Clothes Making Mavens

The podcast begins with our statement against anti-black racism. We talk about how the sewing community has a racism problem, and we offer our podcast as a platform for black sewists if they wish to talk about these issues and others. If you are interested in this, drop us a line at our website at clothesmakingmavens.com. We then go into the episode we had recorded previously in wh

Muna and Broad is a new indie pattern company that specializes in making patterns in sizes that start where most other patterns end their sizing. We talk to Leila and Jess of Muna and Broad about why they started the company, what impact it's having on size inclusivity in sewing patterns, how they manage to work together from opposite ends of the planet, and why the beginner's feel

Our Font of All Sewing Knowledge Barbara laments that the Big Four sewing pattern companies (Vogue, Butterick, McCalls, and Simplicity) aren't what they once were. Has the art and craft of pattern drafting taken a turn for the worse? The Mavens weigh in on what clues to look for to assess how well a pattern might be drafted before you cut your fabric, and talk about their favourite

Helena and Lori chat sewing with Emilia Bergoglio, whose minimalist style and sustainable approach are informed by not only Emilia's Italian heritage, but also her current life in Tokyo.

We decided to start the year with some fun by getting ALL FOUR Clothes Making Mavens together to talk about our plans for the new year. We found that we all have different ways of approaching our sewing project planning! Planning can be fun and inspirational, or suck all the fun out of our creative endeavors. How do we make it work for us? And can Lori guess everyone’s planning s

In this episode, Lori invites you to join in the #SlowFashion2020 challenge, our Joy Correspondent Hila recommends some great sewing-themed books for you to slow down and enjoy, and the Mavens chat with Montoya Mayo about her bold and colourful wardrobe that features plenty of Ankara fabric.

After a filling each other in on a few life updates, we get down to what we've sewn lately. Helena had some fails to share and then we move on to talk about more successful projects. We also hear from a listener on her new mantra for sewing up her stash, and the lovely Hila joins us for a fresh perspective on Micromastery. It is an inspiring way to rekindle or continue our sewing m

Sometimes we like to use our sewing superpowers for good. In this episode, we share ideas for how our passion for sewing can help more than just our own closets. First, Barbara shares her enthusiasm for helping new sewers fall in love with our hobby. Then Lori and Helena interview Pam Damour and Loriann Payne about their trip to Huánuco, Peru to teach beginning sewing skills with

After the impromptu pledge of no more fabric buying live on last month's episode, both Lori and Helena have taken another look at their stashes. There are a lot of ways to look at those piles of fabric we inevitably collect as sewers. How do we feel about it, how do we manage it? We asked Psychic Sewer Kathleen about her stash habits, too. We also dove into how Kathleen's psychic a

Pull up a sewing machine and grab a cuppa and get your sewing chat on! Lori & Helena catch up on what they've been sewing, their trip to Portland, Oregon to hang out with 98 of their best sewing friends, and more. They also find themselves accidentally committing to a fabric buying fast for the rest of the year! Barbara Emodi checks in with tales from Tulsa, and we introduce a new