This is the podcast series about sewing for men and men who sew from the Sewover50 community. The links in this list takes you directly to their podcast!
| 21 February 2023 | About Duane |
| 14 February 2023 | Duane of Mainelymenswear |
| 20 December 2022 | TheSeamstersapprentice |
| 13 December 2022 | SewAndrew |
| 21 June 2022 | Bernadette sews for men |
| 5 May 2022 | Steven’s encore podcast |
| 29 March 2022 | Camilla sews for the men in her life |
| 24 March 2022 | Steven is @arealheller |
| 14 December 2021 | Simon is madebysilverfox part 2 |
| 9 December 2021 | Simon is madebysilverfox part 1 |
| 9 November 2021 | James is craftspacecontinuum |
| 7 October 2021 | Justin is Justinmakesmyown |
| 28 September 2021 | Joost for freesewing.org |
| 23 September 2021 | Adriana for Thread Theory |
| 16 September 2021 | Christopher is back |
| 2 September 2021 | Wendy Ward – sewing basics for every body |
| 26 August 2021 | Enno Sewts is OUTdressed.no |
| 12 August 2021 | Wouter is Wouter.vdub |
| 29 July 2021 | James is james_is_sew_happy |
| 22 July 2021 | Susan Young sewing – sewing for men |
Duane of Mainelymenswear
Tuesday 14 February 2023: Duane tells us the story about why he’s currently at The Tailoring Academy in the UK right now.
The Tailoring Academy course Duane is working through started in September 2022 and is 10 months in total. As he says, they started with only a few body measurements.
Many people who have been following Duane for years will remember his kilt sewing work. He called this fabulous tartan – Loud McLeod.
In this episode Duane mentions a few of his sewing friends in particular Kyle and SewAndrew.
Duane discusses what the Tailoring Academy is doing to cater for international students. You’ll hear how much Duane is loving this very intense live in academy experience.
The next episode on 21 February 2023, Duane will discuss his background and then provide us with more insights about his experience living in the UK while learning bespoke tailoring techniques.
Tuesday 21 February 2023: This episode Duane talks about how his background as a maker has finally brought him to The Tailoring Academy.
Adam Wheeler
Tuesday 20 December 2022: Adam is The Seamsters Apprentice on Instagram. He decided to sew one day when the curtains in his study just happened to break.
Once Adam made the curtains in his home study 6 years ago, he became fascinated by sewing machines and sewing. Well, he tells a story about his first fascination with sewing machine as a 5 year old.
The first garment Adam made was a simple tshirt.
In the early days, sewing was a shared hobby with his late sister Sarah when she founded Dragon Café The Dragon Cafe is the project flagship of the Mental Fight Club. Sewing keeps the memory of his sister with him as Adam sews his projects for himself, his family and his friends.
Adam is an Emeritus Professor of Maths so we discussed how numbers can have an emotional meaning to people especially in the sewing and crafting community.
When Adam initially retired at 60, his plans where to run, hike and be more active in the great outdoors.
You should have a look at the shirts he has made for his colleague and friend James as well as for himself using Ankara prints. They are a pattern matcher’s dream project.
Adam describes sewing to the men he knows in this way – ‘This is engineering with really complicated structural materials.’
SewAndrew
Tuesday 13 December 2022: Andrew is SewAndrew and he has a history of learning skills and then teaching them to his local community. This includes his teaching sewing to the local community.
He’s a hairdresser by trade and was a professional dancer and with both of these talents, Andrew gives back to the community by teaching.
Here’s where you can find more about Eco Life Eastbourne where Andrew has been running in person sewing classes for the community.
Eloise is one of his loves that he sews for on a regular basis and you can see why from these photos.
Andrew’s first real sewing project was a waistcoat that he sewed with a costume designer who guided his sewing. He’s not looked back since that time.
Here’s a link to l’elegance shirt sewing pattern and other mens sewing pattern by Patrons Le BG or find their patterns at their dealers. There are many men’s sewing patterns at Ma Petite Mercerie.
The two pattern books Andrew mentioned as great mens sewing pattern resources were:
The Gentlemen’s wardrobe by Vanessa Mooncie
Men’s clothes for all occasions by Toshio Kaneko
Andrew makes a good point that if you are using patterns from the same company, after making your body adjustments to your first pattern, as you use more of these patterns the adjustments you made to subsequent patterns are the same as your first pattern. Easy.
Andrew states that his best achievement is really the last project he’s made because it has your best skills in it.
Bernadette – sews for men
Tuesday 21 June 2022: Bernadette @littlemissdressco is new to reels but she’s managed to create on to teach people how to cover buttons and with great success too.
She’s a long time buyer of fabric and when she sewed and sold clothes online, Bernadette also started to teach people to sew. The teaching she did really took off. So much so, she was also sewed on television and worked for quite a few sewing machine companies.
Bernadette still has a core group of sewing students that sew together and socialise outside of their sewing sessions. They are a group of sewing friends now.
Bernadette Wainwright little miss dress co on Facebook and most often at littlemissdressco on Instagram.
She has sewn not just for her family but also for tv shows and also most recently for Gay Pride month in the UK. Bernadette sews for Stuart Hillard, who was on series 1 of the Great British Sewing Bee.
You really should go to Bernadette’s Instagram account to see all the amazing work she’s created for herself, for her husband and for Gay Pride Month.
Her advice to new sewists is to ‘start small and gradually build your skills.’
Steven’s encore podcast
Thursday 5 May 2022: Steven is back for an encore podcast.
He talks about what motivates his sewing. This includes who his sewing idols are as well.
This is the project Steven is most proud of and will wear when the weather is cool enough
You’ll get an insider look at Steven’s sewing life by listening to this encore podcast.
He enjoys wearing earthy tones too.
Camilla @frkc.lindberg
Tuesday 29 March 2022: Camilla frkc.lindberg on Instagram sews for men and is a SewOver50 follower on Instagram
From her youth, Camilla has sewn and she became a career tailor. You’ll hear how sewing for her family is an expression of her love for them. They show their love for Camilla by requesting she make them clothes. You will enjoy hearing about her first project recycling her mother’s newly bought jeans, when Camilla was a teenager.
Camilla lives in Sweden and she has many local shops where she can source fabric and patterns from local designers. One of her favourite designers is Ann Ringstrad.
Camilla treasures the work Judith and Sandy do to recognise older sewists on Instagram. As Camilla says, SewOver50 makes older sewists visible.
You’ll hear more from Camilla in the coming months as we explore the sewing available in Sweden.
Steven @arealheller
Thursday 24 March 2022: Steven or @arealheller been sewing for 3 years and he found SewOver50 through people he was following on Instagram.
Steven tells us he is in Sewover60 and he should be in Sewover70 as well.
He had always wanted to sew and once Steven retired he discovered tailoring was a skill his grandfathers had. Three of his grandparents were tailors. All four of his grandparents migrated to the States as refugees from Russia and Poland.
Steven decided to make his own indie designed bowling shirts when the store he used to buy them ready made, closed down. His 3 year sewing journey is now an obsession.
- Wardrobe by me patterns – mens patterns
- Twig and tale patterns – childrens and mens patterns
- Green pepper patterns – lined hooded raincoat
- Thread theory patterns
- Sew Kwik
- Burda
- Sew Easy
New sewists should learn to sew yoke using the burrito technique.
Madebysilverfox
Tuesday 14 December 2021: In part 2, Simon talks about the sewing community and he’s quite inspiring.
Thursday 9 December 2021: Simon Turner @madebysilverfox is a new sewist. He counters the saying ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’. He’s a part of the SewOver50 community and one of the men who sew.
In this first episode his sewing skill story centres around a family market umbrella that he hand sewed to stop the fabric from deteriorating any further. Restoring this umbrella has led to Simon investing in his sewing skills.
He shares his sewing skills for sewing his own clothes as well as for his family and friends.
Simon has been sewing for 2 years. This is his Covid skill.
Craftspacecontinuum
Tuesday 9 November 2021: James Munroe or craftspacecontinuum is today’s guest for Sewover50 podcast.
James is a cosmetologist who has sewn throughout his life and loves crafts. Most recently he’s used online learning as his tv substitute learning new skills.
He’s values making connections with people and especially through these periods of long lockdowns.
Can you spot Tomasa, Peter and Kyle in these photos…as well as Kenneth D King?
The online community such as Sewover50 has helped James stay connected with people in the sewing and crafting community.
Justin
Thursday 7 October 2021: Justin of Justinmakesmyown started sewing masks in early 2020 to help his sister when she started her full time nursing career.
These Sew House Seven Nehalem pants was his first make after initially sewing masks.
Justin has also made the Hey Jude Vero top from the Hey Jude patterns beach set.
Justin tells us about how sewing is a part of his family history.
My Instagram account (@justinmakesmyown) is a free-for-all covering all my “making” endeavours, not just sewing. I also knit, mend, cook, bake, garden, ferment and do other activities that are easily photographed. I do have to say that my sewing posts receive the most attention. I guess less people are interested in my sourdough or kimchi.
Justin Google searches patterns he uses and refers to Thread Theory and Wardrobe by me as his first sewing patterns he has used. Listen into this podcast and find out what patterns Justin is using to create his back to the office clothes for 2022.
Justin does reuse and recycle fabrics, materials and projects he’s made but won’t get any wear out of. As Justin says, the sewing community is more than just talking about sewing.
FreeSewing.org
Tuesday 28 September 2021: Joost de Cock is the creator of Freesewing.org We learnt about this sewing resource in our chat with Wouter.vdub and with Enno Swets.
FreeSewing is an open source software project with the aim of becoming the Wikipedia of sewing patterns.
FreeSewing provides a core library for parametric pattern design, an ever-growing library of designs implemented in code, as well as a bunch of adjacent tools for building modern interfaces on top of our platform.
FreeSewing is not interested in fashion, trends, or publishing the hot new pattern of the season. Instead, the contributors want to empower makers by distilling the knowledge of the sewing community into parametric designs + documentation, and make that information freely available.
FreeSewing is built by contributors who are all volunteers, and financially supported by their Patrons.
Thread Theory patterns
Thursday 23 September 2021: Adrianna of Thread Theory Patterns joined into the Sewover50 sewing for men series this week.
In the first podcasts within this series, both Wouter.vdub and Susan Young found Thread Theory patterns were a good men’s pattern sewing brand they use.
Adrianna is focusses on technical design and product development for Thread Theory Patterns. Her training is in men’s tailoring and patterns.
In this podcast Adrianna shares some great sewing tips and you’ll love her sewing tool suggestions as well. Thread Theory patterns are well known for men’s patterns and they are focussing on making patterns for all sexes. They value inclusivity and demonstrate this through their patterns.
Many thanks for Morgan and Matt for agreeing to develop this podcast for Sewover50.
You can find Thread Theory Patterns on Instagram, on their website and on their facebook page.
Christopher
Thursday 16 September 2021: Chris is back for Sewover50 and he’s investing in his sewing practice this year.
I’ve been sewing for about 3 years now and I think I’m finally getting the hang of it! I primarily started with menswear, but now I just make whatever I feel like.
Currently, I’m working full time and studying sewing and design to increase my sewing practice. So far, sewing has been a great resource for me to take the time and reflect on myself and the world around me. Oftentimes, it brings up more questions than not. What clothes make me the happiest (more masculine, more feminine, a bit of both)? How can I use sewing as medium to express my views as a queer Chicanx person in a world that doesn’t seem to care about the lives of BIPOCs?
While I can’t say I’ve found the answers for myself just yet, I invite you to join me in cultivating a more inclusive environment! You can also find me on Instagram @imthatbrujastitch.’
Wendy Ward
Thursday 2 September 2021: Wendy Ward is back for Sewover50’s theme about ‘Men who sew and sewing for men’ series. One of her latest books ‘Sewing basics for every body’ provides patterns that can be used for people who either do or don’t identify with any sex.
Wendy’s textile industry knowledge and her teaching experience has helped her develop this really useful book that helps build your sewing practice while creating a capsule wardrobe that reflects who you are.
This is an empowering book by developing your life skills in a methodical way while allowing each user to create clothes that suit who they are most comfortable being.
It’s all about giving the reader skills to create what they want and look how they want to be seen. And isn’t that really a sewists’ superpower.
Enno Swets or OUTdressed.no
Thursday 26 August 2021: Enno or OUTdressed.no has the drive to make the things he needs hence his brilliance making his own functional makes.
One of the first functional fabric stores Enno was able to get the fabric he wanted was from Extreme Textil. Enno has made many things that he has wanted and you’ll hear about them in this podcast.
Enno also mentions Fabrics and Materials to Make Your Own Gear or Grow Your Business. (ripstopbytheroll.com) and Shelby – Extreme Outdoor Materials & Gear (shelbyoutdoor.com) as great sources for functional fabrics and notions.
There are many examples of Enno’s creativity he’s developed through sewing. Being part of the online sewing community is something he highly values.
The story behind this backpack created by Enno for his wife is a great example of how he has used his engineering background to develop a custom order backpack. The frame is from the original backpack that has a good life but was no longer available.
Wouter.vdub
Thursday 12 August 2021: Wouter started sewing 8 years ago when he wanted to know what it would be like to wear a kilt.
Wouter says his sewing skills are not great but you’ll see on his instagram account how much he focusses on fit and great construction techniques.
X Marks the Scot is the kilt forum Wouter talks about. Have a look for the utility kilt with pockets details that Wouter used in his research to make his own kilt.
Wouter was featured in the men who sew post on Sewover50 and he was really pleased to contribute to this podcast series about men who sew.
You’ll hear about his initial sewing experiences as he was growing up.
Wouter is a fan of Thread Theory patterns. He also provides his own patterns to Freesewing.org
These Waralee pants are just one of the designs Wouter has developed for freesewing.org They’re free.
Oh and then there’s the Albert apron Wouter designed for his daughter again on freesewing.org
Sewing advice from Wouter… Find a technique to sew a zipper fly. Get really good at making welt pockets. Master these skills and make a bunch of them. He has more advice that will help new sewists that you’ll hear in his very first podcast.
James_is_sew_happy
Thursday 29 July 2021: James Nacy from the Sewover50 community is a cellist that uses his cellist skills development for his knitting and sewing and everything else.
When James was 7 years old he was taught to sew and knit when he was being looked after by a neighbour. You’ll hear how sewing has played various roles in James’s life from the time he was in middle school onwards.
James shares his methods of finding fabrics, finding patterns and sewing techniques. There are also the stereotypical responses James has endured as a man buying fabric from a retail store. He now buys his fabrics online as a less negative way to source the fabric he wants to use.
James shares the ways men are not included in the sewing conversations and men do sew and should be included in online discussions.
Elbe Textiles is James’ favourite patterns. There are so many of their patterns that are go-to styles that James makes many versions of. James offers great advice when you want to start sewing mens clothes.
Susan Young: Sewover50 men sewing series
Thursday 22 July 2021: Susan Young, the official blog writer for Sewover50, kicks off the men who sew series for Sewover50.
You may have noticed that she recently made her husband some new gear and in this podcast you’ll hear why she’s done just that. Susan recently wrote a comprehensive article for Love Sewing magazine using the mens sewing research she did and examples of her sewing for her lucky husband.
Susan wanted to sew but had no motivation to continue to sew for herself so while in lockdown, she decided to sew a sweatshirt or 2 for her husband. You’ll hear about her experience and what developments she has begun to see in the online sewing world.
This podcast is to support Susan’s research and article in Love Sewing magazine in the coming weeks you’ll hear from the men in the Sewover50 community talk about their sewing experiences. They’ll also discuss ways to get the best outcomes when sewing menswear.
The pattern search terms and fabric names Susan mentions are a great start when you’re learning how to sew mens clothes for beginners.
Pete Trimble
Monday 15 March 2021: Pete Trimble or Pete Sews will be showcasing ‘sewing down a rabbit hole’ that his followers has been wanting to see for ages. He will demonstrated these skills at the Australian Sewing Guild’s Autumn Sewing Celebration on 27 March 2021.
Precision Sewing with Pete Trimble of Pete Sews is participants from around the world saw on 27 March 2021.
The details maketh the shirt.
Pete has a flair for detail and accuracy when he sews, come along on a little journey where fingers get very close to the iron, pinning is preferred and you’ll realise the true meaning of ‘measure twice, cut once’!
In his presentation Pete took us through his techniques for adding detail stripes to a cuff, fitting a contrast accent to your yoke seam and everyone’s favourite, felled sleeve seams by sewing down the rabbit hole!
You’ll find Pete Sews on Instagram and on his website Pete Sews.
Meet Christopher
Tuesday 17 November 2020: The Sewcialists have a couple of new volunteer editors. Christopher is one of the new volunteer editor team members. He researches cell biology.
‘Hey y’all! My name’s Chris and I currently live in San Diego, California.
I’ve been sewing for about 2 years, but I think I’m finally getting the hang of it! I primarily started with menswear, but now I just make whatever I feel like.
Currently, I’m attempting to work with lace and learning what it means to create for others. So far, sewing has been a great resource for me to take the time and reflect on myself and the world around me. Oftentimes, it brings up more questions than not. What clothes make me the happiest (more masculine, more feminine, a bit of both)? How can I use sewing as medium to express my views as a queer Chicanx person in a world that doesn’t seem to care about the lives of BIPOCs?
While I can’t say I’ve found the answers for myself just yet, I invite you to join me in cultivating a more inclusive environment! While here at the Sewcialists, I hope to be able to give back to the sewing community that’s helped me continue to grow so much. You can also find me on Instagram @imthatbrujastitch.’
The first sewing podcasts Chris listened to were Love to Sew podcast and Stitch Please by Black Women Stitch. The politics of sewing was what Chris learnt about through Stitch Please.
Sew organised style podcast 