Get to know the makers behind the labels! That’s the idea of our ‘Meet the Makers’ series. Each week we feature one designer and their collection of patterns on Makerist.com; generally with a 40% off promotion. Me, and the team are constantly inspired by the pattern creators, their backgrounds, stories and tipps. So in combination with our Designer of the Week, we want to present you the ‘Maker’ behind the designer. This week, I got the chance to talk with Sue Kim from the pattern label IThinkSew. You can find all her patterns on Makerist.com.
Meet the Maker – Sue Kim from IThinkSew
- Describe yourself in 3 sentences – name, age, location, hobbies and interests etc..
My name is Sue Kim. I am 49 years old currently living in South Korea. My hobbies are sewing and quilting. Currently the project taking up the most of my time is writing a children’s book using my own dolls. So, I’m making dolls, miniature furniture, and other props required for the project.
- How did you find sewing as a passion and what was it that made you decide to become a pattern designer?
When I was in the 3rd grade of my elementary school, I made my first tote bag by myself using leftover green velvet fabric. I made it by hand stitching it! At that time, I had experience making doll clothing so I guess that’s where it started. Although I quickly figured out I liked sewing, in my teenage and younger years I was too busy studying to regularly sew.
When my daughter became 3-year old, my husband bought a sewing machine as a Christmas present. That’s when I started to sew again. One day, I went to the quilt shop to buy some fabric and the shop owner saw the bag that I made. She asked me to sell my bag patterns at her store. Starting from local quilt stores, I originally designed the patterns for a local and small audience. A few months later, I had my own website running – made by my husband – and I was off.
- Do you consider sewing and pattern design a hobby or is this your full time job? Are you lucky enough to be able to concentrate fully on sewing?
Yes, I’m very lucky! I’m full-time sewing pattern designer and author. I’m running my pattern selling website, author for C&T Publishing, and sometimes even other publications.
- What’s the best sewing tip you can offer? How did you discover it?
There are so many technical aspects that I could not possibly cover, but there are two tips to having fun with sewing.
First, after finishing your sewing project, show your project to your friends and relatives. The positive compliments will encourage you to keep your sewing hobby.
And secondly, no matter what, find a sewing buddy! In my experience teaching a lot of sewing classes, it becomes easy to make friends and socialize with other people when doing it in a group. I often call the sewing machine a “confession machine” since it is so good at getting people together. Find a friend – or even better, a group of friends – that you can sew with and have a good time.
- What’s the latest sewing project you’ve completed?
From when I was 10 years old until now, I’ve been made a lot of dolls. I’ve always enjoyed making dolls. Even at an early age, dolls have been a passion of mine. The most recent project that I completed is exactly that! I finished my first children’s doll story book called “Grandma’s Special Birthday”.
