est. 2005
About us
Sewing roots, styled for real life since 2005
Sew Mama Sew helps you put together outfits you love and make things with your own hands, with outfit ideas for every season, body and occasion, plus free sewing patterns and quilting guides.
2005Founded
ThousandsOutfit guides
2Editors & stylists
Our story
It began as a fabric shop in Oregon
Kristin Link opened Sew Mama Sew in December 2005 as an online fabric and supplies shop. A former middle-school teacher in the Portland area, she filled it with the prints and patterns she loved: Amy Butler cottons, Denyse Schmidt’s Flea Market Fancy, Decades of Style patterns and Sublime Stitching embroidery designs.
The blog started as a place to share tutorials and project ideas with customers, and it quickly became the heart of the site. Kristin brought in another former teacher, Beth Wilson, as editor, and together they built a community around it: Sew-Alongs, a Block of the Month quilt, Sewing With Kids, 10 Bags to Love, twice-yearly Giveaway Day and the annual Handmade Holidays master list. By 2014 Sew Mama Sew hosted nearly 500 sewing tutorials written with bloggers, designers and authors from around the sewing world.
This is how Kristin and Beth introduced themselves on the site:
“We travel with 14 handmade bags. We love dresses on little girls, made by great-grandmothers. We can identify fabric lines that came out 8 years ago. We love story time under handmade quilts. We love eager kids asking, ‘Is it done yet?’ We spend far too much time looking at what other people sew. We have vintage embroidery framed on our walls, piles of fabric next to the sewing machine and more WIPs than we’ll ever finish. We love the history, craft and artistry of sewing.”
Today Sew Mama Sew is where that love of clothes and making meets everyday style. Kristin, now a fashion stylist as well as our editor-in-chief, and Beth, our managing editor and family stylist, write outfit ideas for every season, body type, age and occasion, alongside the free sewing patterns and quilting guides that started it all.
“People have different ways of learning. Some people really need to hear it as well as see it to be able to understand it.”
Kristin Link, on teaching sewing online, Associated Press, 2012
2005
Sew Mama Sew opens in December as an online fabric shop in Oregon, stocking modern cottons, indie sewing patterns and Sublime Stitching embroidery designs.
2010
The shop, a blog full of sewing tutorials and giveaways, and a busy reader forum grow side by side under Sew Mama Sew LLC.
2014
The site has become a blog and sewing community with nearly 500 tutorials, Sew-Alongs, Block of the Month, Giveaway Day and Handmade Holidays.
Today
We add outfit ideas and styling for every season, body and occasion to the free sewing patterns and quilting guides readers have always come for.
Our team
Meet Kristin + Beth
Two former teachers who never stopped sewing, and who now style real outfits for real people. Every article on Sew Mama Sew is written, edited or reviewed by one of them, and the name on the article is the person who wrote it.
Owner, Editor-in-Chief & Fashion Stylist
Kristin Link
Kristin Link is mama to two girls and the owner of Sew Mama Sew, which she started in 2005 as an online fabric shop in Oregon. A former middle-school teacher, she adapted her love of teaching and training to the wonderful world of sewing, and she has taught sewing classes online. Today she is our editor-in-chief and lead author, and a fashion stylist who styles outfits hands-on, from everyday fall layers and color pairing to what to wear for weddings, travel and photo shoots. Her favorite things to sew are still bags, clothes and gifts for family and friends.
Managing Editor & Family Stylist
Beth Wilson
Beth Wilson is our managing editor and Kristin’s longtime business partner. Another former teacher, she works to make the blog both fun and informative. From childhood cross-stitch and doll clothes to dorm room quilt-making sessions, sewing has always been a part of Beth’s life, and she now sews with her son and daughter. As a family stylist she dresses the whole household hands-on: kids and babies, moms-to-be, and the men in the house.
Our mission
Five promises we have kept since the beginning
Our mission was written when Sew Mama Sew was a sewing blog, and it still guides us now that we write about style too. Clothes are something you make, choose and wear with care.
- Promote sewing and other needle crafts by providing instruction, inspiration and encouragement.
- Celebrate the work of talented quilters, sewists, writers and designers.
- Connect the historical foundations of quilting, sewing and needle crafts to current trends.
- Demonstrate ways to use new products, including fabric, patterns, books and tools.
- Respect our readers, contributors and partners.
What we cover
Outfits for every part of your life, and the patterns to make them
Thousands of outfit guides are organized by season, garment, body, occasion, aesthetic and life stage, so you can start from whatever question you have today.
819+ guides
Seasonal & Fall Outfits
Season-by-season outfit ideas, from summer-to-fall transitions and pumpkin patch days to cozy cold-weather layers.
Fall Outfits Travel & Vacation Work & Professional Outfits by Color Activity & Fitness Back to School Quilting
Editorial standards
How we create our content
Here is how an article is made at Sew Mama Sew, and the principles behind everything we publish.
01
Starting from a real question
We begin with what readers actually ask: what to wear to a vineyard wedding, how to layer for a warm day and a cold night, or which jeans work for a petite frame.
02
Styling it hands-on
Kristin and Beth style looks the way they do for real people, checking proportion, fabric weight, color and how an outfit moves through a full day.
03
Writing for your body and budget
Each guide explains how to adapt a look to different bodies, ages, climates and budgets, and what to swap if you already own something similar.
04
Editing and review
Every article is edited for accuracy, clarity and tone before it goes live. Kristin, our editor-in-chief, and Beth, our managing editor, oversee this review.
05
Keeping it current
We revisit our guides when trends, seasons or products change, and we fix reported errors promptly.
Our principles
Written by people who style and sew
Our outfit guides come from hands-on styling, and our patterns and tutorials from years at the sewing machine. We never put a name on work that person did not do.
Every body, every age
We write for plus size, petite, tall and midsize bodies, for moms-to-be, for kids, and for women in their teens through their sixties and beyond.
Practical, not just pretty
Every idea should leave you with something you can use: a combination to try tomorrow, a piece worth buying, or a pattern you can sew this weekend.
Independent recommendations
We choose what to feature on its merits. When an article includes sponsored content or affiliate links, we say so clearly on that page.
Respect for the craft
We credit the designers, quilters and makers whose work we share, and we connect today’s trends to the long history of sewing and needle crafts.
Corrections welcome
If you spot an error, tell us through our contact page. We review every report and update the article when a correction is needed.
Makers we learn from
Designers, quilters and collections we follow
These 14 designers, makers and institutions shape how we think about clothes and making. Their patterns, books and collections inform the techniques and standards in our work.
Garment sewing & pattern making (4) Quilting & fabric design (5) Needlework & embroidery (2) Fashion history & collections (3)
Garment sewing & pattern making
TW
Tilly Walnes
Author of Love at First Stitch (2014) and a contestant on the first series of The Great British Sewing Bee.
CP
Closet Core Patterns
Formerly Closet Case Patterns; its Ginger jeans pattern (2014) is one of the most widely sewn home jeans patterns.
GS
Grainline Studio
Known for the Archer Button Up, a modern classic among shirt patterns for home sewists.
S
Seamwork
A sewing magazine and pattern library built around wearable, everyday garments.
Quilting & fabric design
TG
The Modern Quilt Guild
Founded in 2009 by Alissa Haight Carlton and Latifah Saafir; has run QuiltCon since 2013.
KF
Kaffe Fassett
His 1988 exhibition at the V&A was the museum’s first solo show for a living textile artist.
EH
Elizabeth Hartman
Modern quilt pattern designer who wrote the Fabric Focus series for Sew Mama Sew in 2009.
KM
Kathy Mack
Quilter and fabric shop owner; guest writer on Sew Mama Sew and Kristin’s co-guest on a 2014 craft-industry podcast.
AP
Anna Maria Parry
Fabric designer and author (formerly Anna Maria Horner) whose first fabric collection launched in 2005.
Needlework & embroidery
JH
Jenny Hart
Independent embroidery pattern company since 2001; its patterns were on Sew Mama Sew’s shelves in 2005.
RN
Royal School of Needlework
Founded in 1872 and based at Hampton Court Palace since 1987.
Fashion history & collections
TF
The Museum at FIT
Holds more than 50,000 garments and accessories from the 18th century to today.
VC
V&A Fashion Collection
One of the world’s great collections of dress, from historic tailoring to contemporary design.
TI
The Costume Institute
The Met’s fashion department, whose collection spans centuries of clothing and accessories.
Work with us
Sponsors, partners and contributors
If you represent a business that is passionate about sewing, quilting, needlework or fashion, we’d love to hear from you. We work with like-minded businesses in a variety of ways. Designers and bloggers who would like to contribute a project or article are welcome to get in touch too.
Brand promotion
We help get your name and image out there through ads and sponsored posts, always clearly labeled.
Product promotion
We can spread the word about your new pattern, fabric line or product through features, reviews and social media.
Creative content
Let’s put our heads together on tutorials, styling features and collaborations that help you meet your goals.
To talk about a partnership or contribution, contact us.
Fresh from the blog
Latest outfit ideas
50 Zombie Costume Ideas for a Seriously Spooky Halloween
50 Zombie Apocalypse Outfits for a Gritty Halloween Look
50 Wonder Woman Costume Ideas for a Bold Halloween Look
50 Witch Outfit Ideas for an Enchanting Halloween Party
50 Witch Costume Ideas for a Spellbinding Halloween Look
50 Velma Costume Ideas for a Clever, Cozy Halloween Look
50 Vampire Outfit Ideas for a Dark and Dramatic Halloween
50 Vampire Costume Ideas for a Hauntingly Chic Halloween
50 Subway Surfers Costume Ideas for a Fun Halloween Party
50 Strawberry Shortcake Costume Ideas for a Sweet Party Look
Get in touch
We’d love to hear from you
Questions, corrections, styling requests or collaboration ideas all reach Kristin and Beth, and a real person reads every message.