Me wearing the Adeline top I made.
About Me
I’m Lisa (she/her), a 30-something human. I’m ixed English/Filipino, and consider myself British and European. I’m a senior software engineering consultant by trade, a maker, and a nerd for learning.
I live in the beautiful city of York with my husband and our three cats. When I’m not making clothes, you’ll probably find me doing one of these things:
- Reading: I like literary fiction, sci-fi/fantasy, and nature writing.
- Listening to podcasts: Some of my favourites are The Modern Mann, Hard Fork, and Dear Hank and John.
- Gaming: Generally adventure games, metroidvanias, RPGs, and puzzlers.
- Running: I’m a slow poke, but I have managed a couple of half marathons. Currently retraining after injuries.
- Cooking: Many of my repeat recipes come from Meera Sodha and Cookie and Kate.
- Hiking: Some of my fondest memories involve hiking boots and walking poles.
Machine: Janome HD3000; mittens: model’s own
Sewing
I started sewing in 2016, after coming across some tutorials on Pinterest, and thinking, “Hey, I could do that!” I devoured the book Love At First Stitch, and the tutorials by Made To Sew on YouTube, and suddenly I was making skirts and dresses.
Over the years, I’ve done a fair bit of pattern testing and content creation for indie designers. I love to contribute to the indie sewing community that has taught and inspired me so much over the years. I’ve also learned pattern drafting which feels like an insane amount of creative power that I haven’t fully tapped into yet.
My setup:
• Janome HD3000 for my main machine. It’s heavy duty so it can sew through anything, and it’s super robust. It’s mechanical, with no digital screen or fancy features, which is exactly what I like.
• Janome 6234XL as my overlocker, also a really solid machine.
My fabric cutting preference is weights and a rotary cutter, and I’m firmly on team trace. I like PDF patterns, but I much prefer paper because taping takes ages! I’m also a huge perfectionist - getting things exactly right is an unparalleled satisfaction for me.
Prepping for a knitting project.
Knitting
I started knitting back in 2012, quite a while before I started sewing. I was in a bit of a hobby-seeking phase at the time - I’d dabbled with photography and bonsai trees (!) - but knitting was the one that spoke to me on a deep level. I bought a copy of Stitch ’n Bitch: The Knitters Handbook by Debbie Stoller, some cheap acrylic yarn and some insanely long straight needles, and quickly became addicted!
I started out with scarves, shawls and soft toys, and nowadays I predominantly make jumpers. I knit with the flicking method, which is a form of English knitting, but faster. I do a lot of knitting in front of the TV, so my favourite thing to do is stockinette in the round, but I also knit plenty of cable, lace and fair isle pieces.
This Website
This is a personal website - my own home on the web. Its purpose is to centralise my digital identity, and to be a space that I have true ownership over. I built it after becoming disenchanted with the big homogenised platforms on the web. If you’d like to know more about the tools I use to build and manage it, check out the website colophon and the coding category on my blog.