Breaking the Bias: Men who sew with Adam Sews

Please note this episode was recorded in February 2025.

In this episode of the Sewing Social, the host Gemma Daly engages in a lively conversation with Adam, a passionate male sewist known for his love of Tula Pink fabrics. They explore Adam's journey in the sewing community, discussing the challenges he faces as a male in a predominantly female space, the upcoming QuiltCon event, and the need for more diverse male patterns in sewing. Adam shares insights into his bag pattern designs, including the creative process behind his latest release, the Acorn Backpack. The conversation also touches on the evolution of personal style and the inspiration drawn from the sewing community. In this engaging conversation, the speakers explore the journey of sewing from childhood to a passionate hobby, discussing the evolution of skills, the joy of teaching others, and the importance of breaking down stigmas around men in sewing. They share personal anecdotes about their experiences, favourite projects, and the community aspect of crafting, emphasising the joy and creativity that comes from making things by hand.

Key Takeaways

• Adam's love for Tulip Pink fabrics has grown over the last few years.
• He finds hidden details in fabric prints that reveal themselves over time.
• Being a male in the sewing community comes with unique challenges.
• QuiltCon is a significant event for quilters, and Adam is excited to attend.
• There is a lack of male-focused patterns in the sewing industry.
• Indie pattern companies are starting to create more interesting designs for men.
• Unisex patterns often do not fit male bodies well due to design biases.
• Adam has created several bag patterns, with more in development.
• The Acorn Backpack was inspired by a fabric featuring squirrels.
• Social media, especially Instagram, serves as a major source of inspiration for Adam. Sewing can start as a childhood interest and evolve into a lifelong passion.
• Teaching others can enhance your own skills and understanding of a craft.
• The pandemic reignited many people's interest in sewing and crafting.
• Creating for oneself can be more fulfilling than making for others.
• Breaking down gender stereotypes in sewing encourages more men to participate.
• Community and social media play a significant role in the crafting world.
• Personal projects can be more enjoyable than repetitive tasks.
• Finding joy in the process of making is essential for creativity.
• Sharing your creations can foster connections and inspire others.
• Embracing your interests without fear of judgment is crucial.

Follow me: 

@thesewingsocialpod

@thedalythread

Guest details: 

@adamsews

www.adamsews.com

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Sewing Social
00:33 The Love for Tulip Pink Fabrics
03:03 Experiences as a Male in the Sewing Community
06:40 QuiltCon: Anticipation and Insights
07:52 The Need for Male Patterns in Sewing
10:39 Unisex Patterns: Successes and Challenges
14:20 Creating Unique Bag Patterns
16:01 Designing the Acorn Backpack
19:17 Beginner Patterns and Their Utility
21:00 Inspiration in the Sewing Community
22:22 Personal Style Evolution
23:32 Sewing Journey: From School to Passion
25:40 The Journey of Sewing: From Childhood to Passion
30:10 Teaching and Learning: A Shared Craft
34:13 Creating for Joy: The Balance of Making
38:13 Breaking Stigmas: Encouraging Men in Sewing
40:34 Connecting Through Craft: Social Media and Community

Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:01.88)
Dear lovely listener, welcome to the Sewing Social. I just wanted to acknowledge that this episode was recorded in February 2025. Enjoy!

you

Speaker 2 (00:33.582)
Adam, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm really excited to have a chat about, well, everything Adam sews. Shall we get straight to the nitty gritty? Yeah. So I want to know, and I'm sure my audience will want to know, where did this sort of love of tulip pink fabrics come from and when did it start?

Yeah, go for it.

Speaker 1 (00:59.502)
Right, it's quite recent actually. I've collected everything that I've... some of what I've got behind me and the rest of it was just tucked away. Probably only in the last three or four years. So yeah, I've been a bit of a prolific collector.

think you're quite well known in the sewing community for that. But I mean, look at that rainbow of fabrics behind you. It's amazing. So I'm not surprised that, you know, you're a little bit obsessed with that brand. Is there anything in particular about it that you love?

I think the one thing that draws me to it the most is the fact that when you look at the majority of her prints, the longer you look at them, the more that you find, because there's so many hidden little things in the prints. And you can look at print like six months later and then you find something that you never saw the first time that you looked at it.

Yeah, that's so nice, isn't it? So interesting. Have you got a particular favourite? Could you pick one out of your stash that you love the most?

That's a bit like asking a parent. I have things that are sort of, if I find it come up on a D slash or anything like that, there's certain ones that I will just buy as much as I can get hold of. But there's different fabrics within different ranges that fall into that sort of favourite category. So there's a particular range that's black and white and it's the only black and white range she's ever done called Lime Work.

Speaker 1 (02:34.574)
And it's got tiny, tiny little pops of colour in it, it's just, it's kind of like, it's a bit like black and white films. They're just classic. And it's that one sort of line that it doesn't matter how old it is. It always just looks really sort of elegant if you make a bag from it or.

Yeah, brilliant. Aw, well you managed to narrow it down there even though you had to sort of pick your favourite child.

Yeah.

I'd really like to know what your experience is of being a male in the sewing community. Like, have you faced any challenges at all?

I think in the quilting world, it seems to be more prevalent that there are a lot more male quilters. In terms of sewing for garments sewing and stuff like that, it's still a bit of a taboo sort of thing. I mean, if you mentioned to someone that you sew, they kind of look at you and say, what do you mean that you sew? And then if you say, well, I sew bags, I sew quilts, I sew garments. Like I'm off to Quilt Con.

Speaker 1 (03:44.938)
in Phoenix next week in Arizona. Wow. And it's the first time I've ever been there. It's the first time I've ever been to America. And I'm terrified and excited at the same time. someone said to me the other day, a neighbor came over the other day because my husband helped her jumpstart her car because she broke down up the road. And she came over the other day to drop off a little gift to say thank you. And she said, have you got anything planned? And we were just chatting and I said, we're away next week.

And when I said to her, I'm going to QuiltCon, she was like, what is that? And I was like, it's a massive convention for quilters. And she was like, well, what do you mean quilting? I was like, like quilt making, making quilts. And she was like, you make quilts? And it's just, some people, it's so bizarre that a male would do that.

It's really strange because if you think of like traditionally tailors and things were always male, weren't they?

I mean, Savile Robe is... was... led by men, really.

Absolutely. So where has this sort of stereotype come from over the years that it's more of a female task than a male task? It's strange.

Speaker 1 (04:56.27)
I think the thing is as well though is that because it's always kind of been classed as dressmaking rather than garment sewing, I think that's kind of stuck in people's... I think when people say dressmaking, you automatically think that you're going to be sewing dresses.

but it's not, it's literally anything you can wear. So.

And think things like technology and stuff has come along so much within the sewing world over the last, I mean, more so over the last sort of five to 10 years where you could, there's so many things that you can sew now that you never even dream of sewing years ago. But like now that you've got things like bag foam where you can make bags that have got a lot more stability than just like tote bags that you would have made like 20 years ago.

Yeah, exactly. Tell us a bit more about QuiltCon then. Are you going to be exhibiting anything or are going to just go and have a look?

So I'm not exhibiting. I'm on the team for Free Spirit and Circle of Makers this year for 2025. So I'm working with pre-release fabrics for upcoming collections and different things. And they are going to be there exhibiting. they did sort of send out an email and said, if anyone's going to be there, come and we would like to meet up sort of thing. I'm looking forward to that, actually, like meeting the team that produced Tuneless Fabric basically. I've...

Speaker 1 (06:17.078)
I've quite good friends with one of the ladies that works for Aliso, Irons. There are a lot of people there that I know that are going, that I know of or have spoken to in the past through Instagram or different things. Yeah. So yeah, I'm quite excited.

Sounds really exciting, but I know what you mean. It can be little bit intimidating, can't it? And it sounds like a huge event.

It's a four day thing and the attendance rate on that is completely different to a show in the UK. mean, people fly miles. Well, I mean, we're flying halfway across the world.

Yeah, exactly. that's going to be fantastic. Sort of carrying on on the theme of men in, let's call it dressmaking in inverted commas. Do you feel like there are sufficient patterns for males to make? It's not just males, but do know what I mean? Things that you're attracted to making garment wise. Do you feel like there's enough out there for you?

No, there definitely isn't. I appreciate the fact that there is a lot, well, this is kind of a two-sided thing. I appreciate there is probably a lot less male sores in the world compared to female sores, but equally, most female sores in the world have got a man in their life that they would so for. So the fact that the pattern companies don't cater to that much

Speaker 1 (07:52.012)
difference within men's patterns is kind of counterintuitive in my eyes because even if they're patterns, it's their main focus is to target patterns of female sewists by making lots of dress patterns and lots of trousers patterns and skirt patterns. I mean, there's just, women's wardrobes are endless compared to men's anyway. what they don't seem to think of as well is that all of those ladies that sew are going to be making things for their husbands, their children, their

their dads, their brothers, their uncles. The potential market for male patterns is a lot bigger than just men that sow.

Exactly. I think you're exactly right there. Do you feel like it's a variety of garments or do you feel like it's that point of difference within, let's say, 10 shirt patterns, it needs to have a point of difference? Do you feel like there's not enough variety in that or is it, you know, the first bit, are there not enough garment options?

Over the last, I'd say over the last two years, there's a lot more indie pattern companies that are making more interesting patterns. mean, the big five, big four, big five, however you want to class them, they make the same generic patterns over and over again. They'll reprint the same ones over and over again and just put new covers on them. And it's normally a really boxy pair of trousers that was probably drafted in the 1920s.

There'll be a men's dress shirt or a men's like camp collar shirt. There's no patterns within the big five that do like just a casual shirt that you'd want to wear day to day if you were going out for coffee rather than something that you either wear on holiday made out of Hawaiian fabric or something that you'd wear to a wedding. There's little variation between the patterns that they produce.

Speaker 1 (09:52.974)
And the other issue as well with a lot of those patterns, but the big five I tend to find is the size range on them is terrible. Most of them start at 32 inch waist, so they're eliminating anyone with a smaller waist and they probably only go up to about a 38, 40 waist some of them. So the biggest sized male is kind of has the same problems as me. There's just nothing that you can actually fit into.

So not very inclusive at all is basically what you're saying. What do you think about, you know, the unisex patterns that are coming out now? So there's a few things, aren't they? think Friday pattern company are particularly good at that sort of thing. Are you attracted to any of those kind of patterns?

I've had some really, really successful unisex patterns and then I've had some really, really big fails. mean, the one that I can think of the top of my head is the Ilford jacket by Fradi Pattern Company. It's a brilliant pattern. It looks amazing, but it just did not fit a male body. The unisex patterns, they're still drafted with the mindset that the majority of the people buying them are going to be female.

Okay.

Speaker 1 (11:09.538)
So they still don't kind of like the ill foot jacket is not broad enough in the shoulders because men have a lot wider shoulders than women do. So one of the problems, well, two of the problems I found when I made my ill foot jacket is one that the cuffs were so tight I couldn't get my arms through them. And the other one was this when I could get my arms in after I'd made adjustments to the sleeve, there was then not enough width across the back for me to actually like fold my arms because it just felt like the back was going to tear in half down the center.

But then I've had other patterns, like I'm in the process of making a pattern this morning, actually. I've just got to put buttons on it. I've made a shirt by his comrades, that is his company is Tropical Research. He's an Etsy, indie Etsy seller. And he makes the Lazy Pants and other, they're really cool, like really nice casual patterns. I think I've of his patterns are unisex. He actually lives in Thailand. So the image or photography for his patterns is brilliant.

But I'm making the, it's called the minimalist shirt and it's a bit like, there's another shirt on the market. I think it's called the fend shirt. It's like a big oversized, it almost looks like a, like a circle with actual pattern. But it's very similar to the fend shirt. And so it's like a drop shoulder. It's got no cuffs on the sleeves. It's just got a hem sleeve. It's kind of quite a good pattern because it doesn't really need to fit because it's not meant to fit.

Alright, okay.

Speaker 1 (12:38.456)
but the shoulder seams and the collar and everything still fit like you would expect a fitted shirt to fit.

Okay, that sounds really cool.

Yeah, so there are some pattern designers out there that are creating some really cool sort of innovative patterns. Well, that's just case of finding them.

I know. like you say on Etsy, Etsy's massive, isn't it? So how did you find him, for example? Did you see him on Instagram first and then track him down or was it...

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I found him on Instagram. Funnily enough, another YouTuber was saying that she wanted a pattern for some casual trousers for her husband. And I was scrolling through Instagram and when you go on the search page and it comes up with things that they think you might like, which sometimes it's really good and sometimes it's way off. And there was a reel of, from Tobias, of

Speaker 1 (13:33.528)
him wearing the minimalist shirt with the lazy pants in white linen. And I clicked on it because I was wondering whether it was a pattern company. And obviously it was. I thought they are literally the trousers, like the pants I've been looking for a pattern for as long as I can remember. And they fit so well. Amazing. They're kind of like what you wanted the bob pants from Style Art to be because the bob pants are a bit hit and miss. They either fit you or they don't fit you.

Right, I haven't tried those yet but I do love the shape of them. So he sounds brilliant, like he's exactly what you were looking for.

I think the thing is as well is he's kind of same age as me. So I think he's kind of probably producing patterns for the same sort of person.

Yeah, that's great. Have you ever thought of maybe drafting your own?

I have, but I mean, so I make, I have got bag patterns that I've produced, PDF bag patterns, but the thought process of drafting a garment pattern, I just, I literally have no idea where I'd start.

Speaker 2 (14:34.136)
tried and it is not easy.

Yeah, I mean, I can look at a pattern and go, right, okay, if I pivot that theme line outwards slightly, I'm going to gain extra ease here. And there's adjustments that I can get my head around what it's going to produce before you actually sew it out. to start from scratch, just, no.

know, I think it'd be a massive undertaking. Tell us about the patterns that you have produced then, your bag patterns.

So I'm currently, I think I've currently got nine in circulation, I think, so they range from like little different pouches and small bags up to the most recent ones that I've released is a duffel bag pattern, which comes in two different sizes and a backpack. And I've also released a sofa tidy pattern recently. And I'm currently working on two more as well.

Ooh, inside scoop.

Speaker 1 (15:36.153)
Yeah. They kind of, they kind of, they just sort of spring into my head when I can't sleep at night. I'm like, oh, I could do a pattern for that.

It's always ticking away in the background. I love your most recent releases. That's the Acorn backpack, isn't it? And the Thor and Duffel. Tell us about the process of designing it and then, you know, releasing it.

So the Acorn backpack was, I kind of wanted to design a backpack that was kind of nice and small that you could just throw some bits in to go for a coffee in your local town center. And when I was asked to come on board with Free Spirits to the latest implement at all for Full Moon Forest, when I received my fabrics pre-release, one of them had squirrels on it.

And I knew that I was going to be getting that fabric and I knew that one of the prints had squirrels on. And one of her previous prints for about three years ago had a different squirrel print. And I thought, how fun would it be to make a bag that is the shape of an acorn with squirrels on? Which is kind of where it was sort of started really. And I have to say it's probably my favorite pattern I've released today.

It is so cute, honestly, so cute.

Speaker 1 (16:57.166)
The good thing with it as well is it's really good for, if you adjust the strap length, it's really, really good for like little ones as well for taking their lunch to school and different things. Brilliant. Because it is quite compact. doesn't, I always chuckle to myself when you see kids getting on the bus. They're massive. They look like turtles, don't they, with these like massive shells on their back. Yeah. Yeah, it does amuse me.

It starts obviously from an idea or an inspiration and then how do you get that down on paper? Like, where do you start with the process?

So I've tried to, with most of my patterns, I've tried to make the construction process very similar. So that once you've made one of the more simpler patterns, it's then, you've then got the skills to be able to create more difficult patterns from my sort of pattern catalog, basically. So it kind of tools you up with all the things you need to know in order to create something a little bit more advanced from just doing like a small pouch. But the acorn

The whole concept behind that was to obviously try and get it so that it mimics the shape of an acorn. with that one, I drew up some templates. It was actually a bit of a process with the acorn because initially it was going to be put together as sort of almost like a basketball. It was actually going be made from segments. And I did three test-saws with it in segments. You couldn't get it crisp enough. It just didn't look...

professional enough. And then I sort of sat back and I sort of put it to one side and thought, I'm going to focus on something else for a couple of days. And then I sort of was, I remember where I was, but I suddenly thought to myself, why don't I just design a template where the overall bag is, when you look at it head on, is the shape of an acorn rather than trying to create some crazy 3D objects with like, I guess it was going to have like 17 pattern pieces. And then I suddenly thought to myself,

Speaker 1 (18:56.512)
No one's gonna wanna make it.

Well, that's a really interesting progression. And I love the overall little, cause face on it is that cute little pointed bit, isn't it, at the bottom? Yeah. So that's super cute. What would you say is your sort of beginner pattern of your range?

Probably either the trio of pouches or the caddy packers. Yeah. Because they're kind of like, they're really useful even if you're not making them to go in a caddy, which I mean, which is what they were initially designed for. But they're really handy for putting like, like if you're going to a social and you want to put like all of this sort of silly things that get lost in the bottom of bags, like seam rippers and small rulers and little snips and different things like that, or like little needle books. If they all...

The fact that they've got the vinyl pocket on the front of them means that you can see everything in it. But it also means you don't lose all of those things.

Exactly. And I've never sewn with that vinyl. Is it quite easy to use?

Speaker 1 (19:57.752)
Some people struggle with it getting sort of, it can sort of cause friction with the base of your machine sort of bed. But there are quite a lot of ways around that. Like you can actually put a piece of kitchen towel underneath it, throw through it then just tear it off. And it just creates a sort of like a gliding mechanism between the vinyl and your machine. The other thing is you, if you haven't got Teflon foot, you can use a walking foot because it actually jumps off the vinyl every step that it sort of takes.

So you get less friction with that. Or your other option is you can, there was a pattern that I released for the Alice Caroline Christmas So Long, which will be going live soon on my website, which is an EPP keeper. And the way that I designed that was that you bind the vinyl in a way that you don't actually have the vinyl touching your machine. Okay, that's interesting. paste the edges so that you've only ever got fabric going through. cool.

There's sort of tricks and facts that you can do around it.

Yeah, brilliant. Do you think there's anyone in the sewing community that particularly inspires you? I know that's probably putting you on the spot.

I find most of my inspiration comes from Instagram because it's so visual and there isn't all of the sort of nonsense that can come along with things on Facebook. seems Instagram seems to be more focused on the visual element of things, which is why I tend to spend most of my time scrolling the whole lose out with scrolling. Yeah. But yeah, I do look at other, I'm...

Speaker 2 (21:32.176)
I know it well.

Speaker 1 (21:37.614)
I follow quite a lot of other bag makers. So I follow Rock Baby Scissors, Strawberry Quilt Cake, Quilting Alyssa. There's lots of other people that I sort of pull inspiration from, but I also try and look at their things and think, right, what can I do that's not the same? Because I don't want people to feel like I'm copying what they've done. I'm forever trying to come up with new ideas that sets me aside and separates me,

Absolutely. think, you know, we've all got those people that we look at and are inspired by, but like you say, it's one thing copying someone, isn't it? And then it's another thing trying to make it your own. So that's really cool. How would you describe your style?

in terms of garment.

Well, I suppose once I'd said that I thought there could be two ways here, couldn't there? yeah, I was initially thinking of things that you wear. How would you describe your style in clothing?

I'm going through, it's a bit of a funny one actually, because I'm going through a bit of a style change at the moment and I'm kind of trying to be a bit more adventurous and try and go outside of just wearing jeans with like maybe a shirt that's a little bit more of a fun fabric. I'm trying to incorporate things like wearing sort of different textures of fabric as well. like I wear a lot, I spend most of my life in jeans and t-shirts and I'm trying my best to wear things like.

Speaker 1 (23:05.422)
linen trousers or cord or just trying to incorporate different fabric so that my sort of, still wet's got a bit of a different shape to it as well. I'm trousers that are a little bit more sort of on the looser cut rather than kind of wear slim fittings.

Tell us a little bit about how you started sewing and what's your sort of journey.

I've been asked this quite a few times and the only thing I can think of when I did start sewing, I I started sewing more prolifically when I was at secondary school. So in the first year of secondary school, had to sort of, we had to do sort of like a six week taster of every single type of like, craft or technology within the school curriculum. So we had to do like...

six weeks we had to sew for them, six weeks we had to do food technology where we had to learn to cook beans on toast. Really boring things. Yeah. I mean, it set us up for life, that portion of things.

can survive on beans on toast.

Speaker 1 (24:16.025)
And then we had to do woodwork. I can't even remember what we made in woodwork. It was like a domino box or something. And then we had to make these, we had to do plastic forming as well where we had to make clocks out of 3D domed plastic. It was most bizarre. I don't know what that was going to set us up for in life, making clocks that look like the top of a snow globe. So yeah, it kind of...

I think that was my initial sort of like venture into sewing was that because once we'd done sort of like a full year of doing one thing after another, we were then sort of told that we kind of had to narrow down. I'm pretty sure the first couple of years we had to do two instead of six or however many were on offer. And I think the first two years I did food technology and textiles. And then from

Speaker 2 (25:20.43)
And what drew you to it, do you think?

I think the fact that I was able to create a whole new garment within a couple of evenings after school was just, it blew my mind that you could just go and pick up some random Dalmatian print velvet and make a dressing gown in two evenings.

Is that something you made then? Yeah?

Yeah. Yeah. When I look back, I think, why did I choose that fabric? Yeah. I mean, was horrendously static as well. So every time you put it on, you get electrocuted touch, anything in the house. But yeah, there was some weird things that came out of those, those afternoons and evenings spent in the textile room after school.

And did you have a break at all? after school, did you stop sewing or has it just carried on since then?

Speaker 1 (26:11.532)
I stayed all the way through school up until when I left and then I probably took a break for about four years. In that time my machine, she seized, which I didn't realise because it had been stuffed in a cupboard. so after that, when I found my machine and pulled it out when I was moving the rest of it, it was kind of like that transition period where you know you've moved out of home and then about a couple of years later your parents go, you really need to get rid of the rest of your stuff because you don't live there anymore.

And my sewing machine was one of those things. And then when I realized then that it was seats, I was like, I really should probably buy something, a better machine that can replace it. And at the time I think I ended up buying a machine that was about three or 400 pounds. And I thought it was like the most luxurious thing in the world. that I'd spent the most on a machine ever. Little did I know that you can spend like up to 35,000 pounds on the machine.

Yeah, started, so buying the new machine, did so a little bit, but not as much as I do now. Um, and then lockdown happened and I was furloughed. And at that point I was just, after you've baked like 15 batches of cookies and done all the housework. Yeah. Yeah. You kind of get to a point, you just sort of think, I've got to do something else now. So I pulled out my machine and started making my first ever quilt. And from then onwards, really, I've just not.

put it back down again. I I so probably sticks out seven days a week. Wow. Seven if I can. Yeah.

that's really good. Yeah, yeah. And I saw on Instagram or on your YouTube that your husband now does a bit of sewing as well, is that right?

Speaker 1 (27:53.678)
Yes, so he, I taught him to, well, it's a bit of a funny one, right? So he had been going to and supporting me doing different shows where I was exhibiting at and different catwalks and different things and kind of got dragged around. Not very interested in most of the things for quite some time. then he sort of says to me, do you think you could teach me the basics of how to piece together a really basic?

just square on square quilts sort of thing. And I was like, yeah, yeah, can teach you. And some of those things, you know, when you say yes and you think, oh, I don't know how this is going to work out because it can either be really good or really wrong.

Yeah. And it's like that thing where you might get your family member to teach you how to drive and you end up arguing.

Yeah. But he picked it up really quickly. He's very practical. If you give him like a whole load of planks of wood, he'll build like a gazebo or something. He's just that way inclined. So I think he can interpret 3D elements of things quite easily. So putting together a quilt for him, I suppose the accuracy of building something with wood or different things like that is exactly the same. The measurements have to be really accurate. Otherwise it just doesn't fit.

Yeah. So I gave him some sort of like charm packs of five inch squares and said, right, your best bet is just to put those together, make sure that you can get an accurate quarter inch seam allowance. And if you are accurate enough, then your rows will fit together and they'll all slot into place and nest together. And he sewed up like three packs of charm packs, which is about 126 squares in sort of like size quilt.

Speaker 1 (29:42.894)
Was it like an afternoon? And I was like, I looked at his compared to my first quilt, which is horrendous. And I was like, how is he so right first time? But then his favorite thing is buying kits. So he'll buy a kit with every fabric that he needs just to make that quilt pattern. So there's no less scope. Whereas I don't like doing that. I like buying a pattern and then finding the fabrics I want for that pattern.

And he, some of the quilts that he, I mean, he's probably only made about six quilts in the last year or so. Um, which is supposed to still, I mean, he works full time and his job is very intense. So the fact that he actually found time to make those amazes me. But he, he went from that really basic like sewing five inch squares together to making it one of the most difficult quilts I think is probably on the market.

Mmm.

Speaker 2 (30:35.32)
What, pretty much straight away?

Yeah, like the third quilt he made. yeah, so the first proper quilt he made that was made from having to cut all the blocks down and different things like that was the Crafty Nomad quilt. And I sent her a picture of it once he'd finished the quilt top and said, can you believe that Darren's made this from the pattern that he bought from you at one of the shows where we bumped into Joe? And she was like, that's insane. She was like, I've taught that pattern many times at classes. She said, and

like seasoned quilters can't get the points that perfect. She was like, did you help him? I was like, no, nothing to it.

button.

Speaker 2 (31:14.722)
Wow, he's got the skills.

Yeah. Fantastic. But it is a good thing because he understands how excited you get about finding out print fabric.

Yeah, yeah. that's really nice to have in a partner, isn't it, that they just get it.

Yeah, it makes sense. think if you can compare it to interest them and how excited they would get, then it makes more sense.

Brilliant. What's your favourite item to make either for yourself or for your shop? Because obviously you do make a few things to sell in your shop, don't you?

Speaker 1 (31:57.55)
Yeah. So I made, was, a friend of mine calls me the caddy king because I've made so many caddies. So yeah, I mean, I've made a lot of caddies. I think I've made probably over 60 of them.

Can you put them together really quickly now then? that?

Yeah, they go together a lot quicker than the first one I ever made, but they still take. I mean, the first one I made, I think took me two days. And I think the quickest I've ever been able to make one is about five hours. But that was like, that was not moving away from it. And I tend to make batches now where I'll make like four or five at a time over like a three or four day period. So yeah, I'm probably most known for the caves. And it's really funny because if you go to like,

socials and things like that, they just crop up like out of the corner of your eye. You're like, that's on a mine. you can, I mean, some people will buy them from a website and if it's someone that I've not met before, I don't really know where it's going. And then, yeah, so then sometimes like you'll go to a social that, cause I've been, mean, I've been to socials, I've been to Stone on the Titan social up in Newcastle and I've been to a couple of different ones around the country.

So of course I'll meet people at those socials that I've never met in person before and then I'm like, you've got one of my days.

Speaker 2 (33:21.582)
that's really cute.

Speaker 2 (33:30.734)
And of course they're all individual so, you know. Would you say that they are your favourite thing to make then or is there another item that you just love putting together for people?

They're probably not my favorite thing to make, which probably will shock people. think the thing is I've made so many of them. I don't dislike making them, but I've made so many that they're not as exciting to make anymore. Doesn't mean I don't dislike making them, but I tend to have a bit of a break from them now as well where I won't make one for like four weeks and then I might make five. But yeah, besides, I'm not really sure what I would say. I don't really like repeating the same thing over and over again.

Hahaha!

Speaker 2 (33:56.94)
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:13.322)
like day in, day out. do like to make something new or, and if I don't really know what to make, that's normally when I tend to then think, right, let's have a think about a new one that I can create. I mean, it's all sewing at the end of the day, isn't it? But it makes it a bit different. If you sewed a shirt every day of your life, I mean, one, you'd have a lot of shirts.

Well, especially the amount you sew as well. So, yeah. I thought we'd play a little game of this or that. So, you know, you can either just pick your favourite thing out of that or you can elaborate on it. It's up to you. Let's go for it. So sewing for yourself or sewing for others.

myself.

Good choice. Tea or coffee?

All of... complete.

Speaker 2 (35:04.59)
scissors or rotary cutter.

I think this is a time and a place for both isn't there?

Is there one you use more than the other or...

I use a razor cut a lot more. I tend to use scissors if I'm cutting out.

Yeah, same. I love scissors. Prints or solids?

Speaker 1 (35:25.134)
Thanks.

I knew you'd say that. A zero or PDF printing.

I eye print and pack eyes print and stick them together myself.

I if you're making bags and stuff, there's generally smaller pieces isn't there, whereas if you're garment sewing, I tend to go for the A0 just for ease.

I can't bear the delay on the postage because if I buy a pattern that day, I want to make it that day.

Speaker 2 (35:53.774)
Fair enough.

Yeah, the thought of having to wait three days for it to turn up and then you don't know if you're gonna have time when it turns up to make it.

You want to sew it now? YouTube or podcasts when you're sewing.

I can't do either. It's too distracting. I have to be pretty much in silence.

Okay, I do get that because I tend to have like YouTube on and I'm constantly like...

Speaker 1 (36:20.94)
Yeah, when someone says, I made this, you're like, what did you make?

So I get that. Buttonholes or zips?

That's a tricky one. Does it do a lot of both? I do like a buttonhole. I think if you've got a machine that you can trust is going to do a good buttonhole. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I do quite like a buttonhole.

hand sewing or machine sewing.

I did quite a bit of both. Probably machine. Yeah, probably machine, sorry.

Speaker 2 (36:52.792)
probably already know the answer to this because I can see it behind you but...

I can't, yeah I can't pay chaos. I have to clear up, I literally, clear up my room so that it's immaculate at the end of every project. I can't work in it.

Tidy house, tidy mind, there you go.

Yeah, well the rest of the house isn't so...

So we move. And then last one. Do you only have one project on the go or multiple?

Speaker 1 (37:25.74)
I have ongoing projects, like English paper piece quilts and different things like that. They're always, there's always something like that in the background going on. But I tend to, if I, like this morning I wanted, because of going away, I I want some shirts to take with me, things. So things like that, I won't cut out, I can't get my head around these people that batch cut like 15 garments and put them in project bags. That would just, I'd lay awake at night knowing that they were sat there.

And I've just got one final question for you, Adam. If you could give one piece of advice to maybe young boys or men wanting to get into sewing from a male perspective, what do think that would be?

I would probably just say, if it's something that interests you and you think you're going to get enjoyment from it, then who's anyone to tell you what to do?

I think people are far too embarrassed about things that they enjoy sometimes. And I used to get it myself where I'd be like, yeah, I liked so. And I don't know why, but it was that sort of, I don't know.

think it is a lot more acceptable now. it used to always, it's almost like people assume that it's only something that like people do in every time. Yeah. Bizarre.

Speaker 2 (38:54.336)
weird stigmas around things, but it's not like that at all. And like you said about sort of really getting going again with your sewing during lockdown, I think a lot of people took it up again then, didn't they? Yeah. But before that, like I was sewing a bit before that and I just used to be weirdly shy about it for no particular reason when secretly I absolutely loved it and was obsessed with it, you know, but

yeah, that's great.

Yeah, because people, it's like we were talking, I was talking to a friend the other day and we were saying about like when someone says, if you're out in public and you're wearing a mean maid outfit, if someone says, I like that, where did you get it? Why is there that hesitation for us to go, I made that?

no! It's crazy isn't

There's no one ever goes, no one ever says anything bad then. Everyone will always say, wow, that's amazing. wow, you're so talented. I can't believe you've done that.

Speaker 2 (39:56.106)
Even if they don't wanna...

it's horrible actually, because you made it.

they don't, but it's like even if they don't want to further engage about it even after just the initial compliment, like you say, they're never going to say anything bad.

think it is a British thing as well I think.

Yeah, you're probably right.

Speaker 1 (40:18.51)
We're sort of, we're brought up and not sort of... ...so off, aren't we? Just, we're just blending!

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:28.364)
Yeah, but stand out with all your MemeMates

Yeah.

So where can people find you?

so across most social media platforms, I am AdamSosIvrithen. It's just easy. He can do one thing. so yeah, Instagram, YouTube are my main two that I post most frequently on. I am on TikTok, but I really know how it works.

Same.

Speaker 1 (40:57.806)
I don't really know what I'm supposed to put on there or what people expect. Yeah, so I I just doom-scroll through it.

Of course, I will link all your social media and your website in the show notes. I just want to thank you for joining me today because it's been so much fun to chat to you.

Thank you, thanks, I'm out.

And yes, thank you for joining me on the Sewing Social.

Thanks for having me. 

Speaker 2 (41:22.904)
Thanks Adam.