As soon as I learned to sew, I knew I wanted to make my own clothes. I started with patterns by independent designers and quickly found that what I loved most was “self-drafting” or making my own custom patterns, figuring it out as I went. I slowly added more and more handmade pieces to my wardrobe, until I reached a tipping point where I was wearing full handmade outfits more days than not. That was really exciting. I have knit two sweaters and have a third in the works, and I can’t even count how many garments I’ve sewn at this point, many from my own patterns.

In college, for mostly financial reasons, I stopped buying new clothes from fast fashion retailers and started thrift shopping instead. What began as a way to save money became an ethical choice as I began to learn more about the terrible human rights and environmental issues around the massive overproduction of clothes in the world. For the past three or so years, and for the foreseeable future, all of my clothing has been either secondhand or handmade, and that commitment feels really good. Much of the fabric I use to sew my clothes is secondhand as well. I’m hoping to continue in this way, as much as I can, for the rest of my life.

below is just a small selection of garments I’ve made.