I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how our identities can shape our experience of sewing. Are there parts of who we are that make it easier, harder, or just different to sew or join in the online community? Most of all, I’ve been thinking about how this relaunch of the Sewcialists can celebrate the diversity of the team that created the community back in 2013: professional sewists and amateurs, male and female, LGTBQ and straight, of different ages and sizes, from different countries, linguistic backgrounds and ethnicities. That’s the sewing community I know and love!
I hope that most people have found a sense of “home” and belonging in the sewing community. There are so many niches within sewing, like cosplay, everyday clothes, formalwear, and sewing for kids… and there are also so many platforms for meeting other sewists, like Instagram, blogging, Facebook, Pattern Review, and so on. However, by gathering with similarly-minded people, we might just miss out on different experiences, motivations or identities of other groups of sewists!
So let’s chat! The Sewcialists would like to ask “What is it like to walk through the blogosphere in your shoes?”
- Do you have a strong community online, and how do you find them? (platforms, hashtags, etc.)
- Are there pattern designers and bloggers of your ethnicity?
- Is your size easy to find in Big 4 and Indie patterns?
- Is there a sewing community in your own first language, if it is other than English?
- Does religion impact what clothes you chose to wear?
- Does your physical or mental health affect your sewing and community involvement?
- Do you feel conscious of your age, gender, sexual orientation, relationship status, finances, or other personal factors?
- Do you see yourself represented in the sewing blogosphere?
- How do your intersecting identities affect you and your sewing?
I’m hoping that we can start discussions about those rich personal experiences here at the Sewcialists. Celebrating how our experiences are the same and different can help us get to know each other and make the sewing community even stronger.
So, here’s my hope: Would you like to share how your identity shapes your sewing experience?
We’ll post more about this topic and how to join the discussion later this week, but in the mean time, please comment below or email us at sewcialists@gmail.com: Does identity shape your sewing and participation in the online sewing community? If so, how?
Thanks to Instagram and all the wonderful hashtagged photo challenges and sewing patterns, I’ve been able to cultivate a diverse sewing world for myself! And though I am a petless, childless, spinster (the rare trifecta of lack, haha), it doesn’t seem to matter – what matters is the passion for sewing…and people who won’t judge your stash. 😉
Woe betide the person who judges someone else’s stash!!!! 😉 I agree that social media challenges make it so easy to make new sewing friends, and that is a real joy!
Instagram has also helped me find new sewcialists who I wasn’t encountering on the blogosphere.
I like this idea and I love learning more about fellow sewers. For me, the twitter and instagram gave me a group of people I could share my passion with and gave me an opportunity to learn so much. All of that helped me embrace it and really get stuck in. IRL, the fact that I sew, has pretty much shaped the last few years. At times it was one of the few things I looked forward to doing!
Sewing is such a rewarding hobby, isn’t it?! Good for mental health, good for building friendships and confidence, and good for the wardrobe as well! 😉 Do you ever meet up with sewing people IRL?
definitely! It’s always good to get offline and see people in the flesh.
For me too sewing (and gardening) are two things I look forward to.
This is awesome! And couldn’t be more timely! I am a new sewcialist, I just started my Instagram account this month and I have been trying to find friends within sewing community. My experience made me think about all these questions as I am participating in sewphotohop challenge. I am Russian born and raised and living in the US, I am 45 and I am a curvy sewist, so some of the questions in this post are really relevant. Even though sewing connects us, you just never know how people feel about you being from a different country. This is not something I am conscious about, but it is definitely something I am aware of. My size falls right in between straight and plus sizes in RTW so size is always something I have to be careful about – you never know whether you will be included or be just outside of the pattern size range. I am really curious what other sewists have to say and I am really looking forward to this discussion!
One of the things i’ll mention in Wednesday post is that I’m also right in between curvy and straight sizes… and sometimes, to be honest, that makes me feel a little outside of both communities. On the other hand, I think that is all in my head and probably not something that anyone else bothers thinking about me! 😉 Did you learn to sew in Russia or the US? Do you follow Russian blogs? I’d love to hear how the sewing community might differ! We’ll definitely have posts about being curvy and multi-lingual sewing, so i hope you contribute to both!
I look for sewists who sew “my” style. I also enjoy sewists who are around my age, who often share stopping sewing for a while and now returning to it with passion. Now that I’m 60 I am sewing exactly what “I” want to wear, not what’s popular. No more form fitting, make me look thin clothes. I love Lagenlook/Tina Givens. I can’t sew a pattern without adding my own take on it. I love patterns with yokes and multi pieces to add mixed fabrics. One fabric for one top is boring. I’m also sewing for my 13 year old son. Using retro patterns because the pattern books are filled with the exact same patterns I sewed my first son (now 36) as a teen and they are ugly! Seriously you can buy knit tees for a few $$. If I’m sewing its with style. :o)
Now if only I had more time?!
Eliz, how timely! One of the first communities we asking for submissions from is the over 50 sewing crowd… I hope you’ll contribute! I love your attitude of sewing exactly what you want – that’s the joy of sewing!
Interesting idea. As a 47-year-old sewist I find a lot of the bloggers and Instragram crowd are quite a bit younger and thus have different tastes and body types. Many of the younger bloggers also tend to be enamored of indie pattern designers, while older sewists are more interested in Big 4 or Burda (this is a generalization – to be sure it cuts both ways). So if anything I notice a bit of a generational divide. The group at PatternReview.com is wonderful – I follow many women about the same age and shape as I am.
I definitely see that age divide sometimes align with indie vs Big 4! I’m glad Pattern Review has helped you build a strong commmunity – I haven’t spent much time over there in the forums, but I adore the reviews! One of the first groups we are asking for submissions from is sewists over 50, but I hope you’ll interpret that number leniently and send us a submission!
This is kind of interesting. I’ve been able to connect with other student sewists pretty easily, but our community is lacking diversity, and I can’t tell if it’s just because I’m not looking hard enough or because a lot of student sewists are white, female, English-speaking. I know of a few who don’t fit this mold, but most do…
Not sure what a student sewist is (fashion design student? tailoring student?) but there’s plenty of diversity in the online sewing community if you look for it. Are we a big percentage? Nope! But there are definitely many women of color and men in general who sew. My favorite way to find people like this is to scroll through sewing related hashtags on Instagram. Since it’s a visual medium, it’s easy to find sewing fanatics who are not white English-speaking women. 🙂 Good luck!
I do wonder how much is a lack of diversity in the sewing community and how much of it is that we’re most attracted to following people who look like ourselves.
I have a multi-racial, bio and adopted family, 21 children ages 10-41 years old. I follow many sewists of many races. :o) There are many sewists of color out there who are amazing!
I think Regan is looking specifically for sewists still enrolled in high school/college/uni, for a series she is doing on students who sew.. can anyone recommend sewists of colour who are in that age bracket?
Sorry. :o)
No worries – I can’t think of anyone either! 😉 Then again, I’m not sure I follow many sewists that young!
As a white woman with mostly white friends, I’m working on seeking out the voices of women of color, in sewing and in other contexts. I have to say that Facebook has been great for that; I belong to several FB sewing groups and women of color are well-represented there. I’ve been less successful in finding women sewers to follow who share my body shape (pear/apple) and are older. I love seeing all those amazing creations by young, thin women, but I’d also like to get some inspiration for things to sew for my shape. I’ve followed all the “plus size” bloggers I can find, but they’re almost universally busty or “hourglass” shaped, so their style and fit challenges are different than mine.
Have you tried http://curvysewingcollective.com/ :o)
Yes. Very few apple/pear shaped people represented on the blog or Facebook group. I’ve started posting more pictures of my makes in the group so at least there would be something for people shaped like me.. It was that or leave the group.
Hello. This blogosphere thing is brand new to me, but for several years I have been in love with patternreview.com.
There are sewists of all sizes, shapes, ages, and sexes, and it is a friendly, happy, widly creative and fast growing place. There is a fairly new feature where you choose an icon for your body shape to make it easier to see what looks good on yours.
One thing I don’t see being mch recognition is sewing for us talls. At almost 6′ I always have to lengthen everything. Well, have n looking for your peeps, they are sewing away.
Hi! You should check out the Who We Are page with all the post links (up in the header) – we’ve got no less than 3 posts about being a tall sewist! 😉
Check out MimiG for her variety in styling. . .
http://mimigstyle.com/
Not sure what your shape is, but MimiG is very popular with all body shapes. She has a convention once a year in LA. Once the announcement is made on her blog, ticket go FAST! I missed it again this year.
Yes, I love many of the things she makes! Most are designed for a flat stomach, though, so wouldn’t work for me. I have a tough shape to work with. 🙁
I think it would be hard to find any other sewists that share my ethnic background – half British, half American Indian. But of all the groups I could belong to the Sewing community is definitely the one where I feel most comfortable and most accepted as me.
This community supports and does not judge – no matter how wobbly your top stitching is. You tried and are encouraged to keep at it. Twin Club and Adoption Support Group saddly not so much.
Sewing really is a wonderfully supportive group! I’m dying to ask more about your background, and I hope you’ll share sometime!
I’d be very interested in hearing your story, Pecia, if you’re willing to share! I’m a white, American, 24 year old female sewist and I’ve noticed a surplus of fabrics used by white women that strike me as cultural appropriation of Native/Indigenous peoples. I often see these fabrics labeled as “Aztec” or “southwestern” but no information is given on the tribe or artist the pattern was inspired by, or the cultural significance (if any) of the pattern.
As someone from a position of privilege in this situation I think it’s important to listen to the actual communities affected by these issues, so if you’re willing to share your take I’d be very grateful.
I love being part of an online sewing community. There is just so much support and sharing. Sewing keeps me sane I just wish that I had more time for it. 🙂
I started sewing over 40 years ago and getting back into sewing when my daughter was wee coincided with the boom in social media and the start of blogging. It was nice to finally find people who shared my hobby as it was seen (then) as a bit of an old-lady pastime. I am in my late forties, white and English-speaking so I think that there are a lot of us out there. Must have been all that Home Ec at school. I am also fat (very apple) and uber-busty so sewing is a bit of a necessity sometimes. I don’t really find many Big 4 curvy sewing patterns that I like and a lot of indie patterns are just not aimed at my demographic, style or size range which is a bit depressing. However, I am always grateful to the sewing community of the wealth of sewing hints and tips, especially on fitting. I used to follow some sewing groups on FB but too many drama llamas. Now I stick to blogging and Instagram. Xx
I wish more indies aimed at the stylish 30-70 demographic, which includes both my mom and I! When i try to share patterns with her, sometimes I think she is thrown off by the cover photos, even when I think she’ll look great in the pattern! Have you ever looked at Jalie, if the size range works for you? It tends to be quite classic in style, but I’ve loved every pattern I’ve used from them.
Totally agree. What is it with the frumpelstiltskin patterns for anyone over 30? No, Jalie are the one pattern company that I have never paid much attention too. I know that their patterns get rave reviews so I must check them out. Thanks for the recommendation. Xx
Is there an age limit for patterns? I don’t mean that in a horrible way, but I’m intrigued that there’s a thought that some patterns are for specific age groups. I’m nearly 43, and I feel like I have plenty of choice. Unlike in RTW, where there are some styles I’d reject for being too young, the beauty of sewing is that you can lengthen the hems or add sleeves, or tweak as much as we like to suit ourselves. Maybe that’s just my style though, and my shape and size.
Nope. No age limit. And it doesn’t stop at 43! Make what you like. Wear what you like. Make things in the color you like, the fabric you like, the length you like, change up the neckline, the sleeve. The older I got, the less I felt I had to stick to a certain image. So, my suggestion to my younger self is — just go for it!
YES!! Absolutely excellent advice that even in this small Arizona town I see people living. I grew up sewing my clothes so they would fit (I’m a tall) and reflect who I am. Then for 25 years or so was so busy with working in the art field I had no time to sew. But now,at 65, I’M BACK! Just getting started again, so as long as I don’t’t end up looking like I’m trying to look 16, I am sewing colorful, great fitting, fun clothes that make me look and feel good. Life is too short to be frumpy. Have fun with it, be elegant, be bold, be stylish, be happy, even be envied. Just do it.
As a white British woman with kids there are plenty of others like me to find in the online sewing community. However, I often find myself following the blogs of women with very different lives to mine. Sometimes that can make it tricky to socialise. So much of my time gets monopolised by children and sometimes I feel like I won’t have much in common with those career women who don’t have kids, but at the same time, I have no real desire to join in with the mumsy communities who seem to focus a lot of their sewing attention on their sprogs. Yes, I do occasionally sew for mine but at heart I’m a pretty selfish sewist! Also, I really don’t want to talk about my kids all the time. I love them to bits, but I have a life outside of them and sometimes I just want to be ME, not Mum.
I also sometimes find it tricky to chat with sewists who spend SO MUCH MONEY on their fabric and patterns. I’m not jealous. Okay, I am a bit, but I have to really economise and weigh up every fabric purchase carefully. I’m on a severe budget and I have expensive tastes! I would love to coo over the latest fabrics coming into the trendy boutiques, but I don’t even go there because it’s all temptation and reminds me of how little I can afford to spend since giving up work to stay at home with the kids. Instagram in particular sometimes just feels like people showing off their conspicuous consumption. I know that’s unfair and I’d probably be just as excited to share my purchases if I could afford to buy more, but hey, that’s the way I feel sometimes.
What I need to find is more vintage sewing enthusiasts on a budget! Especially ones who love casual knits. Then I’d feel really at home.
I agree. I’d like to hear more about sale and bargain places for sewists on budgets. :o) I know quality is best but I can’t afford it!
Yeah, there are cheaper fabric sites out there, but I really love to be able to buy in person, see the colour, touch the fabric. I’ll have to make a trip up to Birmingham sometime, as it sounds like they have excellent (cheap!) fabric shopping there.
The money thing is such an interesting topic! I really struggled with that until recently… and really, the only resolution iIve got now is increasing my qualifications so i earn more, and not having kids to spend it on! I get quite envious of sewists in the US who have access to tons of cheap fabric. I love your point about wanting sewing to be a break from being MOM – I thin that connects a lot to how sewing helps a lot of us with our happiness and sense of self!
Oh yeah, it’s not as cheap in the UK either, I reckon. Or maybe it is in some places, but not round here.
Sewing is definitely important me-time. I appreciate it more and more the less time I get to sew. Those moments are precious!
I did reply to this but now WP seems to have eaten my comment! Yes, sewing is wonderful for self-respect, happiness, being in the moment, and so on. I find it meditative. Except cutting out. For some reason that bit sucks. I say that because I’m going to have to do some before I can start the next project. Sigh.
Hi from a fellow mom who relates to so much of what you’ve written. It can feel overwhelming to follow bloggers who seem to spend a lot on fabrics or moms who seems to dedicate all their sewing to their littles. Can I have a happy medium? My sewing time is super limited and there is something good about having to really focus your sewing time. Nothing to spare! I would love to see what you mind find in the way of casual and vintage inspired knits. I won’t be wearing a girdle anytime soon! I harbor a small amount of jealousy towards sewers who don’t have children and often have more time to sew. Though sometimes that can also lead to an overwhelming amount of projects (as it seems from the sidelines).
Hi! I can totally relate to those feelings of jealousy and it has stopped me following a few of the most prolific sewists, which is a shame. I’m really working on trying to transform those feelings into something more positive as I don’t want to feel bitter about my life. After all, my kids are wonderful and (most days) I wouldn’t swap them for a big pile of designer fabric!
I definitely get the break from being mom thing. I have a 2 year old and a 5 month old, and it’s SO consuming. Even though I do work part time, and love my job, sewing is one of the only things that I feel like it’s just for me. I only sew for my kids occasionally, though I think it helps that they’re both boys and it’s a lot harder to find patterns for them that I like. Just the occasional little shirt, or Halloween costumes. Otherwise, it’s all stuff for me!
Hehe, another “selfish” mum sewist! Actually, there’s nothing selfish about making things for yourself. I discovered that years ago. A bit of self-loving is the ultimate in self-care. I mean, I’d love to take a day a week to head to the spa for some relaxation, but since that isn’t likely to ever be part of my reality I’ll accept sewing during that half an hour a day while the littl’un’s napping 🙂
I like to call it “self-care sewing.” I willingly left my career in favor of staying home with my first born- she’s now three years old and I also have a three month old. Most of the time I don’t regret my choice. I mean, if I hadn’t left my job I don’t know when or how I ever would have taught myself to sew! It was always a dream but not something I’d ever put into action. I sew because I want to make clothes that I like and that fit my extraordinary body. I don’t usually sew for my girls.
As far as the money part goes: I do feel jealous seeing what other sewists can afford to purchase. And I used to really want to own a ton of fabric. I’ve come to realize that I want/need to make a plan and then save up to purchase the type of fabric that I want. This way, I know how much fabric I need (and don’t try to guess how much fabric I *could* need for a project and I save my sanity.
I’ve also recently taken a hiatus from my FB and Insta accounts because I was definitely spending money I didn’t have on fabric I didn’t have a plan for. My actions were going against my goals. And it seemed that I found out about all of the sales, etc. from my social media feeds. I’m hoping that my social media hiatus will lend itself to a bit more contentment, creativity and time to hone my craft.
I love the idea of self care sewing! Yes, that’s exactly what it is, isn’t it? A few calm moments to temper the insanity of family life.
I don’t spend too much time on social media these days for similar reasons. I’m much happier without feeling the pressure of keeping up with those who have more free time and disposable income.
Ooh interesting post and comments! I’m late 40″s white British woman who started sewing about 5 years ago. Maybe because I came to it so late I tend to be more drawn to the indie patterns than the big 4. I’m in the standard size range but I’m 5’8″ and like the comments about being not feeling fully partof plus size community nor standard size, I feel not quite tall enough to qualify for the ‘tall sewists’ group even though I have to lengthen virtually every pattern!
I have a fairly ordinary office job and one of the things I feel is that the sewing community online consists of professional often well paid women or stay at home mum’s but I haven’t seen any full time working childless women with boring jobs like me! I’m trying to understand IG but I get a little fed up with the way it seems to be more about receiving ‘likes’ and seeking affirmation than imparting info which is why I prefer blogs….but that was a previous post 😉 !
Oooh, ME! Well, I’m a teacher, so I don’t wear office wear… but I work a 9-5 and don’t have kids.
Haha! Well maybe that’s one of the reasons yours is one of my absolute favourite blogs to read!
Me too – childless, very boring job, a few years older than you …. I do have cats 🙂 Trying to think my way through the question atm. I’ve never considered how the way I view myself might impact my sewing before, but it surely does. What I can say is that the online sewing community frequently challenges me. Right now, I’m making myself a simple dress. I haven’t worn a dress in years!!
[…] Monday’s post, we started discussions about identity and sewing, asking the question, “Does who you are […]
I am Helena, 27 years old, married and from Finland.
I learned to sew in school many years ago. When I was younger, I used my mom’s sewing machine for experimenting with thrifted clothes. Some of them were successful and I wore them a lot, other times I just ended up with a pile of ruined fabric. After moving out I had a long break from sewing because I didn’t have a sewing machine on hand. During all that time I’ve been knitting a lot and I used to see myself as a knitter and not really a sewist. I started sewing again last winter and have been re-learning a lot.
I follow many sewing blogs and they are my main source of sewing inspiration. I check Bloglovin’ daily, sometimes multiple times. I like to follow people who have similar style as me, and peole who I can learn or get inspiration from. I like to follow people around the world, it’s fun to see people in Australia or NZ dress for totally opposite seasons:) Many of the blogs I follow are in English, a couple in German (my vocabulary is extremely limited mut the pictures draw me in) and some in Finnish. The englis-speaking community is the biggest so it’s easiest to find people to follow there. Many of the German bloggers have very similar style to mine so I follow them even though I only understand a fraction of what’s written. It’s very hard to find bloggers who are my style here in Finland, because sewing blogging isn’t really a thing here and the blogs that I’ve found are mostly mommy bloggers or bloggers who don’t update very often. There are a lot of knitting bloggers, though, so it’s not that bad 😀
As of pattern designers, there are Named and Ottobre, as well as Nosh and some smaller ones that I haven’t tried but are very popular around here.
I also follow many people on instagram. Most of the time I forget about the hashtags and only search them when there’s an event, like me made may, that uses one. Nowadays I like blogs better because there’s more information available on the blogs, and instagram isn’t very consistent on what I see so I just go to blogs to see what’s up with the people I follow.
I am also on a couple of sewing groups on facebook, though I’m not very active at posting anything. Most of the groups are in English and one is in Finnish. From what I see, the sewing community in Finland consists mostly of people who sew knits, either for their kids or to themselves, and people who are very trifty and bohemian. Leggings, t-shirts and hoodies are over-represented on that one FB group, as well as children’s clothing. I mostly follow it for the occassional masterpieces that people post, and for comic relief when people post their funny experiences.
I was brought up in a church that teaches modesty pretty strictly and even though my parents were not the strictest ones, I still like to cover up rather than reveal with my clothing. As much as my relatively conservative family, my clothing is defined by what fits. Bottoms are easy to find since I seem to fit standard sizing, but tops are harder because of my relatively large bust. I’ve learned to wear mostly baggy shirts because what fits over my bust hangs loosely around my waist anyway. I love wearing button ups so learning to do an FBA has saved my wardrobe 🙂
I fit in pattern company sizing too, but I have my standatrd fit alterations that are needed for almost any piece of clothing I make. I like using indie patterns pecause they are available in PDf format. Shipping patterns here is too expensive to even consider big 4 or paper patterns in general.
Hmm. This is getting personal. And long.
In sewing community I do feel conscious about a couple of things. I’ve suffered from depression more or less since high school and I still haven’t got my undergrad degree. I am currently studying, but taking it slowly. I haven’t been working due to my illness and studies taking my energy so our family finances are due to what my husband earns. It means that my sewing budget is somewhat limited. Although, so is my sewing mojo so I wouldn’t really need to shop for more fabric. The new season’s fabrics are so pretty that it’s hard to not covet them though. I would also like to be more active but setting up a blog seems like a huge task. I tend to become discouraged when a project don’t end up as I’d imagined it, so I don’t often finish anything shareworthy. Posting pretty pics on instagram without anything relevant to share isn’t what I would do so I’ll continue lurking and giving hearts.
My identities affect my sewing in different ways. As an environmental engineering student and someone concerned about the Earth, I like to only buy good quality natural fabrics. That sometimes backfires when I can’t figure out a good fabric for a pattern and the outcome is an expensive mess. When that happens, I quit sewing for a couple of days and knit something instead. A conservative dresser with my busty body, I will prefer some sewing pattern styles and pass others. They all might be pretty styles, but I wouldn’t be comfortable wearing some of them. As a homebody I like to sew things that are comfy but not too sloppy. As someone with mental illness, I finish things very slowly. As someone who dislikes fashion, the clothes I make are my style instead of the kind of clothes that are on magazine pages (unless it’s a sewing mag 🙂 ).
I wouldn’t say that I’m represented in sewing community, because I’m too unique so no one else can represent me. My identity as knitter comes first, so there’d have to be a Finnish crafting blogger who is open about her depression and tendency to make plans but never following through with them, who starts projects but won’t finish all of them, someone who’s trying to figure out life and career, who’d like to take part but can’t figure a good way how to.
Just jump in! :o) You’ve made a good start! We are all more alike than we are different. :o) So nice to “meet” you! (((HUG))) My Great Grandmother was from Finland. (I’m in America)
Thank you for your kind comment with a hug and encouragement. It means a lot. For starters I might start commenting more, both on blogs and instagram. These kind of conversations are very uplifting.
I don’t know how I missed this thread Gillian but I’m awfully glad I caught it this morning! What a lovely read ALL the comments and your responses were. yummy to be explicit 🙂 I’m one of those over 50 🙂 I’ll be 63 on Nov 21 – yes a Scorpio right on the last day but so many houses in Scorpio there is no question of that aspect of my identity. I’d really love to know what signs predominate in the sewing community – I know most people probably think that’s a little nuts or irrelevant BUT did you know the RCMP conducted a study (for what reason I have NO clue) to determine what signs are most likely to commit certain crimes – ie Taurus is the thief among us 🙂 Shockingly Scorpios are most likely to be serial killers :)) I digress!
I know Virgos and Leos dominate nursing (I used to work in hospitals and always asked) so naturally I’m dying to know what dominates the sewing passion world. Maybe none BUT I’ll be it influences HOW that passion gets expressed. Taurus’ for example might have more challenges around keeping that stash under control 🙂 while Capricorns would find it hard to sew simple – they are the workhorses of the zodiac and like to go BIG on everything. You know change the world sort of stuff.
I have trouble fitting in anywhere including the online sewing community. (this is likely not a big surprise 🙂 ) I always think my peers wonder who I think I am hanging with all these young sewists. I should be making couture – Chanel jackets (there was a group that went happily off to Vancouver for the “couture” jacket making weekend and were urging me to come – I didn’t know how to say, “Are you kidding? That’s the last thing I’d want to make or learn about! How about jeans or bathing suits?” I love the younger generation of sewists probably because I like making similar things and I have about the same number of years experience. I also have the same relationship to technology that younger women have while women in my age group often lament how silly this whole thing about blogging and connecting online is. They stare at me somewhat aghast when they hear how much time I spend with the online sewing community!
So I’m in with identity and sewing 100% 🙂
Kathleen! I just read your post on panties! Here in the Minnesota woods we call them underwear- LOL! But I digress! You’ve convinced me, once we close up the Lodge for the summer and head home, (2 hours south to the big city) I am making myself some underwear that fit and wear well!
Channel jackets? No way! I’ve got special needs kids at home who would wipe their sweet little noses on them! LOL!
(p.s. I’m Aries)
I love your passion and energy for sewing what you love! And I’m a Gemini, btw!
I’m a white sewing blogger from Canada. There are plenty of people like that around in the sewing community. Where I differ is my size – plus sized – and my health issues. The CSC has really helped me find my place and enhance my sewing to fit my size. I don’t see a lot of people talking about disability or chronic illnesses in the sewing community. We are there, but there are fewer of us. I made it a point to talk about my journey on my blog and discuss how my disability impacts my sewing and how I need to change designs to fit my needs (sometimes as simple as changing a back zipper to a side zipper or eliminating the zipper all together). My chronic illness also impacts my blog in that I don’t always have the energy or health to sew things or take pictures or blog. I do have an online community for Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome to go to for support, but there are specific needs related to sewing that go into every aspect of it and I often want to ask questions: do I need a brace or finger splints to continue sewing without pain, what chair is best for my needs, are there more accessible sewing machines? Etc. It’s tough, because I know those questions might not get answers.
I think many of us don’t say a lot about our disabilities so as not to be judged. :o) Now that I’m 60 its easier for me to say I don’t feel well. Rather than its another MS episode or kidney disease. :o) But it definately affects my energy negatively. I want to sew more! Little errors when tired make me put it on the back burner.
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I really hope that more people talk about it in the future. It helps eliminate the judgement and makes these issues more visible.
I hear you on errors when you are feeling tired or sick. I usually just have to walk away and not force myself into doing it. Better to set it aside and heal than potentially ruin a garment or myself. One time I didn’t, I took a chunk out of my thumb. 🙁
Thank You Andie! You are so right. You are right, we do need to be more visible. Thank You. I am going to share more from now on. (((HUG))) Ouch! for your poor thumb!
All I can say is: Andie and Eliz, you better email me contributions when tomorrow’s post asks for contributions from sewists with chronic health issues! 😉
I’m late to comment, but I’m a fellow dressmaker/sew-er with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, I don’t have a blog and my productivity has slowed this last year but hoping to get back into it now my latest comorbidity to EDS is better managed. I do follow your blog.
I’m white, British and curvy but not plus siz and a wheelchair user.
(sorry if this comment has shown up more than once! – posting issues)
I’m a white, Canadian/American, cisgender, just moving into plus sized, 34 y/o woman living in Philadelphia. I have severe mental health issues which have prevented me from working full time for the past few years. Prior to that I received my PhD in Dance Studies and taught as an adjunct at several local colleges and continued as a choreographer/performer and dance dramaturg while i applied for full time positions in academia. Once my illness took over, i was no longer able to continue this work. After about 2 and half year and too many doctors to count, I’m finally on the mend and looking for work outside academia to supplement my part-time work in the dance and performing arts world. I’ve sewed off and on since i was a kid, but as an adult, i got very into knitting. I’ve just gotten back into sewing this past year or so with the help of some great sewing classes in Philadelphia that i received as gifts from my parents.
I’m also a childless spinster (by choice!) with a super special (needs) cat. I’m fortunate that my parents have been able to support me financially through my illness, but i am definitely on a budget. I have, at times, been very active in the online knitting community through Ravelry and wish there was something like that for sewing as the online sewing community seems to necessitate instagram/facebook/blogging (which are things i don’t like to do so much). Also, despite the AMAZING plus size sewing community at the Curvy Sewing Collective, in my struggles with my body image, I’m not yet comfortable posting pictures of my body online nor do i have the proper fancy equipment to take really nice blog photos!
To Gillian, i had very bad carpal tunnel from writing my dissertation! Like straight up nerve damage bad! I had the surgery and am knitting again, though i sometimes still get tendonitis in my elbows. Was just wondering if you ever considered the surgery.
I love taking sewing classes in Philadelphia because the community is so diverse, just like the city. I wish there were more ways to socialize in person for sewists – i guess it’s a space issue? We have one place in Philly (that i know of) that has open sewing nights
One thing I’ve noticed about sewing, that is different from knitting is the degree of waste – scraps of fabrics that can’t be used for anything else and lots of muslins often get tossed, whereas leftover yarn always goes back into the stash. I’m not sure how i feel about this waste. Does anybody know if there are any places you can send cotton fabric scraps to be recycled?? I keep what i can for future craft/quilting projects, but i don’t have space so save every scrap and all my muslins once i’ve transfered all my fit adjustments to my pattern pieces.
Given that i’m in a transitional phase in my life, i’m thinking a lot about returning home to Canada – my parents will spend their retirement in Winnipeg where i grew up and i’m glad that i have been able to find knitters and sewers in Winnipeg online that I could potentially connect with in person! I’m glad to hear about fellow Canadians’ experiences in their sewing communities.
my name is Laura, btw
Hey Laura! Thank heavens for cats – they are so good for mental health, right? I came home pretty overwhelmed today, but then buried my face in my cats belly until everything was better! 😉 Thanks for sharing about yourself!
I’m a hijab wearing British Bangladeshi. Part of my identity is wearing what has become known as ‘modest fashion’, and I look for clothes that fit into this while being stylish and made from beautiful fabrics. As a working mum of three with a demanding professional job, I can identify with a lot of sewing bloggers in the same position as me but I do sometimes feel not everyone is willing to connect with me as I might seem too different. I find that most of the sewing community is open to some extent (some people are very welcoming!) but I definitely feel the lack of diversity, especially the lack of women from my background. I don’t think this is necessarily anyone’s fault (except perhaps for mainstream sewing magazines which almost always have white blonde/brunette women on the covers) as sewing is not a popular hobby for young Asian women but perhaps they would feel more interested if they were part of the narrative.
What great timing! I literally just replied to someone commenting in the next post’s thread who was talking about being Arab and Muslim! I completely agree wth you that it’s hard for sewists to feel like the community is for them if they don’t see themselves represented in the people already there. I know I get annoyed every time new pattern’s blog tour doesn’t include someone over 35 or larger than a size 16, and the ethnic diversity is often just as lacking!
I’m curious: Do many of your friends/family in the South Asian community in the UK sew for themselves? I spent a semester in India, and it was so cheap to pay a seamstress that I don’t imagine many women are sewing at home. Does that change when the community is abroad, and tailoring prices are higher?
My mum used to sew for us and herself occasionally and there are some women of that generation who used to sew but the majority of people use a tailor if they need something made. It’s much more common to have clothes tailor made because a lot of fashionable Asian clothes can only be bought as fabric pieces or ‘semi stitched’ to be made to your own measurements by a tailor. In the Asian subcontinent tailoring is very cheap and paper patterns don’t really exist as far as I know so most people don’t have sewing machines.
Amongst my own friends, there are very few who can sew and hardly any who use indie patterns or are involved in the wider sewing community. A lot of people say ‘I wish I could sew’ but there isn’t an active sewing community. I’m happy with my little sewing community on Instagram for now which is supportive and helpful. I feel inspired by all kinds of sewists even if I’m not particularly represented by anyone!
What a great post! I’m so typical of sewing bloggers, I guess—I’m white, well educated, more or less middle class. I did miss the “mommy blogger” stage since I had my kids early, but that’s about it. My size is easy to find in regular and even vintage patterns, though my proportions mean I hardly ever sew anything straight from the envelope. I love that the online sewing community has introduced me to people around the world—I think it’s much easier to feel connected on a global scale when, for every big event or natural disaster that happens, you KNOW someone it affects. Although it’s still a bit limited as I can only really follow people who post in English.
On another note, I was 29 when I first started “sewcializing” and I’m 37 now. One thing that is niggling me a bit in the last few years is this creeping feeling that I’m getting too old for the showy dresses and fancy photo shoots (not that I necessarily have done a lot of those)… like I should be starting to disappear, let my young and beautiful daughters have the stage. I don’t think it’s so much my taste changing as some reflection of unconscious social norms about age. And it may be happening to me early because my daughters are older. Either way it’s very weird and unnerving.
Nonsense you are never too old! There were alot of Vogue patterns (in Lagenlook styles) that I loved in the 80s, when I was in my early 30s. I never made them for me. I regretted it. Now I am making them (well after I make my 13 yr old son some clothes;o) for me, I’m 60 and I say dress how you love to dress!
And you know I absolutely know it’s nonsense! But the feeling creeps in. 😅 working on it. 😉
I would never in a million years have thought “That Tanit is getting too old for this sh*t!” And while your kids are awesome, and I always love seeing what you make them, sewing is YOU hobby and YOUR identity, and that’s what we all love reading about. I’ve realised this week just how many of my favourite bloggers are in their 40s and 50s,and I love seeing their posts as much as anyone else’s. So… while I love that you shared that voice in your brain, tell it to piss off! 😉
FWIW, few things make me hit ‘unsubscribe’ or ‘unfollow’ faster than a woman who starts sewing more for her ‘young/beautiful’ daughters and less for herself because she is aging. Watching a woman think she’s no longer camera worthy because she’s 35+ is sad. It also reinforces who ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ be looked at. By those metrics, I and many of my favorite bloggers shouldn’t be looked at. Can’t cosign that! So, I go.
PS: Your blog post about your meandering life path was so relatable for me. I’m on a similarly snaky path, and it’s difficult on the ego until you accept it’s your reality. Congrats on the new house. 🙂
I totally agree with Ebi. I’m 40 and only started my blog a few years ago. I mostly sew for me, and I enjoy modelling my makes as they make me feel fabulous. I love seeing images of older women looking sassy and confident. Who wants to be bombarded by constant youth?! Maturity is awesome and needs to be embraced.
when I started sewing it seemed to me that I was the only Greek that was making her clothes (laughing outloud) and was so envy of all the sewing communities out there in the world. I’m not a very social person so I made babysteps connecting with bloggers and instagramers and although it still is not easy to socialize it seems incredible to how many makers from my country I got to know and some of them become friends in real life.
I would never think that age is going to be the reason to stop blogging or posting my makes, this dosen’t make any sence to me actually, I sew for my pleasure and not for other’s pleasure, now if someone else happen to like what I make than off course it is very pleasant as who dosen’t like to hear compliments but I know that what I make are not everyone’s cup of tea and that’s ok. I personaly like to follow on instagram people of different ages, body types and styles , It is very inspiring and much more interesting!
Does identity shape your sewing and participation in the online sewing community? If so, how?
–identity shapes everything in my life, including my sewing. Height, Girth, Aging, Body shape, (or is it an aging body shape?). We live in a thin media culture, but as I look around, body size has increased even in the young. Some ethnic groups are more accepting of size than others. Because of this, I do not limit myself to blogs written by one group. I follow blogs written by caucasian sewists, sewists who are women of color, sewists in countries other than the USA (and use a translator). I keep my mind open to what others are doing so that I can incorporate new ideas in my sewing, new fashion ideas, new ways of putting things together. Women who live in other countries and cultures have different ways of seeing the world. By keeping myself open, I have expanded my point of view as well as my wardrobe. I no longer have 10 pairs of black pants in the closet and a closet full of the same shoes! Fashion has become more fun. I also began to notice what others are wearing around me and make a mental note of what I’d like to change and what is just ordinary. Acceptance is part of my identity. Maybe it’s because once you reach a certain age, you just start accepting things and working with them and not against them.
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