Brewtifully Made
Here, Tracy Dawn Brewer shares creative insights, discussions with creative souls who are invited to doodle along with her and share their creative processes, and more.
Adding a twist, each episode begins with a doodle prompt and you can catch the final pieces from the episode on her YouTube channel, linked on the website! If you choose to also create along with her during an episode, share your work with the hashtag #brewtifullymade so she can shout out YOUR awesome creativity too!
Brewtifully Made
Patterns Tell Tales That Ready-Made Clothes Cannot
When Christine Lindebak was just five years old, she begged her mother to let her use the sewing machine. That early passion blossomed into a lifelong creative journey that now helps others rediscover the joy of making their own clothes through her pattern design business, Sewing and the City.
Christine's approach to pattern-making stands out for its exceptional attention to detail. Each design undergoes multiple rounds of fittings across different sizes over two to three months—a meticulous process that ensures perfect fit and function. The results speak for themselves in patterns like the Manhattan, with its distinctive puff sleeves and versatile silhouette that works beautifully as both a blouse and dress.
What makes Christine's work particularly valuable is her commitment to making sewing approachable. Beyond creating patterns with clear instructions and clever construction techniques, she offers a Fit Clinic program that helps sewists adjust patterns to their unique bodies. This supportive community space addresses common fitting challenges that often discourage people from sewing for themselves.
Christine's creative vision extends beyond pattern-making to her slow fashion brand, Lindy Lindy (named for her grandfather). Using vintage linens and reclaimed textiles, she creates one-of-a-kind garments that might otherwise end up in landfills. Her upcoming pattern featuring beginner-friendly embroidery designs further demonstrates her dedication to preserving and sharing traditional textile arts.
The resurgence of interest in handcrafts, particularly among younger generations discovering upcycling, represents a meaningful pushback against disposable fashion. Through her patterns, tutorials, and teaching, Christine is helping ensure these skills continue to flourish while empowering people to express their individuality through what they wear. Sign up for her newsletter to receive her free Manhattan pattern and join a community of makers reconnecting with the clothes they wear.
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Welcome back to a new episode of Brutally Made. I am so honored and excited to bring you, christine Linda back. She is the owner and entrepreneur of Sewing in the City Sewing in the City, so thank you so much for joining me, christine, where are you joining me from?
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, tracy, I'm so excited to be here. So I am in Valencia, spain. That's what. I thought, but I'm American, you can tell by my accent, but I've lived here for about eight years.
Speaker 1:Oh, my gosh, so honored to have you on the program. And if you had seen any of my social medias in the last month, you have seen where I shared Christine's work and her pattern making. So that is one of the things that we're going to dive into. I signed up for her newsletter and I received a pattern for free when I did that. And I received a pattern for free when I did that called the Manhattan, and it was this beautiful blouse or dress. So I had a fabric and I wanted to make it from that. Now you suggested a woven, but we'll get into all of that and I made it out of cotton and I'm wearing it now. So before I go into any slideshow of her work, I want you to at least realize I am wearing this beautiful I mean these sleeves. Oh, my goodness, your pattern work is just phenomenal. So thank you for that. And so let's just dive in a little bit about your background and what led you into pattern making.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, first, your top looks so cute on you and I love how you styled it and tucked it in the front. Yeah, the sleeves I'm a big fan of puff sleeves and so I was kind of thinking of different ways that I could do a puff sleeve without having, you know, traditional shoulder seam. So it's just a little bit of a different, a different take on a on a puffy sleep. You did well, thank you. My, my dog is agreeing, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Trust me, everyone knows we have three dogs and four cats around here. You will hear them in the background, so just let him. Let him support you, no big deal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's definitely a little cheerleader back there, um, so, so, yeah, so I, um, uh, I've got got into pattern making. I mean, I've been sewing since I was five, and my mom says that I was literally begging her to let me use the sewing machine. Um, and so she, finally, you know, despite being a little nervous about letting me sew at such a little little age, um, she let me do it, and I just have never stopped. Uh, and I sewed with commercial patterns for a long time, until about six, six years ago, I started doing my own patterns. Um, just because you know it's sometimes you, you just you just want to want to have one, have your own thing, right, Right.
Speaker 1:Cause I'm sure you manipulated those commercial patterns. As soon as you would open them up, I'd do the same thing, I can see that. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's really fun that I get to share it on a, you know, on a bigger scale. And I mean, I have a love affair with patterns, I collect them. I don't I don't even know how many vintage patterns that I have, but probably well into the hundreds, I would say. So I just love patterns and so, you know, I couldn't think of anything that is more fun to do than create patterns, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Well, I really encourage everyone and I will have links in the show notes to all of your platforms to sign up for your newsletter and print one of your patterns. They are impeccable, your eye for detail and there's so much information to help guide you through it in different ways. Once you download it, to only select the size that you want. So you're printing that. Now. I selected everything because I wanted to experience it like a traditional pattern whenever you get multiple sizes, so I really wanted to like see that. But you give so many opportunities to be very specific to what you want and print that off with a regular home printer. You piece it together like a little puzzle, you give instructions for that and then you cut it out and make your garments and they are. Your work is just beautiful and I cannot believe it's only been six years. I mean that background from sewing and just it's just impeccable.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you, yeah, the printing with layers. So it's like the way it all happens in the computer, so each size has its own layer, and so that way when you go to print it, you can. There's a way in Adobe which is a free pattern or a free. A free pattern it's a free, like software you can download and it allows you to uncheck your sizes or any sizes that you don't want to print, and that way you can. You can print just one size, or some people will do like two sizes. Um so yeah, it makes it a little bit of a cleaner experience that way. Um so yeah, and I knew this pattern. I don't know if you followed the sew along on my YouTube. Um, I did watch it, yes, Because I knew that the pleats um that was going to be a challenge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so I was like well, I definitely wanted to do a sew along, just so people could really have like have a good experience sewing it, and I think that for those specific details, that could be a little tricky. I think it's I like doing a little sew along so people can visually see what you're doing to get it to come together.
Speaker 1:So that was very, that was very thoughtful of you to do that and to add that bit of information, because when I was, you know, getting everything cut out and started piecing together, I'm like, oh, this reminds me of, like the Vogue patterns, because they were always just a touch above the others with their detail and those specific cute little features. But, you know, the final is just beautiful and, like I said, I made mine in cotton. I have a lot of cotton, very puffy sleeve. You know, if you want to call it that, pieces in my shop that I get from vendors that are huge sellers, my shop that I get from vendors that are huge sellers. So I love that.
Speaker 1:The cotton, you know, fabric that I had and just wanted to make something. I've had it for two years now, wanted to do something fun with it and I'm like, okay, even though this says more like probably like a woven or a jersey or something, I really want to do it in this cotton because I loved this print. So it was, it was perfect and I thought it worked well. Of course, here I'm always breaking rules and not being very specific to what someone suggests.
Speaker 1:But it's totally fine, you know you know, try something that you love and I just I, I'm very excited to do another one and maybe even make a dress out of that pattern and there's try some other patterns, because you do sell your patterns on your website, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I do. So I have, um, I have other tops and dresses, um old season like little jackets, um, and then I even do like pajamas and some like lingerie style stuff, um. So yeah, I do have a little bit of everything.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, basically anything.
Speaker 2:Basically anything that I want, I'll. Then, you know, it becomes a pattern. So that's kind of how it's a little snippet of my closet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the best start, so I love that you started sewing at five. I would have loved to have learned at that age. I always wanted to hijack my aunt's sewing machine. My mother didn't know how to sew my I always wanted to hijack my aunt's sewing machine. My mother didn't know how to sew, my aunt did and, of course, my mom the same way. You're going to sew your fingers or you're going to put the needle through your fingers, so they're always very worried.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's the fingers that was such a fear?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I think that earlier you start learning, the better. Even hand sewing, learning how to do all of those stitches and stuff that's really important. So do you teach sewing and pattern making at all, or is this just something that you do and place that online?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do. Well, I've gone to Sew Expo in the Pacific Northwest. It's like the largest sewing conference, so I do teach there. I've done that for like five years now in a row, which is really fun.
Speaker 1:Christine, I'll have to know when you're there, because my daughter's live in Seattle and I would like to go over there.
Speaker 2:Oh, what a good excuse, I didn't know that. Yeah, oh yeah, it's every um like the last week of February kind of into that first week of March. It's an every year, so year. So I get, I'm from Seattle, so I get to go back and see my parents and then do expo. And I grew up going to expo Like I I was, you know I would tag along with my mom and so it's. It was a really cool full circle. Getting to come back and actually teach there and participate, that's really really cool. I've had, I've had some younger, younger girls in my classes too, which I just love because I love to see the next generation learning. Even though it's never too late to learn, I mean it's never too late, but I love seeing the younger generation kind of popping in as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, I think that is offered. It's not offered enough and I started offering it in my studio and I did have a lot of younger. They've all been girls so far. Guys. I am not judging because my husband is a 22-year Air Force veteran and he sews with me. He is wonderful. Oh, that's so wonderful. Yes, he does so. We have two machines and he'll sew and make things and he's always very proud of the stuff that he does. So it's, it's for everyone, it really is.
Speaker 2:That's so cool that he sews that's that is so fun. Yeah, because it really is just about creating something, like bringing, bringing something to life. It's another tool.
Speaker 1:That's all it is. It's another tool, and fiber is such a great medium. I was just talking with another artist and entrepreneur and she asked what my favorite medium was and I said fiber. And she's like I have never had someone answer that and I said there's so much. You can do with layering that within your work. If you're doing a collage piece, clothing and adding paint or whatever, it's still a tool and a medium, and so I just love how that translates into other pieces of art. And sewing isn't art and it absolutely needs to be addressed as a beautiful art form, and I think you're doing it well with your pattern making. I just think it's beautiful to see all that.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Yes, I definitely think that it's coming back to like just kind of thinking about the younger generation and, like your classes, having young people come in. I'm seeing that like sometimes the door for younger people to come in through is through upcycling, where they'll get something at like the thrift store and they want to re, like, refashion it kind of a thing, and I love that. I think it's such a great, it's such a great entry into the sewing world as well. Um, cause, maybe it feels doable for people, because I think it can feel really intimidating to make a new garment from scratch when you've never sewn before. But if you can like, oh, I want to cut the sleeves off of this. Maybe it's a little bit more approachable. And so I love, I love that that you know young, the younger generation, but that seems to be a little bit of a trend, I see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great point and you're so right. They really embrace, you know, merging textiles, merging looks, finding ways to make it personalized. I think the sewing world allows you to personalize and make it unique, and that's what somebody is always searching for. How can this represent me?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like the kind of the pushback from fast fashion where everyone has the same trend, the same colors and you just kind of end up losing that individuality. And also I feel like we've kind of lost the connection. It's possible to lose the connection to our clothes, with fast fashion and everything that's available to buy, whereas if you make your own clothes you know like your fabric, you had your fabric for a couple of years and you know there's just like something that really special about that and that sewing allows us to reconnect with, with what we wear.
Speaker 1:Yes, I love that. Do you have any favorite patterns or have you ever investigated making your own fabric patterns and getting your own fabric with your designs?
Speaker 2:wish that I could really draw paint, um, and and maybe I could, but maybe I just haven't given myself the proper time to like be really bad at it, um, but yeah, I think doing a, a, a fabric collection someday would be really fun, you know, maybe um doing I know I see people who draw on the iPad like they do the paint on the iPad. So yeah, I think that that would be a really fun adventure someday.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I use Procreate on my iPad and I do pattern design and then have it printed with like spoon, flower or carriage, house and I've been with them since 2010, using their platform to sell fabric and wallpaper, and so it's just investigating it, you know, trying a few of your hand marks, getting a little swatch ordered just to see the quality of the types they offer. So many, oh, my gosh, so many, from canvas to silk to, I mean, cotton, you name it, everything, yeah. So I didn't know if you had a favorite texture of fabric. Do you have a favorite fabric that you like to sew with? Oh, that's such a good question.
Speaker 2:It's so hard to answer.
Speaker 1:I know it is so hard to answer Sometimes, like those jerseys, sometimes just really, if I don't have my serger going with it, they frustrate me. Other times it's like I'll just stick with cotton. They frustrate me. Other times it's like I'll just stick with cotton. It's fast, it's easy, I can get through it really quick. So I you know, I don't know, maybe I'm too opinionated one way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I feel the same. I, you know, sometimes I'll get a Jersey that rolls. You know, when the edge, the cut edges roll, and that just drives me crazy. I had one the other day. I was making a t-shirt, Um, but the tip with that is, if you ever get a knit that rolls, you can use spray starch, um, and you can spray the edges with spray starch and then and then iron it and it will just give it enough of um, like a stabilization yeah, that it'll smooth out that, oh great hint and I think you could use it on other things, like if you're cutting bias, you know something on the bias, or whatever.
Speaker 2:So that's my, my little tip for knits. But yeah, I think if you said okay, you could sew with anything this afternoon, what would it be? I think I would have to choose a Liberty of London cotton lawn.
Speaker 1:I think, yeah, the ultimate, yeah. Oh my gosh, that is fabulous.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my local fabric store has a full, you know, Florida ceiling, like row of Liberty of London in the cotton lawn which is just that buttery soft. Yes.
Speaker 1:All the little prints I'm so envious. You know we're crying that our Joanne's all closed. And I just love hearing that I mean, I literally am, I don't know half an hour from Amish country and they have some large fabric stores, but I don't think that they carry that. So I just I love that you have access. Oh, my goodness, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's special. I I you know I I do tend to sew more on a budget, so I'm always looking for a little um like I'll pick up remnants.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I'm a big first place I go.
Speaker 2:Totally. I love remnants and it's like finding the kind of the um needle in a haystack, you know, to just go through the remnant pile and find a gem like that. So so, yeah, it's, it's fun, fun to look.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, my goodness, I love that, so do you any? Do you do any other type of sewing? Do you like to do embroidery or any hand sewing or things to embellish some of the pieces that you do?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do I. So when I was I don't know, I must've been before I could drive. So I must've been like early teens. I studied French air like heirloom sewing oh my gosh, with his, with like smocking and embroidery and all the like little insertion laces and things, oh my goodness. Yeah, I studied with Martha Pullen. She was like a big the you know, the biggest teacher during that time and I went to Huntsville, alabama, to one of her. She had like a three-day like retreat type of thing. So I went and so I really do love embroidery. I actually am working on a new pattern now that I'm going to include three different beginner-friendly embroidery patterns that you can embroider. On a new pattern now that I'm going to include three different beginner friendly embroidery patterns that you can embroider.
Speaker 2:It's like a little beginner sewing top and you can embroider here because it's getting um, I, I see a lot of crochet, a lot of embroidery out there now and, um, and I like to use upcycled linens a lot. So I'll find like pieces of embroidery that you know, maybe they have a stain here and there but I can cut around it and so doing that kind of upcycling. But I figured well, if you don't have access to an older piece, you could still embroider, embroider your own and have you know the look. So, so that, yeah, that's my next project. I'm going to do a sew along as well, just to teach the three, just three basic embroidery stitches.
Speaker 1:So oh, I love that. I will definitely be looking for that and that was going to be one of my questions, like what's coming down, you know, the pike with new patterns or new, new designs or some new ideas? So I love that combination of doing something you're right, hand stitched or handmade on top of your apparel is huge, huge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think also it can feel a little intimidating. If you've never embroidered before, you're like I don't know how you do that Um. So I I drew out three just um, really pretty but um, you know beginner friendly embroidery, embroidery patterns, and it's a little. It's um, either a top and little shorts, or a top and little capri pants, or a dress version, um, and it can be like a lounge wear. You can wear it out as well, um, but I designed it. I have a. I also have a slow fashion brand that um, that I have on the I have as well. And so a lot of times what I'll do is I'll use the pattern because I've developed, you know, I've done all the fittings and done all the development of it and then I'll I'll make ready to wear a certain amount of units to sell in my slow fashion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. That's a great reminder. I want to make sure that people do know that they can maybe grab a piece that's pre-made by you. I love that.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah. So I designed the pattern because in my slow fashion brand I use a lot of vintage linen, so pieces that maybe they would end up in the landfill or in you know some forgotten corner of the, of the thrift store or wherever, and so I, I I use those, and so this pattern I designed in mind with using smaller pieces of those embroidered linens. So yeah, you'll see it, you'll see the pattern and you can embroider your own, or I'll have you know, some available as well for sale.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's wonderful. Oh my gosh, it's so fun.
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 1:It is so fun. I absolutely love that you're making it your own. I would love to go back to when you shared that you started selling at five, so what was the first thing that you got to make when you were five years old? Do you remember what you were making?
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, I don't remember the exact first thing, but I definitely know very quickly I went right into cabbage patch doll clothes, do you?
Speaker 1:remember. Yes, oh my gosh, yes, that's the cutest. That's better than Barbie, because Barbie clothes are so tiny Cabbage patch is perfect yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I did do some some Barbie stuff, but I was really more of a cabbage patch doll girl and I think I was still little enough that they yeah, and I had. I had quite a few of the dolls so they all had their full outfits. Yeah, I remember I had. I had a book. My parents must've bought me a book with all these patterns inside with all the different styles, and that was really fun. I think those experiences were. I mean, I'm basically still doing the same thing now and you know, just making outfits for real people, yeah.
Speaker 1:I love that. I remember making my doll clothes out of. I had Priscilla curtains in my room and I cut them up and I didn't tell my mother. They were like the ones that hung behind my bed, so she never knew for a long time that those curtains were cut at the bottom because they were the skirts for my dolls. Yeah, so I was. Oh wow, that was the only fabric I thought I could find.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:Again hand sewing at first because I wasn't allowed to use the machine, but I was determined, but that is so funny. So it always seems like we started with our dolls.
Speaker 2:That is such a fun story. Oh, my goodness, I know so bad, yeah, but I think about sewing and like what it brought me throughout my you know, those early years, and it's things like that where you know your, your biggest thing was how can I make more clothes for my dolls? And there's something just so great of that. That. That's the focus and and I think it's so great to have even now, to have a creative outlet where you can put your energy into and it keeps you motivated and focused on something really positive.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So how long does it take you to make a pattern?
Speaker 2:Oh, it really depends on the complexity and how many rounds of fittings that we need to go through to get it perfect. Okay, so it could be, um, could be maybe five or six samples that I'll go through in different sizes. Um, just to make sure everything's fitting, fitting correctly. Um, so, normally it's it's like two to three months Wow.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, so it it takes time, but I I could probably do it faster.
Speaker 2:Um, but that's just I don't know any reason why. I mean sometimes I wish it went a little faster, but just cause you want it to be done, but um, but yeah, I think I, my first, my whole first career was in fashion, working in a corporate environment that was very high stress, high pressure, and so I that was really super challenging for me. I burnt out, and so I think I've kind of consciously chosen a rhythm that allows me to work at my own pace and not max out my creativity and everything, as I'm developing a pattern. I'm also, you know, doing other things, like my YouTube channel and stuff like that. So, yeah, it's a good rhythm.
Speaker 1:That's good. I love to hear that and I love that you specifically said fittings. You didn't say increase everything by like two inches or whatever. You're very conscientious about how it fits per size and I think that that is a reflection of your eye detail and how, like I said, how well the pattern comes across when you print it and the instructions, and just it's wonderful. I just I can't say that enough. I really hope people experience what you've created, because it is just phenomenal.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you, yeah, thank you, thank you. Yeah, fit is a big, a big thing also, um, because we all have different shaped bodies, so it's like one. You know, I have to use one, one set of proportions to develop a pattern, because you, you have to have something to start, um. But then, uh, I do teach classes, um, I have a live program that I run called fit clinic, where I help, I help people understand how to do the pattern adjustments. Like if you have um, if a pattern is cut for a person with, like, a C cup, but you have a D cup, um, you, you, you know there's a certain way to do it so that it fits around the top part but also fits around your bust, and you know all, all the things. Or some people have a shorter waist, or you know larger hips than than the waist, like a different um proportion between waist and hips, and so all those little things are really easy adjustments that you can make to get things to fit your body.
Speaker 1:Yeah so, but just knowing that that's available, I love that you offer that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah and I do it, we do it live on zoom and so cause there's something about you know, being alone in our own house and with your mirror but you're like what do I do? It's cooling here and cooling here. I don't know what to do, and so it's nice to have a. I do it in a group setting, so there's usually, you know, a handful of us on zoom, and so you get to learn from other people as well.
Speaker 1:Yes, and that's that's wonderful, that community, that sense of I'm not in this alone, I'm not the only one having this issue. I think that that's really important for people to remember. You're not in your creative space alone. Please know that there are people out here like us that want to encourage you to explore ways to find what you need, and we're here with those answers. And so I think that that's yeah very important to remember.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly yeah, very important to remember. Yeah, exactly so. Is there a pro? Is there a project that you haven't tackled yet, that you would like to create a pattern for? Is there something you haven't done something?
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm telling you, I have this little itch that just it won't go away. So I know it's one of those things that will probably eventually come come to life. Um, I'm doing some children's patterns. Oh my gosh, I know, it's so random. Um, but I just I made a, uh, a couple of little pieces for um a friend who's having twins and it just ignited this spark Cause I couldn't find what I wanted to sew for her?
Speaker 2:Um, of course not. Oh, I know, and yes, just spent. I really spent a long time just going through all the available patterns and it's like I just I really want to make some children's patterns, but I need to stay focused. Right now I have, you know, with sewing in the city with my slow fashion brand. That's only a year, just a little over a year old, so I really need to give it more time to grow and get get going. So, um, so I'm not, I can't do it yet, but like any good creative, you know we've got a list of ideas.
Speaker 1:I love that. I sew all the time for my grandchildren. So I love that that's on the horizon or in your the back of your mind, because I think that that would be terrific. I tend to make a lot of things that match their mother. Oh, because my kids grew up I have three daughters and we I would make our clothes and their clothes and they would match and they were such 90s babies and they just cringe now when they look back at those pictures. But I don't care, I just think it's so fun.
Speaker 1:Their dolls match them. And just the other day they sent me a meme and it was like, where these girls were photographed with dolls that match their clothes and I sent them back a picture of them. I'm like, yeah, I know, I did the same thing, you forgot.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. Oh, I, I love, love, love that there's. There's just something that you like. You can't replicate that kind of like love and detail that goes into the whole process of choosing the fabric and patterns and putting it all together and having the photograph. It's just, it's really, really special and when they were little they would go to the fabric store with me and then we're like pick your dress out.
Speaker 1:You know, really special, and when they were little they would go to the fabric store with me and then would like pick your dress out. You know, pick the fabric out or help me pick a pattern, and oh yeah, and then by the time the second oldest got into high school, she was self-designing her homecoming dresses, so she would draw them. Then I would have to make up the pattern to match her drawing, to make her dress, and so they were very creative alongside with me and I just love that and it's such great memories. So I love what you're doing, because that foundation to offer this tool for making something together or making a gift like you were doing it's just tremendous and I think that it goes far beyond just doing something for ourselves. It's putting so much goodness out in the world.
Speaker 2:Totally yeah, and sometimes I think you know it's like it's not. It's not necessarily about making another dress or you know something, cause I think probably everyone in in our circles have enough clothes Like. If you know it's not like we really need anything but it's. There's so much more that goes into the, the sewing. You know it's very creative when I sew, when I get in kind of the flow state like hours can earn. You know good hours go by.
Speaker 1:I have to tell Alexa to set alarms. I totally will forget where I'm at and what I'm doing, and then time just flies. Yeah, you totally get lost, and what. I'm doing and the time just flies.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you totally get lost and it's great. Agree more, yeah, like if you, if I have something that you know, like like a decision I need to make or something that's just kind of, um, yeah, like a challenge, or just something I'm trying to kind of figure out, I can, I can sew and I can. Just the answers just kind of come because you're relaxed a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, I totally agree, I love that I know it's so good, it's a really good I mean any hobby. I feel like whatever it is that you do to express your creativity is really. You know, it's something I think a lot of people are getting back to now too. You know, after the last couple of years, so I think it's great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, making time to, you know, find those, what they were calling grandma crafts are coming back. But it's true, I see it in my shop and I see it online, and I am here to promote every bit of it as much as I can because I think it's wonderful. Yes, it really is. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you're running your businesses, are you doing that alone? Do you have help? Yeah, so I have. I have part-time help, so, and I have someone who, for example, when I like the, the instruction booklet that you had for, like all those drawings and things, those, someone does those for me. I love that. Yeah, so that. And then I have someone who helps me with, you know, social media and just kind of organizing things, emails and such. So so yeah, but but yeah, for the, for the most part, I'm, you know, I'm doing a lot of the well, all the filming I do all the editing of my videos.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, yeah, on top of making your patterns and sewing and all of that.
Speaker 2:Wow, it's funny. There's so many little things that go into the day to day that you know. Even when I said, oh, it takes about two to three months to do a pattern, it's like, wow, that takes so long. But then you figure all the little things that are happening along with that. That it's. It's yeah, but luckily I really love it. So it's fun, that's great.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness. I just think that it's a wonderful, unique process and I love that you're doing it in such a public way and sharing especially these ups and downs on this episode, and then we're going to be able to share all your social media and places where everyone can find you. So can you share a little bit, like where everyone can find what you're doing and if you have different social medias for your slow fashion brand and, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, um, I think the main place to go is my, my Instagram, and it's uh, sewing and the city, um, and from there you'll find all the the links to the Manhattan pattern, which is my, my free pattern, um, and then, and you'll find links to my shop and all the things. And then my slow fashion brand is also Instagram and it's at lindylindyshop and Lindy Lindy is, it's a play, it's actually the nickname that we used to call my grandfather because of our. Our last name is Linda back, which can get a little tricky to say, and so he people would call him Lindy and I always knew him as grandpa, grandma and grandpa Lindy. Oh, so, when it came time to look for the name, I I didn't want it to just be like my name, you know. That just seemed too straightforward. So, um, I put two, two of the nickname together and Lindy, lindy it is.
Speaker 1:That's wonderful. I love that, oh my gosh. Yeah, all of those links will be in our show notes and I love the pictures that you sent to me, so I'm going to have those on a little slideshow for the YouTube channel, because I always like to, you know, have some visuals so people can see about what we're talking about to see you, people can see about what we're talking about to see you, and I again had a blast making your pattern and making my blouse, and so I highly encourage that everyone signs up for your newsletter so you can keep in touch. Is that a monthly piece or quarterly?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I try.
Speaker 1:I try to do it weekly oh wow, weekly Okay, but like I haven't, I've been it. Weekly. Weekly is what I aim for.
Speaker 2:But like I haven't, I've been, it's been a little crazy the last couple of weeks, so but yeah, so weekly with with not a lot of consistency.
Speaker 1:Weekly with some grace. We're good with that. I love that. Weekly with some grace. We're all about that around here.
Speaker 2:Trust me, I love it, I love it and usually, like I'll do it, I'll have links to like my YouTube on there and then I'll do. I love scouring the internet for different fabric finds, so I usually include a couple on whether it's like a really good bargain that I find or something really pretty and I give like different pattern suggestions that would work with it, and then I highlight someone who's made something with one of my patterns and then any like updates. So that's kind of what I do in my in my newsletter.
Speaker 1:That's all great information, though, because again we're out here looking for fabric now, in any place that we can find and so sharing those resources, that that's tremendous. So I don't want to leave without thinking is there anything that you'd want to talk about that I've missed or that you're doing, or any, any shows coming up or any, any education opportunities that are coming that would be coming up that you want to share?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing that's upcoming is is I'm reopening the fit clinic program again, so and that's live. So it's kind of a fun, a fun program. I know I've had several women come through who've kind of given up sewing for themselves at some point and then they got into quilting or like sewing for their grandkids kind of a thing, and and so just you know, passing on that message that you can get a good fit in your clothes, and if you've tried and it hasn't worked, um, you know, it's I, I love helping people get a good fit and you know, if you're ready to maybe experiment with sewing your own clothes, it's, it's a good, good place. So, um, I'm excited to open that again. It's really fun. I love getting on, zoom with people, with people and commiserating around around sewing and seeing, seeing at the start like you know something totally not fitting, and then, week after week, we refine it and then they come and it's like a perfect fitting garment, which is really fun.
Speaker 1:That's terrific. I love that you get so much out of it.
Speaker 2:And I know they are.
Speaker 1:You make it feel so approachable and that they can ask any question, and no question is too silly. So I love your attitude towards it and your kindness that you're displaying.
Speaker 2:Oh, thanks. Yeah, it's such a compliment when people say that it's that it's, I make it approachable because it it that's one of the things that's so important to me because, um, you know, some like, I learned to sew so long ago that I don't remember what it was like to learn, and so, sometimes yeah, I'm like I sometimes it's hard for me to to like get in the mind of someone who's never sewn before, and so I never want it to feel like, oh, she's sewn forever, so she, you know, it's easy for you, kind of a kind of a thing.
Speaker 2:But I don't know, and so I always just try to want to be like encouraging and help make it look easy as well, cause it's you know, it's not, it doesn't have to be such as a struggle. It takes a lot of practice, you know, to learn to sew, but so, yeah, I love, I am like the biggest proponent, like learn to sew, learn to sew, it's great.
Speaker 1:Oh well, thank you for creating that space virtually, offering the patterns, offering the newsletter and offering your talent to everyone. I really am so happy that you reached out to be on the program because I love discovering you and all of your work and I will be a big fan forever. Thank you, tracy.
Speaker 2:Likewise. Thank you, christine. Yes, thanks for having me. Bye-bye.
Speaker 1:Bye.
Speaker 2:thank you, christine yes, thanks for having me bye, bye.
