SANDRA'S JOURNAL... from the studio

In her final instalment, guest writer Sandra Gutierrez of Nomad Stitches looks forward to springtime and nature’s wealth of inspiration

- Sandra Gutierrez

Making garments and accessories for myself was something I started as a teenager. Ever since then I started designing my own projects, partly because I just wanted to experiment with stitches and shapes, but mostly because I had specific ideas of what I wanted to add to my wardrobe and just had to make them!

For example, when I wanted to wear a cropped sweater over my dresses and didn’t own one, I simply made one. When it got cold and I needed a hat, I made one too. I think this is the best reason to make garments and accessories as it means that you will definitely wear what you make.

MY STYLE JOURNEY

This means that I inject a lot of my own personal style into my designs and that is not always a great thing. I mean, it’s good to have a sense of what your style is and share that with the world, I think. But growing up I was the kid in the oversized red T-shirt, black-and-white-striped skirt and worn green Converse trainers. Nobody who knows me well would ever call me subtle, and I understand that this aesthetic is not for everyone! So, as a designer who creates patterns for other people to make and wear, I had to learn to connect to other sides of my style inspiration and personality.