Co-Founder
Product Design
Research
Qualitative Research
Facilitation
Strategy
lllustration
Co-founder:
Fellow Sewist with a background in marketing
Initially 5 months
In 2019 I began sewing most of my wardrobe and discovered a large, highly connected group of home sewers who call themselves "Sewists". In those early days of my sewing journey, I picked up new skills on YouTube, blogs, and social media.
I was interested in building a digital product for other folks who sew. I met another sewist with a marketing and social media background and we decided to team up.
We identified a challenge most sewists had: Sewing clothing that fits well.
Together we ran a 3-phase user study with 17 participants. You can read about our findings here.
Sewists find fulfillment in wearing the finished garment
Many sewists come to sewing as a form of self-care
Sewists have many resources to learn from
Making garments that fit as desired is the most common challenge sewists face
We saw an opportunity to solve their problem with technology
We shared our results with the wider sewing community. It was well received and we got a lot of engagement.
I created 2 personas to encapsulate the archetypes of the sewists we spoke to.
We decided to focus on solutions to help Rory and Liz select patterns that would fit them the way they want.
I facilitated design studios and sketching exercises to generate ideas.
After a competitive analysis and some more testing with users, we decided to flesh out the idea of a “find your perfect fit tool” that could function as a marketplace between sewists and pattern designers
The primary user journey of this concept is:
“I Want to choose a jumpsuit sewing pattern, so I can sew a garment that fits me well without a lot of fitting adjustments.” - Liz
We found that sewists usually search for patterns and inspiration on their phones, so I focused on a mobile first approach to this design solution.
The goal of onboarding is to give the app enough measurement data to surface accurate recommendations.
Pattern makers in the market place will have a web based interface to add detailed pattern measurements to help sewists discover their products. Our research found that independent pattern designers struggle and dislike marketing their products so they would be incentivised to include their patterns in this marketplace.
The app would help sewists find select patterns based on their personal measurements and would be able to recommend necessary pattern adjustments.
Illustration Styles
Research: Sharing the results of our study gave us credibility within the sewist community. If we were to continue we would want to continue sharing updates and asking for feedback to build community awareness around the product.
Total Addressable Market: The sewist community is a relatively small market and there may not be enough money in this space to invest in building a digital product.
SME: I either needed to find a subject matter expert or become one. I opted to become one