My name is Suzannah Hamlin Stanley, blogger at Adventures in Dressmaking and author of not-yet-named upcoming book on clothing refashioning and DIY style.

Today I'm freaking out in a good way about a few things; it’s been a great but busy and crazy summer and fall. Just moved into our brand new townhouse last month and have been decorating and designing my heart out! (Like my tufting tutorial for my headboard, and some nicely lined floor-to-ceiling curtains in the living room, and some perfect-fit dining chair upholstery I did on some Parsons chairs…

Of course, I’m also totally excited about my book project, and love everything that I’m putting into it so far. Can’t wait to get everything ready to turn in so Potter Craft can work their magic and get it ready to share with the world!! It’s more than a sewing and refashioning book, since it’s based on my premise of, yes, you can do this yourself, it’s not that hard and you just need the right attitude! I’d love to see more people feel the power to change and fix and make their own clothes.

My crafting weapons of choice are the sewing machine and a good pair of fabric scissors. But, with the new house, I’ve done some great spray painting and even oil painting on a cool canvas painting—it’s HUGE! I love creative projects of all kinds, but I’m definitely most well-versed in sewing.

What I like best about sewing is you can make just about anything you want! I’ve learned to modify and draft my own patterns, so my options are pretty open. I’d rather make my own dress or top or whatever than buy one since I know it’ll be exactly the fit and style that I want.

What I find most challenging about sewing is finding good materials. The big mass-production clothing companies use very different fabric than is available at big box fabric stores, so unless I’m making something over (which I often am), it can be tricky to get the right weight, feel, print, color, texture, whatever it is to make the style I want.

I don’t really follow designers anymore. For style inspiration, I look at magazines and personal style blogs and when I shop, it’s usually at Goodwill and usually for pretty basic brands like Gap or Target. I also love Kate Spade, Cynthia Rowley, and Tracy Reese for pretty dresses!

If I ever stop creating, you'll find me reading a magazine? On a run? Watching a movie with my husband? (Except when I watch movies, I like to have something to do with my hands, like knit or bead or cut something out, so… I guess I’ll never stop crafting!)

The first thing I do when I wake up is brush my teeth, etc., and after all that normal routine stuff… I check my email, Twitter, Facebook, and blog and share about my latest post! And check out what’s new on Twitter—that can turn into a quite an adventure through other blogs and Pinterest!

I wish I would have known before starting my blog not to post so many terrible photos!!! I’ve come a long way but still struggle sometimes to find the right background. 

I can’t live without fruit. Love it, and my favorite luxury is chocolate--I make my own, so it’s not even unhealthy! 

My least favorite words are...bothers me when people overuse “plethora” or mispronounce “nuclear”.

The fictional character I relate to most is--would you judge me too much if I said Elle Woods from Legally Blonde? 

My favorite thing about making is POWER! To me, DIY means ANYTHING you want to do, figure it out yourself.

Thanks Suzannah! We totally agree! 

PS y'all, show off your own DIY POWER and enter our Kollabora Alt Summit Challenge, sponsored by BERNINA, if you're itching to win tickets to the forth annual Alt Summit in SLC! 

(Photos courtesy of Suzannah!)