There’s something about the term “self-taught” that never quite sat right for me. We don’t exist in a vacuum, none of us are making in isolation (or, the vast majority of us are not). I first learned about sewing by watching my mother at her inherited machine (my father’s mother’s), sewing our halloween costumes. I have a vague memory of taking my first stitches by hand on a quilt (for a distant relative’s wedding?). I’ve googled the living shit out of sewing tutorials, read countless blogs on how to sew, taken classes when I’ve been able to, done skill-trades.

I didn’t teach myself. I researched, stayed interested and curious, yes - but I had and have many teachers, knowing and unknowing. I was thinking a lot about collective work & ‘success’, community support and care as I made this jacket.

The quilt top was a gift to me by Carolyn, she thrifted it in the Bay before heading back to NYC. The quilt top was almost entirely hand-stitched. Almost - what’s so interesting to me about this quilt top is that it had one or two very short seams that were machine stitched - it was otherwise entirely hand-pieced (a messy handpiecing - a person after my own heart, I like to think).

The backing is made of a flat sheet that belongs to Josh, he bought it from Ikea when he moved to California in 2011, drawn to the color with the hope of keeping it stain-free. The cotton batting is organic, and I bought it with my staff discount back when I worked at AVFKW.

The thread is naturally dyed, I bought it in Guatemala from a collective of women weavers & dyers, Textil Flor de Pericon, on a trip with my family before we celebrated my sister’s marriage.

The binding is mostly pieced together from the scraps I made while cutting the quilt, and the spots that needed bias binding are bound with bias tape I found in my grandmother’s sewing hutch (I think they belonged to my mom, though). The places where I hand-tacked the binding down, I used thread that I believe also belonged to my grandmother.

The jacket pattern is the Wiksten Haori. I cut it out back in 2018, with a lot of encouragement from my friend, Jordan. At the time, I cut fabric pieces for it, and she generously sewed it together for me - I was too afraid of my sewing machine, too worried about making some un-fixable mistake. The quilted version was inspired by all the people who’ve posted their own quilted versions, making me realize it wasn’t a fool’s errand.

This quilted coat is the result of community support & care. The materials, the skills, the inspiration - it all came from outside of me. Yes, my hands put the pieces together, but it was the result of the work of so many others. I want to acknowledge, celebrate, and give my gratitude for the work that all those who - knowing and unknowing, made this jacket come to life.