How it all began
I started sewing when I was 10 years old. Dissatisfied with my Barbie's wardrobe, I snuck into my mum's sewing kit and began cutting up my own clothing to hand-sew new outfits for my dolls. When she found out, my mum was far more gracious than I think I'd be - she took me to a local sewing store, helped me choose a pattern and fabric, gave me her sewing machine (a little Elna Lotus that once belonged to my Ouma) and helped me sew a wrap skirt from start to finish. Sewing became the passion I spent every free moment pursuing.
But for many years it was a solitary pursuit. I didn't know anyone else who sewed their own clothes, and I was almost embarrassed by it - I hid it, worried people would think I was weird. I read a lot of books and learned everything the hard way, because I never had feedback and never thought to ask for help.
That changed when my husband and I moved to the USA for a few years. I was lonely and homesick for Perth, and that's when I discovered the Pattern Review website, and through it the world of sewing blogging and the online sewing community. I realised I wasn't weird for loving sewing at all - there were countless people like me all over the world making their own wardrobes. The difference was that they shared it. So I started a blog to share what I was designing and making, and suddenly I didn't feel alone any more.
My business would not exist without that community. After blogging about my designs - and even starting a ready to wear line in 2010 - I received countless requests to sell my patterns; I didn't even know designing sewing patterns could be a career until I found it. So in 2011, as a trial, I released one printed pattern for my most popular design. We put it together literally in our house - printed at our small town's local print shop, every pattern hand-folded by my husband and my dad on our dining room table and sealed with little stickers. That first print run sold out within a few hours, so in 2012 I made it official - and my life changed forever.
My favourite part is still seeing someone take one of my patterns and make it their own - hacking it, adding their own ideas, sewing something that fits and suits them perfectly. My customers aren't just customers, they're friends, and the very reason I get to make my favourite hobby my career.
Sewing, like life, is better when it's shared.
Megan xo
