Sarah’s Instagram page is extremely popular, as it has amassed nearly 300k followers who are in search of sewing tips and refashion inspiration. She shares countless photos of her extremely impressive clothing transformations, as well as her process for creating some of the looks including dying clothes or heading to a thrift store. At first glance, one might assume that Sarah has a degree in fashion design or grew up making her own clothes from a young age, but she is actually mostly self-taught.
In a previous interview with Bored Panda, Sarah explained that her only formal training when she began making clothes was a high school home economics class. “Being a stay at home mom to 3 kids, time is very limited so I haven’t refined my skills as much as I want to but I want to take classes soon,” she said.
As of now, Sarah is happy to report that she has started taking some formal sewing classes. Despite her social media looking like there is nothing she cannot do, Sarah says she is excited to learn much more. "My goal is to sew more sophisticated, elaborate, couture style and be able to make whatever difficult design I think of in my head. Refining my sewing skills has been one of my greatest joys lately, and I love it! I think it's so important to do something regularly that lights you up and brings you vitality for life and joy and sewing is one of them for me."
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Sarah also previously told Bored Panda that her clothing transformations began after the birth of her first daughter. She originally just wanted to save a little money by shopping second hand, but she soon adapted her new philosophy for life: “Look good, feel good, do good”. Since then, she has created hundreds of new looks for herself and her daughters.
“I have been meaning to teach them how to sew, we are supposed to start a sewing series on YouTube together where I teach them how to refashion, but they’re also so busy in their own lives, we haven’t gotten a chance to yet,” Sarah explained. “But they have a strong sense of fashion in their young age and have very good taste so I think they’ll take over what I do one day and be better than me!”
Sarah first spoke to Bored Panda three years ago, but since then she says that her daughters have actually not taken much interest in sewing, as they have other hobbies and activities they prefer. But there is still a chance one of her children may carry on the legacy of being a refashion designer. "I am still hoping my youngest son will take interest," Sarah says. Only time will tell!
We also asked Sarah if she has a favorite piece that she has ever made. "I would say this one is one my favorites. Light blue is my favorite color and this particular piece took on the dye really well and turned out to that perfect baby blue I was going for. I also love the added white and navy blue trim, it makes it very classy and elegant but with a pop of personality, which is just my style. And the before and the after look nothing alike which is my most favorite part!"
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When it comes to Sarah's process, she says that inspiration strikes extremely quickly. "It takes me 15-30 seconds of looking at the piece of clothing to get a vision in my head of what I want the finished piece to look like," she told us. "Within those 15-30 seconds, I am holding it in front of me, swaying it around to get a feel of how the fabric moves and feels, I look at all the parts I dislike about it and the parts I do like and want to keep, and then I get this vision automatically in my mind."
Sarah also certainly knows how to balance many things at once, between being a mom, a fashion redesigner, a blogger, and managing her social media presence. But she has even bigger plans for the future, she told Bored Panda that she aspires to design her own clothing line and donate the proceeds to children in need. “I also have a YouTube series called “Come thrift shopping with me” where I pick out a few items and right on the spot share what ideas come to my mind,” she shared. “Then the readers vote which item I should refashion next and the one with the highest vote is the one I’ll tackle!”
When asked what advice Sarah has for people trying to cut down on their fashion purchases and reduce their contribution to clothing waste, she shared, “My advice to limit your impact is to buy more timeless, classic pieces and mix it with a few trendy pieces here and there. This way you don’t throw away as many clothes, and are not always having to buy constantly in order to stay on trend. Also throw a clothing swap exchange with your neighbors, friends, or other groups.”
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“What used to be only 2 fashion seasons of spring/summer and fall/winter is now at 52 micro-seasons,” Sarah explained. “Clothes, just like any other materialistic things, don’t buy you lasting happiness but only a fleeting moment of excitement. So if you base your happiness or self worth and identity on what clothes you wear, you’ll never be happy or content because the fashion industry will always tell you what you bought a month ago is now out of trend so you must buy this newly released item in order to stay relevant or happy. So instead of putting so much importance on what you wear or how expensive or what designer brand you’re wearing, focus on being kind, having integrity and morals and you’ll always be in fashion!”
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Lastly, Sarah gave us some encouraging advice for anyone aspiring to refashion their own clothes. "If you want to start sewing but feel intimidated, start very small! Shorten that skirt that is a little too long, or take in the sides of a dress a little bit to make it form fitting. Do not let fear or intimidation stop you from starting, starting is 50% of the work! And the more you sew, the better and more confident you feel. Alterations are a great skill to have at minimum, so that you can conform the clothes to fit your body, instead of feeling like you have to change your current body shape in order to fit the standardized size clothing. It helps you to celebrate the beautiful body you have NOW, not when you lose 20 lbs."
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Sarah’s focus on taking care of each other and the planet is extremely important. The clothing industry, fast fashion in particular, is a massive contributor to our world’s pollution. According to CNBC, about 53 million tons of fiber is produced by the fashion industry annually, and about 70% of that is wasted. It also takes an incredible amount of water to produce clothing, as the UN Environment Programme reports that it requires 3,781 liters of water to create one pair of jeans when you take cotton production, manufacturing, transportation and washing into account. But the clothing industry is extremely powerful, and it will not be transformed overnight. Globally, the industry is worth $1.3 trillion and provides jobs for about 300 million individuals.
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In fact, today over 60% of the fabrics being used to make clothing are synthetic and created from fossil fuels. This means that when this clothing ends up in a landfill, as 85% of textile waste does, it will not decay. But people have no intentions of stopping their shopping. Worldwide, we now purchase about 80 billion new articles of clothing each year, but we don’t even have the time to wear it all. Apparently, the average shopping in the UK only wears about 70% of their current wardrobe and disposes of about 70 kilograms of clothes each year. With companies like Forever 21, Shein, H&M, Zara, Urban Outfitters, and many more making infinite pieces of clothing accessible at cheap prices, it’s tempting to shop there. But these low quality items likely won’t last you more than a couple of seasons, and they’ll spend the rest of their life in a landfill.
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So you might be wondering what the alternatives are if every affordable clothing store is destroying our planet? Well, don’t be too quick to rule out second hand clothing. We don’t all need to have the skills of Sarah Tyau to be able to find clothes at a low price that are not contributing to pollution, we just need to be a little creative. Buying second hand might not be as simple as walking into the mall and grabbing exactly what you want off the rack because you know they have your size, but it can be much more exciting. Where is the fun in shopping at H&M? There’s no thrill. In a thrift store, you have to hunt for something, and it may take you a little bit more time, but the satisfaction of finding the perfect piece is always worth it.
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