Our Story
How it all started...
Hetty’s journey to founding the Modern Sewing Co. started as a teenager, ferociously sewing DIY projects on her attic landing, before going on to study Fashion Design & Development at the London College of Fashion. It was there that she discovered a love of pattern cutting, followed by time spent interning in London and New York and learning from some of the best in the industry.
After several years working in fashion and running her own womenswear brand, Hetty began teaching shirt making from her shop on Hackney Road, London. She was amazed by the enthusiasm of people wanting to learn how to make their own clothes and discovered a whole new world of home sewing.
It planted the seed for what would eventually become the Modern Sewing Co., shifting the focus from selling clothes to people to giving them the skills and confidence to make clothes for themselves.
In the summer of 2021, while taking a month-long tailoring course in the north of England four weeks of slow, methodical hand sewing gave Hetty the space to think about what she wanted to build next. By the time her tailored jacket was finished, she had decided to leave her previous business behind and focus wholeheartedly on the Modern Sewing Co. and the world of home sewing.
Where we are today...
That experience — and the value of slowing down to make something with your hands — remains at the heart of the business today.
Since launching in 2021, the Modern Sewing Co. has grown into a small team creating modern sewing patterns and detailed online workshops for a worldwide community of makers.
Our mission is to connect the next generation of sewers with the skills to make clothes they genuinely want to wear. We believe there is something incredibly empowering about understanding how your clothes are made and having the confidence to create them yourself.
For us, sewing is an opportunity to slow down, step away from screens and the pace of everyday life, and spend a few hours completely absorbed in making something with your hands. We wholeheartedly celebrate creativity and the value that comes from this beautiful craft.
Our hope is to encourage people to make fewer, better-loved clothes, choosing materials thoughtfully and creating pieces that will be worn and cared for for years to come.
Our Team
We're a small team of 4 and we do everything in house aside from digital grading. That means we work across many different fields to get things done.
This includes designing, pattern cutting, toiling, sampling, photography, videography, editing, sketching, pattern formatting, writing instructions, marketing & instagram, advertising, strategy, website development, customer service, and accounting.
We're lucky to have a brilliant team of creative minds!
Our Process
Design
Our design process always starts with how a garment will make you feel, both physically and emotionally. Most often, that means creating something that feels comfortable and practical to wear, while still making you feel put together. Our approach has always been steered towards classic shapes, often with a little extra volume and a feeling of casual tailoring.
Pattern Cutting
We draft all of our patterns in-house using a combination of manual and digital pattern cutting. Over the years, we’ve developed an extensive set of blocks to work from which helps to retain the feel of a Modern Sewing Co. garment when we start a new pattern. We pride ourselves in creating accurate patterns with a great fit so this is a really important step in the process.
Fittings
Fittings are where the balance and feel of each garment really begin to take shape. We look closely at how a design sits and moves on the body, refining the proportions to get the look we're aiming for. Achieving a really comfortable fit is the most important part of this process, and a garment may go through four or five fittings before we feel it’s absolutely right.
Sampling
Once we’ve toiled and re-toiled — prototypes, in layman’s terms — we’re ready to sample. This is one of our favourite stages, when the garment finally comes to life in the fabric it was designed for. We sample in high-quality fabrics and test-wear the first few versions, making any final tweaks before signing off the pattern. From there, the pattern is digitally graded into our full size range.
Instructions
Next, we turn our attention to the instructions. We spend many days, and sometimes weeks, sewing, writing and sketching every step, thinking carefully about how to make the construction as clear and enjoyable as possible. Once complete, the pattern and instructions are sent to our pattern testers, whose feedback helps us make a final round of edits before launch.
Teaching
Teaching has been part of our story from the very beginning and it's the last (but most important!) step of the process. For each online workshop, we film the entire making process from start to finish, breaking the construction down into clear, easy-to-follow steps. Alongside filming, we photograph some sections of the garment to document additional details. Our aim is to make it feel as though we’re right there sewing alongside you.
Behind the scenes...
