← Threads Magazine Podcast: "Sewing With Threads"
Threads Magazine Podcast: "Sewing With Threads"
Building a Sewing Community, with Dr. ChaCha Hudson | Episode 104
00:43:04
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- [00:00]
A
Heirloom details have returned to the fashion landscape. Delicate lace insertion and edging, pin tucks and other fine stitching are popular on clothes for children and grown ups alike. You can learn to create these beautiful effects by machine with Martha Pullen, a renowned expert known for her lively and in depth teaching. Style. Threads is offering three on demand video classes with Martha that cover a range of classic sewing techniques. You'll learn about the materials needed and the steps to follow for perfect results. Plus, Martha provides a close up look at exquisite garments from her collection of Victorian and Edwardian clothing. You'll be inspired to try sewing heirloom quality pieces for yourself. To sign up and find other on demand classes, go to courses.threadsmagazine.com.
- [00:54]
B
Welcome to Sewing with Threads, the monthly podcast with the staff of Threads Magazine magazine. I'm your host Carol Fraser and my guest today is Chacha Hudson. Dr. Chacha Hudson is the founder and CEO of the Social Cafe in Frederick, Maryland. It's spelled T H E S E W C I a l cafe.com She's a fashion designer, educator and researcher with a PhD in apparel, merchandising and design. Dr. Hudson has taught fashion design at Syracuse University, the University of Delaware, Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, and internationally. Her research focuses on inclusive fashion design and improving access to clothing for people who've been historically marginalized by the fashion industry. Welcome Chacha.
- [01:40]
C
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so glad to finally be back after so much time.
- [01:45]
B
I know. I'm really thrilled that we're going to catch up. You've done a lot since we last talked and I'd love to go over some of the things that you've been accomplishing and working on in the last couple of years. So the first thing is you completed your doctorate and you survived that process, which is great because I know that can be stressful and hard and takes a long time. Can you give us a little summary of what your research was about and what kind of conclusions did you come to? Were there any calls to action that you created when you when you were working on that?
- [02:17]
C
Sure. So yes, I'm done. It's been over a year and it's kind of surreal. I actually just opened up my degree a month ago. I had it inside of an envelope and I'm like, just in case they want to take it back, let me just have it ready. But no, it's surreal. That is actually completed in the work that I did while at Iowa State University. I feel like it's Going to change the fashion industry and fashion education. And I mean, that's the Hope for every PhD, that their research will be able to change the industry that they're so passionate about. My focus is on inclusive design, as you said, but inclusive design in all different realms because we know that fashion has historically been a really exclusive industry. My research is all about inclusivity and meeting the needs of the people who are not really thought about when it comes to fashion and the fashion landscape, whether it's in functional design or it's about aesthetics. Because as we know, for people who may have like physical or cognitive disabilities, there are some options out there now, but they really focus on the function, which is great, but they don't necessarily lean into the aesthetics. So that's what my research is about. My big research project was my oer, which is an open educational resource, which is a mini textbook on how to design for plus size women and how to create slopers. And I spent a lot of time on it. I wanted to make it so that it would be easy to digest and easy for accessible for everyone. So it's not something that you would have to pay for. Once it's public, anybody can access it. And it's. It's free. It's free for the public. We will have some for sale, but that's only the physical copies. If you wanted to have a physical copy sent to you, or if you wanted to pick up a physical copy from our location here in Frederick.
- [04:35]
B
So it'll be available digitally and anyone can use it. And what will it have? Drafting information or what kind of.
- [04:43]
C
Yes, so it'll have some historical information about the exclusion of plus size in the fashion industry, more about the history of it. Talking about sizing, because that's a. That's a big thing too. A lot of people don't know how sizes were developed in different sizing systems. I think most people don't even know that there's no universal sizing system. And I think that's why it's so frustrating when people go into the store and they're like, well, in this store I was a size 14, so why can't I fit a size 14 in this particular brand? And it's the not knowing that everybody's using a different size and system. Some people are vanity size and some people are using like really old outdated information. Some people are using new technology and using Albany forms, which have more of a realistic body. Yeah, a lot of people don't know those things. And I'm hoping that I can get that information out to the public with this free resource. But also it's for the students that are going to school for fashion design. They're not. A lot of them are not learning inclusive design in their universities. They're just not. So I'm hoping that this could help students, but also be a resource to professors who want to use it within their classroom.
- [06:07]
B
I can't believe that schools are still not teaching. I know how to design for the full size range. Why are they not doing that?
- [06:17]
C
So I've heard of a lot of different things. I don't know what the truth is, and I think the truth just depends on who you're talking to. But for some people, they went through their university experience without designing for plus sizes or designing for any other sizes outside of the standard or the ideal body size and shape. Right. So I guess for them it's like, well, there's an expectation for me to teach inclusive design when I have never been taught inclusive design. But then as educators, I think it's our responsibility to take time to learn more about different body shapes and sizes so that we can give our students a more well rounded education.
- [07:05]
B
I also think that, you know, the manufacturers need to be able to hire people who can do this because realistically, the population is not a size two anymore. You know, the whole 1950s wearing a girdle. None of that has been real for a long time.
- [07:20]
C
Right.
- [07:21]
B
And I'm sure that they feel that they can manage to keep their heads above water by selling only small sizes to teenagers at Forever 21 or whatever is the new Forever 21. I don't think that exists anymore. Do you think that manufacturers will figure out at some point that they can actually do better if they provide more to a bigger part of the population, a larger swath of customers?
- [07:44]
C
It's hard to say. Yeah, it's hard to say because to me it just seems like a great market opportunity. But for others, it's more important to be the exclusive fashion industry that we've always been.
- [08:01]
B
Okay, yeah, yeah, it sounds like a mindset and it feels like it's very self defeating for, for the, the industry and just plain old defeating for the customers who want to be stylish and have clothes that look great and feel up to date.
- [08:19]
A
And
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B
it is a shame, however.
- [08:23]
C
Absolutely.
- [08:24]
B
I'm going to use this as a segue point. You now have opened another, a new branch of your social cafe. You started one, didn't you, in Philadelphia before the pandemic. And it was going, you know, great guns there and during the pandemic, that had to close. Now you've opened a new one in Frederick, Maryland, and that seems like it's doing well. And part of your goal is to, it seems to me, to get people interested in teaching. What else are you doing there? I mean, what are your aims for this new place?
- [08:56]
C
Oh, my gosh. I have big dreams. We slightly changed the business model from Philadelphia. So when I was in Philadelphia, we opened in 2018, and we closed, like you said, during the pandemic. But it was right before we were about to launch a pilot in Delaware. So we were building momentum. We were. We were getting interest from surrounding areas. And then it was just like, okay, everybody knows how the pandemic is. Nobody really talks about the pandemic. I don't think anybody wants to revisit it. But it was a very pivotal time for me, for my business, and a lot of things changed. But coming here to Frederick, Maryland, I've decided to actually kind of make this a place where you're starting from the beginning. But I have a pathway to get you to more advanced sewing. So you're starting at beginner, which I consider level one, and level one is not knowing anything about the sewing machine. Level two, you graduate and you move on to making some garments, starting off with, like, pajama pants or, you know, really small projects to get your confidence up, and you feel a lot better about being at the sewing machine and either with me or by yourself. And then you move on to level three. Level three, you're kind of cooking with grease. You're. You're really getting into it. You're making some projects on your own. They're becoming more complicated, more advanced. So I would say that that would be somebody more intermediate. And then level four, it's like, okay, I have ideas in my head. I want to design things. I want to learn how to pattern, make, or drape to create the patterns for it. And then I want to make it so I have a pathway. When I was in Philadelphia, it was more so on business. You come in because you're interested in starting a business from the craft of sewing, and then I would help you to do that. But then we also had things like something that we continue to do, the sip and sews. So that's a fun entry point for people to have fun, socialize, and things like that. But I was really focused more on transitioning into helping people transition into small business, having small businesses. This one, it's more, I guess, more fun. And I don't know how, but Even more social. Before we were very social, it was a lot of people who would come in. But for some reason. And it may also be because I have a smaller space now, and it forces us to be together. And I think that that does something to the dynamic of the relationships that are built too.
- [11:46]
B
How many students can you accommodate at once in a class?
- [11:48]
C
In one class, eight.
- [11:50]
B
Okay. That's a. That's a good number.
- [11:52]
C
Yeah, it's a good number. But I also have two stories. So my plan. I've been talking to some of my students, kind of like putting little fillers and whispers out there to see if I can get some of my students who are moving up in different levels to come back down and teach, like, the level one classes. So why, while I have a class going on downstairs, there can also be classes going on upstairs.
- [12:16]
B
Oh, that sounds amazing. Yeah, that sounds amazing. So what. What level are the students at now? Do you. Do you have just a whole beginners right now?
- [12:26]
C
I have a. So a lot of people come in as beginners, and I don't know if that. So I'm not. When I came here, I wasn't really familiar with the landscape of Frederick, Maryland, and it seems that there's already a sewing community. But the people who are gravitating towards me are people who haven't had much experience or who've previously had experience at, I don't know, middle school, high school, home ec. And now they're like, I can't remember anything that we did. And then they come in here, and it's like, oh, that kind of jogs my memory. Oh, that's how you do the bobbin. Okay. Yeah. So they're able to kind of like start to get a feel for it again. But the people that are coming here that really gravitate towards me are beginners. But I have level ones and level twos now because I've graduated some people. So when I talk to the people that were level twos, I'm like, hey, is anybody interested in teaching a class maybe, or shadowing for a little bit and seeing if you, you know, if you want to do something like that? So I would love for it to continue like that. So I would have my groups and they would progress. And then I would kind of reach for the. The ones that are progressing fairly quickly and ask them to come back down and teach level one classes. And then we'll continue to cycle over and over again. That's. That's what I would love, love to happen.
- [13:53]
B
Oh, I think that's Great. It really would seem like it was a sort of a self propelling process at that point. How did you choose Frederick?
- [14:01]
C
So I have family hair.
- [14:03]
B
Okay.
- [14:03]
C
I have family family hair. So I decided to move here and I'm starting to like I was here for two years. But the thing is, I was really, really focused on my research and I had this space already through Iowa State University, as a partnership with them. We got this space and I was able to do my research from this space. But it was really like head in the books. I didn't have time to socialize or find out where the different communities were. The only thing that I did sign up for, which, you know, is roller derby. So then I had my roller derby people. But besides that, I was like really hidden books. I wasn't, you know, I wasn't really socializing. So now that I'm out of that space, then I'm able to come up and like, oh, this is actually a really nice town. Oh, you know, trying to, trying to explore and see all the things that, that are available and it's really nice here.
- [15:01]
B
Well, I remember you. You had just kind of moved in there, I think, when you were writing your last article for us. And, and, and it was. You hadn't quite set it all the way up. You were still working on that and you were. Because you were deep in the middle of your, of your dissertation, I think your research and writing up. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you've turned out. It turns out that you love it there. That's really nice. I saw on your Instagram photos of the grand opening of the Social Cafe and it was so pretty. It was this big archway with flowers on it and just a whole bunch of people there who seem to be very excited to welcome you to the community.
- [15:37]
C
Yes. Oh my gosh. So the grand opening was so much fun. First of all, I had so much going on that I didn't get a chance to really process. And I'm sure you can relate. If you're hosting an event, you never get a chance to really experience the whole thing. Yeah, you just get a chance to reflect on it later on. But actually the day before or two days before, I was talking to a friend that I have here and I'm like, okay, so who's coming? Because she, she kind of knows what's going on in the community. And she made a phone call and then she said, everybody's coming. And I'm like, well, who's everybody? She said, everybody. And I'm like, oh, okay.
- [16:23]
B
So wine and cheese.
- [16:26]
C
Right. But for me not being from here, I didn't know who everybody was. And of course I'm part of the chamber, so there were people from the chamber who came, but there were also politicians and community members. And because of the arch outside is so beautiful, a lot of people want to see what's going on here. It was so many people. It was so many people. And we made that arch maybe the week before it was me and my friend D, who has a company here called DE can make it and she can actually make anything. But that was a fun project. I don't know if you saw the video of us putting that together, but. Yeah.
- [17:04]
B
Do you still have it?
- [17:05]
C
Oh, yeah. It'll stay there until it can't stay there anymore.
- [17:10]
B
Okay. Be draggled and snowed on.
- [17:15]
C
Right. So yeah, it'll stay there until it decides it doesn't want to be there anymore.
- [17:20]
B
Well, that's good. It should be drawing in, you know, new, new students to you all the time. I, I think if I saw it, I would really want to go in and see what was happening inside there.
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C
Yeah.
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B
So, so you've got, you've got your, your level ones and level twos and, and you know, presumably they'll go to level three and level four eventually.
- [17:38]
C
Yeah.
- [17:38]
B
And you said one of them, one of those levels is going to be helping them learn how to do their own designing. Now you, you, you taught a really great draping class for threads for our, for our online court learning classes. And will you teach draping? Will you, will you teach shaping and pattern making and all that to your higher level students?
- [17:58]
C
So pattern making. Yes, draping is something that we would have to have probably a little bit more space for.
- [18:05]
B
Okay.
- [18:05]
C
Right now I have five dress forms and a half scale dress form. So if I had a very small class, I could do it. But yeah, I feel like we need a little bit more space for it to be a comfortable. Like if I wanted the eight people in the Level 3 class to move to Level 4 and they want to drape, then I don't have enough space for everybody to do that.
- [18:32]
B
Right. Yeah. Or forms. Unless you talk, unless you decided to get all like a half scale, which is, which is, I mean, you do a lot of great draping on half scale. Anybody who hasn't followed follow Chacha online, she does some of these great videos of, I guess they're called reels, and showing her doing this very creative draping of these dramatic, beautiful looking garments. And I can see how A student would be interested in finding out more about how to do that.
- [19:00]
C
Well, until you said it, I didn't think about just getting a slew of, you know, half scale dress forms. And we do it from there and then maybe from there I can show them. Okay. This is how you would increase the size of the pattern that you. Yeah, thank you, Carol.
- [19:17]
B
There's an idea. And you know, at one point at Threads, we had these little half scale dress forms and Judy Newcomb, our former executive editor, padded them to different sizes and shapes and covered them with pink satin or pink dupioni maybe. And they're so cute. They're all. There's like, you know, the busty one and the one who's a little bit bigger in the bottom half and just different shapes and sizes, but just all small and really cute. And the point was to show that you can, you can represent anybody even in, in a half scale form. And then you can do whatever kind of draping or fitting you want to just sort of experiment with silhouettes and proportions on. On a smaller. On a smaller scale. So fabric and stuff. Yeah, yeah. They're also really just cute to have around. They're like little friends with no heads, unfortunately, or arms.
- [20:01]
C
Right. But I love that. That's an awesome idea. I have to give that some more thought.
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A
Yeah.
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C
Because I think people would really like that. Okay.
- [20:09]
B
We will have to put our heads together and see if we can figure out a way that would be. I mean, it would be great if people could, you know, if they got their own half scale form, which is much more affordable anyway than a full scale form. And if they had a sort of easyish way to pad them to their own shape would be really good. You know, then they can work on something that would fit them if they wanted to make it bigger eventually into, you know, human scale.
- [20:36]
C
Well, you have tons of articles on Threads, so I'm sure that there's some articles on how to pad the dress form.
- [20:45]
B
We do. And we have another one coming up soon, actually in the winter issue that's on how to pad a form, but it's really about how to pad your. A full size form. This is by Brooks and Camper and it'll be how to pad the form to. To reflect your actual body type in a slightly different approach than some of the other ones that we've had.
- [21:02]
A
It's.
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B
It's great. And it's always interesting to see yourself in. In a dress form. I know that I had myself wrapped in plaster once, and when I saw It, I'm like, oh my God, you know, what was going on there? You know, like, is my posture that bad? It is, but it's. But if you, if you really want to make clothing for yourself, that's a
- [21:22]
C
fun way to do it, right? No, I think that's a great idea.
- [21:26]
B
So at the end of each, like, class session, there are, you know, series of sessions that you have. Do you do anything like a, you know, like a fashion show, like a, you know, recital that you'd have after dance classes or something?
- [21:39]
C
Well, so no, we don't do a fashion show. We do do a photo shoot, which is great. Everybody also gets their certificate where, which they're really proud of, which is awesome. But one thing that's so funny because, like, with a graduation or anything like that, you would think like, okay, now that's the end, right? You've, you've completed this level, now you're done. The thing is, the cohorts that I have are so funny because it's like now. No, these are my friends, so we need to move together. So it's kind of more like, I guess a move up day because you're taking this whole group of people. Like, my last cohort was a five. This cohort is of eight. So the last cohort of five, they decided that they wanted to do a new class. So I had to create a new class just for this cohort.
- [22:32]
B
Oh, what kind? What did they want that was special?
- [22:35]
C
So they wanted pajama pants.
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A
Okay.
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C
That wasn't on my calendar of things to do. And they wanted to do it, but they also wanted to do it. Their class ended on a Thursday because foundations classes are always on Thursday nights. Their class ended on a Thursday. They wanted to start that next week. They wanted to roll into a new class without any breaks. So I'm like, okay, how am I going to do this? How I'm going to add another class. But it worked out. But this cohort that I have right now of level ones, they want to move again together into another class. So I think it's good to kind of give them some freedom as to what they're going to make, because I can guide them. But I think collectively it's nice to have some say so of what you're going to make.
- [23:23]
B
Oh, yeah, that'll keep them coming back for sure. If they feel that they have some control over what they're doing. I, I know that there are people who walk into something like, oh, I made a pillowcase, you know, Right. I do need to do Those kinds of projects at the beginning, perhaps, but at a certain point you're ready to. I mean, you don't go into sewing unless I think you're interested in making something for yourself that's special or, or home decor, perhaps you might want to do that. But. Oh, I think that's, I think that's really great that they're, that they're sort of sticking together and I love it.
- [23:51]
C
I love it.
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B
Yeah.
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C
But I need to start. I'm hoping that. Actually, no, I was going to say I'm hoping that things slow down, but I'm not hoping that things slow down. I want to keep this momentum going, but I need to have some time to figure out how I want to do meetups because I don't want the. I love that the cohorts are getting very close to each other, but I want them to come together so that we're all together. We're all one group and not just individual kind of clicks or, you know.
- [24:21]
B
Right.
- [24:22]
C
Just the individual cohorts. So I definitely want to do either like a monthly meetup or a bi monthly meetup because these women are very busy too. So I need to kind of figure that out too. But I want us all to work together and take classes together, meet new people, because the people that they've met in their cohort, they're great, but they're just like a small portion of the other people that you could meet, the great women that you can meet.
- [24:51]
B
Right. Yeah. Well, what's the age range in your groups?
- [24:56]
C
So usually starting at 40 and then we go up to, you know, beyond right now. I think my 65 is the highest that I have right now.
- [25:11]
B
Uh huh. Yeah. And, and do you have, you don't have younger ones? You don't have kids coming in after school or anything like that. Do you think you would ever have a younger group or to teach a class, especially for teens?
- [25:22]
C
For teens? Maybe. Maybe at some point. I do have an intern and she's a teenager. She's a great young lady, Kelsey. But right now I just want to focus on women who are trying to make time for themselves.
- [25:36]
B
Okay.
- [25:37]
C
That's my target. Women who are trying to make time for themselves. A lot of them are going through some kind of transition. So whether their kids are leaving the house now to go to college or maybe they're no longer a caretaker for, you know, anyone in their family and they're trying to figure out what's the next thing, they also want to express themselves through fashion. Like those are my, my women Those are my key women.
- [26:01]
B
It's interesting to me because some of the, the other inspiring sewing teachers that I talked to have been speaking about this a lot more recently too, about the idea of women getting to new chapters in their lives and really wanting to think about how to, how to not necessarily remake yourself, but express yourself a little bit differently or go in a new direction that's more creative than what you've been doing. Because of course, yeah, most of us are in jobs that kind of keep you a bit hemmed in. No matter how much you like it, you're still, you know, your days are taken up by that and taking up with, taken up with taking care of family members and that sort of thing. So this is a really wonderful way to, to start thinking about, I mean, I hate to say, like, centering yourself. I always feel like that sounds selfish, but reintroducing yourself to yourself kind of.
- [26:48]
C
Right. And a lot of women that come here, they do have very demanding, stressful jobs. They're high achieving women. And during the day they, they have a lot of stress on them and this is their way to relax and just be around great women.
- [27:05]
B
That is fun.
- [27:06]
C
How often do you get a chance to do that? Just kind of hang out with people? Everybody's so busy.
- [27:12]
B
Exactly. So I think that the way that you need to get all of your students together is have a field trip someday. I don't know, it's probably too far. I was going to say a field trip where everybody gets on a bus at 6am and you all go up to the garment district and then just have a free for all shopping and then have somebody drive you back at the end when you're all asleep in the bus.
- [27:31]
C
Oh, we've talked about it.
- [27:33]
B
Have you?
- [27:33]
C
Okay, we've talked about it. The great thing is that here we also have a fabric shop upstairs. Okay. It's not a huge fabric shop, but it's a curated fabric shop by me. But we've been talking about, let's, let's go and take a bus trip.
- [27:50]
B
Yeah.
- [27:50]
C
So you're on the right page.
- [27:52]
B
I'm seeing the garment district because there's so many stores, but that is a long way. And obviously you could get probably to Baltimore a little bit more easily. And I know there's a couple places at least there, so you could definitely do it. And it is fun. I mean, yeah, you should.
- [28:07]
C
I mean, everybody's down for fabric. Like, even the people in level one already have a crazy stash. And it's like, how did you get all of that. So from what I hear, and I haven't been yet, but I plan to go. There's a lot of places in Virginia that have some good fabric.
- [28:23]
B
Yeah.
- [28:23]
C
So some of my students, they actually travel two hours to get here from Virginia. Two hours here, two hours back.
- [28:30]
B
Oh, wow.
- [28:31]
C
Other. Yeah, I have Frederick, people that come here, but a lot of people are either Virginia, also Pennsylvania. Then we have people that are in Maryland, but not necessarily Frederick, Maryland. So we'll have Baltimore, we have Hagerstown. We have places that are an hour away.
- [28:52]
B
Yeah.
- [28:53]
C
And people travel here. And I so appreciate it.
- [28:56]
B
Oh, that's fantastic. Yeah, it's nice to have people from all around too, I think. I mean, you won't run into them on the street now, but, you know, eventually you'll know people everywhere.
- [29:05]
C
Yeah, that's the whole.
- [29:07]
B
So you have just come out of a big, long academic process and you've done a lot of teaching and you're still teaching now. But I'm wondering, are you thinking about going back to academia at some point and, you know, teaching the next generation of designers, or are you holding off on that a bit?
- [29:31]
C
So as of right now, and I can never say never, but as of right now, I don't want to necessarily go into a new full time position because I have a lot to do here at the Social Cafe. But also it would need to be the right situation. It would need to be an institution that would allow me to be involved in some of the curriculum development, also be very open to me doing more inclusive classes as far as design. But then they need to also financially invest in things that we would need, like plus size dress forms or any other, like, machinery or things like that that a lot of places don't have. So it would have to be. It would have to be the right situation. Right now I am still teaching at Syracuse, but I'm teaching as an adjunct in their communications department. What I really like about Syracuse is that even when I was there, they allowed me to focus on the things that were of interest to me that could benefit the students as far as inclusive design. Even in this new role as an adjunct professor at Syracuse, I'm not in the fashion design department. I'm in communications. So I am developing classes for students who are interested in fashion, also interested in media, and teaching them how they can be more inclusive in the things that they're posting to social media, in creating journal articles and blogs and things like that. How do we make fashion media more inclusive?
- [31:22]
B
Oh. Oh, that's fantastic. There's Another, there's a lot of room for that. And I can say that that's something we struggle with at Threads too. You know, there's times when you don't have the resources. For us, we have, say, one model who has to fit into all the clothes. We would love to have four or five different people representing all kinds of different looks. We just can't afford to do it. And it always feels like a bit of a deflating experience. But if you get this new generation for whom this is the norm, then it should, I hope, snowball and become overall better. But again, fashion industry is slow to change.
- [32:02]
C
Well, that's what I'm hoping too. I'm really hoping for that. But I'm very optimistic because the students that I have, whether it's in the communications class or the fashion design classes that I taught at Syracuse or University of Delaware, these students are very open to being inclusive. Actually, they kind of thrive in the environment of creative thinking and how can I be more, more inclusive? Which is awesome and I really appreciate that. And I think that they will make a difference. They're also going into the industry and they're not. If you know anything about this next generation, they're not scared to voice their opinions about.
- [32:46]
B
Right.
- [32:48]
C
So they, they will be very vocal about how they feel about inclusivity and what needs to change. Also sustainability. Like, they are very passionate too. So I'm, I'm optimistic about that. Also, a few different schools have contacted me about my Ideal Network, so if anybody's interested, they can contact me. But the Ideal Network is basically a program where I go into schools and I teach. I teach a virtual class, but it's multiple schools at the same time. But I do visit these classes throughout the course of the semester. But it's all about inclusive design. And then at the end, we have a symposium of all of the designs that are created from the students who were in this cohort of the Ideal Network.
- [33:41]
B
Oh, that's fantastic.
- [33:43]
C
It is, it's awesome. But I really hope that universities and colleges take advantage of it. But also a lot of colleges in universities say that they're really wanting to push forward with inclusivity, but they have to put the money up.
- [34:01]
B
Right.
- [34:01]
C
Like, it's not the talking about it is, it's great, but it doesn't get us too far. You have to be able to have a budget set aside for initiatives like this so that your students can be better, more well rounded designers.
- [34:16]
B
You absolutely do. And, and it's not like you're going to get the, you know, the big players in the fashion industry to say, offer you money for. For doing that. This. They're not going to say, here, Syracuse, let me give you X number of tens of thousands of dollars to do this, because they're happy with what's going on for them.
- [34:33]
C
Right? It's working.
- [34:35]
B
Yeah.
- [34:35]
A
Yeah.
- [34:36]
B
Well, I'm going to switch gears one more time and say, I noticed you on social media at one point recently saying that you were kind of interested in making yourself a new wardrobe, but you were feeling a little bit creatively blocked in doing so. Did you get. Did you get suggestions? Do you. Have you started finding your direction for that?
- [34:55]
C
So I have been, since I graduated, trying to figure out, like, how actually it started before that, because even when I started teaching at Syracuse, I found myself very kind of bogged down with teaching, but then also advising and then research. Like, there was so much going on that there was. Was no time. Like, you know, it's like you make time for the things that are important for you. There was no time. There was no time to create. So, like, that was for three years. I was. I was in Syracuse for three years, and then I. I was still in my Ph.D. program. There seemed to be no time. And then I graduated, and now it's like, okay, there's no excuse, because I have at least some time to make this happen. And I went to a holistic art coach to talk about how I would create it, create an environment that would increase the likelihood that I would be creative. So I started doing things like that. I started with kind of like a daily ritual. And that worked for a while. Like, it worked until I stopped working the plan, basically. So after a while, I kind of fell off from that because I got really busy with the business. And. Yeah. So I started reading the Artist Way, trying to find other books that really touch on how you can. How you can make time for your creativity. So when I put that post up, a lot of people were like, yes, I'm trying to do the same thing. I'm in. You know, we can do this together. Which felt great. So then I started creating this pamphlet, which may even be out by the time this. This podcast airs. But I made a pamphlet for us to go through about, okay, how do we make time? What time are we designating for creating the garments and the different steps that we need to take? Because we can't just, like, hop into making a garment or a wardrobe for that matter, because that's. That's what my focus was, creating a wardrobe. So this is called. It's either going to be the wardrobe project or project wardrobe. That's what it's going to be.
- [37:08]
B
Okay.
- [37:09]
C
But I need to have some inspiration. You know, where. Where's my inspiration coming from? So in the pamphlet, you can actually. It was made on Canva, so I'm going to send it out so that you can drop pictures in. There's already frames. You can just drop your pictures in inspiration. Some designer looks that you already like, maybe even some pictures of models who have your same body type so you can get an idea of what looks good on them. So you can think about how it will look good on you. Also a slot for colors and things like that. So then it turns into more of a mood board. Right. And then from there we move on to, okay, so what do. What designs you do do I want to have. So then I have a section where you can sketch out your different designs. You can sketch them out. I have croquis available that are free. You can use those to sketch out your design. And we're only picking one design from all of the sketches, but I want you to continue design to design so that you can have a lot to pick from. Because that's what I do with my students at universities. You don't just sketch one thing and say, okay, this is the thing I'm making. You continue to sketch. You let it kind of brew, and then you decide on which design you want to do. And then from there it's like, okay, I have this design now. What pattern am I going to use? Can I go through the different indie patterns or even simplicity patterns or whatever you use and see do they have any designs that's kind of similar to this that I can, you know, tweak? Right. And then from there, you purchase your pattern or you make your pattern. If you're a pattern maker, I may do a combination of both. Maybe make some of the patterns and then also buy some of the patterns. And then from there we're taking like 30. 30 minutes a day. We all have 30 minutes somewhere. We'll take 30 minutes and maybe we'll hop on Zoom or we'll hop on a live on Instagram or Facebook and we just make it happen for 30 minutes. And I'm sure that you probably experienced this, but even if you say you're going to sew for. For 10 minutes, that 10 turns to 30 turns, to an hour turns to, you know, whatever, because you start getting into a groove.
- [39:19]
B
And then you put the sleeve in, inside out and upside down, and then you have to go to bed crying
- [39:24]
C
or that we've all done it.
- [39:29]
B
But I do have to say I also listened to another. Another interview that you did where you said you had a. Post it on your computer that said something like, what would. What would this be like if it were fun?
- [39:40]
C
Yes.
- [39:41]
B
And. And that you try to find the fun in all the different things that you do. And I felt like that was really inspiring to me. There was something about it where I thought, oh, yeah. And. And that was one reason, I do confess, that I called and said, would you. Would you join me on the podcast? Because I thought I really could use a little dose of some cha cha fun. I'd just like to talk to somebody who's fun, who sort of sees things in a way, like, it doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to drag you down. You can find a way to make it lift you up instead.
- [40:09]
C
Oh, awesome. I'm glad that you saw that and I'm glad that you reached out. Yeah, it's good to have that posted up because it's not like you always remember that. You know, I forget it all the time until I see it and I'm like, okay, well, what would it look like if it was fun? Would music be on? Would I have some kind of show in the background? Would I have a podcast on? Like, what would this look like if I was really enjoying it?
- [40:34]
B
Exactly. And I mean, I think that can. That can work for any. Any sewing task or even. Even in the job that I have. It's, you know, earphones and a really good musical track in my background or, you know, my favorite cup of tea or any of those things that. That give you this feeling of I'm grounded. And I'm also treating myself like a person who's worthwhile and, you know, who doesn't have to be tortured by the. By the tasks in front of me.
- [40:59]
C
Yes, absolutely. That's funny that you also said that, because I just did two other podcasts, and one is about using sewing as a form of art therapy. Because I think we talked about this before, but that was originally going to be my research as fashion, is sewing as a form of art therapy? And then we also did a podcast on how your wardrobe can change how you feel about yourself and your mental health. So all of these things kind of go together. At one point when I graduated, I was like, these are my interests over here. And then this is what I do in academia. And I don't know if they overlap, but it's like, it's plain to everybody else that it does like all these things come together, the mental health, the, the therapy, the artistic expression, the inclusive nature of it, it all just, just comes together. And I feel like for me, in my mind, it's coming, it's coming together.
- [42:02]
B
If you have links to those podcasts, would you send them to me and then we'll get them put in the show notes.
- [42:07]
C
Okay. Absolutely. Thank you.
- [42:09]
A
Yeah.
- [42:09]
B
And we're coming to the end of our time, so I want to thank you for spending time with me. It has been very fun for Friday morning to talk to you and find out all the different things that you're doing. I hope people will get to Frederick and and visit you and take a class or just stop in and see what's going on in your in your social cafe. I want to thank our listeners too for joining us this month for this episode. The show notes and access to more episodes are available@threadsmagazine.com meanwhile, keep on Sewing with Threads.
- [42:39]
A
Thank you to our guests for joining us and thanks to all of you for listening. Please remember to send your comments, questions and suggestions to thhreadsmagazine.com and please like comment and subscribe wherever you are listening. Until next time. Keep on Sewing with Threads.