I have a passion for vintage styles, upcycling, and collecting vintage fabric and patterns. My thrifting resale, and estate sale jaunts involve seeking out unique and classic styles from the past, which I can incorporate into my sewing projects. Thrifting and upcycling using vintage materials are ways for me to connect with the original maker’s history. I found that this continues the stories that others started.
Through these unlikely collaborations, I celebrate their work while bringing my personal style to the final piece. I enjoy bringing a new vision to discarded items.
By using quilts, patchwork, crochet, and age-old techniques often associated with resourcefulness and community, I hope not only to pay homage to this craft’s rich history but also to address contemporary issues around sustainable fashion. In a world dominated by fast fashion, I promote slow fashion values that emphasize quality, longevity, and the personal connections between the creator and the wearer.
Most recently, my creative process has involved repurposing pieced, patchwork, and quilted textiles into garment-making. My mother was a quilter and garment maker. Everything she made had meaning to her — and to the recipient. She intentionally chose her fabrics and patterns. Every step of her process was thoughtfully planned and constructed.
As I honed my skills under Mum’s watchful eye, the act of sewing became a language that transcended words. Sewing was a means of communication, understanding and bonding. Each stitch carried with it not only the technical expertise passed down from mother to daughter but also the wisdom, stories, and love embedded in the fabric of our shared creations. Beyond the tangible results of our parallel work, the process of sewing became a metaphor for resilience, creativity, and the intergenerational transfer of knowledge.
When Mum passed away, I inherited her fabric stash, sewing patterns and the incomplete work of her hands in the form of quilt tops. They have a new home with me, where I treasure them and use them in my making. I love that I can continue to connect with her in fabric and to reflect on her commitment to her craft.
When I begin making with an upcycled piece from another maker, I explore how I can connect with and continue the work of the original maker. I pride myself on attention to detail and on the harmonious blend of colors, textures, and patterns. I hope to transform traditional vintage fabrics into modern wearable art.
My Process
To begin, I evaluate the condition of the textile. Many are decades old, in need of repair, or are in various stages of completion. I repair holes, tears or rips in the method of the original construction. If it was hand-sewn, I hand sew it. If machine-sewn, I use my machines. After I reinforce, repair, and combine loose blocks, I clean the material. This may be as simple as a delicate machine or bathtub wash with a color catcher. Extended damage may require meticulous, gentle spot cleaning with cleanser and a soft toothbrush. I repeat as necessary to restore the fabric, and air dry on my clothesline.
Once cleaned, I get to what, for me, is the fun and exciting part! Here is where I imagine what it will become. Sometimes, I look at a textile and I am immediately struck and inspired with the vision of what it will be. When sufficiently inspired, a textile can go from acquisition to garment in a weekend. Other times, I contemplate the vast options of patterns from my stash and possibilities for weeks, months — or even years — until the pattern-textile connection is made.
My personal style leans toward vintage maxi and minidress styles from the 1960s and 1970s. This is a direct result of the designer patterns my mother sewed and collected in her youth. I select patterns with minimal seamlines to maximally showcase the piecing of the quilt top or quilt. I carefully consider design placement and the myriad construction techniques to contend with the multitude of seams in the pieced fabric.
I may add a lining, or I may supplement the design with more fabric to create contrast or to increase the yardage. I may shift or remove a pattern element. If a dress pattern has a center front seam, I may omit it and cut it on the fold to ensure a continuous line. If there is a back zipper, I may move it to the side to keep the visual interest in the back.
Though I am creative, I am not conventionally artistic. I do not sketch my ideas. I use my dress form to see placement options in real time. I pin, drape, and tuck to get an idea of what works best or to evaluate what doesn’t. Often, I will walk away and return sometime later with fresh eyes. I love when I spend time highlighting one area, like the center front, and return to notice a serendipitous placement on the back, or sleeve, as a result.
It is vitally important for me to deliberate and to plan with intention like Mum did. The time spent in this stage is meant to avoid waste. Perfection is not the goal. There is room for modifications and tweaks along the way, but I try to avoid that. I generally work with one-of-a-kind textiles, and I want to get the best use out of them.
Once I finalize my plan, I make any needed pattern adjustments and begin machine construction. My pattern weights, crafted with both functionality and aesthetics in mind, have become an integral and distinctive aspect of my sewing toolkit. I use the weights to speed up cutting out the pattern and fabric pieces. My weights save more time than pinning and unpinning the fabric. They also have the added benefit of causing minimal shifting and manipulation of the cut seams of the piecing. I machine baste or serge the cut edges to prevent them from coming undone. After this, I continue with the construction steps, which are usually no different than for any other garment.
To date, I have contributed to the sewing community as a pattern designer, sewing influencer and freelance magazine writer for Sew News and Creative Machine Embroidery. I have also been featured by notable craft organizations, craft blogs, magazines and podcasts, such as Folkwear Patterns, LoveCrafts, Arrow Sewing, Love Embroidery, Shannon Fabrics, Seamwork, Sew Daily, Sewcialists, Sew & Tell podcast, the Stitch Please podcast, That Sewing Blab, and the Modern Quilt Guild.
A major challenge for me is ensuring fair compensation while representing and amplifying people of color, particularly Black women, in the sewing and crafting industry. My work is a blend of sharing my makes, sharing my products, and sharing my advocacy for inclusivity and diversity in the creative space.
Through my lectures, workshops, and custom products, I help people reimagine something they might have considered useless and to see another perspective in their making. I teach techniques to expand people’s creative repertoires. I am a business owner working to generate income with my craft.
I often get invitations to teach and serve as an agent of change for guilds, conferences, and associations in the sewing and quilting industry. I am told that my perspective, skills, knowledge and education are valued and need to be shared and heard in wider spaces. These invitations are often eloquently packaged with flattery and ego strokes. Even though these groups have paying members, they often claim to have no budget for compensation beyond “exposure.” They expect me to share my work, knowledge, lived experience, and education with the hope that visibility will generate business on the back end. As a female descendant of enslaved people, and an advocate for equity, representation, and inclusion, confronting this challenge is increasingly tiresome.
I am often challenged to remind people that, because I am passionate about my work, it is still work. Sharing my pro- cess and work has an intellectual, emotional, and physical cost for which I must be fairly and equitably paid.
I am grateful for the invitations from organizations that see the value of my contributions and are willing to compensate me fairly for us to learn together. This summer, I will be teaching at A Gathering of Stitches, a slow-stitching retreat in Portland, Maine, and at a virtual hand embroidery workshop with the Embroiderers’ Guild in the U.K. I will also be a vendor at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, in the fall, and will teach multiple lectures at QuiltCon, in Phoenix, Arizona, in February of 2025.
I have a passion for vintage styles, upcycling, and collecting vintage fabric and patterns. My thrifting resale, and estate sale jaunts involve seeking out unique and classic styles from the past, which I can incorporate into my sewing projects. Thrifting and upcycling using vintage materials are ways for me to connect with the original maker’s history. I found that this continues the stories that others started.
Through these unlikely collaborations, I celebrate their work while bringing my personal style to the final piece. I enjoy bringing a new vision to discarded items.
By using quilts, patchwork, crochet, and age-old techniques often associated with resourcefulness and community, I hope not only to pay homage to this craft’s rich history but also to address contemporary issues around sustainable fashion. In a world dominated by fast fashion, I promote slow fashion values that emphasize quality, longevity, and the personal connections between the creator and the wearer.
Most recently, my creative process has involved repurposing pieced, patchwork, and quilted textiles into garment-making. My mother was a quilter and garment maker. Everything she made had meaning to her — and to the recipient. She intentionally chose her fabrics and patterns. Every step of her process was thoughtfully planned and constructed.
As I honed my skills under Mum’s watchful eye, the act of sewing became a language that transcended words. Sewing was a means of communication, understanding and bonding. Each stitch carried with it not only the technical expertise passed down from mother to daughter but also the wisdom, stories, and love embedded in the fabric of our shared creations. Beyond the tangible results of our parallel work, the process of sewing became a metaphor for resilience, creativity, and the intergenerational transfer of knowledge.
When Mum passed away, I inherited her fabric stash, sewing patterns and the incomplete work of her hands in the form of quilt tops. They have a new home with me, where I treasure them and use them in my making. I love that I can continue to connect with her in fabric and to reflect on her commitment to her craft.
When I begin making with an upcycled piece from another maker, I explore how I can connect with and continue the work of the original maker. I pride myself on attention to detail and on the harmonious blend of colors, textures, and patterns. I hope to transform traditional vintage fabrics into modern wearable art.
My Process
To begin, I evaluate the condition of the textile. Many are decades old, in need of repair, or are in various stages of completion. I repair holes, tears or rips in the method of the original construction. If it was hand-sewn, I hand sew it. If machine-sewn, I use my machines. After I reinforce, repair, and combine loose blocks, I clean the material. This may be as simple as a delicate machine or bathtub wash with a color catcher. Extended damage may require meticulous, gentle spot cleaning with cleanser and a soft toothbrush. I repeat as necessary to restore the fabric, and air dry on my clothesline.
Once cleaned, I get to what, for me, is the fun and exciting part! Here is where I imagine what it will become. Sometimes, I look at a textile and I am immediately struck and inspired with the vision of what it will be. When sufficiently inspired, a textile can go from acquisition to garment in a weekend. Other times, I contemplate the vast options of patterns from my stash and possibilities for weeks, months — or even years — until the pattern-textile connection is made.
My personal style leans toward vintage maxi and minidress styles from the 1960s and 1970s. This is a direct result of the designer patterns my mother sewed and collected in her youth. I select patterns with minimal seamlines to maximally showcase the piecing of the quilt top or quilt. I carefully consider design placement and the myriad construction techniques to contend with the multitude of seams in the pieced fabric.
I may add a lining, or I may supplement the design with more fabric to create contrast or to increase the yardage. I may shift or remove a pattern element. If a dress pattern has a center front seam, I may omit it and cut it on the fold to ensure a continuous line. If there is a back zipper, I may move it to the side to keep the visual interest in the back.
Though I am creative, I am not conventionally artistic. I do not sketch my ideas. I use my dress form to see placement options in real time. I pin, drape, and tuck to get an idea of what works best or to evaluate what doesn’t. Often, I will walk away and return sometime later with fresh eyes. I love when I spend time highlighting one area, like the center front, and return to notice a serendipitous placement on the back, or sleeve, as a result.
It is vitally important for me to deliberate and to plan with intention like Mum did. The time spent in this stage is meant to avoid waste. Perfection is not the goal. There is room for modifications and tweaks along the way, but I try to avoid that. I generally work with one-of-a-kind textiles, and I want to get the best use out of them.
Once I finalize my plan, I make any needed pattern adjustments and begin machine construction. My pattern weights, crafted with both functionality and aesthetics in mind, have become an integral and distinctive aspect of my sewing toolkit. I use the weights to speed up cutting out the pattern and fabric pieces. My weights save more time than pinning and unpinning the fabric. They also have the added benefit of causing minimal shifting and manipulation of the cut seams of the piecing. I machine baste or serge the cut edges to prevent them from coming undone. After this, I continue with the construction steps, which are usually no different than for any other garment.
To date, I have contributed to the sewing community as a pattern designer, sewing influencer and freelance magazine writer for Sew News and Creative Machine Embroidery. I have also been featured by notable craft organizations, craft blogs, magazines and podcasts, such as Folkwear Patterns, LoveCrafts, Arrow Sewing, Love Embroidery, Shannon Fabrics, Seamwork, Sew Daily, Sewcialists, Sew & Tell podcast, the Stitch Please podcast, That Sewing Blab, and the Modern Quilt Guild.
A major challenge for me is ensuring fair compensation while representing and amplifying people of color, particularly Black women, in the sewing and crafting industry. My work is a blend of sharing my makes, sharing my products, and sharing my advocacy for inclusivity and diversity in the creative space.
Through my lectures, workshops, and custom products, I help people reimagine something they might have considered useless and to see another perspective in their making. I teach techniques to expand people’s creative repertoires. I am a business owner working to generate income with my craft.
I often get invitations to teach and serve as an agent of change for guilds, conferences, and associations in the sewing and quilting industry. I am told that my perspective, skills, knowledge and education are valued and need to be shared and heard in wider spaces. These invitations are often eloquently packaged with flattery and ego strokes. Even though these groups have paying members, they often claim to have no budget for compensation beyond “exposure.” They expect me to share my work, knowledge, lived experience, and education with the hope that visibility will generate business on the back end. As a female descendant of enslaved people, and an advocate for equity, representation, and inclusion, confronting this challenge is increasingly tiresome.
I am often challenged to remind people that, because I am passionate about my work, it is still work. Sharing my pro- cess and work has an intellectual, emotional, and physical cost for which I must be fairly and equitably paid.
I am grateful for the invitations from organizations that see the value of my contributions and are willing to compensate me fairly for us to learn together. This summer, I will be teaching at A Gathering of Stitches, a slow-stitching retreat in Portland, Maine, and at a virtual hand embroidery workshop with the Embroiderers’ Guild in the U.K. I will also be a vendor at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, in the fall, and will teach multiple lectures at QuiltCon, in Phoenix, Arizona, in February of 2025.
