Rosie is the CEO of Sew Over It and has been sewing all her life. She is mostly self-taught but has spent the last ten years building on her skills by learning from the Sew Over It teachers. Rosie makes everything she wears and is really interested in getting the fitting spot on, as she has always found it tricky to find clothes that fit her perfectly on the High Street. For Rosie, being able to have a shirt or shirt dress that didn’t gape open was a game changer! She is a firm believer in sewing being fun, not scary. Rosie’s sewing journey was fast! She went from cushion covers to a dress to a coat with bound buttonholes – tackling difficult projects accelerated her sewing skills!

Rosie is an expert on fitting but what she really believes in is encouraging people to take risks and not be scared of making mistakes.

Julie was taught to sew by her mother and grandmother and started making her own clothes in her early teens. After leaving school she worked in the wardrobe department at the Everyman Theatre before studying theatre costume design at the ‘Mabel Fletcher Technical College’. She worked on making costumes for productions at the BBC and The Royal Shakespeare Company. She learned how to cut patterns by draping on the stand, which is how she prefers to work to this day. After a stint making costumes for Scottish Opera in Glasgow, Julie moved to London and started working for designer, Catherine Walker. Julie learned to scale down to the fine detail, working with high quality French lace and beautiful silks and wools. Julie then worked for three leading London bridal designers from 1988 to 2013, working on production, pattern work and fittings. Julie met Lisa working for wedding dress designer, Phillipa Lepley, and when Sew Over It launched, Julie started making patterns and teaching at Stitch School. Julie loves the discipline of making patterns to be used by home dressmakers. The pattern and instructions need to be accurate to the millimetre in a way that is different to the needs of a professional seamstress. Julie loves the enthusiasm and excitement people have for learning to sew and watching her students develop their skills.

Becca’s love of sewing is in her genes. She was taught to sew at a young age by her Mum and Nana, who were both very skilled with a needle and thread. Her attention turned to dressmaking in her late teens, when she set about teaching herself to make clothes. From there a passion developed and she’s since made hundreds of garments for herself and her friends and family. She’s also taught many of them to sew and has given sewing demonstrations on live TV.

Becca’s approach to sewing is technical and precise. She can happily spend hours reading about different techniques and loves achieving a great finish – those moments when your topstitching looks perfect, your seams match up and your zip actually is invisible. As she is mostly self-taught, Becca understands the perspective of a home sewer and the kind of questions and difficulties they may encounter. She wants to help give others the confidence to give things a go, to aim high, and not to worry if they have to get the unpicker out. It’s all learning!