About Elizabeth Made This

So there you are, binge watching Netflix, minding your own business when you see some outfit that stops you dead in your tracks.

You think, “Hey, I can make something like that,” but where do you start?

Here at Elizabeth Made This, it’s my mission to help you sew something creative. You’ll find step by step tutorials, DIY refashioning and pattern hacking ideas, and sewing concepts explained.

Everything is sprinkled with creativity glitter and geared towards giving you a wide base of sewing knowledge that will help you fearlessly make decisions when you fire up your sewing machine.

I’ve found that so many home sewists learn to sew with patterns, but then they feel stuck when they want to add their own spin.

That’s why my joy is giving you the WHY behind sewing techniques and not just the how.

When you know the why, you can improvise and adapt patterns on your feet! I want you to be able to walk away not just ready to make that inspiration outfit, but feeling free to experiment to make it even better.

One of the things my readers love is the encouragement you’ll find here to choose your own adventure as you sew. Because in the end, creativity starts with just deciding to try!

Meet Elizabeth

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Hey, I’m Elizabeth. I’m a Mom to 4, and wife to one awesome guy. We live in Colorado in view of the majestic Rockies. We love nerdy hardcore board games and all things baseball.

Other things about me–I’ve played violin since I was 7. I’ve played at church since age 15, and I teach violin too. I often don’t have parts written out for me. I’m always being called on to use all my musical knowledge I’ve accumulated over a lifetime to improvise harmonies, melodies, and accompaniments. Now, you may ask what the heck that has to do with sewing, and I’ll tell you!

On improv

Improv is everything! Your knowledge of the basics can be the fuel that leads you to making stuff up right where you stand. That knowledge is what gets the Project Runway contestants through those awesome Unconventional Materials challenges!

My sewing superhero origin story

My Gram taught me to sew by hand as a kid. I kept doing that all the way until I got married. I stitched by hand:

• doll clothes,
• 8 separate twin sized yoyo quilts (obsession!)
• a duvet that sat on my college dorm room.

Weirdest thing I sewed by hand?

A vest with yoyos circa junior high. It was gloriously unstylish, and it is a deep regret that I don’t have it anymore!

And then came the Janome

After I got married and hand-sewed 5 yards worth of cotton that I had first block printed into curtains for our apartment, I got a sewing machine, LOL!

I swore I’d never sew clothes because I didn’t want my stuff to have that “homemade” look.

Ha! That lasted 1 hot second until I was pregnant with my oldest son. I hated the maternity clothes selection, so I picked up a Butterick pattern, made a really loud spring green dress and the rest is history.

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From there there’s nothing I won’t sew. Gnomey the Janome has been through jeans, jackets, a cosplay Doctor Who 10th Doctor suit for my Mr., so many coats, and clothes for a line of upcycled garments for SEWN Denver. Yeah, and I painted a faux leather jacket just to see if it could be done.

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I’m always looking to extend my skills, challenge my abilities and probably throw some dye at it. There’s a lot of dye I throw at my clothes! Check out my ice dyeing tutorial if you think I exaggerate for the sake of an about page.

My work has appeared in Seamwork, Altered Couture, and I’m a guest blogger for the Fabric Mart Fabricistas and Minerva blog.

As I work on expanding out my site here, I’ll be adding more to my YouTube sewing tutorials as well.

If there’s anyone that can teach you to boost your sewing creativity, I want to be that person for you!

Here’s some of my favorite posts:

And join my newsletter so I can send you sewing tips and inspiration and chat about all things happy in the world of sewing and DIY.