Everything you see here is handmade with love and care by me, Erin with lots of help from my girlfriend, Julia!

I am a third-generation craftswoman and a professionally trained seamstress. I have been fascinated with the magic of making things all my life, sewing for the better part of it and making patchwork clothing in particular for about 4 years now. 

Here's my new sewing space in our housebus!..........

 

 

I am blessed to have the opportunity to be crafting full-time and sharing my craft with you all. I have so much fun dreaming these clothes up and I expect that you'll have just as much fun wearing them.

I pour tons of time, energy, love and hard work into my clothes to make them as fabulous as they can be.  All seams are serged with a 4-thread serger for durability - they will not fray. My appliques are all hand-drawn, hand-cut, heat-bonded and then tightly satin-stitched. Each of the free-end threads on my appliques are then taken to the back by hand and knotted by hand.  Felt appliques are zig-zagged on without tight satin stitch because there's no worries about fraying.

Each of my pieces is made to last a lifetime and with proper care, they might just last longer. All of my fabrics are pre-washed so they will not shrink.  I recommend that if you want your piece to last as long as possible, you should keep it out of the dryer and any other situation where it is going to be beaten repeatedly or exposed to temperature extremes.  

About my materials - I use mostly vintage and recycled materials because they speak louder to me than commercially available fabrics. They demand to be used, seen and felt - and they really want to be mixed together! Mother Earth prefers that I use recycled materials. Many of my customers have told me that they feel the same way. Though my materials are pre-loved, they still have a lot of life in them. Rest assured that I only use the highest quality of recycled fabric in my work.

I wouldn't sew a stitch if it wasn't for the love and support of my partner, Julia. Most of the proceeds from The Patchwork Underground are going towards our building fund for our housebus! We're in the middle of converting the bus to run on veggie oil, gutting the interior, and making it into a house with photovoltaics, a fresh and grey water system, a woodstove, etc. When we're done, we plan on living in our bus full-time! You can check up on our building progress here.

Thanks for visiting The Patchwork Underground. Don't be a stranger - I love to make new friends and it's a big help to get feedback on my threads. Remember: I really love to do custom orders so don't be shy about getting me started on making your dream clothes into a reality! 

Thanks again for your visit. :)

Enjoy!

-Erin