Why is the thought of making a blazer so intimidating? It’s the heavy construction and precision, the shops on Savile Row with professionals that do this for sky-high rates, the connotations with severity, formality and often masculinity. It's a scary garment.
That's why I wanted to make my own, and give you the skills and guidance to make your own at a professional standard at home.
The beginning of Modern Sewing Co. was really turbocharged by my love for tailoring, and more so - the process of learning tailoring.
In 2021, I took a month long course to fine tune my tailoring skills after years of being a professional designer and sewist, and after such an intense month of making and sewing, I made the decision to go full time with Modern Sewing Co.. I will never forget how painstaking yet rewarding it was spend 4 weeks slowly hand sewing an intricately tailored jacket that I still wear today. It was truly a formative experience.
The blazer I made in 2021
Some of my hand sewing on show!
In dedicating 1 month to solely focus on sewing one incredibly detailed piece, I loved how intentional and self-paced I had to be to get the result I wanted. The process encouraged me to slow down and enjoy each tiny section to get a fine tuned result, which is has definitely influenced how I have created the Naomi Blazer pattern and workshop over the past year.
I am so excited, and somewhat nervous, for you to finally be able to make your own Naomi Blazer. Nervous because this is my first time teaching tailoring specifically, so I've spent countless hours of trial and error to make sure what I offer is both top quality and accessible for home sewists across a range of abilities. Garment making is second nature to me, but this blazer has been a challenge that I am so proud and ready to share with you all.
April 2024 - Our first Blazer toile!
I'd also like to touch on how tailoring is still such a male-dominated industry - it's been so motivating to make tailoring accessible and less intimidating for our community that is predominately women of all ages from across the world.
Blazers are often typecast as more masculine garments, but there is a real femininity in the shaping and the sharpness to its lines, which can also be softened by the choice of fabric or styling.
And we may be launching this at the start of the academic year, but this is by no means a school blazer! I love how versatile a blazer can be to style, and I wanted the design to play into that so that it can be worn countless times, for a range of occasions and settings. I've already been wearing my Naomi blazer as the perfect autumn jacket.
At the end of the workshop, I hope you too will have the confidence and sense of achievement in tailoring something for yourself.
The Naomi Blazer PDF Pattern and Workshop will be launching on Friday 19th September and will be available on our website.
Thank you so much for all of the support so far!
Hetty x
