We are continuing our series of blogs - Meet the Lamazi Makers💕 We have so many makers in our community who are always inspiring us with their makes. We are excited to get to know them a little better!
Our next Maker is Nicole aka @letknitbesew on Instagram and YouTube.
Cheetah Blue Cotton Jersey Fabric.
How did your sewing journey begin?
Whilst I did do textiles at school, I didn't have a good experience of sewing back then as we only had a few very old machines that were always breaking or getting jammed and not enough time to really get to grips with sewing. The biggest thing I made was a draft excluder (a long tube with a snake face hand sewn on!) and we certainly didn't make anything wearable at that time. So it wasn't until the Great British Sewing Bee first started airing on the BBC, in combination with feeling like the clothing available on the High Street didn't reflect my personality and style, that I decided to take a class at Sew Over It to see if it was a hobby I could get into. It all worked out well and I've been sewing clothes for over a decade now!
Arielle Top in Mind the Maker Chess Cotton Knit in Sky Haze.
Which is your favourite fabric to sew with - wovens or knits?
For me, it has to be knit fabrics. I think I bought my overlocker about a year after I got my first sewing machine and once I had that, it's fair to say that sewing with knit fabrics took over for a good while. I'm generally a fairly casual dresser, so I'm always excited to pick up fun printed jersey fabrics and whip up some new t-shirts to add into my rotation and I love that they come together so quickly on the overlocker and you get the bonus of not having to worry so much about fitting if you let the stretch work for you.
What is your favourite type of garment to sew?
Whilst I'm trying to work on adding more woven garments into my wardrobe, I think many of my favourite projects and garments to wear have been pretty basic (technique and time-wise at least) jersey tops. I wear them all year round either on their own or layered under pinafore dresses and I love how choosing a fun printed fabric makes something that is quite simple, I feel instantly more fancy. I also love a knit sewing pattern with a fun extra detail - pleated sleeves, a drape or twist effect, or unusual panels and construction to take a standard knit garment and have an extra design element to challenge you when sewing.
Sew House Seven Raglan Tee Painted Foliage Sunrise Viscose Fabric.
What is your favourite type of fabric to sew with? For example viscose, tencel, cotton jersey?
Cotton jersey rarely hangs around in my stash for very long before it has been sewn up into a garment, so I think that's a pretty good indicator it's my favourite.
Name 3 things you love about sewing?
I love not being limited by what is available to buy ready-to-wear. If I find a sewing pattern I like, I can make it over and over again regardless of whether the fashion industry says it's on trend or not. I think that's a very freeing feeling, especially as I sometimes look at clothes in-store these days and wonder what on earth I would wear if I didn't sew for myself! I think the sewing community is also so good at sharing ideas and inspiration that again, kind of flies in the face of the stereotypical fashion media who might recoil at the idea of someone making the same pattern in the same fabric as someone else, or turning up at an event and there's a whole host of people wearing the same fabric made up into different garments. I also love that it gives me a creative outlet to focus my brain on - my day-job can be quite intense, so having something completely outside of that to escape to and immerse myself in is very therapeutic and helps me switch my work brain off.
Who / what inspires you?
I love seeing and hearing about what other sewists are making, even if they might have very different tastes in sewing patterns or fabrics to me. I just really enjoy seeing how other people's sewing brains work, and it's why I decided to be brave and start my own YouTube channel last year. I go to a lot of art and museum exhibitions as I live in London, so I've seen some amazing things at the V&A over the years (Alexander McQueen, Dior and Chanel to name just a few of the exhibitions I've put my membership to good use on seeing), so each time I am always storing something away in my brain for potential use in a sewing project - a particular detail or technique, a colour combination that I wouldn't necessarily have put together myself. There's inspiration everywhere if you keep your eyes open!
What do you do with your fabric scraps? Do you have a favourite remnant/scrap project?
I try my best to organise my scraps in a helpful way so that the bigger pieces can be used for pockets or facings, but I've definitely got a bit of a build up of them at the moment. I also like to save up my jersey scraps for sewing underwear - I think it's quite fun to be walking around going about your daily business knowing that your pants match your t-shirt!
Do you prefer PDF or Paper patterns?
I definitely prefer PDFs for sure. I really don't like tracing, so I'm 100% the sewist who is happy to print a PDF and cut straight into it, safe in the knowledge that if I've gotten the sizing wrong then I can just re-print.
You are stuck on a sewing problem… Where do you go/who do you ask for help?
Definitely YouTube! I'm a very visual learner, so sometimes text based pattern instructions go right over my head and I really just need to see a technique or a stage in a pattern done in video format and just watch what someone else's hands are doing. There's so many great tutorials and tips on YouTube, I don't think I've yet had a sewing problem that couldn't be solved by watching a video.
Have you ever lost your sew-jo? How did you get it back in?
When I was living temporarily with my parents whilst buying my flat I had to put the majority of my fabric and pattern stash into storage, and I think I must have only sewed a 2-3 things that whole time because without being able to see my stash and get that visual boost of inspiration, it was really hard to motivate myself. Especially given I had to pack away everything each time because I was doing it at the dinner table. Once I moved into my new home and got set up, I really appreciated the luxury of having a permanent space to set up my machines and having my fabric where I can see it on a daily basis to stimulate ideas.
Do you have a sewing tip to share with fellow seamstresses?
I think my tip would be to not let the fear of something not being 100% perfect stop you from sewing. I think probably many sewists can relate to being your own worst critic and pointing out flaws in a finished garment that no one else would notice. Unless the mistake is so bad someone will be seeing your undies through a giant hole in those trousers you just made, I think we can all benefit from being kind to ourselves and recognising the effort we put in to our me-mades, even if they don't turn out exactly as we hoped.
Early on in my sewing journey, before I understood why sometimes you can't ignore the pattern cutting layout, I made a skirt in a very obvious directional print and managed to cut out the back panels upside down (the fabric had zebras on, it was VERY obvious that they weren't meant to be doing headstands!) - I still wore it, because it was one of the first things I'd made outside of a sewing class 'all by myself.' Plus it definitely reminded me never to do that again when cutting out a directional print!
Do you have any other hobbies apart from sewing?
I've always been a creative person, so I have a number of other craft hobbies including knitting and life drawing. Outside of that, I'm also a big sports fan - watching, not participating! My main loves in that sphere are motorsport and football - I have a season ticket for the Spurs Women's team and I even specifically sewed myself a mini backpack to meet the rules for the size of bag you are allowed to take into football stadiums, so I even if I'm wearing my football shirt, I still have a me-made with me at a game.
What is your profession?
I'm a scientist - I've just started a new role working on a research project looking at inequity in healthcare that I'm excited to get to grips with as it's a new challenge for me and a way for me to hopefully use my expertise to improve things for future patients.
We cannot wait to see what Nicole will make next.