About

Hi, my name is Lena, I am a dressmaker with over 17 years of experience. I live and work in Sydney, Australia. I am married and I have a son.

I was introduced to patternmaking and sewing ( and knitting, embroidery, and many other crafts ) by a very talented and patient school teacher, who would sew all her clothes, lingerie and bags. She managed to to ignite my interest in sewing, which has developed into something close to an obsession, because I haven’t stopped sewing since.

At first I used Burda magazine patterns ( the only ones available to me ), then as I grew more confident I started “cutting and pasting” parts from one pattern to another, changing and omitting details, experimenting with the garment construction, and this way creating original patterns of my own. My interest in patternmaking grew stronger.

I had my first order at the age of 17. My friend asked me to make her two pairs of trousers from scratch. They were quite simple, but I was so stressed, I wanted them to be perfect. This job took me quite long time, but in the end we both were pleased with the result.

My sewing stopped for a while when I moved to New Zealand. I had to start buying my sewing and drafting tools again ( and learning their names in English ), you know how daunting this task can be, not to mention very expensive. At the same time I began accumulating and studying many patternmaking and sewing books in English, Russian and Italian. I have a massive collection now and many of these books are out of print and priceless.
After I had set up my sewing room I started sewing regularly. I took a few patternmaking courses, got a few valuable contacts in the industry and started sewing to order again. Every client and every garment has taught me something new and improved my technique further. I still learn, no doubt about that.
Now I live in Sydney, Australia and this time I brought all my treasures with me.

I have a massive amount of fabric and I keep buying more. I used to buy it in rolls from a wholesaler each season to give my clients quality fabric to chose from. I still have lots of it left ( fabric, interfacing, lining, pocketing ). And yes, it is for sale :)

So if you are done trawling sewing forums and blogs in search of answers then you have come to the right place. Here you will find information I use in my work, proven and tested methods. This blog is about drafting and manipulating patterns, sewing and fashion.

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