Welcome to the sewing blog!

Hello, hi, and salutations! I’m excited that you’ve found your way to my little corner of the internet. I’ve decided to start keeping this blog for 3 reasons: 1. I like to share my sewing projects with other creatives. 2. Some of you may find something helpful to use in your own projects or be inspired to try something new. 3. It will be like a project journal for myself so I can remember what on earth I did during the process. Because I’m certainly not going to remember later! 

I suppose that we better start with an introduction. I’m Sam and I’ve been sewing for over 20 years. I go by To Sew Thyself on social media (Instagram, Facebook, etc.) and I share my projects there but I’ll be going more in-depth here on the blog. I first learned to sew when I was 10 years old. I had wanted a new Halloween costume and my mom (who had made me a new costume for the two previous Halloweens) did not have the time to make another one. I told her that I didn’t want to wear any of the costumes or dress-up clothes that I had -I wanted something different. She said that if it was that important to me that I should call my grandma and ask her to teach me how to sew. So I did! I took my Simplicity costume pattern and my cheap polyester satin over to grandma’s and made an “I Dream of Genie” costume. I’m sure it was not “well done” by any means but I LOVED it. Learning to sew suddenly opened so many Halloween possibilities to little me. I was hooked

! 

Currently the only photo I have of the genie costume is this one - where my sister is wearing it several years later. I'm in the "Spiderella" costume next to her.

I basically haven’t stopped sewing since that first costume. I made more Halloween costumes throughout junior high and high school, added Renaissance Faire costumes in college, then I added historical re-enactment coordinates and cosplay to the mix after that. During the shut down in 2020, I didn’t have anywhere to wear my fun cosplays and costumes since we couldn’t gather or hold events. It was then that I realized that I could make clothes…like normal, everyday clothes. Mind blown! I’d never really thought about that before. I’d only ever sewn to create costumes for specific events but why couldn’t I bring that whimsy to my daily wear? Not only could I make my clothing in whatever style and design that I wanted, but it would also fit me so much better than anything I could buy off the rack at a fast fashion store. From then, I’ve been unstoppable! I now know that I can sew anything! Maybe not perfectly at first (cough…looking at you fly-front zippered pants…cough) but with patience, practice and lots of mockups, you can make anything you set your mind to!

That’s where I am today: I sew daily clothes for my wardrobe, make cosplays for comic and anime conventions, and create historical costumes in my favorite eras of Regency, Victorian and 1930s vintage. I hope you come along with me on my creative journey and enjoy all my sewing wins, blunders, and everything in-between!