‘Cause it’s this, like, gorgeous, deep,red wine, burgundy colour and it just feels so luxurious. I love it so much.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. I like that it picks up that burgundy that you didn’t quite get to use.

Helen: And then the final detail I did was the button, which, there’s only one button on the Heather Blazer, which, amazing. Love that.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And so I thought, “Oh, wouldn’t it be fun to use, like, a novelty button?” And you know when you go to the fabric store and they have, like, normal buttons, and then for some reason they have, like, a few normal buttons and then they have, like, a thousand weird buttons?

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And I’m like, “I finally get to pick from the weird button area!”

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: And like, I went to the rack that has all the metal buttons on it, and they all have, like, lions and, and sword fighters and stuff. Like, they’re so crazy. And I always, I remember when I was a kid, I always loved looking at the buttons at fabric stores because they’re so cool to look at. There’s so many different kinds, especially these metal ones. So I was very excited to finally get to select one of those big honking metal buttons and stick it on my jacket.

Caroline: It’s so cute. Yeah. Remind me what is on this button.

Helen: I think it, uh, it is, like, a griffin. Like a, like a lion. Yeah. So much fun. It goes with the vibe of the gold lilies.

Caroline: Okay. Paint a picture of how you will style this when you wear it.

Helen: Ooh, yes. Okay. I think I’ll probably wear it…I put on an outfit in the video that I think works with this. High wasted pants, probably my Falconer Pants, and then, like, a cute solid coloured top, maybe ’cause I’m imagining winter, like, a turtleneck or something that comes up a bit higher. I think that it would look so cute with a scarf, too. Like a big, like, burgundy scarf would really add to this whole smoking jacket vibe. But an outfit that really lets the blazer shine, literally. And something a little bit more dressy, you know, ’cause I’m imagining wearing this out. When I was making it I was thinking, “Where am I gonna wear this?” And I kept thinking of this theater in town, our, like, main theater. It’s called the Sid Williams Theater. And people get dressed up to go to shows there, even though you don’t have to get dressed up. But like you’re going to the theater. And it’s always fun to see everybody wearing something that’s a little more dressy, a little more formal at events when we go there. So this is my Sid Williams Theater jacket.

Caroline: Do you, do you own, like, a velvet, like, a maroon velvet garment of some kind? Am I imagining that?

Helen: Like a outerwear?

Caroline: No, like a dress or something like…like a stretch velvet. Do you have a stretch velvet something?

Helen: Oh, I have a stretchy, I made a Jackson Tee out of, like, pink velvet.

Caroline: Oh, okay. So I’m like, I feel like this would look really fun with velvet.

Helen: Yeah, it would, and that could all, I think that could work, actually. That pink would probably look really good with it.

Caroline: Mmhmm.

Helen: Ooh, hot tip. I love it.

Caroline: Yeah. It’s so cute. I can’t wait to see you going to the theater in this blazer.

Helen: Yeah, it’s definitely a theater jacket or like a dinner jacket. But like you said, I think one could style it more casually. Go to Costco or something.

Caroline: I think you’d be the best-dressed gal in Costco.

Helen: Hell yeah. I do think this is one of those garments that will get a lot of compliments. Like, it really stands out and it’s so shiny and satisfying to look at. So I think it’ll be really fun to wear.

Caroline: Yeah, totally.

Helen: How about you? Tell me about where you’re planning to wear this dress.

Caroline: Okay, so when I was debating what fabric to use, I really wasn’t sure if I was gonna go with this one ’cause it feels so out of season. I was like, “I’m not gonna be able to wear this this winter.” Like, it’s a bright blue fruit print. Like, when am I gonna wear, it’s a bias cut sleeveless dress, like, when will I wear…this is a summer dress. And then I thought to myself, “I have an event to go to next summer. Somebody’s wedding! And wouldn’t it be so great if I’m not sewing my outfit for the wedding the day before I have to leave?”

Helen: You’re already dressed for my wedding. That’s amazing. Almost a year ahead of schedule.

Caroline: I know. So at the back of my mind, I was like, “If this works out, I feel like this would be the perfect”…also, it’s such a you fabric. I was like, “I feel like this would be the perfect dress to wear to your wedding.” So we’ll see if I actually end up wearing it or if I come up with some other idea before…

Helen: Yeah. You might feel inspired the month of…

Caroline: Yeah. But I have this new dress to wear to your wedding! and it goes really nicely with my wedding shoes actually. I have this like cream pair of like little kind of wedges with a really pretty like detail. so I tried it on with that and I was like, I can picture it now. I can picture going to your wedding in this dress, so…

Helen: Oh, I love it.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: That’s so special. Also, side note: I don’t know if our main podcast listeners know about my wedding.

Caroline: Wait, did I just spoil it?

Helen: No, it’s not a spoiler. I’m happy to tell people…

Caroline: No!

Helen: But I think we might’ve only told people on Patreon.

Caroline: I’m so sorry, Helen. That was your news to share.

Helen: It’s all good. I haven’t really given it much thought about, like, announcing it and this is perfect. So I’m, I’m getting married next summer!

Caroline: Rewind. Helen, do you have any news to share with our listeners?

Helen: So Sam and I, after 15 blissful years of being practically married, have decided to get actually married.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: And we’re having our wedding next summer, so, in August. I’m so excited. It’s gonna be a little garden party wedding at my friend’s place. And it’s gonna be really special and fun. And that’s all I have for now. I’m probably gonna make my dress, so stay tuned for that.

Caroline: I am so excited for this. I thought my wedding years were over. I, I, everybody I know who could get married was married. I thought it was never gonna happen. ‘Cause you guys have been engaged since I met you.

Helen: Surprise! I know. And I didn’t think, I wasn’t sure if we were ever gonna do it, so it’s exciting to finally be taking the full plunge.

Caroline: Yeah. We’re thrilled. We’re so, so, so excited to come. I know your wedding’s gonna be amazing and, yeah, I can’t wait to hear about your potential wedding dress sewing journey. I know everyone that’s listening is probably dying to know what you’re gonna make, so you’ll have to share it with us.

Helen: I know, I probably should start. I should get started on that, right?

Caroline: I mean, I’m the wrong person to ask. I finished my wedding dress a month before my wedding.

Helen: Oh, Caroline, I have a great idea for our We Sew episode next spring: We Sew Our Own Wedding Dresses.

Caroline: I was gonna say, We Sew Your Wedding Dress.

Helen: Yeah, exactly. Perfect. It will be all the motivation I need.

Caroline: It’ll be the sisterhood of the traveling wedding dress sewing. Just tell me what you need and I’ll make it.

Helen: That would be so fun. Imagine if we got a bunch of like community folks together to pass along a wedding dress.

Caroline: Oh my gosh.

Helen: That’s really cute, though. I’m so happy that you made this dress thinking of my wedding as a place to wear it. That’s so special.

Caroline: Me too. No, I’m so, I’m so happy and I’m, gosh, it feels good to get something done ahead of time, so.

Helen: That’s amazing. How does it feel to have sewn the good fabric? Do you have any regrets? Any post finishing the project feelings of using it up?

Caroline: I have zero regrets. I’m so happy we did this episode. I wanna do it again every season, honestly. ‘Cause I have more fabrics in my stash that I could have used. And yeah, no, absolutely no regrets. It was super fun and I love how it turned out. And I think, even if it hadn’t worked out, it still would’ve felt like a little weight off my shoulders of like, okay. It’s, like, fulfilled its destiny. This fabric, it’s been used. I got to experience it and like that feels good. That feels great.

Helen: Yeah. It does feel so good. I’ve had this curtain in my stash for, like, eight years, probably. So it feels really good to finally have made something with it. I definitely don’t feel regret. I just feel, like, free.

Caroline: Yeah, right? It is. There’s, like, a relief with, like, using it. I wanna encourage any and all of our listeners, like, if you’re saving fabric, just sew with it. Just use it. It’s there to be used and enjoyed. And you can learn from it even if it, the project isn’t exactly what you thought it would be. Like, we always say there’s always more fabric and there truly is always more fabric. There’s always more beautiful fabric. And use it while you love it and while you have it.

Helen: That’s true, too. ‘Cause I’ve had things in my stash that I’ve absolutely adored, and then I’ve kind of fallen out of love with them because trends change or my personal style changes. So there’s no time like the present.

Caroline: Mmhmm. Exactly. No time like the present. Go sew the good fabric.

Helen: Yes, go do it.

Caroline: Okay, so if you do, please post on Instagram. Tag us. We’ll reshare it, even if it’s months from now. We wanna see you sew the good fabric. Sometimes those really special projects take a while, so you can take your time with it if you’d like. And, you know, since you already own the fabric, it’s basically free. So, free new thing to wear.

Helen: True. Yeah, don’t think too hard about that one.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: That’s sewist math right there. That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me, Helen, at Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co. and Caroline at Blackbird Fabrics and BF patterns. We’re recording today in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Caroline: You can support Love to Sew and get access to bonus content by subscribing on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. You even get access to the back catalog of bonus episodes. That is over 75 hours of Love to Sew. We have so much fun over there, so check it out. You can go to patreon.com/lovetosew or go to our podcast page on Apple Podcasts for more info.

Helen: And you can head to lovetosewpodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures of our special makes from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, you can leave us a message at 1-844-SEW-WHAT. That’s 1-844-739-9428. Or send us an email at [email protected].

Caroline: Thank you to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant and Jordan Moore of The Pod Cabin is our editor. And thank you for listening. We will talk to you next season! Or over on Patreon and Apple Podcasts! Come say hi.

Helen: Come hang out with us!

Caroline: Bye.

Helen: Bye.

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