As it’s Make it With us in May—our annual time to revisit the In the Folds pattern archive—I thought it would be fun to show you where all that work has come to life over the years.
I recently moved house, and with that decided it was time to bring my studio home. It had been a long time coming, and something that I had remained in denial about since having my daughter at the end of 2022. But my way of working was no longer sustainable.
I will introduce you to my studio today It’s nothing fancy, but possibly the most practical studio I have had so far. And I also thought it would be a good time to go back down memory lane through past studios. Each represents a different time in my life and my business… and now that ITF is in its 10th year, there have been a few!
studio 1 - finding my feet
When I started In the Folds, a kind friend allowed me to use a room in his workplace for a few months while I got on my feet. It was nothing fancy as it was temporary, but it gave me a feel for having my own space dedicated to running my new business. It’s where I was when I released my very first pattern - the Rushcutter dress.
Studio 2 - A realisation about what I need and want
I realised after a while that I wanted to be around other creatives, and also needed something more permanent.
I found a small studio in a local creative space that I thought was perfect—close to home, nice people, etc—but after a few weeks, I realised it wasn’t quite the right fit. I was new to the whole studio thing and hadn’t thought about how important natural light was to me, and this place didn’t have much of that. And although the people were lovely, they were barely there and I was often alone in my dark little space.
The only photo I seem to have of this space is me sitting in a space outside of my studio trying to get some natural light to do some hand sewing!
Studio 3 - True friendship and community
After a while I decided it was time for something bigger and brighter. I had met Kate Brookes @sewingwithkate and we decided to find a studio together.
We found the perfect place that was close to home, had great light and great people. This will go down as my favourite studio of all. The woman running the creative space became my “studio wife” and I revelled in having a place where there were like-minded women to speak to every day as we all worked away on creative pursuits. Painters and sculptors worked alongside sewists and patternmakers and we shared the highs and lows of working and living a creative life.
Eventually Kate moved out and I stayed there on my own, expanding to take over more of the space. This studio was also special to me as it’s where I was when I hired my first employee, Alys @unpicked.studio and she became part of this special group of creative women.
This is the studio where I feel my business completely shifted. It went from more of a hobby to a real business, with an employee and solid plan for the future. It is where I was when we launched Curated.
Studio 4 - A house move = a studio move
In 2020, my partner and I felt a yearning for community in a way we hadn’t before then. We were living in the area where I had grown up, but no longer felt like we had enough of a community around us. We decided it was time for a change of scenery, so we moved closer to the city. I was in denial and hoped I could continue traveling to my studio, but over time it became unsustainable so I was back on the hunt for a new home for ITF.
I found a studio through one of my teaching colleagues. She was in a studio in a huge creative space in the inner west of Sydney. I never knew quite how many creatives were in there (20? 30?) but I found a home there in a bright and lovely space. It was a lovely studio with a lovely community and I enjoyed being in the space.
I had my daughter while working in this studio, and I felt a big shift in how I was working. My studio had always been a sanctuary—my space to focus, create, and breathe—but with a breastfeeding infant and very little outside support, it became almost impossible to get there. When I did, it felt rushed and frantic—no longer the calm refuge it had been for so long. Or I’d be there, but have her with me, strapped to me in a carrier or napping in her baby nest on the floor.
It was the first time I’d had to reconsider what being a creative looked like for me, not just in the hours I had, but in the way I worked and how I felt doing it. I ended up working from home whenever I could. Many probably imagine that my workday is all sewing and patternmaking, but it isn’t really. I’d say that about 20% of the time I am working with my hands, sewing and patternmaking, while the rest of the time I am working on my computer - writing patterns, formatting patterns, writing emails, managing my team, researching… and the list goes on.
So working from home has become easier as my job has become more and more computer heavy. I was living in a small one bedroom apartment with my partner and a toddler though, so it was never an option to bring the hands-on side of my business home.
I was in this studio until a huge rent increase on the building meant we all had to move out, which was hard and sad and stressful.
Studio 5 - A realisation that I needed a change
The next studio I found was a studio with 2 of my friends from the place that I had just left. We took a bit of a risk, and due to there not being many affordable spaces around we took a space that was probably a bit small for the 3 of us. We thought that with a bit of space-saving hackery we could make work it work... And we did… Kind of. We all had a corner and managed to fit the necessary things in that we needed.
But I found myself barely going to the studio, instead working from home whenever I could. Parking was hard, the space was small and cluttered and I just didn’t enjoy being there when I did manage to get there. I was working from home more and more. The idea of working from home started to feel less like a compromise and more like a relief.
As our daughter grew and our needs as a family were changing, my partner and I started considering a move a little further out of town but with a bit more space. As soon as we began thinking about this, I realised I was ready for a home studio. I had to stop kidding myself and pretending I would go back to the studio on a more regular basis. It’s easy to get caught up in the idea of what you want life to look like, rather than the reality. The reality was that I was finding it difficult to get myself sorted along with getting my daughter to childcare and then get to my studio. It all was becoming too hard. The thought of being able to get my daughter off to daycare and then wander out to my studio was bliss! The idea that I didn’t have to think about lunch in the morning, could just walk up when I was ready and look in the fridge was what I needed for the season I’m in.
Studio 6 - A home studio for the season
And here I am at studio number 6! In my garage where I can see my daughter playing in the garden and I can run up to the house for a cup of tea. It may not be the most glamorous of all the studios I have inhabited, but it really is the most functional for where I’m at right now.
Each of these studios tells a part of the In the Folds story. Right now, it’s about adaptability, realism, and making space—literally and figuratively—for the season I’m in.
The season when I might need to work after my daughter goes to sleep, or might need to work in my pyjamas, or have a sit in the garden with a cup of tea between projects. It’s the season for accepting the reality of where I’m at and knowing that one day, when my daughter is bigger I may be able to work outside of the house again. But for now, my home studio is just what I need.
Happy sewing,
Emily