High-end Handmade with Hetty from the Modern Sewing Co.

In this episode of the Sewing Social podcast, Gemma Daly interviews Hetty, the founder of Modern Sewing Co. a sewing pattern designer with a background in tailored fashion.

We explore how her love for quality finishing and precision has shaped her approach to home sewing - proving that handmade can be every bit as polished as designer. 

Whether you're sewing for everyday or aiming for couture level detail, this conversation will inspire you to elevate your makes. 

Key take aways: 

• Hetty launched her first business, Henry London, in 2016.
• The pandemic prompted a shift from fashion to home sewing.
• Pattern cutting involves transforming 2D shapes into 3D garments.
• Sustainability is a core value in Hetty's business practices.
• Quality and craftsmanship are prioritised in her sewing patterns.
• Community engagement is fostered through online workshops.
• Digital business challenges include adapting to social media changes.
• Hetty draws inspiration from classic design and tailoring.
• The Devon waistcoat was a long-awaited design project.
• Future plans include new patterns and beginner-friendly workshops.

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Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2499363

Guest details:

Instagram: @modern_sewing_co

Website: www.modernsewingco.com

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Hetty and Her Journey

05:10 The Shift to Home Sewing During the Pandemic

09:58 Understanding Pattern Cutting and Design Process

14:48 Sustainability in Sewing and Business Practices

20:04 Workshops and Community Engagement

25:07 Challenges and Innovations in Modern Sewing Co.

29:58 Future Plans and Exciting New Patterns

Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:16.258)

Welcome Hetty to the Sewing Social podcast. I'm so happy to have you on today.

Thank so much.

I was wondering if you could introduce yourself to the listeners.

Yes, absolutely. I'm Hetty, the founder of the Modern Sewing Co. I've been running this business for nearly four years now and loving it.

Amazing, amazing. I was wondering if you could sort of tell us a bit about your career so far and how you got to this point with running your own sewing pattern business.

Speaker 1 (00:53.902)

Yes, absolutely. So as I said, I've been doing this for nearly four years. I think I started working on launching this business almost exactly four years ago and we launched in June, I believe, of 2021. Before that, I actually started working in fashion. So I was at London College of Fashion for university.

And then when I graduated, I did a bit of freelance pattern cutting for a few different brands. And I really loved pattern cutting and I kind of really focused on that at university. And I was very lucky that I got to intern for a designer called Richard Nickel for six months. And I learned a lot of my pattern cutting techniques there. I think you do.

learn a lot more in industry than you do at university. think university like added a lot as well, yeah, working for designers in London, I worked for Ed Taylor as well in Malibu. yeah, you just kind of, you built the skills and I really, I kind of loved the mathematical side of pattern cutting. And that's why I kind of found my passion in that side of things. And then.

You know, I wanted to kind of get into that a little bit more when I graduated. And then I freelanced for a few different brands. couldn't really find, Russian's really hard to find the right kind of job that you actually want to do. And I was looking for a while and my mom said, why don't you, why don't you launch your own business? Why don't you create a business around the shirts that you did for your final collection? They were really lovely. And so I'd done this final collection with some.

really classic shirts in. And she said, why don't you do that while you're looking for a job? And so I launched my first business, which was Henry London. And I think I launched that in 2016 and I did that for five years and I had a shop in Hackney and I focused on women's shirts and created all the patterns for that. And I was teaching shirt making on the side as well. So I had the two kind of

Speaker 1 (03:21.208)

concepts in a way. had the shop with the ethically and sustainably made shirt. And I use fabrics from India, so hand-woven fabrics, organic cotton. So I really was kind of going for sustainability before it actually was a mainstream idea. And then to kind of pay the rent for my studio, I taught shirt making and I really enjoyed that. So I had these kind of two things going and then the pandemic hit.

And I had all these bookings for my workshops, which I didn't know what to do about. So then I filmed the workshops and actually ended up creating this business as a result. the pandemic basically brought about this sort of career change from fashion into home sewing. I definitely wouldn't have found it otherwise I don't think. So it was a really nice, really, really nice change. I launched this business.

I thought this would just be a home for the workshops and it would be, I'd do two things at once. And then very quickly this became so much more positive and much easier to run. mean, a shop in the pandemic was a nightmare and a really positive place to be as well. think home sewing community is really a lovely set of people. And I really liked the idea of connecting people with making.

It's just so nice. And with fashion, you sell a product and you've done the making, but that's the end of the story. Then you sell the product. Whereas this is helping people to make their own clothes and it's so much more rewarding. yeah, that's how I, it's a sort of accidental shift into home sewing, which is nice.

Yeah, that's really nice. think, you know, from some of the people that I've spoken to so far, that's quite a common theme and that people have really had to be creative with their businesses from this sort of unprecedented, you know, event, a global event. So it's amazing to hear how people's journeys have changed.

Speaker 1 (05:31.502)

You hear of changes that happened in the pandemic, but they were kind of fleeting and this really, really changed actually my whole life and my whole business. I didn't know much about the home sewing community before the pandemic, so I don't know if that shift had a huge effect on the whole community that's then lasted a long time or if that was already there. I'm not sure.

I a lot more people got involved. I was doing that before the pandemic and it was interesting to see lots of new people joining the community because of that extra time they had on their hands.

Exactly. Yeah. And I think I did, I noticed when I first launched this sort of peak of people taking photos and being very engaged and it did drop them a little bit. think people then kind of got back to normal life and then I've noticed it sort of come back a bit as people have settled in a bit more. yeah, it's a big one. It's a big change.

Definitely. So you've spoke about your pattern cutting and those sort of skills. Can you explain to sort of anybody that's not really familiar with what pattern cutting actually is, what is it?

That's a good question. So pattern cutting, if you imagine the shirt you're wearing or the trousers you're wearing, imagine taking apart all of the seams where it's sewn together and laying them flat and you'd end up with these flat pieces of fabric and you sew those together to get the shape of garment that you're wearing. And then how you

Speaker 1 (07:23.798)

manipulate those flat shapes. So you're working in 2D to end up with a garment that is 3D. you're kind of, it's like flat drawings, I suppose. Yeah. How you change those seam shapes affects how the garment hangs on your body. yeah, I love that. I love the challenge of 2D to 3D. And it's all about maths and measurements and proportion and

it.

Speaker 1 (07:52.812)

You just slowly kind of get better over the years and you kind of know what works, but also what works for your own design style as well. everyone has a very different style of pattern cutting that's unique to them. So mine are often quite sort of relaxed and a bit oversized and I sort of what works for me, which takes quite a while to build up, I think.

So could you walk us through the process of designing your sewing patterns, sort of from that initial concept to the final product?

Yes. I actually, when I launched the business, I did have some patterns from my previous brand. So I had my shirts, my classic shirt, my Freedia shirt, my over shirt, and the worker trousers were all patterns that I actually taught classes for as well and sold in my shop. I developed those patterns in my previous business and then sort of

brought them into this one. So those have been around for a very long time. When I develop a new pattern now, I kind of, I'm trying to build up a wardrobe, basically, a really nice range. So it's, it's really about filling in the gaps and being very specific. So the next pattern I'm working on is a fitted blazer and that

We haven't done anything like that before. So I sort of thought we need something structured, something fitted and you know, a blazer really fills that gap. that's kind of really think about what's the gap that we're trying to fill. And then I think about how I want to feel in that garment. So some garments I want to feel really, really, really comfortable. And some garments I want to feel smart and a bit more elevated.

Speaker 1 (09:58.292)

And so it comes from a feeling of how I to feel my body in that piece of clothing and then sort of how I want to wear it. I always want everything to be wearable in the city, in the countryside, to the theatre, to the pub, to just everything, just clothes that you can wear everywhere. So it starts with that kind of feeling. And then I will then sketch out.

different ideas, think about different proportions and then develop a first pattern. a lot of the time I do that myself. I also recently worked with a pattern gutter to help with some of the workloads. So she did the blazer. And so then we went back and forward so many times. We sampled and twirled and went back to the pattern and we did about four or five fittings.

to get this really, really perfected and tweaked. It's almost like sculpting on the body with the seams and just making it as perfect as possible. That took a long time. Don't usually do as many fittings. Yeah, we just spent a really good amount of time going back and forward with that. And then once we're happy, then we'll make a full sample. And then I will test wear that garment.

for a while and just check that it feels right. And then I'll usually do that a couple of times. So then tweak and then go back and make another one. And then once I feel confident and it's about grading it and write up the instructions and then sending out testers and checking it's all, you know, easy to read and then we launch it.

Fantastic. I love that idea of your concept about filling a gap in the wardrobe because that's generally what people are looking for, isn't it? You want to have that wearable everyday wardrobe where you can slot pieces together and you're aiming for that exact thing. I love that.

Speaker 1 (12:06.882)

Yeah, I think it's important not to, you know, everything needs to be useful and there's no point in spending three months developing something that, you know, is replacing something we've already got or got, yeah, trying to make sure it's as useful as possible. I think it's important in home sewing because there are, you know, I think there's less fitted blazers in the home sew. you know, you want to make sure that people are able to sew the garments they want to make.

and not go and buy them instead.

You sort of touched on that your previous business, you were quite aware of sustainability before it became this sort of hot topic. What do you think your role is or your impact is with your current business on sustainability?

That's a really interesting one. I mean, we developed a product to try and reduce waste, which is the zero waste poof because I had bags that I just couldn't throw away and I wanted to find a way to use them. So we developed this idea of making a poof like a bookstore and you use that and just fill.

fill that with all your scraps. I've got two at home and I still refill them. And I think that's been a really nice addition to the business. I think it helps a lot of other people not throw their scraps away. It's our best selling pattern by far. So yeah, that feels really positive. We really focus on quality. So trying to encourage people to sew garments to the highest possible standard.

Speaker 1 (13:50.574)

that they're able to and also help them do that. So give them the skills, teach them the skills that will make them feel really proud of the thing they've made, make it higher quality so it's going to last longer. But also it's about like feeling attached to something and wanting to make it beautiful and therefore having it in your wardrobe for a lot longer. I mean, I've got no interest in sewing quick fashionable items that are here for a season. It's just...

absolutely not what we do. We really try and focus on making designer quality clothes basically. I think it's nice because I think that message is now, I'm hearing it back from people. We try and encourage people to make clothes that are as beautiful on the inside as the outside. It's really lovely because now I see that in posts and comments. People are actually really

proud and they take pictures of the inside of their fly finishings and things like that and they're binding and that's really, really sweet. Yeah, that's really nice. So I think try to encourage to approach learning and improvement and making really, really good garments that they'll be wearing for five or 10 years. That's the goal.

That's really what stands out about your business Hetty. To be honest, when I look at it, I look at like the finishing techniques, the top stitching and it really does shine. So I think you should be really proud.

Lovely to hear, thank you.

Speaker 2 (15:32.782)

Where do you find your inspiration for your designs? Is there anybody or anything that influences that?

I really like to kind of reference classic design and tailoring where I can. And it kind of comes back to pattern cutting. It'll be like a seam shape or a vent or a collar or a cuff or like something to do with garment construction. And I'll sometimes walk down the street and see someone wearing something that has like

I remember seeing a girl recently with a center back seam on her jacket and the vents was a certain length and just the proportions looked lovely. then that, I mean, I sometimes try and take a sneak picture if I can. But I'll try to remember it and it'll just stick in my mind. it kind of forms that way. It's like, yeah, a collar shape, a pocket. It's something around construction and around pattern.

and then how that and then kind of building out something around that. So kind of starting with the details really. Yeah, that's what, yeah. And keeping it really classic.

Obviously you spoke about one of the biggest unexpected challenges with COVID and pivoting your business like that, but with running the Modern Sewing Co, have there been any interesting or unexpected challenges with that as well?

Speaker 1 (17:10.849)

mean, we're running an online business, which works really well for us. think that is not so much the challenge we had last year. We decided we would dip a toe into paper patterns and sort of knew pretty much almost before we launched it that maybe this isn't the route to go down, but we've done it, so let's do it anyway.

What's had in the back of my mind, we should try and do that. We should do paper patterns and we've done it. And then it hasn't really been a big hit. Whereas our capsule courses have sort of changed the whole way we run a business because they add a lot of, you know, people love those and the paper patterns just, I think people are now used to printing their own patterns. So that was good to try and.

Now we know we won't continue with those. So it almost makes it better that we know what people actually want. want to learn. They don't need the physical goods from us. then challenges, I think because it's a digital business, we need to sort of stay on top of platforms and trends and things. And Instagram has changed a lot over the last year and how people use it. And annoyingly,

I know a lot of the sewing community use the hashtag search function in Instagram and now that's not really usable anymore. So I think because we're so reliant on the internet and Instagram and it's a bit of a challenge to navigate that and kind of want to maybe try and rely on it a bit less and use some other platforms.

Tell us a little bit more about your workshops then. So you've mentioned those briefly, but I think, is it right? You've got three different workshops.

Speaker 1 (19:06.744)

We've got a few. We've got our three main ones, which should be art of trousers making, the art of shirt making, and the wardrobe workshop. They will take you through the process of making trousers, shirts, and then the wardrobe workshop that encompasses everything, along with a couple of extra beginner workshops. Then we have our individual, you can also sew individual garments if you prefer.

The thing that's really taken off is our capsule courses, which are kind of like our live courses. So people will sign up this year. So far we launched in January and people had the whole month of January to sign up. And then in February, March and April, we all sew one garment a month together. And there's a forum and a community and everyone gets to meet each other and we.

that we get to all make a shirt together and then make pair of trousers together and show photos and ask questions. And that has been really, really nice. And that's definitely here to stay. It's such a nice way to connect with people. And we're going to break it down a bit and do some individual projects. So it's kind of like a community project is what we're going to call them. It kind of takes the best parts of home sewing, I think, which is.

community, the online community and then creativity and sharing tips and advice and doing it all together live. So it's been such a nice thing to develop. We've done three now and the next one will be in September. So yeah, it's sort of that, we don't do live classes in person, but it's like a digital version of that with people from.

literally all over the world, all making the same thing each month. So that's been, that's lovely. I really like it. And I enjoy checking in on the forum and seeing what people have made and people post their twiles and we all advise on fitting and what they could do to fit adjustments. And then people show their final makes, people show things they're stuck with and ask questions and everyone's there to support. it's really lovely.

Speaker 2 (21:30.446)

It sounds really nice. And I think you're right. Taking those really important elements of home sewing of which community is one, because at the end of the day, it's like a solo hobby, isn't it? And being able to share it with people of like-minded, you know, that's what it's all about. And plus they get the advice about fitting and things, which is, it sounds really great.

Yeah, exactly. think, yeah, it can be really solitary otherwise, especially if you're having a hard time selling something. It's just you and your sewing machine going crazy. So it's nice to talk to people.

So you've just released the Devon waistcoat, that right? How did that idea come about?

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, that was a long time coming, a really long time coming. Quite often that's the way with our patterns actually. I basically, when I had my shop, I remember going to my old business, I remember going to a vintage shop in Hackney and trying on this denim waistcoat with shearing on the inside and it's an old Wrangler waistcoat.

Speaker 1 (22:53.812)

It was, I remember it was £50. I remember feeling so guilty about buying it. And I never used to buy things myself. So I took the plunge and bought it and then wore it basically every day for three years. I'd only, I'd keep it in my studio and I'd take it off every evening before I went home. And it was my warm sort of studio item. And it was just such a lovely piece. then.

I sort of tried to, I developed the first pattern. was like, I'm going to make a waistcoat, developed one pattern, which is very different to the Devon waistcoat actually. And very different to the Wrangler waistcoat. was sort of longer. I've made it in a cream wool. I wore that for a while. Didn't quite feel like the right design. So then a year ago we developed a new pattern. And again, it just didn't feel right. Waistcoats are quite hard because it could feel really frumpy.

are really menswear and very old fashioned or it's really hard to get right. So eventually got the Devon coat done after quite a lot of like about two, three years of procrastinating and trying different designs. So I'm really, happy with the finished result. And yeah, it's a funny, I think we almost had it ready to launch in the winter.

wasn't before Christmas, but just couldn't quite do it. So then it felt quite weird to launch a waistcoat in March, I think it was, but we got it there in the end.

I think patterns are one of those things though, isn't it? Obviously you want the initial launch to go really well, but people will come back to it because it's seasonal at the end of the day.

Speaker 1 (24:45.206)

Exactly. We had a similar thing with the Darcy Coats, which I think I finally launched in a February couple of years ago. And that really got popular by the time it came back into autumn again. yeah, but you want the launch to kind of feel right, but we just couldn't quite manage it.

Do you have a favourite pattern in your collection or is that like choosing a favourite child?

I don't know. Gosh. I think the worker trailer feels very personal to me. That was a pattern I developed for my previous business. And then we actually improved the pattern and the fit when I launched Modern Sewing Co. That feels quite unique to me, I think.

The over shirt is probably the oldest pattern that I first designed. So that will always feel a bit special. But then I love the Sienna dress, which I launched, I think it was only, it was last year the year before, I remember. It was last year. That feels, I really love that. I don't wear it as much at all, but I think that's a special piece.

Is that the one with the dropped waist or is that one of the other ones?

Speaker 1 (26:06.286)

pleat. It's sort of a drop waste in a way because the pleats end, but the rest of the dress continues. We did one in silk and one in linen and they're really nice. I've chosen it here and I also love the Darcy coat.

You can't stop picking that wardrobe, can Yeah, I know.

You

think I love the over shirt. I just think it's so versatile. I saw a friend of mine, she made one up and I was like, I'm obsessed with it. I need to make one.

Yeah, can choose different fabrics and you can really do a lot with it. I was wearing my wax cotton version over the weekend and we made that one a bit longer and put a drawstring around the middle and then that makes it into a completely different garment, almost unrecognisable. So yeah, you can do a lot with it. It is a nice one.

Speaker 2 (27:09.294)

I've never sewn with wax cotton. Is it tricky?

I don't think it is. I really enjoy it. I always choose a really dry wax cotton and I iron it. I mean, you're meant to iron. You're meant to use very, very low setting. I've ironed wax cotton and I'm actually quite hot, so I'm assuming it's been absolutely fine. But I think that makes the, I don't know if it's then as waterproof, but it's not particularly waterproof anyway. So I think it's lovely fabric to work with.

And I don't think it's as hard as you think it is. just, I know you can get very oily wet ones and I haven't worked with one like that. So I wouldn't go anywhere near that with an iron, but yeah, the dry ones are lovely. They're great and you don't need to line them. But they're not, yeah, you should. Yeah. Not like torrential downpour waterproof, you know, it's windproof.

to give it a try.

Speaker 1 (28:11.084)

That's nice. Yeah.

I love how on your website that each pattern goes into what construction techniques are involved in it. I think that's really unique. What sort of made you put that on there?

How interesting, I didn't realise that was new. I think it's just an important part of garment making, I think. I think it's nice for people to know what's involved and then I guess your brain kind of works out, okay, I've done that before, I haven't done that before, so that bit will be easy and that bit maybe I'll have to learn a bit. I think it's how I think of

garments and how I think of designs from like the word go. So it's a really important part. we're actually, we're going to break down our, we think about breaking down our workshops into different sections. So focusing on different construction techniques, because it's nice to just break it down and your brain can kind of absorb it a bit more. Yeah, I think

Yeah, that's a big part of our patterns on the brand really is using really high quality industry standard in the fashion industry, know, high quality fashion industry standard production techniques. I think that's what sets us apart is their kind of design equality. And I think you need to know what's involved.

Speaker 2 (29:47.022)

I feel like we're really getting an insight into how your brain works Hetty, which I really love.

Good. Good.

Attention to detail.

Yeah

So you mentioned the fitted blazer that you've got in the pipeline. Are there any other exciting plans that you can tell us about for the Modern Sewing Co.?

Speaker 1 (30:06.988)

Yes. So we are working on a beach bag, which I made. We're calling it a beach bag. It's sort of like a very chunky tote bag with a big base. So it's nice big square rectangular bag. And I made that to take on my holiday to New York, which is big enough for my laptop and know, pockets for everything. And it's so useful. it went down, I did a sneak.

peak and I shared it a bit on Instagram and people really liked it. So we thought, we'll try and release that. So we're hoping to release that this summer. That's on the agenda and we want to do a workshop. So that's totally beginner friendly. Really beginner friendly. Never use the same machine, beginner friendly. So yeah, that should be good. And then yeah, Blazer. And then I'm not sure what a bit of a, the Blazer will be in the autumn.

And then my brain can't quite stretch after that yet.

Fantastic. Well, as I sort of draw the interview to a close, I like to play just a little quick game of this or that. Oh, yes. So let's go for it. Prints or solids?

Okay.

Speaker 1 (31:26.958)

solids.

I need to say that.

Ha

Scissors or a rotary cutter? To your coffee!

Yeah

Speaker 2 (31:41.294)

Designing or making?

That's really hard. Baking.

Woven or stretch. One project on the go or multiple. Interesting. An organized stash or creative chaos.

Hahaha.

Speaker 1 (32:02.094)

Oh, quite organized at the moment. Yeah. It does vary a lot. Yeah. It goes very slowly. It goes in stages, doesn't it?

Does that vary?

Speaker 2 (32:16.334)

Staying in or going out?

end.

I get it. YouTube or podcasts? Podcasts. And sewing for yourself or others?

for myself. That's so mean. But yeah.

Not me. Time is precious, isn't it? Yeah, I get it.

Speaker 1 (32:41.976)

it's fun.

You've been a fantastic guest, Hetty, and I've really enjoyed getting to know the Modern Sewing Co and yourself a little bit better. So thank you for joining me today.

Thank you

Take care.