I learned to sew as a kid, from my mom. It wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t even think it was weird when I got to high school home economics class and not everyone knew how to sew. I could use a machine, I could hand stitch. I made a few things, I moved on.
I tried to find clothing that matched who I was. I didn’t think of it in terms of style, just a way I wanted to dress. A way that, increasingly, wasn’t available to me. And I thought, well, I know how to sew. I’ll make the things I want to wear.
Now, more than ten years later, I’ve come closer to matching my personal style, to having a personal style. I’ve learned a lot, including how much I still want to learn, and I’ve developed skills I didn’t even know existed, back when I first started.
I began with commercial patterns, moved to independent pattern I’ve done cosplay, studying all the images I could find of a single character, sourced materials and made everything down to learning to cut and stitch leather boots, learned how to sew period specific clothing with traditional hand stitching.
I learned that I love tailoring, the slow process of building a garment from the inside out, and corsetry, and creating designs inspired by what I see around me and what I find in fashion history. I design to make my clothing more functional, and beautiful, and above all to make it unique.