http://www.stitch-collective.com/

STITCH COLLECTIVE, Seattle, WA (2026)

02/20/2021

Restock is live on the site!

Just a reminder - this restock is also the last of ‘be gentle with yourself’ that I’ll have for a bit! We’re looking to move house very soon, so I’m not placing a reorder for these until after the move! So if you want that one, set your alarm and get in there quick! Once I’m out, I’m out!

02/14/2021

PINSTRAVAGANZA // As a sewist who doesn’t sew with pins, I have a surprising number of them!

This week, I gave a tour of my collection in Stories to show the different styles and talk about their uses to help folks pick the best ones for their sewing practice.

I’ve saved the series as a highlight under ‘Pins’ on my profile page!

What are your favorite pins to use?

Or are you like me and sew pin-free?

02/14/2021

PINSTRAVAGANZA // As a sewist who doesn’t sew with pins, I have a surprising number of them! While I'm all about the pin-free life, I realize that's not for everyone.

This week, I gave a tour of my collection in Stories to show the different styles and talk about their uses to help folks pick the best ones for their sewing practice.

I’ve saved the series as a highlight under ‘Pins’ on my profile page! Go check it out!

What are your favorite pins to use?

Or are you like me and sew pin-free?

02/10/2021

RESOURCES // Are you interested in creating your own label designs or know someone who is? I’ve created a FREE guide where I share my top label design tips! Link in my bio!

If you're new to label design, you'll quickly find that what looks great on your computer screen might not translate well to a physical product.

Paying attention to the key elements outlined in the guide will help ensure designs look great both on your screen and in real life!

I created this resource to help shorten designers’ learning curves, as well as save time, $$$ and frustration on design concepts that won’t work for production!

Why am I sharing this for free?

I’ve been focusing on my goals recently and reanalyzing my mission & values as a business. What’s really becoming clear to me is, in addition to being driven by the creative freedom of sharing my designs, how much I’m compelled to share my knowledge with others who’d like to create labels as part of their own businesses.

I’m a HUGE believer in . If you have label design ideas and the initiative to get started - there is room for you!

As part of my 2021 plan I’m creating a series of FREE resources like this one to help those of you who are interested in exploring label design and production kickstart your journey!

Please share this with anyone you think may be interested in the guide!

02/09/2021

SLOW PROGRESS IS PROGRESS // If you ever feel like you’re making baby steps when you want to be building your skills in leaps and bounds, or have a series of failed projects, just remember that you’re still making progress.

Slow progress is still progress.

Failures are progress. They might not feel like it - but you know what NOT to do next time. That can be just as critical as knowing what to do.

When my now - 11 yo son was an infant and toddler, I was a single mom who was barely scraping by - both emotionally and financially. Sewing was my literally one of the only things keeping me sane. So when I had a project fail, or I was trying to learn new techniques and things were going slowly, I would get so angry and frustrated with myself. Sewing was supposed to be fun, and I was making it NOT. FUN. by focusing on my slowness or my mistakes versus my PROGRESS.

So - I decided to shift my mindset. I started looking for ANY progress and counting it as a win. I would specifically ask myself - “Is this even 1% better? Do I know 1% more than I did before I started?” If there was even the *tiniest* change or learning, I considered it progress. I was getting better. And I knew that if I kept making tiny, sometimes almost undetectable changes - in time - I would be 100% farther than I had been when I started. Have 100% higher level mastery of that skill. That kept me going, and pushing through failed projects and frustrating learning curves.

No matter where you’re at in your journey, sewing or otherwise - don’t focus on your failures, focus on your progress.

09/09/2020

I used to avoid using my seam ripper at all costs. If I messed up sewing a seam, I felt like I’d made a permanent mistake!

If you feel that way - I’ve got good news - it’s (usually) not true!

One of the most freeing lessons you can learn in sewing is that most mistakes in sewing can be undone! If it’s not perfect the first time, that’s OK! If you’d like to undo it and try again, just grab your seam ripper and be transported back in time to before you made the goof!

I also avoided seam ripping because I thought it would take a long time and wouldn’t be worth it. In most cases, it really only takes a few minutes.

Several years ago, I started timing myself to see how long undoing seams that I’d estimated would take a ‘long time’ actually took. My average time is 6 minutes. That was pretty eye-opening! Knowing I was vastly over-estimating the time involved helped me stop avoiding fixing mistakes that bothered me.

Once I learned to stop fearing my seam ripper, it opened up so many more possibilities for me!

I could refashion existing clothes I’d purchased, I could undo a seam or topstitching I wasn’t completely happy with. In short, I gave myself so much more control by embracing my little seam ripper. My confidence improved along with my skills, because I knew I could always try again until I was happy with the result!

The latest project I took my seam ripper to is this skirt I bought on eBay last month. I’m planning to refashion it for by shortening it and adding pockets.

The only thing my seam ripper can’t undo is the fact that this skirt reeks of White Diamonds perfume. I’ve hand washed it in Sard soap and a bit of oxiclean and given it a good airing, which usually does the trick for smells, but it’s still pretty strong. While I have positive memories of my grandmother wearing White Diamonds, feeling like Elizabeth Taylor is personally burning my lungs every time I get near the skirt is not my idea of fun.

Have you embraced your seam ripper? Or do you avoid it at all costs?

Also - please send me your tips for getting perfume out of clothes!

09/04/2020

MINI RESTOCK // ‘handmade’ and ‘size - badass’ are back in the shop!

Link in bio!

09/02/2020

COMING SOON // Hitting the shop on the 12th!

I couldn't decide which of these to launch next, so I decided to do both! More prep work for me, but double the fun for you!!

Remember - newsletter subscribers get early access & a special launch day discount! Sign-up link is in my bio!

08/30/2020

WEEKLY WINNER TIME! // This week’s giveaway winner is ! Congratulations, Coco! You’ve won a pack of any in-stock labels of your choice!

On the sewing front - I’ve slowly been chipping away at this robe I started at the beginning of summer. It’s made from a gorgeous, squishy jacquard from .

I drafted a back neck facing that’s underlined in muslin to help support the upper back, neck and shoulders.

I thought about sewing a label onto the facing itself, but decided to keep things simple and added a subtle ‘handmade’ tag at the bottom of the facing. Happy with how it’s coming along so far!

WEEKLY GIVEAWAY DETAILS // Each weekend, I randomly select a follower and they receive a free pack of any in-stock labels of their choice!

ELIGIBILITY // Besides being a follower, there are no entry requirements!

If you want to help spread the word about the giveaway series, tag a sewist or maker who inspires you!

WINNER SELECTION // I will notify the winner via DM. If there’s no response within 24 hours, a new winner for the week will be drawn.

This giveaway series is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Instagram.

@ Seattle, Washington

08/19/2020

// .podcast had an episode last week all about pins and needles, which I thought was a great prompt, so I thought I’d share how I manage my used machine needles!

There’s a lot of common advice to replace your needle after every project, but I think that’s needlessly wasteful for most projects. If I’m troubleshooting a sewing machine issue, sewing with silk or an expensive or precious fabric, I’ll switch to a new needle; but otherwise I use my needles for several projects before replacing.

Because of this, I needed to find ways to store my used machine needles until I needed that type/size again.

My primary method is using this tomato pincushion that I customized. I took a sharpie to it about 10 years ago and marked each segment with the most common types and sizes of needles I use. When I’m done with a needle I can just stick it in the relevant section and it’s safely stored until I need it again!

The method I used previously was to use a sharpie and mark the flat side of the needle’s shank when I was done with it and put it back in the case with the flat side facing out, so I’d have a visual cue the needle was used.

I definitely prefer the tomato pincushion method, as it’s easy to keep within reach of my sewing machine and I have access to 20 needles all at once and I instantly know their type and size, vs sorting through cases!

I love DIYing sewing solutions!

08/18/2020

WHEN EXPERIMENTS WORK OUT // This may be my favorite fabric - ever!

I made this Georgia Midi earlier this month from white linen that I ice dyed. If you’re interested in the dyeing process, I saved it as a stories highlight. I also have a tutorial for how to make the Georgia dress on my YouTube channel - link in bio!

The thing I love most about dyeing is that you never know exactly how something will turn out. The project that I’d ice dyed right before this was a bit of a failure - so having this gorgeous, super saturated, nebula/galaxy fabric come out of the dye pot on my next attempt was a very welcome surprise!

It’s also a reminder to me that just because I was bad at something the last time I did it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try again! I think we short change ourselves sometimes by getting discouraged by failure. It’s ok to be bad at something! It’s also ok to experiment & try again! You might surprise yourself with your results or what you’re able to accomplish.

PATTERN // Elizabeth Suzann

SIZE // OSP

FABRIC // linen that I

LABEL //

MODS // I lowered the front neckline by 1” (I have a large head and could barely get it through the opening on my muslin of the dress).

I added in-seam pockets to make the dress more functional - photo 6

I had to cut the dress on the cross grain to make it fit on the yardage.

I shortened the dress by 4” from the hem and included 9” side slits.

I the fabric in Fiber Reactive Dyes in Gunmetal Gray, Dances with Raisins and Raven colorways from .

I used my favorite neon pink serger thread to finish my seams because

08/17/2020

GEORGIA MIDI TUTORIAL! // The tutorial is finally live on YouTube! Link in bio to access it!

I filmed myself constructing my muslin of the and I walk through each step of the process in the video. The tutorial could also be used for the or the as the construction steps are the same!

I also share some tips and tricks on getting super flat necklines and two ways to clean-finish both the armbands and neck binding!

The tutorial is quite in-depth, as my goal is that even the newest sewist would be able to successfully complete the dress by following the video!

The biggest thanks for all of this goes to Liz herself, for the incredibly generous decision to make the patterns available for free!! But the sewing community owes another round of thanks to , and for working to convert these patterns in a home-sewist friendly format so quickly!

If you were not able to access the patterns while they were publicly hosted, you can ask if another sewist who was able to download them is willing to share with you (person-to-person sharing is ok). Liz will also be hosting the files directly on her site soon - so you can sign up for Elizabeth Suzann email updates for the latest there!

STITCH COLLECTIVE

02/20/2021

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