Dressmaking, Deadstock and Small Business Challenges with Harriet from Sew Me Sunshine

In this episode of the Sewing Social podcast, host Gemma Daly sits down with Harriet Cleary, founder of Sew Me Sunshine, the much-loved fabric and haberdashery store based in West London. 

Harriet opens up about her inspiring journey into sewing, from learning the craft to making the bold career leap from nursing to running a creative small business.

The conversation explores the power of community in the sewing and dressmaking world, as well as the realities of building a fabric business from the ground up. 

Harriet shares behind-the-scenes insights into fabric sourcing, including working with deadstock fabrics, and explains why sustainability and mindful making are at the heart of Sew Me Sunshine.

Listeners will also gain practical advice for aspiring creative entrepreneurs, covering everything from taking risks to staying motivated. 

This episode is a must-listen for sewing enthusiasts, dressmakers, fabric lovers, and small business owners looking for inspiration, honest advice, and a reminder of why creativity and community matter.

Key Takeaways:

• Harriet started sewing as a creative outlet after a challenging time in her nursing career.
• Sew Me Sunshine was born from Harriet's passion for sewing and desire to share that joy with others.
• The name 'Sew Me Sunshine' reflects Harriet's aim to evoke happiness through sewing.
• Harriet's husband played a crucial role in helping her set up the business.
• The early days of Sew Me Sunshine involved a small selection of fabrics and a supportive community.
• Sourcing deadstock fabrics is a key part of Sew Me Sunshine's business model.
• Harriet has begun designing her own fabric collections, focusing on sustainability.
• Building genuine connections with customers is essential for Harriet's business.
• Harriet emphasizes the importance of being financially sustainable while pursuing creative passions.
• Sew Me Sunshine is committed to recycling fabric scraps and using eco-friendly packaging.

Follow me: 

Instagram: @thesewingsocialpod

                     @thedalythread

Tiktok: thesewingsocialpod

If you've enjoyed this episode and appreciate the work I'm doing, please 

Tip me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/thesewingsocialpod

Also, feel free to get in touch - you can text the show (available through your podcast provider on each episode) or email:

thesewingsocialpod@gmail.com

 Affiliate Links:

• Thready Set Go - https://threadysetgo.com

     Discount code for 10% off your first month - SOCIALPOD10

Guest Details: 

Instagram: @sewmesunshine.uk

Website: www.sewmesunshine.co.uk

Youtube: @sewmesunshine

Tiktok: @sewmesunshine

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Harriet Cleary and Sew Me Sunshine

00:57 Harriet's Personal Sewing Journey

04:23 Transitioning from Hobby to Business

06:06 The Origin of Sew Me Sunshine

07:38 Early Days of the Business

12:55 Sourcing Fabrics and Dead Stock

17:56 Designing Fabric Collections

20:26 Building Community Connections

21:49 In-Person vs Online Sales Dynamics

22:57 Advice for Aspiring Creative Entrepreneurs

25:11 The Reality of Running a Creative Business

26:09 Sustainability in the Sewing Community

29:37 Future Plans for Sew Me Sunshine

31:19 Fun and Games: This or That with Harriet Cleary

36:15 Outro 

Transcript

Gemma Daly (00:10)

Harriet, welcome to the Sewing Social podcast. I'm so excited to have you on today.

Harriet Cleary (00:15)

Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

Gemma Daly (00:18)

You're welcome. I was wondering if you could introduce yourself to the listeners.

Harriet Cleary (00:23)

Yeah, so I'm Harriett and I am the face behind Sew Me Sunshine. Sew Me Sunshine for anyone that is new out here and hasn't come across my business before is a fabric and haberdashery store based in the UK in West London to be precise. And we source all different types of fabrics from all over the world, including a variety of deadstock fabrics.

as well as some indie sewing patterns and haberdashery. So we try and source things that you can all make your wonderful sewing projects.

Gemma Daly (00:57)

Amazing! Now I would first like to touch on your personal sewing journey and where it all began for you.

Harriet Cleary (01:06)

So I started sewing not that long ago. So compared to some people out there that have been like sewing since they were like a young child, it's not been as long for me. It's been something that I've always wanted to do. So I grew up with my grandmother specifically making lots of things. But by the time I was interested in it, sadly she had Alzheimer's. So...

it wasn't obviously doable to teach me. And also at my school, they didn't do any like sewing or anything like that. went to high school with my husband. I asked him recently like, what sewing did we do? And he thinks that we might've used paper on a sewing machine, but we definitely didn't do any garment making. So before Sew Me Sunshine, I was working in the NHS.

as a registered nurse. So I worked in intensive care for a while and then moved into the community to try and get out of shift work a little bit, get a bit of work-life balance. Kind of had the opposite effect. The community in the NHS is very underfunded. essentially to cut a very long story short, I got burnt out and had to take some time off.

my lovely husband at the time, because I was obviously not in a great place, he surprised me with my first sewing machine. And that was like a game changer. was like, honestly, it really, really helped me at that time. I quickly also signed up to a course at Sew Over It when they used to have their physical stores. And I did my intro to

sewing and then quickly afterwards my intro to dressmaking with the wonderful Julie if anyone knows of her from sew over it she was amazing and then I fell down like we all do down the rabbit hole of fabric buying making everything making everything for everyone else and yeah I just fell in love with it so it wasn't that long ago it was probably in I'm just trying to think maybe like

2017, so it's not that long ago. But yeah, the quickly followed suit the kind of falling in love with sewing just because my other half like encouraged me to try and start something so that I could go part-time in my nursing, but very fortunate that it became my full-time job.

Gemma Daly (03:31)

Yeah, what a lovely story. And funnily enough, I can completely relate because I work in the community for the NHS, not as a nurse, but I'm an occupational therapist and I completely get the stresses and strains of that kind of work. And you obviously needed a creative outlet, which is where this all came from.

Harriet Cleary (03:33)

Thank you.

Ha ha ha.

Uh-huh.

Yeah,

I think you get a lot of mindfulness, can't you, from sewing? You kind of switch yourself off from the rest of the world and create something that makes you feel wonderful. I think it's really, really special. And I guess that's kind of like why I wanted to also start Sew Me Sunshine was to create a space where I could provide

Gemma Daly (03:53)

Mmm.

Harriet Cleary (04:10)

the things for other people to make garments that would make themselves feel as wonderful as it's made me feel.

Gemma Daly (04:16)

So talk us through that sort of step then from the hobby side of things, turning it into a business.

Harriet Cleary (04:23)

So I think, like I said, I was just trying to, I say I, wasn't really, ⁓ it was my other half. He was trying really hard to think of something that I could maybe do that would mean that I could go part-time. And I am really lucky he is a complete He can code very well.

all of that sort of side of things, I didn't have to get someone in to do my website. I didn't have to do any of could kind of swoop in and be like, well, actually we could do something like this. guess I was very fortunate as well. had a bit of savings and I took the risk of being like, right, okay, let's try.

it'd be really nice if I could go part-time in my nursing. So that was my kind of original plan was that I was like, well, if it means that I could maybe do like a couple of shifts a week and then this kind of buffers it, that'll be fantastic. yeah, so it kind of started, I thought of, trying to think back now, we thought of lots of different things. So should I like maybe make things to then sell on like a platform like Etsy or?

Should I do something else or that or that? And I kind of kept landing back on fabric because I just found it really fascinating. I actually have a science background from my nursing, so I did an MSc. So actually the fabric side of things I found really fascinating and it just kind of fell back to that of being like, actually maybe I should do something with this. And then we were like, right, yeah, let's try.

And yeah, like I said, I had this pocket, tiny, a bit small pocket of money that I was like, right, I'll put everything in and then we'll see what happens. And we're here today.

Gemma Daly (06:05)

Yeah,

you know, a lot of the time these businesses are about taking a risk, aren't they? And that's obviously what you did. How did the name Sew Me Sunshine come about?

Harriet Cleary (06:12)

Yeah, it was.

So I wanted something that like evoked happiness. And the other issue as well is that a lot of names are taken. So I needed something that I could actually have my domain registered to and also social media, but essentially I needed a domain. So I kind of, I remember being very much like I wanted something like sewing happiness, right? That's definitely taken. But I wanted something around that.

Gemma Daly (06:23)

Yeah.

Harriet Cleary (06:41)

because of the whole reason that sewing bought me happiness. It bought me joy and it helped with my mental wellbeing. So I wanted something to link in with that. I kind of thought like sunshine, it's very happy, it's very bright. I like the colour yellow. I was like, that kind of goes in. And then I was like, quite liked the idea of like sewing. So I liked the idea of like.

sewing happiness and then it kind of went from that that I was like, right, okay, so I like sunshine's very similar to happiness and bright and colourful. How can that kind of knit together? So that's how it happened. It is a bit of a wordy name though, but it's a bit late now. Quite a lot of people sometimes like so be so so so so. But it's too late now. It's set in stone and it's there. But I still love it.

Gemma Daly (07:20)

Yeah.

It is. It

Harriet Cleary (07:33)

but maybe something a bit shorter would be good.

Gemma Daly (07:33)

is lovely.

Harriet Cleary (07:37)

it is what it is.

Gemma Daly (07:38)

It is.

So how did those sort of early days of the business or what did they look like compared to what your business is today?

Harriet Cleary (07:47)

we're in a different house to where we were living in a small two bed cottage type house, a very old, old cottage house. So we're very lucky that we had a spare bedroom, because at that time I had no children.

Gemma Daly (07:59)

Thank

Harriet Cleary (08:01)

I'd already but I claimed it as my sewing space. It's like my machine was in there. My fabric stash, everything was in there. And, so then I went to, you know, do the classic Ikea run, got my Billy bookcases and, started to kind of collate, fabric supplies, which isn't

Gemma Daly (08:06)

You gotta do it.

Harriet Cleary (08:23)

easy when you're starting out. A lot of wholesalers, I think, again, I think I'm quite lucky back then, a lot of wholesalers asked for a lot of, understandably, to open an account. You need to pay a certain amount of money open an account. So I kind of had to be quite, be like, right, I just need to go with X, Y, and Z in order to start. Also, when you're first starting out, you don't know where all the fabric's from, so it is...

It is a journey to try and find source places. Also as well, knew that I'd have to source from people in the UK rather than go abroad because again, I wasn't in a financial situation to do that. So how it looked was a very small fabric selection, mainly dressmaking. I'm trying to think back now. We did have some quilting cottons to start with, but that kind of moved away from that.

But then back then a lot of people were sewing with a lot of quilting cotton. yeah, and then what else did I have? I'm trying to think now. Did I have any haberdashery when I first started? Probably not. It was probably just fabric. I might have had something like Tilly in the Buttons patterns. I think I'd sew over at patterns. Things like that. But mainly it was this small selection of fabrics.

I did have an interesting start as well. I tell this story a had a rep. So you have all these reps. So they basically, these people come to your house with like suitcases of fabrics. It's very old school. And they come with you, even ones that are abroad, they all come with their suitcases of fabrics. you look through all these samples, which is quite overwhelming. you're also looking and being like, will people buy it? How much do I buy?

What's the price going to be for the customer? Blah, blah, blah. And I had this person who I don't use anymore, but I won't name any names because they might not even work there anymore. So I don't want to tarnish the kind of company because it's not, it's just the rep. And he came and I picked some bits and then at the end he goes to me. So before we sign it off, do you want to go and check with your husband that you're okay to do this? And I was like, ⁓

Gemma Daly (10:25)

⁓ Shocking.

Harriet Cleary (10:28)

Well, no, because it's my business. So the business started in the spare bedroom with probably only like 20 fabrics. We also had a different logo. was a small creative community at the time called In Colourful Company. It's not around anymore, sadly. It was a fantastic community. And actually what was lovely being part of that was

having all the other people be really kind of, your cheerleaders and be like, go for it, go for it, which really helped. Cause they all had their own little creative businesses, not, it wasn't like a sewing thing. It was just creativity. And there was an illustrator in there and she kind of, I paid for it, but she did my little logo at the time. So we did that. And like I said, I was very lucky. My husband set up my shop on the,

internet and Instagram was a different place to what it is now. It was very easy to be seen and heard as a business. So that was quite nice as well is that I actually got the, you know, I posted online, I'm starting this and everyone's like, my gosh, that's great. Let's whoo. Which was such a lovely community back then. Not that it's not a nice community now. It's just, it was easier to kind of connect with the people.

Gemma Daly (11:41)

Mmm.

Harriet Cleary (11:43)

and that really helps. yeah, spare bedroom with probably about 20 to 30 fabrics with just a few suppliers and a lovely Instagram sewing community. Yeah, very different.

Gemma Daly (11:54)

But

you've come a long way though, haven't you? Because now you've got hundreds of fabrics and staff and everything.

Harriet Cleary (11:57)

Yeah.

Yeah, tons. Yeah.

So I think within, I want to say within a year, then built a garden studio in our house, which was very helpful with COVID. And thank goodness we did. We built that. So Somi Sunshine built that. And I moved in there, but within, I want to say within six months, I'd kind of grown out of that space.

And that's when I moved to my current building I'm in now, but I was in a different unit before. So pre-COVID, I was in a smaller unit upstairs, which was always a hard because you'd get deliveries of fabrics and trying, we've got a lift, but the lift's not very reliable. So trying to get it up the stairs and things was hard. So whereas now we've been in this unit for a long time now, it means we've got direct access outside and...

deliveries, means customers coming in and things like that. It's just a lot easier. But yeah, lots of fabrics.

Gemma Daly (12:56)

talk to us about the fabrics then and things that you stock and I wanted to know sort of specifically your thoughts around dead stock and where you source yours from.

Harriet Cleary (13:06)

Okay, so it depends. saw, I say we, I source from some fashion brands locally that have leftovers. So there's kind of two sides to the story. So you've got that, which is your very like proper dead stock fabrics where I then literally we've got some fashion brands in the building we we're in and also just locally people will reach out and be like, I finished collection.

do you want to buy this? Or you've got very sadly brands that are closing and they're looking to get rid of their stock. So that's one side that I do it. The other side is that you sometimes brands are looking to get rid of thousands of So then you've got people that like kind of a middleman where they'll buy that.

huge amount of thousands of meters or hundreds, maybe not thousands, a lot that I don't have the space or the financials to be able to buy all of that in one go. then I can then buy it in smaller quantities from that person or that person might buy. So like my wax cottons is a really good example. So the person I deal with a lot, he's been in the industry for

years and years and years and has, and family has been in the industry for a very long time and has connections with brands that I don't have connections with. So he's got a lot of connections with like barber and things like that. So then they'll be like, we've got X and he'll just buy the whole lot. And then at least then I can be like, well, actually I will buy these colors from you, but it means that I don't have to buy all of the colors.

So it's things like that. So it is different and it's different in different ways. Obviously, no fabrics brilliant ethically or sustainably wise. There is always problems, no matter what. You've got brands that obviously for them to print fabric, it's cheaper for them to over print and then factor into the fact they're gonna have leftover and that's...

just part of their pricing structure, that's not great. But I always look at it, at least we're using it in the sewing community, at least it's not being kept in storage for years, which, you know, that's exactly what will happen is it will just go in a corner of a storage unit and just sit there. So yeah, it's just, think I try and be as transparent as

So if something's come from like a UK brand or small fashion brand, then it will be stated as such. And we wouldn't like list something unless we knew it was dead stock. But yeah, it's always tricky. It's also making sure that you're trusting everyone, along the supply chain that that's what's happened, which isn't always easy.

We do our own burn tests in the studio as well to check composition, but again, it is hard. You have to kind of trust where you're getting it from, which isn't always easy. But yeah, we just try and be as transparent as possible. We used to source a lot of Italian, a dead stock from Italy. that was tricky to know the transparency of it.

Um, but the other reason we kind of stepped back from that was because it was coming and it was constantly had flaws, which with dead stock is that you're going to get a lot of flaws with fabrics. Um, cause maybe that's why it is that it's not being used. but also equally this, I get it as we're sewing our clothes, we don't want to have to like a huge flaw over the front of our dress or blouse, whatever. so I was like one.

actually losing a lot of fabric here, because I can't sell it. So yeah, that's tricky as well. There's pros and cons with it, I think. But yeah, so we stock a bit of like a mix. We stock a lot of virgin fabrics and dead stock. I was saying to someone the other day, like we've had to pivot a little bit because the economy, we were stocking a lot of...

Gemma Daly (16:46)

It is.

Harriet Cleary (16:59)

I'd say more sustainable fibres. We still do that, but we've also had to pivot a little bit to make sure that we've got stock in place that is affordable. a lot of sustainable fibres come with a higher price point for the customer and people don't have as much money to spend at the moment, which I know I don't personally, so it makes sense. So we've had to pivot a little bit to make sure we have options for everyone in order to keep our business afloat and going.

But hopefully that will get better in time. because really that's what I would like to source is predominantly sustainable fibres. But yeah, it's just making sure the business is working as well and what everyone else can afford and work with.

Gemma Daly (17:41)

Absolutely and that's a really interesting point because it is a huge balancing act isn't it? Ideally we'd all love to be as sustainable as we could but like you say it comes with a price tag so when finances are tight what do do?

Harriet Cleary (17:46)

Yeah.

Yeah, and it has, it's been, I think everyone can say it's been incredibly hard financially everybody as well as all businesses over the last probably 18 months or so. So yeah, it's just making decisions, sometimes not decisions you want to do, but to keep things going and just hope that things will get better. knows?

Gemma Daly (18:18)

Fingers crossed. You've been,

I know, who knows? You've been designing your own fabric collections over the past couple of years though, haven't you? So can you talk us through the process from like initial idea to the finished product?

Harriet Cleary (18:27)

Yeah.

So we've been working with in-house designers. we get to see a lot of different samplers and see different designs. And then we can play around with the scale and the colours as such. So it's not, I haven't hand drawn anything. That's something I'd like to But yeah, that's essentially what's happened. We found a company that...

Gemma Daly (18:39)

⁓

Harriet Cleary (18:55)

prints on demand for us, which I liked because it meant that there was no excess. also liked as well, they had a lot of different fabric substrate options from like Eco Vero to different types of cottons. also liked the fact that it's printed in France, it's easier to control and manage and ship. And yeah, they've done pretty well. think...

Cotton seems to be more popular than... So there was a time when viscose was more popular, but cotton's a bit more popular now. So I think maybe going into next year, we'll look to do a bit more cottons, because they've definitely been more popular this year. I'd like to do work with a few more surface designers directly, rather than like a broader aspect, just to get something a bit more unique and a bit more Sew Me Sunshine

But yeah, was just kind of the trial to see how it went down and how it worked as well, because it was completely something that I'd never done before. And yeah, it's been a good experience. Scary, but good. But it's nice when you see people making up things in that, especially those fabrics, to be like, ⁓ wow, okay, this is cool. But yeah.

Gemma Daly (20:04)

that's really nice. So there might be more designs coming in the future then.

Harriet Cleary (20:08)

Yeah, definitely. It's definitely what we'll be doing and yeah, hopefully some more collaborative work as well.

Gemma Daly (20:16)

So how do you as a sort of online fabric business build like a genuine connection with the sewing community and your customers?

Harriet Cleary (20:26)

Oh, I hope I've got a good connection. Can you imagine? I think social media is one that hopefully helps. I try and put my face out there as much as possible just to know that, you know, there is a person behind this business. I've spent a lot of time doing like my about page on the website as well, just to make sure people know that there's definitely a person. It's not like a bot or anything like We go...

Gemma Daly (20:28)

You have, you have. ⁓

Harriet Cleary (20:51)

I would like to say we go above and beyond, I believe, for our customers, which is what we get told a lot about. So hopefully that is something that everyone else agrees with. So we try and give a personalised experience. So if someone, for example, wants a binding to match a specific fabric, then we will take that time to sit down, take photos of the binding with different fabrics, and give our opinion as well.

So that's a good example. So we try and give a personalized experience as well, just to be very mindful. Obviously we are predominantly online. We are also in-person shopping as well. But again, our customer base is worldwide, so not everyone can pop down to West And then also we do the newsletters a couple of times a which hopefully again kind of gives that personalised edge to Sew Me Sunshine.

try to think what else we do. I spend a lot of time on the listings as well. And I suppose it's just trust that you build up over the time. we get a lot of repeat customers. So hopefully, it's okay.

Gemma Daly (21:49)

think that's quite a lot.

Yeah and you've

run, you know, you've supported Jess with the Sew Yellow for Endo events and things like that haven't you? So you do give a space where people can come in person if it's possible which is really nice.

Harriet Cleary (22:01)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. And like we are open Tuesdays and Thursdays to like walk-ins and then people can book appointments whenever. So yeah, we have a bit of both really. It's really interesting. Our walk-in customers are always very different to our online ones, like what we sell. But yeah, it's good. It's good fun both ways.

Gemma Daly (22:25)

What's an example of that then? What would you sell to an in-person visitor rather than an online one?

Harriet Cleary (22:32)

I think we sell a lot more planes in person than we sell online. think prints always look eye catching online, not necessarily the planes, whereas I think we sell a lot more planes in person. Also just in general, maybe a print that hasn't been selling well online, suddenly someone will come off, you know, locally and then they'll be like, wow, this is amazing. And I'll be like, okay, maybe that needed to take some more photos of that in a different way.

Gemma Daly (22:34)

Mm-hmm.

Harriet Cleary (22:57)

Yeah, it is really interesting.

Gemma Daly (22:58)

Yeah, that's really interesting. So

what advice do you think you would give somebody sort of dreaming about starting up their own creative business? Any hints or tips?

Harriet Cleary (23:09)

What advice would I give? say, no, it's not easy. It's very tiring and it will take up your life.

Gemma Daly (23:12)

You

So don't do it!

Harriet Cleary (23:18)

No, if you really want to

do it, do it. What have you got to lose to a certain extent, right? ⁓ Top tip, I would make sure that you're registered as a limited company. That means then, you know, the companies has all the financial situation. That would be my top tip. I'd always say. What else would I say?

You know, actually a lot of us fabric shops do talk to one another. are quite, I try and be as helpful as I can to other businesses. So a good example was when Brexit happened all this time ago. I spent a long time doing a chart of customs codes that we all use shared it So.

Gemma Daly (23:50)

Mmm.

Harriet Cleary (24:02)

I think it's quite a nice supportive environment. else would I say? Go with your gut, not necessarily be like, no, they're doing this, which is really hard. Any online business, it's really hard to get caught up being like, no, they're doing this, maybe I should be doing that. Try and stick with what you love, because I think that's what sells. What sells is if you've got passion into it, then it's going to sell.

And I think, yeah, just stick with your gut. And if you love it and you think that fabric is gonna sell because you love it, then it probably will because you'll be passionate about it. Yeah, yeah, that's what I'd probably say. Yeah, limit your company, definitely. And yeah, go with your Be open with other shops as well, it's fine. Not scary.

Gemma Daly (24:39)

Great tips.

Harriet Cleary (24:49)

Most of us. No, we're all fine. And know that it's really tiring. I think I get a lot of people say to me, ⁓ it must be amazing. You get to schedule your own time. it's, yeah, but I work all the time. officially, I'm meant to be finishing for, personally, me finishing for Christmas this week, at the end of the week. But I will maybe not be physically in the office.

Gemma Daly (24:50)

Hahahaha

Harriet Cleary (25:12)

but I will be working throughout Christmas. I'll probably be working on Christmas day. It's just the way it rolls. So it isn't an easy, it is hard and tiring, but equally rewarding and amazing, amazing community to be part of. I feel very, very, very fortunate to be in this position and hopefully will be for a few more years at least.

Gemma Daly (25:15)

my goodness.

Yeah, definitely. And

I think, you know, obviously your business is an extension of you, isn't it? So it's hard to disconnect those two things.

Harriet Cleary (25:41)

Yeah.

Oh, 100 % really, really hard. So hard to let go. So I've learned over the years, I've learned the hard way that is important to let But it is an extension of me. Definitely. It's my personality isn't here. Like my children didn't exist pre-Sew Me Sunshine. Now they do. Like they don't know me without it.

which is weird to say, but yeah.

Gemma Daly (26:09)

So we touched on very briefly earlier about sustainability. How do you think that you implement that into your business and why is it important to you?

Harriet Cleary (26:14)

Mm-hmm.

So I think it's important in general, I think a lot of us have sewing clothes for ourselves in order to beat that fast fashion habit. think it's important to be able to still buy clothes off the high street if that's what you still want to do and that's fine. But it's always nice to be able to make your own clothes and then know.

not necessarily where the fabrics come from, but at least you know that you've made the clothes. So like ethically, on an ethical standpoint, that's So I think all of us in the sewing community are passionate about sustainability, right? As much as we can. Here at Sew Me Sunshine we do a few things. So obviously like from the very basics with packaging years and years ago, we went to like recyclable packaging, which is great.

Gemma Daly (26:53)

Mm-hmm.

Harriet Cleary (27:05)

We also, so the building that we in has recycling, but doesn't have fabric recycling. So we collect our fabric scraps and then I pay for them to be properly recycled. So that's one thing we do. So these are scraps that are completely unsellable and unusable.

So those are kind of like our main things. And then on those, obviously your fabric standpoint, I guess, like I said to you earlier, it's just kind of weighing up the customer and the sustainable element, which is a very tricky Because in order for us to keep doing what we're doing and be sustainable, because it's the triangle, isn't there, sustainability is.

we need to make sure that we're financially sustainable in order to keep doing these things. So yeah, we do as much as we can. I suppose my main thing is, and also no fibre is actually always amazing. read something recently about like, so we stock a lot of like econyl for our active wear, which is obviously recycled polyester, but now it's come out that actually

Gemma Daly (28:06)

Mm-hmm.

Harriet Cleary (28:09)

does recycle polyester shed more microplastics when washing? Yeah, but it's tricky, right? You're like, oh no. And it's still, you I think you weigh up one thing and then that's something else. And I think it's also just being aware of it as well. Being aware of your own kind of consumption with that and what you can do. Like my main take home, I always say to people,

Gemma Daly (28:14)

no.

Yeah.

Harriet Cleary (28:37)

is that, well, at least we make our clothes. Like we're already doing that, which is great. if you love a fabric that maybe is manmade fibres, that's fine, you know, go with it. And because you're going to make it and you're going to love it and you're going to repair it and wear it for years and years and years to come. And that's fine. if it means that buying the, you know, not having as much money, but it means that you can make your own clothes, great.

you know, we're doing our bit and yeah, I think that's all we can do is do our bit and be mindful and be aware of it, not bury our heads in the sand about But yeah, we have a sustainability policy on the website and we try and do as much as we can. And we also have filters on our website, really quite proud of our fabric filters, but you can actually quite easily.

narrow your fabric search down to make sure that it's organic fabrics or tencel fabrics or Oekotex certified fabrics and things like that. So if that's something that you're really passionate about, then you'll be able to do that quite easily.

Gemma Daly (29:37)

That's really great. That's quite a lot of stuff Harriet, you should be proud of that. So what's lighting you up about the future of Sew Me Sunshine and do you have any exciting plans on the horizon?

Harriet Cleary (29:40)

thanks. tried my best.

don't have any exciting plans on the horizon as such. Obviously we'll have like, we'll start trickling in spring summer fabrics, which is exciting. So we've got some deliveries booked in for January time. So what we, what I do is I, I probably bought these maybe a year ago, not as long, maybe six months, but what will happen is they'll, they'll start arriving. And then the way that we work here is that we'll kind of

block them so that we have something slowly launching. We don't launch everything at the same time. So find that can be quite overwhelming. So that's kind of our main thing. The main take home I got this year was everyone loved our Indian block prints. Went down so well. Yeah, they're beautiful. And we've got some really nice people we work with. So we'll do more of that.

Gemma Daly (30:32)

Yeah, they've been so popular.

Harriet Cleary (30:40)

And also we managed to find some incredible linen providers for not a ridiculous amount of money for the customer. So looking to get more of that in as well, which will be exciting. And yeah, it's just, I think it's just kind of with the financial climate and everything, taking it slow. I'm not going to say that everything's going to change, but.

Gemma Daly (30:58)

Yeah.

Harriet Cleary (31:00)

No drastic decisions, but just trying to bring the fabrics that everyone loves and keep ticking away and see what happens. Nothing too exciting. Spring, summer. Spring, summer. Say goodbye to our wintery fabrics. Yeah. Exciting stuff. Yeah.

Gemma Daly (31:09)

so we've got spring summer. We've got spring summer to look forward to, which I always love. Yeah. ⁓

Great, great.

So to tie up the interview, Harriet, I like to do a little game of this or that. Is that okay with you? Yeah? Actually, this leads on well, because the first one is spring, summer or autumn, winter.

Harriet Cleary (31:25)

okay. Yeah. Go for it.

I think fabric wise, spring, summer. Everyone loves the spring, summer fabric because everyone loves linen. And I don't know why everyone wants to sew more. Even though I feel like being in wintery time, you want to sew more because you're cosy. I don't know. It is. Yeah, everyone loves. it's a lot of people love people love me sewing a dress. I'm one of them. Love a dress sewing project.

Gemma Daly (31:39)

Mm-hmm.

It's kind of the opposite, isn't it? Because I get excited more about spring summer clothes than I do about autumn winter, but you want to be inside in the winter.

Yeah.

Harriet Cleary (32:01)

and making a summery dress is always fun. Also that you've got weddings and things like that. But personally, I'm saying to Naomi in studio, I love Christmas. So I'm a bit of like an autumn winter girl, but I don't know. ⁓ I haven't really answered, I? Let's say for fabrics, spring, summer. Yeah.

Gemma Daly (32:17)

Okay, okay.

Tea or coffee?

Harriet Cleary (32:20)

⁓ was quick, wasn't it? Basically, I've only this year started to try and teach myself to drink coffee.

Gemma Daly (32:21)

Easy one, easy one, yeah?

How's it going?

Harriet Cleary (32:30)

I'm getting there.

Everyone thinks it's funny because everyone's like, I'm trying to stop drinking coffee. But I'm like, we went to, where did we go? Was it Copenhagen? Well, probably Oslo or something. And they don't really, they do do tea. I'm gonna get all this hate. We do do tea, but it's different. I was going to these amazing coffee shops and they're not drinking the coffee and their coffee is insanely good. And my husband loves coffee.

Gemma Daly (32:51)

Yeah.

Harriet Cleary (32:54)

The girls here love coffee. We've got coffee roasters that are just next door. I feel like I was missing out. But I do love tea. Our tea selection here at Sew Me Sunshine is huge. I think I put it on the job advert. I was like, we've got a huge tea selection. I've always drinking tea. I love tea. It's like my favourite thing. If I couldn't have a fabric shop, I'd have a tea shop. I love it.

Gemma Daly (33:16)

There we go, there we go.

or woven?

Harriet Cleary (33:19)

Wavins.

Gemma Daly (33:21)

Another easy one there. A meal out or a takeaway?

Harriet Cleary (33:22)

Yeah.

takeaway.

Gemma Daly (33:26)

One project on the go on multiple.

Harriet Cleary (33:28)

I always have multiple but I think an ideal world would be one.

Gemma Daly (33:32)

Yeah. Do you prefer making a tried and tested pattern or something new?

Harriet Cleary (33:38)

tried and tested. Every time.

Gemma Daly (33:40)

Fair enough, fair enough. An organized stash or creative chaos.

Harriet Cleary (33:45)

Mine's pretty organised actually, I'd say organised. It's probably not as organised as Paulina. Paulina here is very organised. But yeah, I try and be organised.

Gemma Daly (33:48)

Very good.

that sounds good. Prints or solids?

Harriet Cleary (33:57)

prints. I love a print fabric. took me ages to like, had a few years ago, someone else who's no longer for she working here. She was like, Harriet, you just keep buying prints. We do plays. I was like, oh, yeah. Whereas now like, I'd say our best selling fabrics are our planes, interestingly enough. But drawn to print. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Gemma Daly (34:13)

You

But you're still a magpie, still a magpie. Yeah.

Do you prefer scissors or a rotary cutter?

Harriet Cleary (34:25)

Oh,

scissors. I can't get on with a rotary cutter. I find it too odd. I find it's interesting. she's again, she's no longer working here, but she's left. She was left handed. And for her, it just made sense because there's just not as many scissors on the market left handed. So she just learned to use it to cut with the rotary cutter. But yeah, no, I'm a

Gemma Daly (34:28)

Neither can I.

Mmm

And the last one, sewing for yourself or others.

Harriet Cleary (34:48)

I'm for myself. I think.

Gemma Daly (34:49)

I bet you've got limited time with two little children and a business, so that's absolutely fine. ⁓

Harriet Cleary (34:55)

Yeah, I mean, the projects

I'm actually sewing at the moment are actually for the kids. But yeah, like I haven't made anything for my husband ever.

Gemma Daly (35:02)

I think the men miss out a lot, don't they? Because it's just not that exciting.

Harriet Cleary (35:05)

You say that, but

Paulina at work, she's like made her husband a suit. She makes him all his shirts. She makes him trousers. I'm like, don't tell Paul, Paul's my husband. I'm like, don't tell him. Like, because I don't do that. No, think I might have hemmed some pocket squares for him once. That's all I've done.

Gemma Daly (35:10)

Wow.

You'll expect a suit,

⁓ that's as good as it gets Paul, I'm sorry.

So where can people find you Harriet?

Harriet Cleary (35:31)

okay. So you can find me at www.sewmesunshine.co.uk or .com and on Instagram, it's sewmesunshine.uk and then we're on Sew Me Sunshine for every other social media platform. It's just annoyingly Instagram right at start blocked us out of Sew Me Sunshine. So it's got .uk at the end.

but otherwise you can find us. And we ship worldwide, we ship to all countries. So if you're listening and you're not in the UK, don't panic, you can still ship with us.

Gemma Daly (36:02)

Amazing, well you've been a fantastic guest Harriet so thank you so much for joining me on the Sewing Social podcast today. You're welcome, you take care. Bye!

Harriet Cleary (36:05)

Thank you.

Thanks for having me.

bye!