About Me

Thanks so much for visiting Thistle & Bean.  I'm Kate, a librarian by day & creatrix by night... I love to sew, knit, paint, cook, and -as my profession belies- read. I have a penchant for vintage and retro and I love to treasure hunt at thrift stores. I'm also really inspired by Japanese Street Fashion - especially Mori Kei and Dolly Kei, that have an upcycled aesthetic & reuse vintage pieces in new ways.

I learned to sew from my mom and from my paternal grandmother when I was a little girl.  I volunteered for lots of community theatre productions in middle school and high school making costumes and I worked for a theatre making costumes in college. I learned to knit shortly after graduating and for a couple of years, I made lots of my own clothing.

A decade went by that I didn't sew clothes for myself. In the interim, I did a lot of liturgical sewing and making tiny outfits for Blythe dolls... but all that changed when I found my dream sewing machine in November 2013. (It's a vintage Husquvarna 5610.)

Finding the machine of my dreams, which is very similar to the machine I learned to sew with growing up, brought me back to the profound joy of making one's own clothes.  In fact, it has rekindled my love of all things sewn.

I've also drawn massive inspiration from the me-made movement of bloggers and indie pattern companies that have sprung up since I last sewed for myself... and I wanted to be a part of it all - thus Thistle & Bean was born. I can also be found on Ravelry.