"Making your clothes fit your body:" Kate Weiss's radical approach to sewing

LOUISVILLE — While sewing has been a skill honed by humans for decades and is the subject of infinite how-to books, local author Kate Weiss is hoping her book fills a gap within sewing literature.

“Radical Sewing: Pattern-free, Sustainable Fashions for All Bodies” was published in 2021 as Weiss’s first and only book.

Radical Sewing can be purchased from booksellers online, at local shops, such as Carmichael’s Bookstore and Louisville Fiber Supply, and borrowed from Lousiville Free Public Library.

Not only is Weiss an experienced seamstress and talented fabric artist, but she earned a degree in creative writing and follows a career working in the book industry.

Her book covers sewing basics, best practices and tips and tricks most people learn through many bouts of trial and error. Weiss’s guide aims to help anyone interested in learning to sew, regardless of gender, body type or previous experience.

Unlike most authors who write books and then seek out publication, Weiss was approached by a publisher, Microcosm, to see if she’d be interested in writing a book. Once considering the proposal, Weiss realized that she had extensive sewing experience and an understanding of unique topics she could tackle.

Microcosm Publishing and Distribution turned out to be the perfect company to help Weiss address the lack of inclusion of different bodies' shapes and sizes in sewing literature.

The publisher strives to equip readers to make positive changes in the world and their lives with books and zines about DIY skills, gender, self-care, social justice, etc., according to its website.

“I think a lot of how-to-sew books are like ‘here's a frilly dress,’ and refer to the sewer as a female person and don't make accommodations for large bodies or male bodies or people that have gender dysphoria,” Weiss said.

Radical Sewing addresses all bodies when it comes to sewers measuring themselves, including notes for people who have had top surgery, bind, pack, and are plus-sized.

This lack of inclusion in sewing was something Weiss said she just felt.

“I don't know if it was really a conscious thing. I noticed it from a lived experience perspective,” she said.

Though she was worried about how some of these topics may be received by the public, Weiss was relieved to realize that it was not a concern for most people who have read her book.

Weiss’s writing is not just radical in that it includes these often taboo topics, but it is also radical in that the maker is at the forefront of the narrative, helping them be in control of the clothes they put on their bodies.

“One of the most magical, radical, amazing, wonderful things about sewing your own clothes is that it’s not about making your body fit into your clothes. It’s about making your clothes fit your body,” Weiss stated in Radical Sewing.

In her book, Weiss described how individuals who decide to make clothes that cater to their unique size and shape are acknowledging that their body is right and deserves to have clothes that reflect that.

Weiss noted that when equipped with the necessary skills, clothes can be used to improve mental health and allow people to express themselves.

“There's something about using your brain to focus on one step and then the next that I think is both very healthy and very calming,” she said.

It was while feeling confident in a jacket she made that Weiss ended up securing her book deal for Radical Sewing at a conference.

“One of the sales reps [for Microcosm] was like, ‘Oh, your jacket’s really neat.’ And I've been working on instead of ‘Thanks’ saying ‘Thanks, I made it,’ and she was like ‘Oh really, you made your jacket? Would you be interested in writing a book?”

Acknowledging that she made an item of clothing that she receives compliments on is one way Weiss takes pride in herself and her homemade wardrobe.

Sewers being proud of and owning their unique creations can help to reframe what it means to have ‘homemade clothes.’ Weiss stated that having clothing made from scratch has not always been desirable and was even a little embarrassing.

“We should be proud of our grandparents who made their own clothes and made do and mended things. I think it should be a source of pride, not a source of shame,” Weiss said.

This pride can start with the individual and move on to influence society’s perception of ‘homemade clothes.’

Further instilling the idea that sewing is personal, Radical Sewing is not a book full of patterns for sewers to follow, but it focuses on equipping anyone with the skills to create whatever they desire.

"I find it really empowering and interesting. I mean there's engineering, there's art, there's design," Weiss said.

Though sewing has always been in Weiss’s family, she said that the art kind of snuck up on her over the years. She started her homemade wardrobe in her early to mid-20s to take control of her economic and environmental role in society.

Fast fashion, or the mass production and consumption of clothes, has been on the rise since the ’90s and is not expected to slow down in the coming years.

A World Resources Institute study reported that the apparel industry contributed to about 2% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions in 2019. The report stated that without intervention and change, apparel industry emissions will increase by 4.1% by 2030.

In addition to the environmental impact, fast fashion supports harmful working conditions and unfair payment for millions of workers globally, as reported by Reuters.

“I think that I felt sort of helpless to not participate in that system of exploitation, ” Weiss said.

When people take the production of their clothes into their own hands, they are rejecting fast fashion and making a statement about wanting to know what conditions their clothes were made under and what waste was created in the process, Weiss explained in her book.

Every once in a while though, Weiss will still purchase a t-shirt from Target, along with used clothes and fabric.

“I don't think it's like an all-or-nothing thing. It’s doing what you can, and it's also just fun,” she said.

Though sewing can be frustrating while working through a problem, Weiss often finds the process to be meditative, allowing her to zone out when she wants.

“I find it really empowering and interesting. I mean there's engineering, there's art, there's design sometimes,” she said.

Teaching sewing has also become a passion for Weiss. She works as a Master Clothing Volunteer for the University of Kentucky’s Family and Consumer Sciences Extension teaching others to sew across Jefferson County.

Next year, Weiss is hoping to teach sewing classes at Louisville Fiber Supply, a fiber art material store that opened in September. The author is also working on a zine about the sewing technique of darning.

Radical Sewing can be purchased from booksellers online, at local shops, such as Carmichael’s Bookstore and Louisville Fiber Supply, and borrowed from Lousiville Free Public Library.