If you knew me at all from age 8 and up, you will know that I have always loved sewing and fashion. When I was a little girl I was obsessed with history, Laura Ingalls Wilder/Little House on the Prairie, and American Girl Dolls. I was fascinated by clothes from different time periods and I was always playing dress-up, accessorizing my dolls, and collecting paper dolls.
These interests spurred a desire to learn how to sew. My mom started out teaching me basic hand sewing skills and then enrolled me in private lessons. I learned how to make pillow cases, pants, shorts, dresses, shirts, handbags, etc. I was always sewing little bedding accessories for my American Girl Dolls and Barbie’s. I just loved it.
In high school I took a home economics class from one of my favorite teachers. I told her I wanted to go into fashion or costume design and she fully supported that dream but also wisely told me to double major in business. I went on to college at Miami University in Ohio and majored in Business (Marketing) but also completed courses in costume design.
I was active in college clubs like Edun LIVE on Campus (a club focused on social justice issues through the distribution of t-shirts on campus that were eco-friendly, sustainably made, and supported jobs and economic stability in places like Sub-Sahara Africa) and the Miami University Fashion and Merchandising Club. I also spent a summer studying at the London College of Fashion where I learned about fibers, merchandising, and putting together a collection.
After college I wanted to further my fashion education so I went on to study fashion design at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Its here where I learned how to draft my own patterns (super hard) and learned even more technical design and sewing skills. I spent one year doing this and in all honesty it was a lot and not as fun as I had anticipated. I ended up packing up my sewing machine and didn’t look back for many years.
Fast forward 15 years and all of a sudden I had this desire to start creating again. I’ve always been fixing and mending clothes as needed, but it’s been well over a decade since I actually sat down and sewed something. I found a pattern on Etsy just by chance and had this burning desire to make a dress out of it.
It’s amazing how quickly the sewing skills returned. I was a little nervous about starting a project from scratch but it was like riding a bike and everything came back to me. And now I’m happily sewing almost every day! 2025 brought 17 completed sewing projects and believe me when I say I’m just as surprised as everyone else!
On this page you’ll find links to different projects I chat about, where I shop for fabric, and some of my favorite patterns. If you’ve ever thought about sewing, I highly recommend you take that leap! It’s so rewarding and so much fun!
A Dash of Solt 