This month at ThreadySetGo we have been focussing on the beautiful Poppy pattern from Cinnamon Daisy, but have you ever wondered about the story behind those elegant seam lines, or what it’s really like to navigate the “perfect storm” of running a creative sewing business today?
Last night I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down for a good chat with three incredible women who are making waves in our community: Emma from Cinnamon Daisy, Laura from The Specky Seamstress, and Karina from the YouTube channel Lifting Pins & Needles.
To check out my Poppy Dress – take a look at the blog here.
We talked about everything from hot-gluing fabric to the “magic” of custom bias binding. Here is a look at some of our favourite moments from the night.
Finding Their Way to the Machine
Every sewing journey starts somewhere, and for our guests, the paths were incredibly different:
- Emma: Despite studying textiles, sewing didn’t come naturally at first. Emma shared a story that made us all feel better about our early mistakes: “I got so frustrated with my first project, I actually glued it together with a hot glue gun. So I’ve come a long way! There’s no glue involved anymore.”
- Laura: It wasn’t until 2018, when Laura traded a long London commute for a job closer to home, that she dedicated her new-found free time to truly mastering sewing.
- Karina: Karina was a natural, sewing her first Big Four pattern at age 11. She’s been obsessed with the technical side of pattern drafting for decades, even though she jokes that drafting content on YouTube “gets zero views.”
The Secret to the Perfect Poppy
We spent some time gushing over the Poppy Dress, Top, and Skirt. Emma shared that the design was actually born out of a last-minute need for a wedding guest dress – she draped the original design directly on a mannequin just a week before the event!
Because the Poppy is so fitted, Emma spent eight months perfecting the fit and drafting the incredibly detailed fitting guide. The feedback has been emotional for her:
“Some of the feedback I got actually brought me to tears because they were from people who said, ‘I never thought I could wear something fitted because of my shape and size’… and they’ve made it and they feel so good.”
The Reality of Small Business
We didn’t shy away from the tough stuff. Running a small sewing business is no small feat, especially with changing social media and economic shifts. Laura was incredibly candid about a pre-Stitch Festival manufacturing disaster where she was told the new labels she was planning to launch wouldn’t be ready in time:
“I just sat in my car crying. I said to him, ‘What do you mean it’s not going to be ready? I’m paying you a lot of money and I need them to launch them!'” — Laura
Fabric Souvenirs: From Paris to Japan
With Karina currently visiting the UK, we talked about the ultimate maker’s high: Fabric Souvenirs. Karina recently finished a whirlwind 17-day tour of Europe, including a stop at the high-end suiting shops in Italy where fabrics can reach €300 a meter!
As Karina put it:
“I love fabric souvenirs because it’s just the best… if you bought a fabric in Paris and then you make it, you’re always going to remember.”
Meanwhile, Laura shared her experience of navigating the Tokyo fabric districts with a giant suitcase, a backpack on her front, and a backpack on her back!
The “Dream Sewing Day”
To wrap things up, I asked the ladies what their “no-expense-spared” dream sewing day would look like:
- Karina would be on a balcony overlooking the ocean (at a perfect 25 degrees) with pizza, cheesecake, and total silence to focus.
- Laura would choose a local village hall with “picky bits” (cheese, hummus, and sushi), endless tea, and a professional babysitter so all her local sewing friends could finally finish a project together!
Want to hear the full stories? This is just a tiny snippet of our hour-long chat! We also discussed tips for sewing the Poppy in stretch fabrics, the technical “magic” behind Laura’s custom-printed bias binding, and a sneak peek at Cinnamon Daisy’s brand new pattern launch.
To see the full video interview head to ThreadySetGo – it is the last video in the Poppy Tutorial series.
