Today’s episode is more in the summer of stitch series, this time with a very different kind of maker. Claire-Louise Hardie is a costumier and sewing teacher, expert in making clothes and understanding how clothes work and how they make us feel. This is a really fun conversation exploring very different things than this podcast usually covers and it was great to talk to Claire-Louise and share this with you. It’s a great excuse for me to think about clothing construction, the importance of fabric in telling stories and all the nerdy details of working with museum objects, which I have really loved. I also love the way she ended this conversation by celebrating how sewing is such a varied activity and there are so many branches of it, united by this wonderful experience of making stuff.
Claire-Louise Hardie is a respected UK sewing expert who is well positioned in the home sewing community. Originally trained as a costume designer, she has had an illustrious career working in all aspects of costume for theatre, film and television. Her diverse professional experience made her an ideal candidate for the role of Sewing Producer for TV’s The Great British Sewing Bee from 2012 to 2016. She authored the award-winning tie-in book, Fashion with Fabric.
In 2009 Claire-Louise began teaching home sewing as The Thrifty Stitcher, reigniting her own love of dressmaking. She is a long-standing columnist for the UK magazine, Love Sewing. Claire-Louise gained a master’s degree in digital pattern technology from London College of Fashion in 2020 and is committed to being a lifelong learner.
Claire-Louise’s focus is now on creating educational content, both written and video, around intermediate dressmaking via her membership elevate your sewing. She is also currently a part-time styling assistant on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. Her favourite way to make clothes for herself is to clone an existing best-loved garment or to alter a second hand find.
Links
The Thrifty Stitcher
Buy Claire-Louise’s book Clone Your Clothes
Play here
Download the full transcript here
Love books about textiles? Find my list of books by podcast guests, by me and ones we are reading for the Textile Book Group here on my Bookshop.org shop.
Ruth Singer 
Let me know what you think