Film Set to Sewing Studio with Emma from Studio 7T7

In this episode of the Sewing Social podcast, Emma from Studio 7T7 shares her journey from working in the film industry, specifically in creature costume design, to becoming a bag-making designer and community curator. 

She discusses her experiences on iconic films like Harry Potter and Star Wars, the challenges faced in the film industry, and how her passion for sewing led her to create unique bag patterns. 

Emma emphasises the importance of problem-solving in her work and the joy of teaching others the skills she has acquired over the years. 

In this engaging conversation, Emma shares insights into the world of bag design, the joy of creating patterns, and the importance of community in the sewing world. 

She discusses her unique approach to subscription boxes and memberships, emphasising the value of customer experience and creativity. 

The conversation also touches on upcoming challenges and patterns, showcasing the vibrant and supportive sewing community.

Key take aways:

• Emma has over 20 years of experience in film and TV.
• She started her career in creature costume design.
• Emma worked on iconic films like Harry Potter and Star Wars.
• The film industry is highly competitive and challenging.
• Costume making involves a lot of collaboration and adaptation.
• Emma transitioned to bag making to balance family life.
• She started Studio 7T7 as a sideline business.
• Emma's bag patterns are unique and innovative.
• She emphasises the importance of teaching sewing skills.
• Problem-solving is a key aspect of Emma's creative process. "There's nothing worse than getting a pattern and then there's no pockets."
• Emma loves to see what people make from her patterns and her boxes.
• The friendships within the membership group are blossoming.
• Emma's subscription box is a curated box of bag making supplies
• The membership is like a snapshot into what the community is like.

Follow me on Instagram: 

@thesewingsocialpod

@thedalythread

Guest details:

Instagram: @studio7T7

Website: www.studio7T7.co.uk

Facebook: Studio 7T7

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Emma and Her Journey
01:00 From Film to Fabric: Emma's Career in Creature Costumes
06:00 Behind the Scenes: The Making of Iconic Characters
11:01 Challenges in the Film Industry: The Reality of Costume Making
15:51 Transitioning to a New Path: Family and Career Balance
19:10 The Birth of Studio 7T7: From Toys to Bags
24:59 Innovative Bag Patterns: Merging Skills and Creativity
30:09 The Joy of Bag Design
34:10 Building a Community Through Memberships
37:56 Subscription Boxes: A Unique Approach
42:59 Engaging Challenges and Live Events
46:13 Sneak Peeks and Future Patterns
49:14 Quickfire This or That Game

Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:10.86)

Hi Emma, thank you so much for joining me today on the Sewing Social podcast.

Hello, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to chat with you.

I just wondered if you could introduce yourself to the listeners?

So hi I'm Emma from Studio 7T7 and I am a bag making designer, hat designer and I also kind of curate a community and I also have a subscription box as well for bag makers.

Perfect. And there is something you didn't mention there, which I do want to dive straight into. And I think you know what I'm going to say. How did you get into the creature costume making in the film industry? And what were some of the highlights of that part of your career?

Speaker 1 (01:00.62)

Yeah, so before I was a bag pattern designer, I worked for just over 20 years in film and TV. And like you say, I was in creature costumes. So I was helping to make all the kind of big, hairy characters, different creatures, animatronics, all the soft side, the soft sculptural side, sewing side, basically, of animatronics and creatures.

So in answer to your question, how did I get into it? So I did a costume and technical effects degree at London College of Fashion. then from there, while I was at college, I did lots of short films, anything that I could kind of get into. The internet was just starting to, not starting out, but it was just starting to open up for that kind of thing. There was a couple of websites that you could get short film stuff from. So I did that. And then when I graduated, I already had a CV.

with different bits and pieces on. So that kind of gave me a bit more of a help to find some work. And then my first kind of few months, I just kind of did different bits and pieces. I did a TV show called Boo Bars, which most people haven't heard about, but it was a follow up to Teletubbies. So same people behind it. I believe it's quite big in the States or was quite big in the States. Yeah, but very Teletubbies-esque.

just did different bits and pieces and then in the January, well I'll go back a bit, just before Christmas I heard about, no it must have been about September, I heard about they needed more people as trainees or they were opening up trainees on Harry Potter and of course I wanted, I hadn't worked on a film yet and I was desperate to get in and work on Harry Potter like everybody was so I sent off my CV and

after a couple of weeks, I got a letter back saying, we'd love you to come for an interview. Here's the phone number. So of course I was like jumping around the room, very excited. I'd got a Harry Potter interview and then I rang the number and it was just unanswered and it was unanswered and it was unanswered and I kept ringing and then it would be answered and then it was like, ring back tomorrow, ring back next week.

Speaker 1 (03:24.59)

We don't know, we don't know, we don't know. And this literally went on for two months where I just could not get either to speak to someone or to get an interview. And then also within that letter they originally sent, they sent a leaflet saying, if you want to come and do a makeup course, which obviously I wasn't interested in because I'd just done a whole degree, then ring this number and know, blah, blah, blah. So I rang that number in the end and I just very casually said,

Can I speak to Nick? Nick was, Nick Dudman was the head of creatures. I didn't know then, but I spoke to his wife and she said, yeah, here's his mobile number, which was amazing. So yeah, so then I did manage to speak to him and he was like, yeah, come tomorrow. So I went, I overslept by an hour because my phone didn't get, or something happened. I think there was a power cut or something really unfortunate.

Yeah, then it was Leavesden Studios, which now is a great big Warner Brothers studios. Everybody knows where it is. There's a big Browns Signs and everything. back then it was literally nobody knew that there was a film studios even there, really. And anyway, I eventually got there, got the job and then it just kind of went from there. Really, once you know people, it's very much a who you know. They don't advertise jobs very rarely.

So if you ever see an advertised job and you want to get into it, then you need to go for it because that is your foot in. Because once you know, once you show that you're hardworking and you're willing to learn and you're willing to adapt, then it just, it just kind of goes from there really.

What did you end up making on Harry Potter?

Speaker 1 (05:08.738)

First one was mostly the werewolf. So that was Harry Potter 3 Prison of Azkaban. And if you watch the film, you will wonder why I'm saying the werewolf because it's all CG. It's not the actual werewolf. But if you go to the Harry Potter tour in the studio tour in Watford, then you will see that we did it. I think it's kind of tucked away in a corner, but.

There was a lot of us working for quite a few months on it and there was real people on stilts and these amazing stilts that made them look like they had the dog leg and everything. And then it was all, you know, but that's just how it is. It's fine. I did a little bit of Hagrid as well, but not much on that first one. and Aunt Marge as well. Lots of Aunt Marge. When she clears up.

I need to know about you back at Emma. I need to know about that.

Yeah, so I guess after Harry Potter then worked on lots of different films, one of those, like you say, was Star Wars, The Force Awakens, so the first one of the new ones. And at that time, everyone, I mean, when you hear through the grapevine that different films are starting up and you're not really supposed to talk about it, but you do kind of hear bits and bobs and everybody knew that Star Wars, well, I mean, it was it was known that Star Wars was starting up, but

Anyway, I have done a lot of knitting in my time, a lot of crochet and a lot of knitting, even though most people don't know that because I don't really talk about it very much. So at that time I was doing a lot of crochet, graffiti, knitting, graffiti. And so was sort of known within, so the department within creatures is called fabrication or the soft sewing side, the soft, I don't want to it's just sewing because there's a lot of sculptural elements, but it's just in soft materials.

Speaker 1 (07:03.67)

Yes, so was known for having done a lot of knitting and they wanted to recreate the original Chewie. They wanted to recreate the original films as much as they could. JJ Abrams had this huge vision that everything needed to be as original as possible. So obviously they brought back the original Chewie, Peter Mayhew, and they wanted to recreate his suit and his suit was originally knitted or hand knitted. that was my kind of way in.

to getting a job on the film that they needed someone to knit. Even though I did work in fabrication, that kind of helped a little bit. So yeah, so I knitted his cowl, which is his hood, so his head piece, and that was all done by hand knitting, and we had to do lots of R &D as to the right fibers to use that obviously wasn't gonna be too hot. There wasn't any actual animatronics inside, but there was a lot.

you know, lot of structure, obviously. So it all needed to be, and also, obviously, well, not obviously, but he had fur all over him. he was also, all that fur is hand knotted individual strands of hair. So it's a lot of hair. We had to figure that out. The knotting girls, the hair department, there's a whole hair department. Mainly, they were working on almost solely at points on Chewbacca. So they were knotting into

the knitting so they hadn't done that before so they had to figure that out as well. So there was a lot of R &D basically even though we tried to do it as original as much as like the original. And then the suits as well were we did some knitted ones and then we did some light cool ones as well so I did all those base suits but I didn't do the hair so that was like say another department. And then after we'd

made him we then went on to set and I looked after him for about seven eight months as well.

Speaker 2 (09:04.586)

So it really is such a long process, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, huge amount. mean, the hair alone, I forget the figures. And if Maria is listening, she'll probably be shouting. I think it was eight girls, 11 weeks to do the knotting. I say girls because it was an all-girl department. But yeah, that was for one suit. For one suit. Wow. And we made maybe six. I can't remember the actual number, but yeah, because you have...

You had Peter Mayhew, then you had Yornas who kind of took over the legacy of Chewbacca, and then you also had the stunt guy as well, Ian White as well. So you have to make at least two suits for each of those because you have to, if one breaks down for some reason, I don't know, there's a million reasons, then you need a backup.

You just don't realise when you watch these films, do you? What goes into it? It's incredible.

mean, in terms of that, like so for Batman, you think Batman has one suit, but he had on Batman Begins that I did, he had, I think it was 40 suits, orty. Yeah, and that was for the stunt guy as well as Christian Bale. But yeah, so, and then there was all the different capes as well. There was a running cape, a fire cape.

Speaker 2 (10:22.125)

Wow.

Speaker 1 (10:37.694)

driving cape, that's something that you don't think about. So he has this huge cape doesn't he? and then he gets into this tiny car, you don't think about that, but then we have to make a short cape because in actuality the cape would be all around.

Everywhere.

All around him, he wouldn't be able to drive. So it's things like that that you just, it's movie magic, isn't it?

Yeah, fabulous. So did you find that obviously you did your course, but did you find that you had to learn a lot on the job? Because obviously it's so different, isn't it? Each film. Yeah.

Every single job is different. You never ever stop learning. There's always a new product. It's mainly new products that come out. Slightly new techniques. Someone's come up with something different or you have to come up with something different, which is the fun part. I love that part. But yeah, every job is very rare that you do something the same. And if it is the same, it's usually because it's a repeat or a sequel or something like that.

Speaker 2 (11:40.29)

Yeah. And did you have any particular challenges in sort of bringing these creatures or costumes to life that you can remember?

I mean, there's always challenges. Where do I begin? I think the main challenge working in film is that you're not really in control. I mean, you're not in control, not even not really. You're not in control at all. So they will come in and they... So one thing that confuses a lot of people is that I wasn't ever a designer of any of these creatures or costumes.

Thanks.

Speaker 1 (12:19.212)

Some people do, do both, but I've been misquoted a lot by people saying, she's a costume designer. And it's really important that there is, it's a bit like say, I can't think of an analogy, but it's a bit like working in a shop and them calling you, you know, the CEO. It's a big difference. So I would always get given.

design, a drawing or a sketch or something. Sometimes with like a mood board or something like that or usually it would just literally be a board of images that has been taken off the internet and that kind of idea along with a conceptual artist. So they have designers and then they have conceptual artists so they are not the same either most of the time on films which also

surprises people. So the actual designer doesn't always draw the artwork that is then made into, which blew my mind when I first got into it because I was like, okay. So they would give you a design and then you have to figure out how to create that as a real thing. And obviously in creatures, it does depend if it's an animatronic, you know, like a hand puppet or completely remote controlled, or there's someone in there. And nine times out of 10, I would be dealing with

they're being a human inside. Whether that be a tall person, a small person, a stunt person, a mix of all three, you have to figure out how their movements are gonna portray to the outside. So that's a lot of structural figuring out, R and D. And so you'll make this thing, in answer to your actual question, you'll make this thing.

And then they'll be like, yeah, I like it, but we want it like five inches taller, which doesn't sound like you think, oh, that's not that much. But then how do you actually put that into a human body to then have all the movements flow through for those five extra five inches or whatever it is, or we want it in a different color. I won't say what film it was, but there was a film that I worked on, a very big film that you have heard of.

Speaker 1 (14:41.44)

I think somebody, one of the actors, leaked the colour of one of the suits, one of the superhero suits, and literally they were like, we have to change the colour. And it was like,

my word.

So that's big thing about the film industry is that they say jump, you say how high and it doesn't matter if you've got a wedding on, it doesn't matter if you've got your kids play, it's just how it is. The powers that be at the top have told you that it has to change and you have to pull the strings to make it happen no matter what.

the biggest challenge. mean, that's ultimately one of the reasons why I left. Yeah. Another interesting one was it actually didn't affect me too much, but I was working on a film again, I won't mention it, but there was all these pieces and there was a different prosthetic piece. So we worked very closely with prosthetics because the costume will go up to the prosthetic or there'll be a wig that we've made or something. It's all entwined.

and they were making some prosthetic pieces and they got lost en route to the other side of the world. so they, the whole department had to, again, like do shifts, like often they'll do shifts to get through things. Like if there's a long shoot and there's a lot of extras and they're all in suits, then you'll do like night shoots to be able to fix all the damages from the day, especially if it's stunt people.

Speaker 1 (16:19.072)

you have to fix all those damages overnight so it's ready for the next day, things like that that you just don't think about. So enable everything to keep moving smoothly, the cogs to keep turning. Gosh, there's so much involved.

You sort of touched on one of the reasons that you left, I'm maybe putting words in your mouth, but I imagine that that sort of intensity was affecting your family life and things. Was that another reason why you decided to transition away?

Yeah, 100%. So when I, obviously when I started, I didn't have kids. I started in the film industry when I was 21. And so I had my eldest daughter while I was, you know, working full time. And at that time, no one was working. I think there might have been one person that I'd met that was working part time and it was very sporadic. Wasn't really kind of thought of that.

people work part time, you just don't do that. I I've explained everything that goes on, like that doesn't happen. How can you work part time? And so when I was actually on Star Wars, my daughter was three and a half, four, so she was just kind of starting school. And I was like, I can't carry this on with a kid. And I wanted another child as well, I knew that. And I was like, yeah, something.

has to give. And so then I quote unquote quit the film industry because at the time when my daughter was born, most people in the film industry have a sideline. They have a, because it can be sporadic. You might have months, especially in the beginning part of the year, might have months when you're out of work. So I started my business Studio 77 as my kind of sideline and I was making things direct to consumers. So I was making toys, hand sewing, everything.

Speaker 1 (18:13.644)

or personalised. That started taking off and doing really well. I was like the mental health aspect because I haven't even touched on that, as you can probably imagine, because everybody wants to work in films, so it can be an incredibly harsh environment. As long as you get on with everybody, it's fine, but then there are people that take it that little bit further and see you as a threat or...

don't want you to get work or etc. etc. So that took its toll. So that coupled with family, I was like, yeah, I need to quit. So I did quit, quote unquote, like I say, after Star Wars, I quit full time. And then there was quite a lot of people that were quitting at the same time within fabrication because there's that that well, I don't know what it's like now. But at the time, there wasn't that many highly skilled

fabricators in the industry that people could call on. So they were needing more people. So then they were like, well, you can like, what can you, what can you give us? Can you give us two days a week? And it was like, wow, yes, I can give you two days a week. So I did go, so I continued to work in the industry until I pivoted in COVID like a lot of people did. And then finally went full time with my pivoted business, which is, it as it is now.

in 2022.

And what sort of inspired you then to start making bags? Because you said you went from toys. What inspired you to make the bags?

Speaker 1 (19:51.31)

Yeah, so obviously I have a lot of 3D skills. So people always think, oh, she makes costumes. But I actually didn't make many, if any, I did make a couple, but not many to talk about of standard clothes. So it wasn't normal for me to make clothes. I can make clothes. I learned it at college because I did do half of my degree was costume. And in fact, I'm wearing

clothes that I've made, but that wasn't like, I don't have the confidence in teaching and drafting patterns for the human body. and as all my, it's all 3D skills, very structural. It just made sense to go from creatures to bags if I'm teaching people to sew.

Lots of people as I was making my toys people were very interested in the creature side and the costumes in the film they always are and Which is really nice and people started asking me about how to make the stuff that I was making to sell and then I realized that there was a Niche and that you know that people were asking for this and that's why I started my YouTube channel in 2020 wrote my first pattern at the end of 21

which was the dinosaur pencil case, which has been one of my most popular. I was thinking it was behind my head, but it's not the sharks behind my head. Pencil case. Yeah, and then in 22, I started my membership and it just kind of went from there really. I just had to go all in and I started off and yeah, here I am.

And did you find you obviously had a lot of skills from your previous work and your training? Did you have to learn any extra skills to be able to draft the bag patterns or was it all already in your mind?

Speaker 1 (21:47.694)

For drafting it was all in my mind, but definitely had to learn extra skills in terms of all the interfacing and the stabilizers. And there's a lot of things that do translate from costumes and creature costumes and general sewing. And there's a lot of things that if you've come into the bag making world and you haven't done all that stuff that you may not know about. So I like to pull as many things as I can from that into bag making and maybe

Like one thing that I really, really loved about creature costumes over general costume is that general costume is largely inside the box. Everything's been done before. And I say largely, it's not solely like that, but there are some jobs obviously that push the boundaries, but largely it's like, you know, we're going to make a sweetheart neckline dress, you know, da da. So you just, that you go through the processes of making that. Whereas with creatures, like I say,

pretty much it's never been done before. And I love that about bag making and that there aren't really, there are some things that are like standardized, you do this. But when I'm coming up with patterns and things, I can really kind of, it really pushes my brain and the logic part of my brain, which I really love. So yes and no, I did have to learn a lot specifically for bag making. And that is why I'm so passionate about.

teaching people those techniques because people do, and I stumbled upon them when I started, like especially the interfacing and stabilizer one. And it doesn't help that interfacing and stabilizer are completely different in the general sewing world to bag making. So you may think, stabilizer, you know, I use that for embroidery. No, it's totally different for bag making. So yeah, it can be a minefield, but.

Yeah, I mean, I'm very new to bag making. I've only made a couple of things myself and I find that, not that it's scary, but there's a lot of components, isn't there? And I can imagine a lot of people either are put off or are afraid of that, picking the wrong things.

Speaker 1 (23:57.934)

Yeah, for sure. And when I started bag making, I remember getting a pattern and then being like, oh my gosh, like there are so many things in this supplies list. And I don't know what's a rivet. Well, I knew what a rivet was to be fair, but what is a double capped rivet to a regular rivet? Yeah, what's a D ring compared to a rectangle ring and why do I need to worry about it?

my gosh.

Speaker 1 (24:24.298)

especially the stabilizers that just, I just didn't understand. So through looking into it all, I realized that there are so many other people that don't understand this and maybe I can help them. So that's kind of where the membership idea came from. But yeah, it can be overwhelming, but it doesn't need to be. It's not as scary as it seems.

And you sound very much like a problem solver Emma. So if we've got a problem, you're the one to come to.

Yeah, I love solving problems actually.

Tell us about your range of bag patterns and sort of what makes them unique.

Yeah so I think what makes them unique is that I do try and come up with unique ideas and shapes and concepts. The one that is behind me, I'll just describe it if you're listening, but the the one behind me is called the study buddy and it's got a unicorn on the front of it and it's a large backpack with side pockets for water bottles and then there's a large front zipper pocket on

Speaker 1 (25:33.236)

and the front zipper pocket, I've done it so that you can add embellishments on. So there's gonna be different add-on packs and things like that. I try and think of things that haven't been done. think because I come from, I do try and push myself as much as I can away from what I'm about to say, but because I come from the creature, the fun world, the different world to regular costume, I try and make them.

not like the regular bags that you see. I do also do more regular bag shapes as well I should add, but I have a lot more patterns that you wouldn't see from other designers that have like the quirky elements so I don't, I veer away from fandom because of copyright for obvious reasons, but next to my unicorn on the opposite side I've also got a kiwi bag for example and that's a beginner friendly pattern.

But I have all the applique designs so you can make eight different fruits, kiwis, watermelon, you know. So it's not just a standard bag. try and, you know, what's been done before? How can I make it different? Has this only been done with a bound construction? Can I make it with a lined construction? Can I add extra pockets? Can I add a video that wasn't there before? Can I add SVGs that other people are not doing? You know, like...

I always try and make my patterns inclusive that they have like SVGs, project file, as well as your letter and your A4 and they always have videos. I'm a very visual person, think creatively, a lot of us are, most people are. So if I'm making a sewing pattern and I get stuck, which I do, it may surprise you, but like I say, I haven't actually made hundreds of clothes, then I will go online and I will look for a tutorial.

on how to sew up that specific pattern. And if it's not there, it's so frustrating. And so that's the place that I come from. I think because I started on YouTube, it's that YouTube came first, the patterns came second. So it's just like the way that it goes. I find it easier to do a video than I do to write the instructions. Yeah, so I have a huge range of patterns from, you your standard like handbags, like the one that's above my head, which is called the genie. I know that that is heavily embellished, but.

Speaker 1 (27:51.054)

There's a beetle and appliques on there. So the genie and the no-waist tote are kind of from like a sustainable point as well. So no-waist tote does what it says on the tin. You have no-waist at the end of it. And that is a beginner-friendly pattern and that is designed specifically for like your quilting cottons, your canvas, that kind of thing. And then the genie is designed to be made from a pair of jeans.

the pattern pieces because they are quite small. It's like a smaller handbag. They actually fit out of a children's pair of jeans, not a toddler, but a children's pair of jeans. how I made my first one. I know the one that you're looking at, Gemma, is not made from jeans, but you get the idea.

that's amazing. I love that. I have to say my favourite pattern so far and the one that always catches my eye is the shark. I love it.

Speaker 2 (28:52.94)

He's so cute and is that a pencil case and a bag as well?

Yeah, so there's the pencil case. So the pencil case was actually a collaboration with another YouTuber. So it's not actually my pattern, but it had never been made in English. So if you watch the video, will see they mentioned that it's a collaboration with a Spanish YouTuber. And I just reached out to them and said, I would love to make this in English. Is that okay? And she did one of mine in English, my crayon pencil roll.

which is also really, that was my most popular selling toy when I made my items. And that was super popular, the shark pencil case, it still is, it's my most viewed video. Yeah, and so then people kept saying, I want it bigger, I want it bigger, can you make a big one? So I looked at the pattern, I looked at the bits where people, lot of people got stuck or didn't like where the zip finished on the mouth of the shark.

So I added in a gusset to go along the length of the bag and I just tweaked it so that it was more user friendly for a larger bag. yeah, so then the shark backpack was made. He's got a pocket on the back as well and pockets on the inside. Love a pocket.

Don't we all?

Speaker 1 (30:09.11)

in all the pockets. There's nothing worse than getting a pattern and then you think, that's awesome and then there's no, like it's just a plain inside. I don't understand that. I always, always want a zipper pocket on the inside and I'm sure everyone does.

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:29.23)

The more pockets the better. What do you think that you enjoy the most about designing and selling your bag patterns?

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:39.18)

That is such a difficult question. don't think I've ever been asked that. think the thing, there's two things. there's more than two. I can't come up with one thing. I love the initial design process where like I've talked about the whole logic solving, figuring it out, piecing it all together.

Go for it.

Speaker 1 (31:03.182)

The concept how what is this bad? Why is this bag special? How am I gonna make it different? How am gonna do the construction all of that? I love that process and I'm actually just about to go into that this week after this call in fact for my next pattern and So that that process I love I mean there's the obvious process of making it the first time and it just still blows me away and That kind of dopamine that we all get that's why we sew isn't it? But then there's two other things

The thing, first thing for my patterns is seeing what people make from the patterns and from my subscription box as well. We haven't talked about that, yeah, especially if they, and they don't obviously have to, they can do whatever they like with it, but if they choose the bag makers box contents together with my patterns, that is, that I always gasp, I always gasp. And then also alongside that as well is when my people in my membership,

use the, I do skills builder sessions every month. So they're like a live zoom going through a specific technique. And when they use that technique on one of my pans, which literally happened yesterday, and I just literally went, my God, my husband was like, what now? So yeah, that, that is really special. That's I, I don't know. Like I, I obviously, do all this stuff and I put everything into it.

And then I think maybe this is from being in the film industry where you do all this stuff, you put everything into it. And then, like I told you with the werewolf, it gets written over and you never see it. So I do all this stuff in my business and I put everything into it. And then I just kind of go, okay, that's done. What do I need to do next? And that there's two reasons for that. One is, like I say, my history, but also I have so much going on that it kind of have to be like that. So then when that's kind of pulled back,

and being like, people are actually doing this thing, which is just, yeah, so wonderful. And then finally, the other thing that I absolutely love is the membership, the friendships within my membership that are blossoming and seeing people meeting up in real life. know, I know we met at Stitch Festival. Yeah. But a lot of my members came to Stitch Festival.

Speaker 1 (33:27.81)

and they met up and they went shopping together and they had a coffee and you know, life is crazy roller coaster isn't it? So seeing when people are in hardship or they're down and then the other members are there to support them even though it's all virtual, that just really, you know, yeah, that's one of my favorite. I can't pick one, it's all of that.

That was a great answer. It sounds like you've created a lovely community, Emma. So there's no wonder that you get that satisfaction from all those different elements. Tell us then about your subscription and your memberships and that kind of side of the business.

Yeah, so I have like three arms to my business and it can be confusing for some people because they are also all on different systems. But the reason why is because I really want to make the best experience and result for customers. some people have it all on one system and it doesn't quite do everything. Whereas I was like, no, I want it to do this, this, this and this.

Okay, well that's the only way I can do it within that system. So that is going to have to be just for my boxes. That's going to have to be just my club. And then I also have my patterns as well. So that's the three arms, my club, my boxes and my patterns that you can buy obviously ad hoc separately. So with my boxes, they are bi-monthly. So it's every other month and it is a curated box of bag making supplies. So it's not a kit and they're

is a specific reason why I don't do kits. So I know a lot of businesses do do kits. So A, I'm different to everyone else. And B, I think from my point of view and from everyone I've spoken to, people go into sewing because they want something unique. They want to make what they want to make. And if I'm sending you a specific kit every two months and you don't like that pattern, that's the key thing. You don't like that pattern.

Speaker 1 (35:33.77)

then that box is kind of completely done for because you're going to see as all those components are going towards that bag, that kit. So that's why I'm very specific in that I don't do that. The other key reason as well is that I can bring down the cost for you guys. And for me, it's not extra work, which I don't have time. And if I did that extra work, I wouldn't even be able to do the subscription box. I'll be honest. So, so it's all of those reasons. And from what the members say,

they absolutely love that there's no pattern included. So instead of having a pattern, you get three different designers. It's not just me, three different designers suggested patterns. And then for those designers, are coupon codes as well. So sometimes designers will do it off their whole catalog. Sometimes it will just be off that specific pattern. So that means that when you're browsing the internet, as we all do Pinterest, Facebook, whatever, and you see a pattern and you buy it and it's in your stash,

And then you get this box of gorgeous goodies that you can't get anywhere else, nine times out of 10. Then you can be like, I'm going to use that pattern that I've had in my stash. I don't need to buy an extra pattern. Or if I want to, I can use the code. So that's the reasoning behind that. And with the subscription box as well, I am now almost solely having the fabric printed myself. So it's very unique. You can't get it anywhere else.

My number one question is, where can I get more of X from this box? And I kind of like, like, kind of do that kind of face because, not that you can see, but you know, like I'm wincing because it's really awkward because you can't get any more. It is something I'd like to do in the future to be able to offer more of the things after the box has gone out. But at the moment, I can't do that. you know, in America, they get all the cool stuff.

And so I try and bring that over to the UK because I can buy in bulk, I can do that more easily. Things like purple hardware, which is really hard to get hold of or it's mega expensive. Pink hardware I've done as well. But also just beautiful fabrics, bag making fabrics specifically as well as quilting cottons and canvases. So that's my box. Then my club, we have...

Speaker 1 (37:56.338)

you get the court so all my patterns come out into my club first and then they also get a skills builder class which is a different technique every month then they get a guest speaker which is obviously a different speaker and then they get a social zoom as well where we literally just chat about anything it always goes off from sewing we talk about all kinds of things there's a private facebook group as well they get discounts off previous patterns and

loads of stuff and a full library of all those two Zooms every month is in you know there's like over 40 hours of content that they get when they join and the so the skills builder like I say is a different bag making or sewing technique each month or sometimes sew alongs as well and then the guest speaker that's my favourite bit that's you asked what was my favourite my favourite bit of the club other than the community is the guest speakers because I get to pick and choose who I want

to bring in and they are genuinely so inspiring. I don't think I've had any that I would have said, no, that wasn't a good one. And the one, I'll tell you about the one this month was from a lady called Harriet, who is a business called In Stitch You. And she has traveled all around the world with her sewing machine and literally stitches portraits of people, free motion embroidery.

on the street, which is amazing. And it was so inspiring. And she actually stitched the portrait while we were there as well. Yeah, that's, and then they get the quarterly pattern. So at the moment, this pattern is the study buddy with the unicorn, which is the one that I was talking about earlier, which is behind me. Actually that, I was quite surprised by that pattern. So I originally designed it to be having the embellishments and to be able to change out the embellishments. And then I made a plain version.

In fact, one of my testers made a plain version and I just thought it would look like a normal bag, but it looks so cool just as a plain bag and really nice fabrics. So yeah, so that's the pattern that you get for this quarter. And then that changes quarterly depending on when you join. You only get that quarters pattern.

Speaker 2 (40:10.99)

If you, let's say someone was going to join today and they would get access to all of those hours of recording and that kind of thing. Is that right?

Yeah, yeah, that's true. Yes, exactly. So there's a library of all the skills builders and all the guest speakers for like, you know, you can binge it, you can I kind of like call it like a Netflix for bag making. So you can binge it if you want, or you can just dip in and out if there's a specific technique that you think, you know, like I saw literally yesterday, I almost commented, but I always worry that it's a bit like salesy. So sometimes I don't. But there was somebody commented.

was posting in a bag making group saying, I'm making these card slots and it's just a nightmare. And then she posted a little snippet of the instructions and I was like, oh, if you had my skills builder class with the, because a lot of the time I do printouts. So like the card slots has got printouts. I've done like padded back, straps, all that. You get the templates to go with it. I was like, oh, if only we had my class, it would not be like that because I was looking at the instructions. I can figure it out.

Some patterns are just like, are just, yeah.

I'm just overly complicated with the sake of it, but you shouldn't be afraid to put yourself out there because I'm sure she would have appreciated an answer to the question. So go for it.

Speaker 1 (41:35.694)

I do often answer like saying, know, but sometimes it comes across like, you can only get it, you That's fine. I mean, my club members are amazing and they always say, know, this is available, which is really cool. And I do give advice to people as well. It's just when it's specifically like this whole class, it's just, yeah. It's that fine line.

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:03.598)

That's it. That's it. And you've got a challenge coming up. Is it this month?

So it's the doors are opening on Friday the 18th of April. Yeah.

Fabulous. So yes, we are recording in April and this is unlikely, unfortunately to go out in time to sort of advertise that challenge. But am I right in saying that you run it again in the year?

Yeah, so I do it bi-annually, so twice a year. I think I'm going to have the next one in September, so we should be fine for that. And that is so much fun. So I do it as it's like a snapshot into what the membership is like. But it is like on steroids because there's way more people in there. But it gives you an idea of what the community is like and all the fun stuff.

we do. So it's a week-long challenge and every day throughout the challenge I go live with a different part of the pattern that we're making. We all make the same thing and this challenge that's in April is a boxy pouch so it's a new pattern for me. I'm fully aware that there are millions of boxy pouches out there. This is a lined boxy pouch, still there's millions of those but this is specific to this challenge and I try

Speaker 1 (43:29.326)

try and do different ways, different techniques of doing things. And also throughout the challenge as well, I also give as many tips as I can. I really try hard not to hold back. I mean, as you've probably realized, I'm kind of like lay it all out there anyway, generally, as my personality. So yeah, there's no gatekeeping. I give as many tips as I can as I go through. I'm quite good at sort of like verbally talking through what I'm doing.

makes sense so then it naturally gives tips. So I go live every day Monday to Thursday and then everybody makes the bag in their own time. They either join me live or they watch it on catch up and have access to those videos for the duration of the challenge. Then they make the thing and then as long as they post it in the group they can win a prize. But there's lots, I won't go into all the prizes, but there's lots of different prizes so

For this April challenge, have over 250 pounds worth of prizes that you can win in various ways. And you can win, you don't even have to sew, I will tell you that. There is a prize, there's a couple of prizes actually, three prizes that you don't even have to sew. You don't have to sew anything. You can just go in there and participate and you can be in to win. So it's lots of fun. Right now on Tuesday before we open the doors on Friday,

there are over a thousand people waiting to join. And because of how I do it, they don't start until we open the doors. So everyone is like raring to go and excited. So it's such a party atmosphere. It's always so fun. You get to meet so many people. Yeah, it's lots of energy. It's a lot of us at work for me, but it's great fun. So highly recommend it, especially if

So I designed them if you have never made a bag before. Maybe you're scared of zips or you're not sure about interfacing, that kind of thing. I designed them so that I'm literally holding your hand throughout the project. So the boxy pouch itself is probably only like an hour to make, but I'm gonna be going live and going through everything super slow that you're not gonna get from a regular YouTube video that's gonna skim over so much stuff because they have to hit the algorithm and all that business. So yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:49.538)

So it's lots of fun.

It sounds fab. And I did actually sign up this morning.

I can't wait to see you,

Brilliant. Can you give us any sort of sneaky insights in what your next pattern is going to be? You don't have to give it all away. I'm just wondering if you can give us any sneaky insider.

I can't really and there's one reason for that is well, I haven't told anyone else this outside of the club, but I'll tell you guys and I'll tell you. We, in July inside the club, which is when the next pattern comes out. So it comes out quarterly. I said, we've just had our pattern come out in April. So next one is July. And that one, we're on a social call. We were just chatting about it and people were saying about how there's

Speaker 1 (46:42.326)

a new mystery sew along going along and could I do something similar? So that's why I can't tell you anything. I can tell you that. But in July, when that pattern comes out for the club members, I'm going to dice up the pattern so that they only get a little bit each day every like three, four days and they don't know what it looks like. So it's going to be complete mystery. And so yeah, and then they're going to, we're going to sew along together.

as part of that with different tutorials as well. So yeah, so I'm really excited for that. that's something a little bit different as well. That will just be for club members. Yeah, so I'm excited for that.

That is very exciting.

I will tell you something else that's coming out as well that I haven't told anyone else other than again my club members because they they are a lot of my ideas and requests come from my club members and one thing that I kind of brought over to the UK is tex35 thread. tex35 thread is well my one is a bonded polyester really really strong you cannot break it with your hands and tex35 is the weight

Go on.

Speaker 1 (47:53.902)

I learned so when I did, so I did the skills builder all about threads and I learned so much about threads myself in research for that, but there's different weights of threads. Anyway, it takes 35 is suitable for domestic machines and semi industrial and industrial, but it's like the thickest one you can get through domestic machine. choose, I have designed specific colors for threads and put them into previous boxes and people always love those threads.

So they have asked me for a specific box of threads. So I think it's going to be five or six spools, they're big spools as well. Not the huge ones, the smallish ones. So that's going to be coming around about July, I think, for the pre-order for that. that's, yeah, I'm excited.

Yeah. Yeah. Look, you've got loads going on, haven't you? Yeah, I don't know how you do it all.

That is what everybody says.

Oh, bless you. So I like to end the podcast with a little game of this or that. So it's like 10 sort of quickfire questions, but you can elaborate if you want to. obviously you do more bag making than you do clothes making, but I was just wondering if you do make your own clothes, do you prefer woven or stretch? An organized stash or creative chaos?

Speaker 1 (49:14.2)

given.

Speaker 1 (49:18.482)

Creative chaos. I would love to say organized stash but I'm gonna be real. You can't see the mess but there's a lot of mess.

We love bit of reality. Scissors or a rotary cutter?

I'm motor-y every day. see that is controversial. it doesn't sound controversial. So in my boxes, always have, well not always, but 90 % of the time I have a tea bag and I actually don't drink normal tea. So people think that I do drink normal tea because I put these tea bags in, but the tea bags are by a company called Bird and Blend and they do artisan tea and it's like,

Tea or coffee? Coffee.

Speaker 1 (50:02.058)

milky tea so it's kind of like a coffee texture but they do like cream egg tea is out at the moment. They're so good so anyway I never liked tea until I found them so now I put those in the boxes so that's why it's controversial because I always talk about tea in my boxes so one more thing that I mean but actually I drink more coffee anyway very long.

I've heard of.

Speaker 2 (50:25.342)

No, that's interesting because I don't like normal tea either, but if you like that then that bodes well for me.

Yeah, you need to try it.

Sewing for yourself or others.

That is a very hard one. I can't answer that. It's 50-50. I get as much joy out of both, I think.

Good answer, that's fair enough. No, Staying in or going out.

Speaker 1 (50:55.856)

Depends on the mood. I'm gonna say staying in.

podcasts or YouTube while you're sewing.

Podcasts. Always podcasts.

Fantastic.

Well, I'm sorry. I do like YouTube. Obviously YouTube, I love YouTube because I'm, you know, that's my, that's my main passion is YouTube. That's where everything has come from, from a business. But while I'm saying I cannot watch what's going on, I just can't and that's too much distraction. So yeah, always up for podcast recommendations.

Speaker 2 (51:28.206)

One project on the go or multiple?

Well, Ideal World won, but I do have quite a lot of shelved projects, so I'm going to guess I have to say multiple.

Making a new pattern or a tried and tested? New all the time. the last one, prints or solids?

I think. Yeah, good choice. It depends for dressmaking or clothing solids. For bags, it can be a whole different thing. I think you've got more space to play with solids because you can layer them up and do like the appliques. mean, the three bags behind me, four bags are all appliques. Yeah. But then a really nice print can just transform the whole bag. So that's not a straight answer either. Sorry. Not very good at this.

Bye.

Speaker 2 (52:24.756)

don't mind. So Emma, just to wrap things up today, where can people find you?

Yeah, thank you. You can find me on all the socials studio number seven letter T number seven so studio 77 always very hard to explain over the speech and obviously on YouTube studio 7T7 and my website is studio7T7.co.uk

If you are interested in joining the mailing list, so can find out about all of the different bits and bobs, when you join, you get the free pattern for the shark and there's loads of free patterns that you get. You can find that at the bottom of my website or you do get a pop-up on there as well. And I have a public Facebook group that if you search for Studio 7T7, you'll find as well. And you'll find me in there a lot and you're welcome to share, ask questions, can share anybody's patterns in there.

Yeah, perfect.

Well, Emma, you've been fabulous. Thank you so much for joining me on the Sewing Social Podcast today.

Speaker 1 (53:36.17)

so much for having me it's been lots of fun thank you and good luck with everything.

Thank you, take care.

Thank you so much for listening. Don't forget hit that follow button so you don't miss out on any of the amazing content we've got coming up. Until next time, happy sewing!