Can it really be five years of The Modern Sewing Co.? This August really does mark our fifth business birthday. In past years, I’ve dived into my photo album to share some very lovely highlights of the past 12 months. This time around, I wanted to get personal and share some of my thoughts and reflections as a founder.

Whether you’ve been here with me since the start, or are new to the community, I’m hoping it will be an interesting to get a sense of my changing perspective on building a small, independent business in a very different world to when I started out.

Before The Modern Sewing Co., there was Henri! Here I am outside my shop in Hackney.

Personal Growth

As I write this in our studio, surrounded by the workings out of a very exciting new sewing pattern which will launch in the autumn, I think one of my highlights of the last five years has been learning how to run a business better. My previous brand, Henri, was pretty chaotic (and a very different kind of business). My approach to The Modern Sewing Co. has been much more intentional and started with two years of me working in solitude, creating clothes I wanted to wear. I was really taking my time, looking inward and being very closed off after a really hectic five years with Henri. I remember I was thinking a lot about making and regaining my confidence. 
Teaching shirt making classes at the weekends - a hint at things to come.

From there, I knew I really had to learn how to run a business and how to manage growth, which has been a massive learning curve in the last six months. I’ve also had to learn how to be professional, lead people and make it worthwhile for their careers to be part of The Modern Sewing Co.. That's quite a big responsibility!

Wearing one of the first iterations of our now classic pattern, the Frida Shirt.

A Changing World

I believe the world needs The Modern Sewing Co. far more now than ever before. When I started the business, we were just coming out of the pandemic. I'd made the decision to produce no physical clothes, and focus instead on creating high quality sewing patterns and in-depth online tutorials. I was determined to share as much of the process as I could, which in a post-COVID time, felt like pure escapism.

You don't have to look far for textile waste. We found mounds of discarded fast fashion, marked for resale but likely destined for landfill, just 100 metres from our London studio.

Now, I think the world needs us as a business in a more serious way. With climate change, overconsumption and sustainability responsibility in mind, I believe what we’re offering is far more than entertainment. Sewing our own clothes is fundamental to how we need to live going forwards, especially after the last two months of extreme heatwaves across the world, including right here in London, and the broader climate crisis.

I have always been very, very passionate about sustainable fashion, but I've lost that focus a little in the last three years. I've been buying clothes here and there and haven't really been thinking about where they come from too much. The last few months have been a massive wake up call. We need to always be thinking about sustainability in our wardrobes - it's just so important.

My experience travelling India, visiting cotton fields and handloom villages taught me so much about trying to be sustainable in the textile industry (and how hard it is). You can read more of my thoughts on sustainable sewing here.

Clear Purpose

Staying true to the vision for The Modern Sewing Co. hasn't really been intentional, it's just been natural. I think it's been really, really apparent and obvious why we’re needed and so clear to us what we're doing. Our mission has absolutely stayed the same from day one, which feels quite positive because I think some businesses do struggle with that as they grow. We haven't had to rethink ourselves, change tack or diversify at all. We’ve just made loads of improvements in what we're doing and so we're just able to grow.

Growing Team

A huge part of what's changed in the last five years is the team: I went from being a solo woman in business to a team of five (not all of whom are full time). Having other people’s talent and ideas join the engine has been so crucial in the last two years. It's been really nice to build my vision with other people who are just as passionate and excited and who bring so much more to the table with their expertise than I can. It's so fun and heartening to have a great team! 

Community

I think the mission for the future is to continue to educate and empower people to sew beautiful clothes. Inspiring and upskilling the next generation is huge, alongside inspiring the generation before us to return to sewing. We receive beautiful emails on a weekly basis from members of our community who are coming back to sewing after a break of 20-30 years. So, I think the future forward is: more people can and should be sewing.

We want to be there to help you, inspire you and give you the tools to make your own handsewn wardrobe that’s made to last.

Hetty x

Want more?

• From a little shop in East London to upskilling sewists in over 95 countries. Read the story of The Modern Sewing Co. here.

• Discover our online workshops and sewing patterns.

• Find out why I walked away from the mainstream fashion industry to launch a sustainable sewing brand here.