Interview with Lex of WhattheCraft.com
Last week I shared a blog post by Lex of Smarmy Clothes titled, Why is Buying Handmade so Expensive. That article brought tons of views to Whatthecraft.com and has been shared with millions of people around the world. Actually that is where I first found out about Smarmy, over a year ago I was shopping for woven tags and stumbled upon What The Craft where Lex herself shares over 50+ tutorials, sellers resources, tips and tricks, and so much more. I love her style, her attitude, and the fact that she is willing to share all of "secrets" that she has picked up along the way.
-Tell us a little about your biz, website, and any other projects you're involved in
I've been selling handmade clothing and accessories on my website, SmarmyClothes.com since 2005. I actually started selling stuff on Ebay in about 2003, but I didn't launch my site until the beginning of '05.
I started out mostly doing upcycled clothing. Reconstructing thrifted t-shirts and fabric. I do a lot of "from scratch" work now, but I don't think I'll ever be able to give up my thrift habits.
I also run WhatTheCraft.com, where I share sewing and craft tutorials and tips for other handmade sellers.
And I'm in a band called the Extreme Unicorns. We rock pretty hard. Check us out. ExtremeUnicorns.com
-How did you get started?
I learned to sew in middle school, but I didn't really get into it until later. I got totally addicted to thrift shopping and garage saling in high school. I used to just make a sad face and pass by the stuff that wouldn't fit me. And then one day I realized, "DUH! I know how to sew. I can MAKE it fit me!"
I messed around with sewing a little for myself, but it wasn't until I saw that there was a pretty substantial handmade phenomenon happening on Ebay that I thought, "I wanna do THAT."
I took it a little more seriously from there, but I was in nursing school, so it was still just a hobby. When I graduated in 2005, I decided I'd rather sew than do nursing, so that's what I did.
-Where did your inspiration come from?
I can find inspiration almost everywhere. I'm kind of all over the place. I love Japanese Street Fashion, I love vintage fashion, I love 80s neon craziness. A little bit of all of that winds up in my stuff.
-What advice would you give to someone starting out?
I have three favorite pieces of advice.
The first, and most important is: Just Do It. A lot of people get stuck in the oh-I'd-love-to-do-that phase and never get to the screw-it-I'm-doing-it phase, and then they never even try. At some point you have to just jump in there, get a little dirty, and make a lot of mistakes (which is good, because you will learn from them). This applies to everything in life, I think. If you want it, DO IT. You'll never get there just by dreaming.
The second is almost as important. And that is: practice, practice, practice. I get the impression that some people think you can just hop on a sewing machine and be a whiz at it, but it's a skill just like anything else. It requires time and patience to get good at it.
And lastly, don't bite off more than you can chew. Big goals are okay, but make sure there are small, logical steps in between. I get questions from people wanting to know how to draft patterns and through conversation it's revealed that they've not only never touched a sewing machine, they've never seen a commercial sewing pattern. It would be extremely difficult to draft a pattern from scratch in that situation, because you don't know what anything is supposed to look like! It would be much easier to practice sewing with some basic patterns, take apart some clothes and see how they're put together, and then start experimenting from there.
-Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Right now SmarmyClothes is really a one person show. My boyfriend helps with a ton of the email/social networking/computer stuff, but he's basically working for free.
In 5 years, I'd love to be at a point where both of us are making a comfortable living off of it. All I need to be happy is fabric and food, so I don't need to be rich. But it would be cool to not stress about all the money stuff.
-If someone were to interview you for a news article, what would your headline be?
Woman Sets World Record For Eating The Most Chicken Noodle Soup
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| Upcycled Sweater Dress |
I've been selling handmade clothing and accessories on my website, SmarmyClothes.com since 2005. I actually started selling stuff on Ebay in about 2003, but I didn't launch my site until the beginning of '05.
I started out mostly doing upcycled clothing. Reconstructing thrifted t-shirts and fabric. I do a lot of "from scratch" work now, but I don't think I'll ever be able to give up my thrift habits.
I also run WhatTheCraft.com, where I share sewing and craft tutorials and tips for other handmade sellers.
And I'm in a band called the Extreme Unicorns. We rock pretty hard. Check us out. ExtremeUnicorns.com
-How did you get started?
I learned to sew in middle school, but I didn't really get into it until later. I got totally addicted to thrift shopping and garage saling in high school. I used to just make a sad face and pass by the stuff that wouldn't fit me. And then one day I realized, "DUH! I know how to sew. I can MAKE it fit me!"
I messed around with sewing a little for myself, but it wasn't until I saw that there was a pretty substantial handmade phenomenon happening on Ebay that I thought, "I wanna do THAT."
I took it a little more seriously from there, but I was in nursing school, so it was still just a hobby. When I graduated in 2005, I decided I'd rather sew than do nursing, so that's what I did.
-Where did your inspiration come from?
I can find inspiration almost everywhere. I'm kind of all over the place. I love Japanese Street Fashion, I love vintage fashion, I love 80s neon craziness. A little bit of all of that winds up in my stuff.
-What advice would you give to someone starting out?
I have three favorite pieces of advice.
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| One of her favorite designs |
The second is almost as important. And that is: practice, practice, practice. I get the impression that some people think you can just hop on a sewing machine and be a whiz at it, but it's a skill just like anything else. It requires time and patience to get good at it.
And lastly, don't bite off more than you can chew. Big goals are okay, but make sure there are small, logical steps in between. I get questions from people wanting to know how to draft patterns and through conversation it's revealed that they've not only never touched a sewing machine, they've never seen a commercial sewing pattern. It would be extremely difficult to draft a pattern from scratch in that situation, because you don't know what anything is supposed to look like! It would be much easier to practice sewing with some basic patterns, take apart some clothes and see how they're put together, and then start experimenting from there.
-Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Right now SmarmyClothes is really a one person show. My boyfriend helps with a ton of the email/social networking/computer stuff, but he's basically working for free.
In 5 years, I'd love to be at a point where both of us are making a comfortable living off of it. All I need to be happy is fabric and food, so I don't need to be rich. But it would be cool to not stress about all the money stuff.
-If someone were to interview you for a news article, what would your headline be?
Woman Sets World Record For Eating The Most Chicken Noodle Soup
Connect with Lex:
Facebook: facebook.com/smarmyclothesdiy
Twitter: twitter.com/smarmyclothes
Tumblr: smarmyclothes.tumblr.com
Blog: smarmyclothes.com/blog
Tutorials: WhatTheCraft.com
Here are some of my favorite designs from Smarmy Clothes, what are yours?
I love Lex, and I love all my Smarments!
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