In the beginning .......
My mother introduced me to sewing during my middle school years and I quickly fell in love.
Around 2015, I was inspired to start my first sewing style blog and Instagram account. My end goal was to use these platforms to inspire and empower women to take control of their style using creativity. By way of Instagram, I connected with a lot of talented makers and I was even featured by Simplicity Creative group for a few of my handmade pieces.
What started out as fun soon became uncomfortable because I was unintentionally positioning myself as a sewing influencer and this was never my goal. To stay relevant on IG, I started to feel the pressure to frequently sew unnecessary and impractical clothes just for the sake of posting.
At the end of the day, I knew that this wasn't really me and that I couldn't keep up with all of that. So I shifted the main focus of my content from sewing to styling.
At that time, I was only comfortable styling myself so I knew that I needed some training. I found a wonderful online wardrobe styling course at a school based in Italy. This course could teach me how to dress women with different bodies and also how I could empower them to make better clothing choices.
Taking this course was a good decision because I learned a lot and the course ended up being very challenging and satisfying.
I finished the wardrobe styling course right at the start of the pandemic and updated my Blog and IG to show that I was now a trained Wardrobe Stylist.
Even though I felt good about my pivot, something still felt off. I didn't really fit neatly into the styling community any more than I fit into the sewing community. To stay relevant in the styling community, I was feeling that same pressure to buy or make clothes just for the sake of posting.
In the midst of it all .......
I realized at this point that I needed to make yet another shift because my content wasn't connecting with the audience that I was trying to reach and I was also getting discouraged.
After having a conversation with one of my sewing girlfriends, I had a breakthrough. I realized that I needed to go back to where my styling journey began. I realized that I still loved sewing just as much as I loved styling and that I could find a way to merge the two together. And just like that the concept for Stitch Style & Wear was born.
Stitch Style & Wear is my new website. It is a styling resource designed exclusively for women who sew their own clothes. I am so excited for this venture, because I think that this is something that the sewing community really needs and it plays well to my strengths. Stitch Style & Wear will feature essential fitting guides, smart styling tips, and practical real life inspiration from our sewing community.
It's literally taken me almost 10 years to get to this point and THAT'S OK! I'm ready now and the timing is right.
We Are Live! I'm can't wait to meet you over in the Stitch Style & Wear community. See you soon.
Happy Stitching & Styling
AngieDiwann