Rachel Russell

@stitchflourish.bsky.social

🧵Sewing teacher and enthusiast. 🪡Interested in how the history of sewing and making can offer us meaning today. she/her stitchflourish.com

"[T]heir performances are an expression of feminist empowerment, putting an often devalued form of labour into a different context... highlighting and recontextualising the skill of sewing is also intended as a thoughtful critique of the contemporary fashion landscape."

Needle drop! The world’s first sewing machine orchestra takes Munich

This weekend, a symphony of Singers (not that kind) will lead an experimental performance that stitches together feminism and fashion – and offers the audience free repairs

theguardian.com

This is such a bummer for makers and sewists! I've long had a love/hate relationship with Joanns, but this is such a disappointment to lose 500 (!!) stores. For so many, Joanns is the only place to get sewing supplies locally. No more running out to get that forgotten zipper at the end of a project.

Liz H@birdinerdi1225.bsky.social · last yr.

For all my fellow crafters 🧶: this site has a list of planned store closings 😢 www.joannrestructuring.com Looks like 1 Joann in my area will remain for now, but they are closing 500 of their 800 stores 😱 #crochet #knitting #crafts

Sewing as a form of self-expression is timeless, as evidenced by these lovely words from Mary Brooks Picken, circa 1925. She founded the Woman’s Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences, which offered correspondence courses that allowed students to create garments that reflected their individuality.

Cover of The Mary Brooks Picken Method of Modern Dressmaking, 1925. #sewsky #vintagesewing #sewingillustration of two women wearing handmade dresses from The Mary Brooks Picken Method of Modern Dressmaking, 1925Do we not express ourselves through the clothes we wear as much as through what we say and what we do? -Mary Brooks Picken
#sewsky #sewing #vintagesewingAnd so I say it always seemed to me that every woman would want to make the clothes that are to speak for her. -Mary Brooks Picken, 1925 #sewsky #vintagesewing

Love how dressmaking can involve all sorts of delicate fabrics and also a trip to the hardware store for heavy duty tools. I did not explain to the very nice Ace Hardware employee who helped me find this plumbers tape that I would be wrapping it around spiral steel boning for a dress! #sewing

A half constructed strapless bodice along with dressmaking materials on a table including spiral steel boning, plumbers tape, scissors, wire cutters, and cutting mat. #sewsky

My grandmother’s sewing machine from 1948. Whenever I teach a sewing class, this machine is my trusty partner as I demo the the project steps. It’s feels special to nurture new sewing enthusiasts on a machine with this much history!

Vintage sewing machine from 1948, Royal brand.

One of my very first sewing projects was this denim skirt—I woke up one day and decided I needed a denim ball gown skirt! It was thrilling dreaming up this project, finding the perfect pattern and fabric, and bringing it to life. I was hooked on sewing. But looking back, I wish I knew a few things:

denim skirt made from a Vogue sewing pattern.