We are recording today on the traditional ancestral and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwa Kwa Kwa Kiwak peoples, including Slaywa Tooth, Squamish, Musqueam, and Comox First Nations.

Hello and welcome to Love To So! I'm Helen, the designer behind Helen's closet patterns, and I'm Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

We're two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey too.

Join us for today's interview with Tabitha Sower!

Hello, Tabitha, thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Hi, how are you ladies? I'm excited to be here.

We're so excited to have you. We're doing well. We can't wait to chat with you today. Can you please introduce yourself to our listeners?

Sure, my name is Tabitha Sower. I am a DIY content creator, and I've been sewing for about... I would say about 12 to 13 years now, and I'm absolutely obsessed with it.

Ooh, we're gonna get into all of that today, and where are you from?

It's funny when people ask me that question because I'm a military brat, so I've lived just about everywhere.

We moved every three years when I was a kid, so I can't really call one specific location home, but I'm currently living in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Nice, and you yourself were in the military too, right?

I was in the United States Air Force for 10 and a half years.

Wow, it's so funny because your personal style, I feel like, is like the opposite of what I would expect in the military.

No one would ever guess that I was in the United States Air Force wearing boots, the hat, the uniform, all that good stuff.

So can you take us back to your early days of learning to sew and tell us a little bit about how you learned to sew and when that was?

I don't know if a lot of people know this, but my mom sells, and she went to school for sewing and growing up,

I always saw her sew for so many people, neighbors, friends, all that good stuff.

She tried to teach me when I was a kid, but I was like sewing is for grandma, so no, I don't want to learn how to sew.

And then when I got out of the military after serving, I went back to school and I wanted to do something else other than homework,

being at home with a kid and doing homework, I just thought that it was so boring, I needed something for myself.

And also I had severe anxiety, so I taught myself how to sew a little bit, and I would call her to ask her some advice and how to help me get started and things like that.

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