Crafting Roots Stories

These moving and inspiring stories take you back to the roots of sewing, as dozens of sewists share how they learned or found the spark to start. Grab a cup of coffee or your favourite tea, make yourself comfortable and enjoy these heartfelt glimpses into the roots of craft.

“From the moment I was given a needle and thread, I became a sewist.
My mother sewed out of necessity, but my grandmother was incredibly talented and sewed for pleasure - I am more like her and I so wish she was still around to see what I make. I sewed anything and everything from the age of around 7 years old, I made dolls clothes initially, gravitating to cushion covers, then clothes for myself. Once I had children I made clothes and costumes for them. I'm pretty much self taught, although I did do a 'How to Use your Overlocker' course once - that was invaluable! Now that my children have grown up and I have more time for sewing I've become involved in some amazing collaborations with First Nations Art Centres in remote Northern Australia. I create fashion collections with them to showcase their bespoke fabric. I collect their fabric too - it is decorated by First Nations artists with their totems and songlines (stories). Most of the items I make use this type of bespoke fabric. I have a Fine Arts degree and my work is highly decorative/colourful. I like to mix fabrics and often embellish my work too. That's why I chose the Ga-Roshe pattern as it has a placket and I've embroidered this design feature in the Sashiko style; I've only recently discovered Sashiko and quite like its uniformity which I think can easily complement an outfit. My Ga-Roshe blouse features fabric from Bula'bula Arts in remote Arnhem Land. “

@blackcatcoutureNT

“Sewing and crafts have always been a part of my life,
I have sweet childhood memories of my mother doing some late night sewing and godmother teaching me various different techniques from silk dyeing to dollhouse crafting.
My grandmother used to laugh seeing me knitting, eyes closed making socks for everyone in elementary school. When I inherited my mom’s old sewing machines and overlock when my youngest was only 1, I started first making baby clothes and simple things. But the online sewing community quickly encouraged me to create my own wardrobe as well, and the numerous tips shared helped in refining my techniques. I don’t have a formal education on tailoring, but trial and error and some handy YouTube videos have taught me a lot.”

@eik.a

“I sew because of an unsatisfying goat-milking experience several ago. I was down in a deep squat, as usual during the morning milking, yoinking at my jeans, trying to make them let me get into the proper position. Frustration: my clothes did not respect my body. They wouldn't let me move or bend or work or relax the way I wanted to. I owned no truly comfortable, unrestrictive outfits that I could decently wear in public.
My clothes also, come to think of it, disrespected the Earth, given their unsustainable origins. Ugh.
Since then I've been on a mission to build a soft, gentle wardrobe that caresses and respects my body and the Earth.
What began with a really quite ridiculous proposition - to sew my own wardrobe from scratch, until everything I own is experimentally, beautifully, imperfectly made by me - has become a joyful, fulfilling form of self-actualisation.”

@softly_stitches

“I am a life time maker of my own clothes and artist … 15 years ago I combined these two passions to create textile art … specifically art quilts. Many of my quilts have been selected to be exhibited in exhibitions both within Australia and overseas … including the International Quilt Festival in the USA in 2022.”

@anakiequilter

“I'm generally a very creative person, but I have roots in tailoring.
My grandmother and great-grandmother were seamstresses with their own tailoring shops.
However, they both died before I could show any interest in it. So I taught myself everything with the help of YouTube and just tried a lot of things out. For me, sewing is Me-time, where I can just switch off and let my creativity run wild 🥰”

@kristina.bock_

“I started learning how to sew 6 years ago. I didn’t even know how to use a sewing machine and spent an afternoon working out how to thread a bobbin and my machine.
I taught myself how to sew, by watching loads and loads of YouTube tutorials and then just having a go myself.
I love sewing and making unique makes that suit my style and also don’t have to be restricted with sizing in high street stores.
Love the sewing community, getting inspiration from other sewists and encouraging others to sew.”

@candylovestosew

“As a child, I always saw my mom sewing clothes and I too got to enjoy her creations. I think the microbe passed that way. The last thing she sewed for me was my wedding dress and then my sewing story began.
This hobby is my second self and I can't imagine not sewing anymore.
The friends who share the same hobby and the sociability around me give me so much pleasure and make me a better person.”

@sewsewilse

“I think I was born to be crafty. My mum, an avid crocheter, my Nan a fantastic knitter, and my aunt a talented painter, all encouraged my creative streak as a kid. I learned to crochet from my mum.
I dabbled in all kinds of crafts but it was only when I really dedicated some time to learning to sew that my crafting side really bloomed.
In 2018 I moved jobs, and told myself the saved commute time would be my sewing time. And, the rest is history. Crafting is my calming force, and my creative streak. It lets me create things for ME that make me feel like Me - especially in a world that doesn't really cater for my size and style. “

@speckylaura @thespeckyseamstress

“I grew up in a family where my mother, my grandmother and most of my mothers sisters where all either sewing, knitting or doing some other crafts. Making your own cloths or giving something hand made to a gift was highly appreciated.
My mom taught me to sew when I was 12 years old.
The first years were a struggle since I hated to rip the seams when something went wrong. I love that I can make cloths to myself and to my girls and there are no limits. During the Covid times I had time to concentrate to the sewing and I studied two years and got a dressmaker diploma. That was a turn point in my sewing. Now I can make my own patterns and modify the commercial patterns to fit better for my body.”

@lruottinen

“I learned to sew on a black singer hand sewing machine in my older sisters bedroom making clothes for my soft toys. Trial and error and copying them using scraps from the clothing they and Mum made for me. My sisters were so inspirational, always creating and they still are. Mum was also inspirational, her hands were never still…knitting, sewing, embroidery, cooking… “
I came back to sewing a few years ago and can now see why they created…a stillness in the business…colour in the bleak…order in the chaos of life.”

I started teaching myself to sew when I was very little, making clothes for my barbies and teddies.

“Then when I was old enough to use my mums sewing machine I was able to learn how to actually construct garments (with the help of sewing lessons at school). As an adult I have continued to teach myself through YouTube tutorials and trial and error. I have a tendency to lean towards the hand made and vintage styles in anything I do and you can see this in my makes with the use of either vintage patterns/styles or fabrics.“

@molly_jean_

I learned to crochet from a lovely lady at an elderly house
I was volunteering when I was a kid but didn't picked it up until I was in my 30's and I created a local community for crafters in my current city where I met lovely people. A few of those crafters are also sewists so I decided to give it a go and I haven't looked back since.
@i.am.making.a.mess

I was inspired to learn sewing because both my late grandmas were sewist. My paternal grandma even had her own clothing shop in the 50s when Singapore was still a developing country. We have a wide range of government subsidised courses for people who would like to up-skill or change their career paths and the 10 week beginner sewing class that I attended was one of them. I went on weekends while I was working as an analytics manager. At some point after, I left my job because I felt a creative drain from my working environment even though I was working in the advertising industry. I focused my first few days of unemployment on sewing but after a week all that I hoped for in my break went downhill. My dad was diagnosed with a stage 3 brain tumour and his prognosis was very grim. Through this difficult time, sewing helped me tremendously on my mental and emotional wellbeing.
Very thankful and blessed that I picked up sewing just before the lowest and darkest time of my life.
It sort of comes full circle as well because it was my dad who was supportive and offered to pick me up after each class. In a way preparing me for what was to come.

@thesewistlog

“My husband Eric lost his mother to a drunk driver when he was 7 years old. She was from Finland (immigrated to Canada), and a sewist. She had some Marimekko fabric that sat unnoticed in a closet for 30 years, until my sister-in-law found it in their dad’s house and brought it to me. I was NOT a sewist.
In fact, I hated sewing. I liked racing cars and doing boy things.
However, I thought it would be nice to make this Marimekko fabric into two quilts for them to have a nice memory of their mother instead of this fabric sitting in a closet forever. My friend Jane is a quilter and sewist, so I asked if she would teach me. This was during the covid pandemic so I would go to her house and we’d wear masks while she taught me how to sew. She made the process fun and to my surprise I didn’t hate it! I made the quilts, actually enjoyed the process, and then Jane taught me to make garments. I kept going, and now I make most of my own clothes (and still race cars)!
It has been such a fun journey, and the sewing/crafting community has been so wonderful! “

@patterns_then_pizza

“I started sewing about 3 years ago. I've wanted to learn for many years, and got a sewing machine already 8 years ago. Sometimes the inspiration takes some time, but when I get inspired, it takes off as a rocket, and there's no turning back!
My inspiration is my mother. In my eyes, she can do everything, and I can always ask her if I don't understand something tricky.
My makes are never perfect, as I am not either. I have heard that the knitting gods are gonna get mad if there are no mistakes in the knits, so that's my mantra for all things crafting. And as Andy Warhol said: all is pretty. The little errs make the makes more interesting, and I believe that when other beginners see that no one is perfect, they have the courage to try making something, too.”

@mansikkapehmis

“I learned to sew 19 years ago. My aunt taught me the basics, and everything else was learning by doing.
Back then, the only thing that helped me was the instructions and explanations in books and sewing magazines.
Back then, I mainly sewed skirts for myself, because there were none in the shops which fitted me. Since then, I have learned a lot and both my wardrobe and my children's wardrobe are almost entirely sewn by myself. “

@by.tante.kaethe

“I learned in 7th grade in my Home Economics class. I still have the pattern I made if a sleeveless shift night dress! It was the 60’s and I made a bright floral print. My mother also sewed and helped me as well. Later in high school my girlfriend whom I am still friends with made a dress a week - a friendly competition sharing the pattern which we sometimes made multiple times! We didn’t find what we liked in stores ☺️.
I still sew at age 73 but it’s getting a bit harder.
I use my Singer Featherweight but have another old machine too. “
Signed, love to sew…
Cardie K Molina

“I’ve been crafting since childhood! I’d collect shells and rocks and make jewelry with them and my grandmothers taught me to knit and crochet. I also was a painter and dappled in pottery and sculpture.
I loved fashion too growing up and tried some hand sewing (I made historical Barbie clothes for my dolls with my mom) but was always intimidated to learn how to machine sew.
Fast forward to my 30s, I’ve finished my paleontology doctorate and suddenly have free time, and revisit my childhood love for creating.
A friend sewed her own clothing, and watching her I felt empowered to try. I found a refurbished sewing machine and immediately become obsessed.
I found Tauko early on in my sewing journey as I searched for interesting patterns to learn from, and it’s been an incredible influence on me! I hope to learn pattern making and submit my own designs though one day.”

@cracked.egg.creations

“My mother sewed our clothes when we were kids. I starting making things for my dolls from the leftover bits, designing as I went. Sewing classes were offered in high school so I took those and ended up making my grad dress. I discovered quilting when I was expecting my first child back in the early 1980's. I was hooked and still quilt today.

For the last five years I have been making my own wardrobe as well as clothing for my grandchildren and children.

Sewing has kept me grounded and offers me a way to express myself. Don't know where I would be without it!”

@spworkspace

“I learned sewing when I was abt 9 or 10 years-old in early 90’s. I was visiting at my great grandmother and she had this very old pedal Singer sewing machine with what I sew Barbie clothes from fabric that was suppose to be cut for carpet weave. Since then I’ve been sewing, mostly clothes for myself but later also to my son.
I haven’t bought ready mades much since 2018, when I got new sewing awakening.
I feel great when wearing me mades instead of ready mades. They are more characteristic than the once you can buy.”

@mlazarich

My crafting roots come from a long family history of female artists and makers.

“Sewing and other textile art, as well as knitting and fine arts are widespread skills throughout my family, which has been a very fun environment to grow up in. When I was 10, my mom and grandma opened a fabric and yarn store together called Harmony, in my hometown Provo, Utah. It started out small but over the last 13 years it has grown to be a staple of the community. I feel so lucky to be immersed in such a creative family and community!”

@adebybluette

I`ve been sewing almost all my life, but I somehow forgot or at least never think about my crafting roots. Therefore, I am really thankful for this special theme of the TAUKO magazine no 15: crafting roots. It just brought me back to where
I started long time ago: with little steps in embroidery - mostly cross-stitches - at the age of four or five.
That's why I wanted to include a little embroidery to the Ga-roshe pattern. Back then I also started playing around with scraps and buttons in my grandma`s sewing space - a little corner in her bedroom. And slowly I found my own way in this wonderful world of fabrics, clothes and notions. Some of her notions and tools are still in my sewing space. With every make I feel deeply connected to my grandma.

ellie.sew.happy

“My crafting roots come from my dear grandmother. She worked as a dressmaker and seamstress. She is now 90 years old and still sews and knits almost every day.

I bought her fabric for a quilted jacket for her birthday and now she is wearing it! She is and always has been my greatest inspiration. She made clothes for me when I was a child, and when I designed my own dress for Vanhojen tanssit (The Finnish Prom) and my graduation, Grandma made it. We often talk about handicrafts and sewing and ask each other for advice.

I always remember playing with fabrics and buttons when I was a child. Maybe I learnt most of my sewing at school, but I definitely sew with my grandmother too. And I remember how proud she was when I decided to study textiles and fashion.”

@minjorymakes

“Growing up, my older sister took a sewing class and she taught me how to operate the sewing machine, and we even made dresses for both of us, but I didn't make much more on my own and forgot about the craft for some years again.
Only now as an adult, I decided to take a two days sewing course a couple of years back and I have been making more things, buying supplies and magazines and really enjoying sewing clothes for my self.
I am a knitter too, and I usually knit a lot during the colder months and the turn to sewing during the hotter months. “

@made.by.blatidx

My family were peasants in southern Sweden for as long as we can track them. Making with your hands was a question of survival.

My mother sew most of our clothes when we grew up, I started to use the sewing machine as soon as I could. My father had learned to knit as a teenager and took it up when he retired.

After high school, I considered two professions: textile crafting, or business. The rational choice won, I moved to Stockholm and got a Masters in Business Administration.

I made mine and my kids clothes until they were around 4 and 8 but then career and parenting took all my time. So, it rested for 10 years, until I picked it up again. And, even if I hadn’t sewn for so long, my body automatically remembered the different steps. It was quite fascinating, I just sat there at my sewing machine and knew what to do.

That’s now 10 years ago and crafting is again my creative outlet, I simply need it. And I’ve widened my textile portfolio, I have become a real textile geek. I knit a lot, I sew, weave, embroider, spin yarn, plant dye etc… last weekend I tried bobbin lace making. So much fun!

I thank my parents for showing how crafting can be so important. It grounds me!

“My mom taught me how to sew on her old Bernina. She is one of the first people who encouraged, celebrated and invested in my interest and skills in all kinds of crafts. She claims they skipped a generation (from her parents to me), but I know better from hours of time spent together creating all kinds of things with her. Less so for a the 10+ years I lived overseas, but more than once she sent me back overseas after a visit to the homeland with material in my suitcase for various projects.

To me, crafting has always been a safe space full of freedom to try new things, think creatively, come up with my own ideas and learn to celebrate whatever the outcome.

Many projects have turned out different to what I originally had in mind and some have not turned out at all. Yet there is always something to be celebrated in the courage to create, to give shape and purpose to something.

I moved back to Finland recently and asked to borrow my mom's old Bernina to hem curtains for my new home. A while later, she said she's thinking about buying herself a sewing machine. When I reminded her that she already has one and attempted returning her old Bernina to her, she said, "It's yours, has been for a long time already." “

@heidijar

My grandma has sewed as long as I can remember. At some point, when I was a student, the button to sew backwards on her machine broke beyond repair. I saved up money to buy her a new machine, because she means so much to me and she wouldn't have spent money on it herself (being from a generation of living frugally and giving everything to others). She absolutely wouldn't keep it and insisted I take it, and that's how I started sewing. (And she continued with her broken machine, never sewing in the thread...)

@stricklisa_cph

“I was about 13 years old and I thought "Wouldn't it be great if I could do and create something all the time!" My first make was from jeans to overalls and maybe that was not my best make but I loved the process of doing it all by myself. In those days there was no internet to help. Both my grandmothers knew how to sew, knit and crochet so there are definitely some roots and I still use my grandmother's pincushion. I have studied two professions involving sewing and textiles and had my own business for eight years, but these days sewing and other crafts are my lovely hobby that I wish I could do every day, at least some of the time. So maybe

the idea from my teenage years to create all the time is a wish that has come true.”

@knitsewista

“I have grown up surrounded by crafts and crafty people in my family. From them I have got my interest towards different types of crafts. Most I have learned from my mother and granny and they are also who introduced me to basic sewing.
In many ways crafting is my way to stay connected to the generations before me and hopefully after.
This also inspires me to try different forms of crafting, things like spinning, dyeing and weaving. “

@kuitukuiskaaja

“I don’t remember a time when I didn’t craft. I learned to crochet when I was four years old, sick in bed, bored.
My mother sat me on her lap at her sewing machine when I was five.
It did not go well. I wanted to sew circles, not straight lines. I’ve been sewing ever since. My mother, 4-H, high school home ec, evening classes, and college pattern making and tailoring all added to my sewing knowledge. I love to sew, mostly for friends and family, once in a while for myself. My mother is no longer with us, but I often feel her presence in my sewing room.”

@knitbunnie

“I started sewing about 16 years ago, when my first daughter was 4. I wanted so badly to be able to make those wonderfull dresses I saw in (way too expensive) children's clothing stores. I started sewing classes, I inherited the old Bernina sewing machine of my grandmother and thrifting fabric became a new hobby (in that time the amount of nice fabric in thrift stores and fleamarkets was huge!).
My second daughter was born 5 years ago, I started all over again with sewing those adorable dresses. But it's not just little dresses. I love sewing for my husband and myself. I love to make little presents or just be able to make anything that pops out of my head. And since a few years, I also design and make costumes for the theatre group I'm working for. Which is a huge amount of work, but it's so satisfying to see the costumes in action show after show.
Meanwhile: I have my own workshop in our house, where I have all the space, machines and haberdashery. It's my own little world and I love to create even more then ever! “

@ssaaaaarraahhs_just_sewing_off

“My mother, Debra, introduced me to sewing and needlework. She, her mother, her sister, and even my step-mother, were all garment workers.
Debra trained as a nurse and left garment making by the time I was born. She sewed many dresses for me during my childhood and made my junior prom dress from a commercial pattern when I was a teenager in high school. Debra also sewed dresses for my daughter/her granddaughter, Elsa. Besides her baby quilt, one of the first things I made for Elsa was a mermaid tail to wear at Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN when the Weeki Wachee (FL) mermaids were performing.”

Rebecca Tolley

Mila .May 23, 2025

Crafting Roots Stories

These moving and inspiring stories take you back to the roots of sewing, as dozens of sewists share how they learned or found the spark to start. Grab a cup of coffee or your favourite tea, make yourself comfortable and enjoy these heartfelt glimpses into the roots of craft.

“From the moment I was given a needle and thread, I became a sewist.

I have sweet childhood memories of my mother doing some late night sewing and godmother teaching me various different techniques from silk dyeing to dollhouse crafting.

Since then I've been on a mission to build a soft, gentle wardrobe that caresses and respects my body and the Earth.

My grandmother and great-grandmother were seamstresses with their own tailoring shops.

I taught myself how to sew, by watching loads and loads of YouTube tutorials and then just having a go myself.

This hobby is my second self and I can't imagine not sewing anymore.

I dabbled in all kinds of crafts but it was only when I really dedicated some time to learning to sew that my crafting side really bloomed.

My mom taught me to sew when I was 12 years old.

I came back to sewing a few years ago and can now see why they created…a stillness in the business…colour in the bleak…order in the chaos of life.”

I started teaching myself to sew when I was very little, making clothes for my barbies and teddies.

I learned to crochet from a lovely lady at an elderly house

Very thankful and blessed that I picked up sewing just before the lowest and darkest time of my life.

In fact, I hated sewing. I liked racing cars and doing boy things.

My inspiration is my mother. In my eyes, she can do everything, and I can always ask her if I don't understand something tricky.

Back then, the only thing that helped me was the instructions and explanations in books and sewing magazines.

I still sew at age 73 but it’s getting a bit harder.

A friend sewed her own clothing, and watching her I felt empowered to try. I found a refurbished sewing machine and immediately become obsessed.

For the last five years I have been making my own wardrobe as well as clothing for my grandchildren and children.

I haven’t bought ready mades much since 2018, when I got new sewing awakening.

My crafting roots come from a long family history of female artists and makers.

I started long time ago: with little steps in embroidery - mostly cross-stitches - at the age of four or five.

“My crafting roots come from my dear grandmother. She worked as a dressmaker and seamstress. She is now 90 years old and still sews and knits almost every day.

Only now as an adult, I decided to take a two days sewing course a couple of years back and I have been making more things, buying supplies and magazines and really enjoying sewing clothes for my self.

My mother sew most of our clothes when we grew up, I started to use the sewing machine as soon as I could. My father had learned to knit as a teenager and took it up when he retired.

To me, crafting has always been a safe space full of freedom to try new things, think creatively, come up with my own ideas and learn to celebrate whatever the outcome.

the idea from my teenage years to create all the time is a wish that has come true.”

In many ways crafting is my way to stay connected to the generations before me and hopefully after.

My mother sat me on her lap at her sewing machine when I was five.

Meanwhile: I have my own workshop in our house, where I have all the space, machines and haberdashery. It's my own little world and I love to create even more then ever! “

“My mother, Debra, introduced me to sewing and needlework. She, her mother, her sister, and even my step-mother, were all garment workers.

TAUKO Magazine is a pioneering independent print publication for home sewists around the world. It features sewing patterns, interviews and articles by international contributors.