Hello!

I’m Marianne, and this is a project where I draw pictures of the things I’ve sewn, and reflect on the experience of making (and wearing) those things. Thank you for visiting!

Yellow Boxy

Yellow Boxy

Pattern: Self-drafted woven tee shirt
Fabric: Italian cotton from from Stitch Sew Shop
Sewn Up: Winter 2019

This is my second sew of the boxy tee shirt I drafted based on my favorite RTW top (see this post). The fabric is super soft, the sleeves are giant, and on both accounts I wear this all the time!

No single story comes to mind when reflecting upon the experience of making and wearing this, so here are three mini ones:

  1. I bought this Italian cotton on Black Friday of 2018 – my first time ever Black Friday shopping. I have never loved to shop, but fabric shopping turns out to be a real game-changer. Last year was my first time in the venn diagram overlap of “I know how to sew” and “Black Friday is upon us," and I found myself visiting three separate stores for fabric sales! 😄

  2. I have a new sewing friend I meet at the studio some Sundays for some co-sewing. One day she arrived in the shop in her own version of a top in this same fabric. It was such a funny new feeling – it’s one thing to run into someone on the street wearing the same shirt or dress you got at a store – another to see someone in their own me-made matching your own me-made! I felt our sewing bond grow 😄

  3. I am still new enough to sewing that when people compliment me on something I’ve sewn, I still respond with a gleeful, “thanks I made it!!” which often gets me into fun conversations with strangers I never otherwise would have connected with. This shirt in particular got me talking with a kind security guard at my office about how her whole family sews, and with a young woman at a shoe store who expressed her appreciation of the bravery involved in learning something new. These interactions feel so benevolent, and they’re all because of sewing! 😄

~ Photos by Lizzie Epstein - thanks sis! ~

Drawing process reel! Closet floor photo, sketch, digital drawing.

Mariner Eucalypt

Mariner Eucalypt

Black & White Boxy

Black & White Boxy