Hello, my name is Gabriella and I refuse to call myself a sewist. I’m a sewer, whichever way you decided to say it.

I started sewing when I was about 15-16 when I decided I’d copy other people’s bag designs and sell them myself. I wasn’t very good.

I did a few sewing classes, I made a few onesies, and I made a lot of mistakes. Then I stopped.

I started again in 2014 when I had chickenpox and I decided to do some sewing to pass the time. I accidentally found Gretchen Hirsch’s Gertie Sews Vintage Casual book while hiding from people in the fabric store.

I was steaming ahead when I made an anatomical mistake and took myself off to some lessons (you can read way more about this in this post).

Since then I have been sewing on and off (mostly off, I can’t seem to find time to sew much). I started following more and more people on Instagram and becoming a serial observer of the online sewing community (sewciety – sewers/sewists are sew punny).

I’m graduated with a degree in journalism (hit me up if you have a job for me, my email is gabriellajoustra@gmail.com and I live in Melbourne) but I work part-time and I also running a social crafting business. I missed writing so I decided to start this blog so I can write stuff about something I love when I want to. I was particularly inspired by Wanderstitch, and What Katie Sews’ interview on the Love to Sew podcast.