It’s getting cold here in Munich, the first snow has fallen! I bet it’s even colder in Helsinki, the next stop on the Sewing Around The World Tour. There live Sunna and Kirsi (I love those names!), whose blog Mekkotehdas – which means something like “clothing factory” – we have discovered by accident some time ago.
We are very happy that these two creative bloggers and book authors agreed to contribute to Sewing Around The World and that we now received all the following lovely photos from so far in the North!
Sunna and Kirsi have chosen sewing pattern Joanna Coat and made this coat in two variants: one in the long version with a classic rose-colored wool fabric and the short one, super cuddly, made with gray plush! Both coats are just awesome and the photos really make you want to welk through winter-wonder-land walks in self-sewn coat, right?
Even if the blog of Sunna and Kirsi is in Finnish we would really like to recommend it because the photos alone are very inspiring! As mentioned above, the two have already written a few books with their own patterns and are especially in terms of children’s patterns experts!
If you want to know more about Sunna and Kirsi, their “clothing factory” and their passion for sewing, we have also sent them our interview and they chat a little bit about what they do and love.
And we? We send many greetings and a big thank you to Finland and look forward to our next stop …
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Interview with Sunna & Kirsi
Present yourself a little bit (name, age, children, name of the blog, age, city where you live, what you are doing when you are not sewing, …)
We are Kirsi and Sunna, living in Helsinki, capital of Finland. We are friends who both carry a sense of style and similar love for beauty. We are both moms and we get to know each other years ago when our kids went to same ballet lesson. We are both busy with our professions as a school teachers. When we are not working, we are enjoying the family life and stealing sometimes time to sew together.
Seven years ago we set up a sewing blog Mekkotehdas. During the past years we have published three sewing pattern and DIY books. Our first dress pattern book for little girls called Mekkotehdas (direct translation is Dress Factory) was published in 2012. Since then we have made also pattern books for adults and older kids. Our books have been translated in many languages.
When did you start to sew and why? How did you learn to sew?
We have both sewn as long as we can remember. As a teenagers we made clothes for ourselves and for friends and family members. After a lot of practice and also studies our own kids can enjoy clothes made be their mums.
What are your favourite clothes? Do you have a fable for something?
This is easy question J. Beautiful dresses for little girls have always been close to our hearts. Now when our kids have grown up a little and are soon teenagers, we are started to sew all kind of clothes they want to wear.
What is the sewing project you like the most?
There are some dresses we have made for our girls, that we are super proud of. Last year we made them powder pink lace and tulle dresses to the Independence day ball. Also many princess dresses have been saved to the memory boxes.
Do you only sew for you or also for other people (husband, children, …)?
We sew mostly for our kids and sometimes also for the other family members. Nowadays we sew a lot for ourselves as well. We also love to surprise our friends and godchildren by giving them selfmade gifts.
From where do you get your ideas? Do you buy patterns or do you invent your own ones?
When we sew together we mostly create our own patterns. We get ideas from everywhere and then we mix ideas and invent our own patterns. Sewing and creating together is big part of our close friendship.
