Interview: Mena of The Sew Weekly

This week, I have the pleasure of collaborating with one of my all-time favorite sewing bloggers, Mena of The Sew Weekly. Mena originally started the Sew Weekly to document the process of making her own clothing for a year, but it’s now expanded even beyond those ambitious plans. This week, Colette Patterns is sponsoring the weekly challenge over at The Sew Weekly, so to kick things off I thought I’d give you a glimpse at the awesome lady (and prolific creator) behind the blog.

Hi Mena! Tell us a little about your background.

I think the easiest way to answer this question is to say I’m a blogger. At least that’s what I’ve been doing most of my adult life. When I was twenty-three (2001) I started my first blog, Dollarshort. Later that year my husband, Ben, and I started the company that would become Six Apart (makers of TypePad). With Six Apart, I had the chance to really do some cool things professionally (including giving a Ted talk in 2005) In November, Six Apart and VideoEgg became Say Media, which I’m currently a member of the board. I studied English in college but, fundamentally, I’m a designer. As far as sewing, I didn’t really start in earnest until August 2009 when I began sewing my dress for the Gatsby Summer Afternoon.

I actually had a sewing blog around 2003 called Sew Wrong. I chronicled my misadventures trying to learn how to sew and had a few contributors to help me out.

Tell me about The Sew Weekly. What’s the idea behind it? What are your plans for the site?

Sew Weekly came about simply as a way to document my attempt to sew my own clothes for a year. I was frustrated by the cheap and poorly made garments I was used to buying at Forever 21 and wanted to give myself a chance to truly embrace vintage styles. I launched it in January of 2010 and was successful in keeping it up for an entire year! For this year, I brought on four other women to join me each week. Additionally, I introduced a community component with the Sew Weekly Sewing Circle. I absolutely love how the site has evolved!

My goal for this was to inspire women who have never sewn to pick up a needle (or sewing machine) and just knock out a dress. Ideally, I’d like The Sew Weekly to become a community resource as well as a destination for people who need a creative outlet.

Almost all of the patterns and fabrics I use are thrifted or vintage and most every creation I’ve made has cost less than $20 to create. That’s a big part of my aesthetic — sewing something that has a history and, for lack of a better word, living.

What are your favorite types of things to sew?

Dresses, hands down. Not only are they usually the easiest thing to make (at least I think so), but they usually have the most personality. Thankfully I live in California and can sew and wear dresses year-round.

{above: Mena in some of her dresses, including her new Ceylon!}

Do you have a favorite sewing trick you could tell us about?

It’s probably not a new trick for anyone, but gathering using machine basting at the highest tension is something that always seems a bit magical. For those completely intimidated by zippers and fasteners, I suggest first basting closed the opening and checking to see if you can get the garment on. I’ve found that maybe 60% of the dresses I make fit perfectly without fasteners — this is especially true of 1940s dresses.

Do you collect vintage materials / patterns / notions? What are your favorite things to hoard?

Oh my gosh, do I ever! In the past month I’ve had to buy two more bookcases from Ikea to store all my new fabric. I’m religious about thrifting and am lucky enough to find insane bargains. In the past month alone, I’ve probably spent $25 for forty pieces of fabric. If I see something vintage that I *may* use some day I buy it. This goes for zippers, buttons, fabrics, patterns and sewing tools. My pattern collection is kind of out of control as well. Last time I checked I had about 800 patterns — about 99% vintage.

Are you someone who is inspired by raw materials? Or do you seek out materials to create the ideas in your mind? Or both?

I find that I’m inspired by the raw materials. The nice thing about having a stash is that there are so many possibilities! The times I’ve had to seek out a particular fabric, the cost to create is about 10 times more. When I just let the raw materials inspire me, I can usually make something for under $5. Usually, I pick the fabric I want to sew with and then find the pattern I want to work with.

Thank you to Mena, who I seriously can’t wait to collaborate more with! Be sure to head over to The Sew Weekly for more CP/SW fun times (plus there’s a coupon there for 15% off!).