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Black Sewing Network

Black Sewing Network is a platform that celebrates and amplifies black voices in the sewing community. We host daily sewalongs on social media that encourage and motivate members of the sewing community to sew daily!

Lisa Woolfork

Lisa Woolfork is an associate professor of English specializing in African American literature and culture. Her teaching and research explore Black women writers, Black identity, trauma theory, and American slavery. She is the founder of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. She is also the host/producer of Stitch Please, a weekly audio podcast that centers on Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. In the summer of 2017, she actively resisted the white supremacist marches in her community, Charlottesville, Virginia. The city became a symbol of lethal resurging white supremacist violence. She remains active in a variety of university and community initiatives, including the Community Engaged Scholars program. She believes in the power of creative liberation.

Insights from this episode:

• How the Garment Girlies got started with the Black Sewing Network
• How LaShuan originally connected with Carmen Green through instagram, where Carmen hosted “Sew Saturdays”
• Why TikTok is a more vibrant platform to host
• The Black Sewing Network provided guidance, explanations for sewing terminology, and strategies for community members
• How going live on social media platforms helps to strengthen the community of sewers by supporting each other through challenges
• The Black Sewing Network community encourages collaboration and mutual support, even helping each other to gain followers on social media
• Benefits of feeling safe and welcome in a community
• Emphasis on how the Black Sewing Network community feels encouraged to pursue their own sewing styles and interests without pressure to conform to specific aesthetics
• Expressions of gratitude for the Black Sewing Network’s positive impact on their unique sewing journeys
• Conversations surrounding garments include discussions about patterns used, various challenges faced during the sewing processes, and the significance of pieces created
• The Garment Girlies strategies to help us get our stitch together
•  

Quotes from the show:

• “BSN is really all about you being yourself and expressing yourself how you want to.” - Aiysha, Stitch Please, Episode # 205
• “It's just really that simple that you can be who you want to be and who you are and you can elevate that you could do it, how you want to do it, hack it, play around, I think with BSN it allows us to just play and have fun and try stuff out and seam rip a lot.” - Aiysha, Stitch Please, Episode #205
• “BSN is that environment where there are teachers, everybody's a teacher no matter what level you are… Whether you're in the role of the teacher or the role of the student, it's a safe place where we know that there's really an opportunity for everyone to learn.” - LaShuan, Stitch Please, Episode #205
• “I think that breaking down barriers can be one of the first steps to learning.” - Lisa Woolfork, Stitch Please, Episode #205
• “Just start. It doesn't matter where you're starting from. Like I said earlier, I started my Instagram and tiktok in March of this year and here I am a BSN host. I never would have thought I would have that even, no one would have even known who I was at this point in time.The community will meet you where you're at and just start, you never know who you're going to influence who you're gonna impact and what your story could do for somebody else, even if we're just sewing.” - DeJanee, Stitch Please, Episode #205
• “To those that are listening, those that are watching, to just simply be you. Like, I think when it comes to sewing, you have so many opportunities, so many ways to be able to express yourself. There was always a saying that I would say that style is the inner workings of you and fashion is the show for everyone to see.” - Aiysha, Stitch Please, Episode #205
•  

Resources Mentioned:

• Black Sewing Network

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Lisa Woolfork

Instagram: Lisa Woolfork

Twitter: Lisa Woolfork

Black Sewing Network

Website: Black Sewing Network

Facebook: Black Sewing Network

Instagram: Black Sewing Network

Tiktok: Black Sewing Network

LinkTree: Black Sewing Network

Email: blacksewingnetwork@gmail.com

The BSN Garment Girlies

TikTok accounts

TyJari @mightysew

Aiysha @maloriadesigns

Byrd @yogabyrd (Instagram: @yogabyrdsews)

DeJanee @deja_made_it

LaShuan @sewphistocateddesigns

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This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry.

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Lisa Woolfork 0:10

Hello stitchers. Welcome to Stitch Please, the official podcast of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. I'm your host, Lisa Woolfork. I'm a fourth generation sewing enthusiast with more than 20 years of sewing experience. I am looking forward to today's conversation. So sit back, relax and get ready to get your stitch together. Hey friends Hey, it is Lisa from Black Women Stitch and Stitch Please podcast, and as I say every week, this is a very special episode because this episode I am sitting down with, believe it or not, the Garment Girlies of the Black Sewing Network. Let me tell you about the Black Sewing Network in general. You already know, from some previous episodes we've had, we've talked with the dynamic duo, the stitching sisters that are Brittany and She she, we talked with the Bag Girlies last week, and now we are rounding it out with the discussion of the Garment Girlies and these folks hold it down. They are sewing Know Me patterns. They are sewing independent patterns. They are making hacks and modifications. They are helping beginners. They are challenging experts and they are doing it right here on social media for people to join and participate and have a really great time. I think the Black Sewing Network has had a tremendous influence in the sewing community in just a short one year timeframe. The people here on this screen are partly responsible for that huge success. And so welcome to the program. I am so glad to have you TyJari, DeJanee, Byrd, LaShaun, Aiysha, thank you all so much for being here with us today. Thank you so much. And welcome to the Stitch Please podcast.

Byrd 2:06

Thank you. Happy to be here.

LaShaun 2:08

Thank you. Thank you for having us.

Aiysha 2:10

Thank you.

DeJanee 2:11

Thank you.

Lisa Woolfork 2:12

Y'all are so amazing. And I think the work that you do, I think the promos are so much fun. I think the way that you all have come together to create, essentially what Carmen was dreaming of, which was like a television network with different channels, different programs, was something that can be on all the time. Tell me,how did you get started with Black Sewing Network? Have any of you all been here from the very beginning or have some joined more recently? How did y'all get started? And how did you know you had landed in the right place?

LaShaun 2:41

I'll jump in, this is LaShaun. I didn't know that when Carmen had invited me to sew, actually on Instagram, one Saturday she did Sew Saturdays and I had saw her sew before, first time that I saw her so I didn't have a sewing machine. And I saw her sewing, I thought I'm gonna go out and buy a sewing machine. I inboxed star said, "What should I get?" She told me what to get. I went out and bought it. And I told her I got it. And then, maybe like a month or two later, she said, you know, hey, let's get on Instagram and do a Sew Saturday. We got on Instagram. Meanwhile, she had already started getting on Tik Tok. I didn't have a Tik Tok. She was like, "You need to come on Tik Tok, you know, that's where it's live. That's where it's at." And I'm thinking, Lord, I just got through the Sew on Instagram. And now you want me to come on Tik Tok, I went on Tik Tok. And when I went on that it was just a whole different community. People were embracing you. And I was a beginner. So mind you at this point in time, I had been sewing probably 2, 3, 4 months maximum. But people were so welcoming. They were answering questions. I wasn't familiar with the jargon. And people were like, "Oh, this is what this means." And I was like, Okay, this is my place. This is where I need to be. I can definitely grow by leaps and bounds. And they're saving me Google time, cause they're telling me what to do in real time. So at that point in time, I didn't realize that I had stumbled onto the Black Sewing Network. But it didn't take long before I realized that that was my community. And that's where I belong.

Lisa Woolfork 4:06

That's really beautiful. It's amazing, because when I look at your work, I'm stunned to think that you have only been sewing for that short amount of time. That really surprises me. DeJanee, how about you? What is your story with Black Sewing Network? Are you also someone that's been there since one of the early days or is this new for you?

DeJanee 4:24

I'm newer. So I actually started my Instagram journey in March of this year.

Lisa Woolfork 4:30

Wow.

DeJanee 4:31

Yeah. So I was just Googling, I was looking at hashtags and I found Black Sewing Network and at the time, they didn't have any posts, so I was like, I don't know what this is, but I'm gonna follow itecause it has enough followers, it must not be a scam. And then I made TikTok shortly after and then I found them over there but I didn't know there was a link in her bio for calendar and I stumbled across Brittany one day, so I was talking with her and in the comments and she looked at my profile. It was like, you guys, you need to start following her and she was like, you need to follow Black Sewing Network, and I was like I do follow them. I'm like, but I don't see anything, she was like doing this so long. So she found me. Then I found Black Sewing Network. And it's just been a wonderful community ever since. I have the same experience LaShaun has had, like, everyone is so welcoming. They're so nice. They answer your questions. And there's so much love, like, you post something, everyone's going off their resharing, they're liking everything. And even my mom, I was talking to her on the phone yesterday. And she doesn't sew by the way, and she was like, you know, the reason why I like to watch your guys's lives, even if you're not sewing, is she's like, "You guys are so nice. And you're so helpful to each other." She was watching me sew a bag, an Elizabeth hand-made by EZM, was helping me with something and she was like that lady was so nice to you. And so I think that's why people keep coming back.

Lisa Woolfork 5:50

That's right, the kindness, the creativity and all of that coming together. Aiysha, how about you? How did this come to be part of your story?

Aiysha 6:00

DeJanee 7:27

It's what it is like, it's really just the thing to be able to come together and unity and be able to build one another up as well as our skill set.

Lisa Woolfork 7:36

Yes, I love that. And I appreciate the way that you described being able to level up because BSN can meet you where you are. And that if you're a beginner, you can get help. If you're intermediate you can get help. I think that is really very powerful. TyJari. What has your story been with Black Sewing Network? Are you a beginner in need of more help? Are you intermediate getting challenged? How has that shown up for your sewing?

TyJari 8:03

Well, I am one of the OGs, I am the first sewalongs.

DeJanee 8:09

Whop whoop.

TyJari 8:09

Carmen came into one of my Lives, and she was just like, "Oh, this is cool watching people sew." I was actually supplementing at the time. And I said, the way your voice is, you need to be doing Lives. She'd be like, "No, I'm afraid of it." And I'm just like, "No, you need to do it cause people need to hear you." Then she started doing her lives and it just blew up from there. Going to her lives was everything like, oh my gosh, Carmen's going live. We on there. We watching and everybody just connected over there. It was just like a family. We didn't know each other. But we became a family at that time. And she was like, "Hey, would you'd like to do a Sew Along? I need you to represent for the plus size girlies." And I'm like, I don't wanna sew with other people, cause I was so afraid cause I felt like I was a beginner and didn't know nothing. But it was like what Aiysha said, we need you where you are. And a lot of the stuff that I felt like I didn't know I knew, and the stuff that I didn't know, nobody bashed me for not knowing it.--

Lisa Woolfork 9:09

Hmmmm.

TyJari 9:09

So I felt good to continue to do sewalongs. And we did the first two sewalongs and it was just like, I loved it. And we did sewalongs that whole year.

Lisa Woolfork 9:19

I'm so excited. I feel like we all owe TyJari a round of applause and some big thank yous because first of all, the idea that you got Carmen to come on live, first of all, the idea of me thinking of Carmen as shy, I'm glad to know that you know her that way. Like, that's very special that Carmen was too shy to come on to a live and now she's like too shy to tell you, "Uh uh, get somebody else to do it. I'm not, no." It's not because she's shy. It's because she's doing so much. It just really is a great example of what you said like, she helped you you helped her and now here we are. And I think that is something to look back on and really smile. Byrd, how about you? How did you join this merry merry band of sewing enthusiasts?

So, I discovered Carmen on Instagram, and I thought, oh my gosh, she is fly, she is stylish. Who is this sewist? And I was just looking at all of the things that she was doing on her personal Instagram. I was literally intimidated. I'm like, Oh my gosh, you know, is she approachable? And then I ended up actually having a conversation with her over on TikTok. I went over one day, when probably TyJari or someone else was on there doing a sewalong, and I was just listening. And next thing I know, Carmen is saying, Byrd, we need to get you up here and do a Sew Along, and she knew the work that I was doing over on Instagram representing 50 plus curvy sewists.--

Yes, yes.--

Like, we need to get you up there. And so they really pumped it up to help me get to 1000 followers because I didn't have anything on Instagram. I had maybe one post, I had maybe five followers, even though I do lives on Instagram. Those are like an hour. Coming to Tik Tok and doing a Sew Along from beginning to end was terrifying at first.--

Hmmm.--

And then once I started doing it, and I thought, Oh, this is really a lot of fun. I'm tired at the end, like at the end of four or five hours, y'all I need a serious, serious nap. I am really, really tired.--

Yes.--

But it was just an incredible experience to meet all of these beautiful, beautiful women of color, Carmen, Aaronica. The men of color as well, Michael (crosstalk). An amazing community.

Byrd your story reminds me of my own. I think I came on to TikTok last year and I did not have enough to go live and I was like, well, all the cool kids seem to be over here on TikTok. All the cool cousins is here. I'm a cool cousin. Our house was the cool cousin's house. I wanna be on TikTok. I wanna go live. And when I tell y'all Carmen and you all and Black Sewing Network, they were like come on, let's help run Lisa up cause she needs to be going live to come on. And I just thought it was just so generous. Y'all didn't know me. But you're were like, "Hey, I know you're Black Women Stitch, I know you're doing stuff in community, we're gonna help you." And that is something I have absolutely loved about Black Sewing Network, is that we get to have choices. We get to do different things. And we get to have more than one. Yes, we can have a Black Sewing Network. Yes, we can have Black Women Stitch. No, nobody has to choose. We don't have to make ourselves small. Because being big makes somebody else uncomfortable. And so that is something I just love about this community in the ways that our communities intersect. I wanted to ask you about some of the things you all like to sew and how you decide what you are going to do. What I'm sharing here y'all, for the Patreon supporters, if you are a Patreon supporter, you get video visuals, video content of the podcast episodes. Any episode that I record, of the 200 episodes that I've done, you have video access to those episodes. And this one is one y'all want to see because first of all we look gorgeous. Second of all, you get to see some fantastic garments and we're looking at four pieces now from TyJari, and LaShaun, Byrd, and DeJanee, and so I'm looking at these, and again I did not say them in order, but y'all wouldn't know that if, you know just trust me pretend I did. But they're all the pieces show your personalities. It shows one of the reasons why you're there. It shows, I dunno I just look at all these, they're also different. DeJanee did you want to talk about your jumpsuit, this piece you're wearing right here? What is this? Clearly it's something you made?

Yeah.

Can you share a little bit about this piece?

Yeah, so that is a Simplicity 8060. Already know it because I hunted for that pattern forever. It is the old Mimi G. jumpsuit that she released--

Yes.--

and I actually sewed that up with Sabrina from Socially Inspired. We met after we went to South Florida Frocktails and she contacted me, and after Carmen launched her campaign to help me get to 1000 followers like she does with so many other people.--

Yes.--

I think it was the second or third live that I did so we coordinated together and we did it live together and sewed this, and it took a long time because we've both won, the jumpsuit just takes a long time cause there's a lot of pieces but we both added a lot of extra pockets and made it harder on ourselves as we normally do. But yeah we both bonded over our love of jumpsuits and being tall and we ended up making this together.

I love it. It is so beautiful. And I know, I have that jumpsuit. I think sometimes I buy it more than once. Because, let me tell you, I have to tell myself when I go to a sale I'm like, Lisa do not buy the No Know pattern with Nikki Brooks on it wearing the green top in the white bottoms. You already have that pattern, I like, but I like it. It's like, I know you like it. That's why you have three copies. You don't need a fourth. And so I think I have a couple of those as well. I love the idea of the collaboration. The collaboration that shows up so beautifully and, this jumpsuit is a smash. And speaking of smash, this skirt. My goodness. LaShaun, this is absolutely gorgeous. I love the fullness. Can you walk us through this look here, it's really very fun.

So, this dress, and is actually a dress. This is a hack of a hack of a hack.--

Nice.--

So you probably couldn't tell but Nikki of Beaute DJ'adore, this is her spring 2022 dress, that green dress with the big sleeves.--

Yes.--

Well, she hacked that. She did a Kiki Vargas hack.--

Yes.--

For a top. And so I was gonna go on live and one of the things I do, as you know, I kind of taught myself as the beginning sewist. I'm gonna go step by step through each direction and make sure that people who are sewing along also know. But part of making sure that I can go through the process and that what normally would be four hours is not gonna be eight hours, is I will sew something offline first. So this was kind of that, let me take a stab at this. Let me sell it offline and I ended up hacking it into this dress, eliminating the sleeves but still keeping the bodice piece and then extending what was the top part of that dress, that first layer, I extended it down so that it would be a dress. And so, one I was very excited that I was able to do this so that it turned out right, but this is probably one of my favorite dresses that I've made and I have worn it several times. So I love it, but it's a hack of a hack of a hack.

Were you able to keep the pockets? That's my question. Are the pockets in that section or the pockets in the section below? I made that dress twice. I love it.

So I did not put the pockets. I did not put the pockets in here and I don't know why I did not do the pockets for this particular one. But I could have and I still can, you know my skill set.--

Of course.--

I know how to insert these pockets afterwards and I'm excited about that.

Oh it's so beautiful. It's so beautiful. Listen, y'all, this hat, okay. Byrd is out here. Doing like, what is Little Richard said, "I like to put it on. I like to put it on." I'm telling y'all, we got Byrd is putting it on, and TyJari is putting it on too. So we'll start with you Byrd. Walk us through this gorgeous, it looks like this blue stretched sequin, one shoulder with this gorgeous hat bag like. hello.

Yes, thank you. So first off the location. We were in New York City attending the NYC Frocktails and DeJanee, we were planning to walk together to the event, and DeJanee said, "I have a great idea. Let's take pictures live in Times Square." I was like, "Yes." And I was there with my daughter. I made my daughter a matching halter, backless halter to match my fabric. So this was DeJanee's idea and it is a winning idea, amazing idea. So the hat is actually a very basic wardrobe by me canvas or a bucket hat and I've actually sewn it on live with Black Sewing Network twice. When I sewed it on live, once was a safari hat for my trip to Kenya earlier this year. And another one was one that I'd sewed online, went to a friend's birthday party, it was to gift it to her, for her.--

Ohhhh.--

Literally I finished just in time to get to the birthday party and that was her gift. So it's a very basic pattern but it's all about your fabric choice. So I used the sequin knit stretch fabric. I had to make sure I added the right structure and support behind it so it would no longer stretch and it actually worked out pretty well. And then the dress is, I went and looked it up it's McCall 8142 It's a one shoulder dress. I love the way that it came out. I was a little bit concerned about the lining and whether or not the slip, because sometimes they can get a little bit wonky, but I definitely wanted to make sure that it was lined, because sequence doesn't necessarily feel good against the body but I love the way that it turned out. And a little handbag, because I sew handbags but I'm not what I would call a bag girly. Like, I don't know all the ins and outs of it at all but that is a self-drafted little bag that I made, probably about a year ago and it's just big enough, literally just big enough for a credit card, license, and your phone. But that was a really fun day.

It looks like it and I love that you made this bag before you made the dress like the bag was waiting to be made more fabulous by the outfit so brava. And speaking of fabulous outfits, TyJari's, what they say, ain't leaving no crumbs, she is out there getting it done. Can you walk us through this fabulous green jumpsuit? It has a front wrap satin gorgeousness, sheer sleeves, I love the blend of textures. Tell us about your inspiration for this look and how you got to this point. It's stunning.

I don't know if some of y'all heard the story about me jumping off the live one time while we were doing this sewalong. This is the outset that I jumped off the live because I've never stone with velvet before and that's velvet. And that gave me so much hard time. And I was like, this is embarrassing. I was like at the top part, it was so embarrassing. I was like, "Oh my gosh, I don't want nobody talking about me." So I jumped off the live. And I didn't get back on there but I did finish the outfit. So that outfit was the second sew along and I ended up jumping off the live for that outfit.

Listen, this outfit made her so mad. She was like listen who came through victorious? I mean really, for the win. You know how they say you don't look like what you've been through. It looks like you gave this outfit some serious talking to and then it got its act together. Because it is only giving beauty. Now Aiysha, when you look at these four pieces in a group, does it tell some type of story about the Black Sewing Network? When you look at these garments, what do you see as someone who has known Carmen and was there from the very early days? So how has that worked for you, just looking at these outfits?

I think it just speaks to each lady's personality you know, BSN is really all about you being yourself and expressing yourself how you want to. So when I look at each one, like yes that definitely looks like DeJanee. --- Thank God she has on color y'all, but she loves black. So we got her into a little bit of color for to test out color. Byrd and I, we always talk about blue. We know that's our favorite. So you know, I'm always down for the blue. And then I didn't know the story about TyJari and this outfit. And I think what she's giving is like, yes, you know what I mean, I conquered this and I did this, but I feel like she's talking to herself though. But she's letting us know that she got it done because we didn't know at that point, why she jumped off the live or what the story was, but that picture, which I love. And now hearing that that was the one, I'm like, okay, she proved to herself that, "I got this and I could do this." And here we are now looking at it today. So again, it just reminds us that whatever level, whatever skill set, you be who you are, you do what you do, it's just really that simple that you can be who you want to be and who you are. And you could elevate that, you could do how you, you know wanna do it h--- play around, I think would be BSN allows us to just play, and have fun, and try stuff out and see where it belongs.

But it's a part of the process.

And it's okay, at the end of the day, it's okay.

I love that. And I'm so excited to talk more about this

Black Women stitch is happy to celebrate the 200th episode of the Stitch Please podcast with AccuQuilt. It's our birthday. But thanks to AccuQuilt we're giving gifts. All September, we count it down to 200 episodes. In October, every week we gave away one AccuQuilt Go Me Fabric Starter Set, and culminated with the grand prize giveaway of the GO! Big Electric Fabric Cutter Starter Set. If you aren't new to AccuQuilt and are thinking about investing in their system, the Ready. Set. GO! Bundle is your best value. Ready. Set. GO! provides everything you needed to get started, an AccuQuilt, GO! Cutter, the eight-inch tube with eight essential dyes to create 72 blocks, a dye to easily cut multiple strips, squares, and diamond. You also get a pattern book. And the best part is, at anytime you can upgrade your GO! Cutter to the fantastic GO! Big, which is what I have where the AccuQuilt magic can happen at the touch of a button. June Taylor, a well-known name in the notions game is now part of AccuQuilt. Links to AccuQuilt's wonderful products can be found in the show notes.

One of the things I love about Black Sewing Network is that I step in there and y'all always is cackling about something. Something has happened. There's a smile on your face, even if it's, this didn't go right so let me just laugh at myself for this mistake. How do you keep a resilient attitude or resilient spirit? It seems very much that it's not that easy today to click on into something and find some people are gonna be happy. But I feel like whenever I find a Black Sewing Network, somebody's sewing, somebody's thinking through something, working through something. People are really interested in what they're doing and really committed to having a good outcome. And I'm wondering how you all maintain that even when things get a little challenging. Has anyone had a kind of experience? When TyJari says, "Look, I need to step away and I will regroup and come back with Obama's outfit" In other ways, like how you all can lift up and support each other. How has that unfolded for you all? Like, have you run into a difficulty and someone's been able to walk you through it? Or you feel like you've bitten off more than you can chew and you're like,"I don't know if I can do this." And someone'll say "Oh, what do you mean you can't? Of course you can." Do you have any stories like that, that you might be able to share with us?

Well, I was gonna say, look, this, get BSN is that environment where people, they are teachers, everybody's a teacher. No matter what level you are. And so I think about myself, my goal is really to inspire other people who have no sewing experience and say, "Look, a year ago I was you and look at where I'm at today with dedication and continuing to sew." And one of the things that I've learned is, don't be afraid to make a mistake, because everyone is so supportive, I can't tell you the times where I was sewing something with an invisible zipper. And Brittnay got on the live with me and said, "Do this first, do this second, do this third." Not too long ago, one of the lives, someone else got on literally, and walked me step by step. And so, some people might think, well, you're in a role, you know, I'm one, my live and I'm teaching other people, but then you get stuck. And some people might be embarrassed by the fact that, oh, you're supposed to be teaching other people and then you are misinterpreting or you don't understand the directions. But there's no room for that embarrassment, because everybody, they basically create a safe space where we're all learning. And so whether you're in the role of the teacher, or the role of the student, it's a safe place where we know that there's really an opportunity for everyone to learn. And so I've had multiple occasions where all of my sewist friends have hopped on. Auntie Carol has hopped on and said, "Okay, first, do this, second, do this." And so I think that that's a common occurrence that probably all of us have experienced where, in the middle of our Sew Along, you get stuck. And there are people that are literally, you look down and Tik Tok and you see the little red dot, there are people that are waiting to pop up on your live and help guide, not just you, but anybody else. And that includes the people who are sewing at home, who are in the chat saying, "Okay, I'm stuck on this section", you might be still sewing, there are other people who have already got it, that person answered that question. So those are just a couple of the experiences that I've had. And what it's done for me is just know that this is a safe space that I don't have to know all the answers that there are people that are there, that will help me. And I think that also inspires other people to say, I can start at any point. I can get on this live, I can sew, or I can just go buy a sewing machine, I can start because there is gonna be someone that I can reach out to that will help guide me.

That is so beautiful. Actually, I had a very similar experience. I was on a live on my live and Julian came in. And I was trying to use my semi-industrial machine to attach some binding. And I was like, "Do I need to slide this to the left or slide this to the right?" And I was talking out loud. And Juliana was in the comments like to the left and I said come up here and tell me what works. Then he got on was like, "Lisa, slide it toward you, now use your right hand to do this." Listen, I have been sewing for 25 years, my grandma's grandmama sewed, this does not mean that I don't have things that I don't know. And I just felt so grateful that someone, with Julian's time and talent and skill, could just tell me really quickly, like just move your left hand this way. And it's like, Ah, thank you, you know. That little tiny thing really does give you a sense of confidence, you know, and it just gives you the kind of encouragement to keep going. I think Byrd you might have had a similar comment, or DeJanee.

Yeah, what I was gonna say is really just echoing really what you and LaShaun have already said and underscoring the fact that the community is so incredibly supportive. So I've been on and sewing different things, and Brittany and others may be on or Auntie Carol and I may have questions or I run into something. And they're immediately in the comments, do this, do this. And it's taken in the spirit that it's offered.--

Hmmmm.--

But one of the other things that happened to me on a live, I have a Fa sewing machine. I used it to make buttonholes all the time, but I had never used it to actually sew on the button. So I'm always--

Ohhh.--

still one you know, sticking myself sewing on my buttons and stuff--

Oh good Lord.--

because you don't remember the sewists that was actually watching the live at the time and she had a Fa. And she worked with me. She'd said, "I'll help you no problem at all." And afterwards, she worked with me and I learned how to, okay, drop your shank, you know how to do it. This is what you do, you take off the foot. I was like, wow. So the community, it's grown incredibly large, right? So it's not just the people that are here on the podcast, but on the live, but it's a much broader community that--

Yes.--

--will reach out and be supportive. And that's really what I was gonna say the key word for me is support. It's not just if you're in the live, but folks that are joining and watching.

That's right. Oh, that's so wonderful. That's wonderful. Thank you. Anyone have anything else to add on that?

So I can add something. So one thing too that I think is really important for people who want to go live and are afraid to make a mistake or be in that position is people want to see real people. So I mean, like if I get on there and I make a full garment and I never make a mistake, right? People are going to be like, well she's always really good. She never makes a mistake. I'll never get there. I think it humanizes all of us, right? If I go on there and I make a garment, I'm like, Well, this did not work out. We did it, we made it through. But this is not the one that's going outside. You know, I think it just humanizes all of it, right? It makes it more accessible for people who aren't there yet, but want to be in. And so, anytime I get on there, and I'm panicking, or my anxiety levels are rising. So like, I don't know what I'm doing. This might not work out. I don't know, I just remember like somebody out there wants to see work through this, they want to see you have the struggle, so they can feel like they can do it, too. And Brandy was on live and she was doing a waistband. And she had self-drafted this pattern. And she was like, Y'all, I've done this twice. I'm about to throw this in the trash. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. And I was on my lunch break, I said, pull me up, we'll was in the comments. And she was like, I love the bat signal. And so now every time when people do that, that's what I think. And it's true. It's like the bat signal, all you have to do is be like, I need help, and somebody is there, either they've already requested or they're like, pull me out, do whatever you need to do. And everyone else is right. The community has grown, whether you're Black, white, whatever, anyone who's in the comments is willing to help you could be brand new to the live and people who like I can do that I can help you. And that to me, I think just sets us apart from other lives and other themes and communities that I've seen, because I've never come in and been like, oh, that person gave me a bad attitude or that person wasn't willing to help. You just don't get that.

One of the things that I would add is that I think it's because we are all very accessible. So we have people that are in the sewing community, they're not getting on live, but they are sewing along with us whether they're doing it in real time, or they're watching our lives and saying, You know what, I think I can try that I can conquer that. And if they stumble along the way, or they run into glitches, they will inbox us or they'll send us a little video on Instagram and say, here's where I'm at, can you help me understand, and I can't tell you the number of times that people have tagged me in their finished garment. Or say I've tried this pattern because I saw you so it or the tips they used or the things you stumbled upon were things that I now was able to move through smoothly. Thank you for all your help. I mean, that just warms my heart. That's exactly what I want to see. And so I think another thing DeJanee talked about what separates us, it's our accessibility, the people who so in our community know that even though they're not sewing on live with us, or even though they might not have all the skills that if they run into something, they could reach out to any of us on our social media platforms and ask us, Hey, I run into this, or what should I try? Or we're willing to answer questions, or help them to the best of our ability?

I think that kind of generosity is really powerful, because it breaks down the barriers. And I think that breaking down barriers can be one of the first steps to learning, you know, and being able to say, I don't understand something, sometimes people aren't willing to say that, you know, and so to see people say, Oh, I'm struggling through this, or you know, I'm an expert, but I'm not omniscient. I don't know every single thing that ever existed. And that lets people know that it's okay. Are you sure? Do you have any particular favorite projects or things that you've ever done on a live where you're like, This is something I really am excited to sew on alive, or this is something I want to make sure that people know about? Or have you ever had an experience like that where you could say, Hmm, this was something that I sewed with BSN, it was better to sew it this way than just to sew it by myself by my lonesome.

We in a creative I love to seeing different variations of things. So when everyone's souls and they put their own little spin on it. One thing about me is I love to do my own thing with the pattern. Sometimes you may not even recognize the pair the actual theater when it's done, but for BSN purposes so that way people can see how something is done, I'll see if I can be one thing I love to do is leading taking a basic pattern and showing you how you can add it, with some curves in it, some blinds in it, something to make it more than what it is. So that's one of the things that I love to do is like color blocking and hacking, cutting it up, making different designs within a design. And then actually people trying it out because anything that you've never done before will appear to be hard. But once you've done it a few times, and plus you have a support system that can help you navigate through it, then it gives you again another notch in your belt, something that you can try, something that you can make your own and you don't have to feel like oh, this is what the pattern says. So this is only what I can do. So it just--

That's right.--

--that you can work with and didn't allow on everybody to see what you've done is seeing how everybody else did what they did and then how they came up with it. Like I love that part of it.

I think that it's so powerful because sometimes people forget that sewing is meant to be you making something. Some people wanna make the pattern look exactly like the envelope, and if it doesn't look exactly like the envelope, then it's not right. I think sometimes the patterns on the envelopes look a little sad. The Know Me patterns are an exception, because sometimes I'm like, "Oh, all these pattern companies, and so they're owned by owned company, and you ain't got no more money left to style these people?" Nobody got budget to give them some jury and to let the little garments have some shape on them? Like, what am I even looking at it? So I prefer to see it on a person. So when I'm looking for a pattern, what I'll do is I'll go to Instagram, and I'll put in the company name and sometimes the pattern number and then hope for the best. Or I'll go to the pattern site and flick through it and see and like, I need to see this on a person, a person that looks like me, a body double or someone that I think has my proportions just so I can have an idea of what it's going to look like. And one of the things I've noticed about the BSN Sew Alongs is the stuff that y'all make, it all looks so great, and that it has such personality. And I think it's really sad when there's folks, and there are a lot I think, who just want to follow the directions, which is great. I'm a direction follower, but it's meant to be yours. You know, it's meant to be yours, it needs to look different than what mine would look like, you know. And so the idea of having some good personal touches, I think are really important. TyJari, do you have a particular story or some ideas about how you like to make patterns your own? Is there any particular style that you like, or anything that you particularly enjoy sewing more than the other?

I'm more of a rule follower, instruction follower, but then I don't follow instructions. So at the end of the day, I was more so navigating sizing, that's my thing right now. And I am mainly right now working with kids clothing, my son is my boss. So I'm working with--

Nice.--

kids' clothing right now. But for me, no, I don't have a specific style. That's why I love BSN because when I came in, they were making clothes that these two outfits, I wouldn't have never made those or wore those I would never worn, I would like to wear things like that, but I will never will. And it makes me jump out of my comfort zone to do things like that, like, "Oh, we're gonna do this pattern. Come on this Sew Along with this." And I'm like, "Oh, no, I won't do that. It won't look good on the plus size of this girlie. Carmen like, "Come on, do this, and it's gonna look good on you." Okay, try it. Love it. So it's just trying new things. Basically,

I know you talked to us about the green velvet garment. But can you walk us through this orange off the shoulder number here, this is a yummy jammy here. And the idea that you said this was a stretch for you. This is not something you might have done without the encouragement of BSN, or Carmen. I think you have such confidence in the photos and everything. Can you tell us about it? What are we looking at here?

That orange? That was the first Sew Along. And I learned something new on that so long how to understand which I never understood before. And that was like, What is this, but I understood it. I have messed up the sleeve on that one. And I was like, I'm gonna get this together. And I got it together for the picture. And that's how that one turned out. I would never wear that because I'm like, plus size girls cannot wear clothes like this. But I try to make the clothes to fit. They look perfect for you. Plus five really to fit you.

You look good in them. And if you feel good, you will take a good picture. You look happy in this photo. I mean, I don't know if you all agree if I were to describe her attitude, I would not have thought this was someone who felt shy or who felt like, no my size excludes me from this. That is not what this is giving. This is giving, y'all better get into it. Catch up, catch up. I think that is just so utterly remarkable. So remarkable. We're heading to the end of our time, believe it or not. And one of the questions I always ask people when we wrap up the podcast is the slogan of the Stitch Please podcast is that we will help you get your stitch together. I'm gonna give y'all a couple seconds to think about it. But I'm going to ask each of you to give me an example or some advice that you would offer for our audience to help us get our stitch together, and then I'll let anybody volunteer but I'm not afraid to call on people, just saying.

I think getting your stitch together is don't take yourself too seriously. I am really speaking to myself when I say that is not to take myself too seriously and that it is okay to make mistakes. The biggest thing that I would say to me, as a fairly new sewist, and so for anyone that's in the sewing community, is I know social media is a big part of our lives. But sometimes you have to take a break because social media can drain your creative joy and just taking a step back from it because sometimes I can make an amazing whatever. And then the next moment I look at something that someone else has made and it's out of the park immediately. I'm like, oh, and I have to remind myself, celebrate with everyone, like that is to be celebrated. We have to remind ourselves, especially as Black women, how important that is to support each other. In that way, though, sometimes I'll just take a step back, get myself together and come back. But don't take yourself too seriously.

Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. That's great advice. Anyone else?

I can go next. I have two, one is going to be a technical one, read the back of your pattern envelopes, and select your size. According to the finished garment measurements. Don't be out here making those straight fourteens if you didn't check the finished garment measurements, okay, that's the first one. Number two is, just start. He doesn't matter where you're starting from. Like I said earlier, I started my Instagram it to talk in March of this year. And here I am a BSN house, I'd never would have thought that he would no one would have even known who I was at this point in time. So just start, just get out there, start where you're at, that community will meet me where you're at. And just start, you never know who you're going to influence who you're going to impact in what your story could do for somebody else, even if we're just so light. So just start.

That is so beautiful. Thank you. That is right on time. Thank you.

I'm gonna piggyback off a little bit of what you had said earlier, which is the patterns are really just a guide that it's important that you make it your own. The other thing I will say that I live by is gone are the days of wearing clothes that don't flatter you. When you learn how to sew, you learn how to make those adjustments that have your clothes fitting that make you feel your best. And so sewing is one of those things that not only allows you to embrace your creative style, so you can pick the color that you want and the type of garment that you want and the complete look that you want. But now you can have a look that complements you in every way you can access all of your greatest attributes, and you can camouflage the things that you don't like. And so that's my advice that I would give to people about if you ever think about selling, just be inspired by the fact that you have creative control over everything that you put on yourself every day.

Yes. Oh, that's so wonderful.

I agree with everybody and what everybody said my takeaway would be try new things, try new fabrics, try new styles, try new things, because you never know what actually will look good on you, you know if you don't give it a try. So that's my thing, try new things.

And we're going to let Aiysha wrap us up. What would your advice be?

I was just gonna simply say to all my friends out there yes and those that are listening those that are watching to just simply be you like I think when it comes to sewing you have so many opportunities so many ways to be able to express yourself there was always a saying that I would say that style is the inner workings in you and fashion is the show for everyone to see. So at the end of this day, you know you just kind of govern yourself according to your style electrification however you want to fashion yourself after that so be but it's for you to have fun it's for you to again express yourself you don't have to hide there was a time when women we were high this and high man and it's because we didn't have no guys you know, stuff wasn't made for us. So now that we have the opportunity to do it ourselves. We can literally be ourselves and look fine doing it. So just for you. That's all I have to say.

Y'all this has been such a wonderful conversation. I am so thankful to have talked with the Garment Girlies of the Black Sewing Network. LaShaun, DeJanee, TyJari, Aiysha, Byrd. Y'all have really given us so much to think about and to reflect on, and most importantly to be proud and grateful for. Thank you all truly, thank you all for being with us today.

Thank you for having us.

Thank you.

It was fun, thank you so much.

You’ve been listening to Stitch Please, the official podcast of Black Women Stitch, the sewing group where Black lives matter. We appreciate you joining us this week and every week for stories that center Black women, girls, and femmes in sewing. We invite you to join the Black Women Stitch Patreon community with giving levels beginning at $5 a month. Your contributions help us bring the Stitch Please podcast to you every week. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your support, and come back next week and we'll help you get your stitch together.