Welcome to Simone Sews

Hello, fellow sewing enthusiasts — and welcome. If you have landed here for the first time, you are stepping into a little corner of the internet that I have built with love, thread, and an embarrassing number of seam-rippers. I am Simone. And this is SimoneSews.com.

This first post is my way of introducing myself properly — not just as someone who sews, but as someone who believes that handmade clothes carry something that store-bought never can: a story. Every pattern I have drafted, every garment I have sewn, and every lesson I have learned (often the hard way, at 11pm with the wrong fabric) is woven into this brand.

Where It All Began: Trinidad, Thread, and a Family That Sewed

I grew up in Trinidad and Tobago — one of the most vibrant, colour-saturated places on earth. Carnival is not just a festival there; it is a cultural institution that shapes how people relate to costume, colour, fabric, and self-expression from the time they are small. I grew up watching women in my family create extraordinary things from fabric: precision-tailored Carnival costumes that took weeks to complete, church dresses that had to be absolutely perfect, school uniforms that were always slightly more refined than they needed to be.

Sewing was not a hobby in my family. It was a language. A way of caring for people, of expressing cultural identity, of making something beautiful out of raw material. I absorbed all of that without realising it. When I moved to Canada, I discovered just how much of that language had stayed with me. I found myself drawn to fabric stores the way other people are drawn to bookshops. I started small — altering thrifted pieces, then hemming, then attempting actual patterns. And somewhere along the way, what started as a quiet personal practice became something I genuinely could not stop thinking about.

The Tech Manager Who Also Sews

Here is the part that surprises people most when they first find Simone Sews: my day job has nothing to do with fashion. I am a senior manager in the tech industry in Canada. My days are full of data, strategy, cross-functional teams, and the particular kind of focus required to navigate large organisations. It is demanding, sometimes intense, and deeply satisfying in its own right.

But sewing gives me something that tech cannot: a direct, tactile relationship with the thing I am making. In software, the work is often invisible. In sewing, you can hold it up, wear it out of the house, and have someone ask you "where did you get that?" — and answer "I made it." That never gets old.

I also find that the two disciplines are more similar than they look. Both require methodical thinking, attention to detail, the ability to troubleshoot problems systematically, and the patience to work through something until it is genuinely right. When I am fitting a bodice or grading a pattern across multiple sizes, I am using a lot of the same mental muscle I use in project management.

Why SimoneSews.com — And Why Now?

I started thinking about building a sewing blog seriously in 2023. I had been sewing for personal use for years, but I had reached a point where I was making things that I was genuinely proud of — and I wanted a place to document that journey, share what I had learned, and connect with other people who cared about it as much as I did.

The indie sewing pattern community online is wonderful, but I also felt a gap: a space that spoke directly to sewists who were building a wardrobe of polished, wearable garments — not just beginner projects or costume pieces. A space where fabric selection, construction technique, and design quality were taken seriously. A space rooted in the kind of craftsmanship that I grew up watching.

SimoneSews.com is that space. It is for beginners who want to learn properly from the start. It is for intermediate sewists ready to level up their construction and fitting skills. It is for anyone who has ever stood in a fabric store holding a bolt of something extraordinary and thought: I have to make something with this.

What You Will Find Here

PDF Sewing Patterns

The first Simone Sews original pattern — the Island Muse Midi Dress — is available now in the shop. It is a halter cowl neckline dress with a dramatic open back and an A-line midi silhouette. It is the kind of dress that stops a room. More patterns are in development, and subscribers get early access before anyone else.

In-Depth Tutorials

Step-by-step technique guides for the skills that actually matter in garment sewing: invisible zippers, cowl necklines, open backs, French seams, bust adjustments, fabric selection. Each tutorial is written to teach the why behind every step — not just list instructions.

Fabric Guides

I am obsessed with fabric. Specifically, with the question of which fabric to use for which design — and why that decision makes or breaks the final garment. The clearance section of a fabric store is my happy place. I will share what I have learned from years of testing fabrics in everything from basic cotton to silk charmeuse.

Pattern Reviews

Honest, detailed reviews of patterns from indie and commercial publishers. I focus especially on how patterns work across the size range, how clear the instructions are, and how the finished garment compares to the envelope or cover image.

Community and Inspiration

The sewing community — online and off — is one of the most generous and inspiring creative communities I have encountered. I will share Frocktails events, collaborations, and the kind of community-building that makes this craft richer for everyone involved.

The Island Muse Midi Dress — My Debut Pattern

The Island Muse Midi Dress was designed to answer a specific problem: I wanted a pattern for the kind of dress you see on red carpets and at dinner parties — elegant, feminine, show-stopping — that was also genuinely achievable by a home sewist with intermediate skills and the right fabric.

The Island Muse features a halter cowl neckline that falls in a naturally draped fold at the front. The back opens dramatically from neckline to waist, with halter ties that create a beautiful floating effect. The A-line midi skirt creates a silhouette that is both relaxed and polished.

It is graded from US sizes 0 to 20, with consistent ease and proportional adjustments across the full range. It comes in three print formats: tiled A4, tiled US Letter, and a full A0 file for projector sewing. Instructions are illustrated and written to explain the reasoning behind each step — not just what to do, but why.

My Sewing Philosophy

Good fabric is the first decision

You can have the best pattern in the world and ruin it with the wrong fabric. Conversely, even a simple pattern in the right fabric can produce something extraordinary. I will always take fabric selection seriously here — not because expensive fabric is better (it often is not), but because the right fabric for the design is everything.

Fit is more important than fashion

A garment that fits well will always look more expensive and more polished than a trendy garment that does not fit. I focus on fit — taking measurements, grading between sizes, understanding the relationship between pattern ease and wearable ease — and I will share that knowledge throughout the blog.

Inclusivity is not a feature, it is a baseline

Every Simone Sews pattern includes a size range from 0 to 20 as standard — not as an "extended sizes" add-on. I believe the size range should be comprehensive from the start, graded with the same care at every size.

Process matters as much as product

The act of making something by hand — the decisions, the mistakes, the repairs, the moments where it clicks — is valuable in itself. I will write honestly about the process here: the things that go wrong, the adjustments I make, the fabrics that did not work. That honesty is what makes a sewing community actually useful.

Let us Sew Together

I am so glad you are here. Whether you are an experienced sewist or someone who has just decided to pick up a needle and thread for the first time, SimoneSews.com is built for you. I will be here every week with new content, new tutorials, and eventually, new patterns.

If you want to follow along, the best way is to subscribe to the newsletter below — you will get every new post, early access to patterns, and the free Island Muse Fabric Guide as a welcome gift. You can also follow me on Instagram at @simonesews_, where I post behind-the-scenes content and project updates.

Here is to more handmade magic. Let the sewing adventures begin.