Patternmaker of the Month: Kaya Emiko
This month, I had the pleasure of talking with CPMG alumna Kaya Emiko the designer behind the brand Soft Bodies Studio, and the newly released Petal Dress.
Q: “Hi Kaya, can you introduce yourself and tell me a little about yourself?
A: I’m Kaya, my pronouns are She/He. I live in Vancouver, Canada, with my partner and my 2 cats. I do patternmaking/ sewing. I work in the nonprofit arts world, and I'm in a band called The Shorties. We just released our 1st album last year, called Every Season. We're on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, etc. as well (pretty much every streaming platform!)
Q: “Tell me about your sewing & patternmaking journey. How did you get started, and why did you want to make patterns?”
A: I started sewing in 2021 during the COVID lockdown. I always wanted to sew, but never had the time, but all of a sudden I had an abundance of time, and so, like many people, I picked up a new hobby. It kind of snowballed from there. I signed up for CPMG in 2024.
I feel like I have always had a very defined sense of style in what I like, and so learning to sew was a really nice way to be able to make things that were specifically to my taste and my body. I kind of hit the point in my own sewing skills where I was hacking every single pattern. So learning how to draft my own things from scratch was kind of the next natural progression.
And then from the functional, practical perspective, I had been working at a nonprofit for, like, 4 or 5 years, and got let go from that position because we didn't have funding, so I was looking for an alternate stream of income that was maybe a bit more stable, which is funny to like think of small business entrepreneurship as like the stable option. But compared to the current arts funding landscape, it is comparatively pretty stable.
Q: Congrats on the Petal dress! Tell me more about that pattern, what inspired you to create it, and anything else you want to share about it.
A: Petal was originally a 6-paneled skirt (instead of 4), and it was set in (to the bodice). I was working on it, and it was just a bitch to sew. It sucked. It wasn't fun. It never came out looking clean, no matter what I did. It was based on an inspiration image that I had found, so it was really more of an exercise in, “Can I sew this thing and then draft it and like make it happen?” And so I worked on that for a while. And got super frustrated. I thought I was going to have to abandon it because it was just not working. And then I had a brain blast in the shower and went, what if it's 4 panels? And I completely changed the construction? Petal was kind of born from there. I trialed a whole bunch of different constructions and ended up doing this vertical seaming method, which I haven't really seen out there in other patterns. It makes these really beautiful curves.
The launch was really successful. I did not expect it to be nearly as successful as it was, which was really, really nice. The whole time I was working on it, I was getting messages here and there from people aksing “when is it coming out?” Or “I want to make this!” Which was really kind and really lovely, but I was like, I don't know… So those 5 people are gonna be really excited about it and buy it.
I had very low expectations. My made-up number for myself was that if I sold like 50 copies in the 1st week, that would pay off my photo shoot costs in full. But then, I sold 160 copies of the 1st day!
N: That's so incredible Kaya! Congratulations!!!
K: Yeah, I was freaking out. I didn't know what to do with myself. I actually had dinner and a concert lined up with some friends that night, which was good because I got to be away from my phone and get back in my body a little bit because it was just so overwhelming in a good way.
But I think it'll only get easier. This was really big because I had created my whole website, all the branding, and this was the 1st one. I just had no frame of reference. So everything was brand new.
Q: I would love to talk more about the ICE out raffle you hosted in February. How did that come about? And how was the response like from the sewing community?
A: I was just feeling really hopeless, feeling really stuck, and like I didn’t know what to do. But I come from a background in nonprofit and community organizing/fundraising, and so when I saw other designers were running fundraisers, donating 100% of their pattern sales to organizations, it got me thinking…
I didn't think that if I just did the pattern sales thing, it was going to raise that much money by myself, so that’s when I thought of the raffle format instead, and I DM'd, like, 10 different people. Mostly people that I had some kind of friendship or previous connection to, and just asked if they wanted to be involved. I didn’t think everyone would say yes, but they did.
So it ended up being pretty big! It was incredibly successful to the point where I got kind of scared and then had to figure out tax info!
But it’s all sorted. I'm still waiting on a form that the ACLU has to fill out and return it to me, but as soon as I get that, I can make the final donation. It landed at like $38,000 Canadian.
N: That's amazing Kaya!
K: Yeah, it’s like, astronomical, so much support. I was just crying on and off for the couple weeks that it was running. Lots of kind comments from people saying “I've been feeling the same way, but didn't know what to do, or how to help…” I really think most people are good, kind people who want to do the right thing and want to help, and if you provide a platform for people to do that, they show up in a really major way, and that is exactly what happened. And I'm grateful.
Q: What are your 2026 patternmaking goals?
A: My 2026 goals are to release 2 more patterns. I've got a utility vest on deck that's going to be the next one. I'm calling it the trinket vest because there are lots of little pockets and D rings and hardware and opportunities to attach little treasures. And then I've got like a little bolero jacket situation that I'm working on, um, with a whole bunch of different sleeves, and if all goes according to plan, those sleeves will also be modular with the Petal dress pattern. So if you buy the jacket, you can pop it on there, and I'm gonna hopefully have them as like a separate sleeve pack as well if you don't care for the jacket.
Those are my big 2026 plans. It's kind of hard because I feel like I have a lot of ideas and I want to make them all, but I know that I'm not that fast, and I'm not doing this full time. So I think 2 is hopefully reasonable and achievable. My hope is that 2026 is turning the volume up on Soft Bodies and turning down the volume on some other work a little bit.
N: I remember seeing when you launched your Petal dress that you were also doing some, made-to-order. Is that something also that you want to continue to do in 2026?
K: I think I'm probably gonna restructure that a little bit. I wanted to launch made-to-order, but I think part of me also felt like I kind of needed to. And the truth is, I absolutely did not need to because I've sold 0 of those and only the pattern. Which I'm actually happy about. Just from a labor standpoint, I'd rather spend my sewing hours sampling and working on other things. I think I still like the idea of offering made-to-order. I just might switch it from full-on listings to a contact form. Do you want one of these things? Here's a menu of some options. And then we have a conversation about it.
I’m also working on some label designs, which I think will be fun and easy to ship because they'll all just be letter mail with a stamp. Yeah, I'm really excited about those. I'm probably gonna fiddle with them a little bit more, but I'm happy with where they're going.
Q: What is your favorite part of the patternmaking process?
A: As much as the instructions are a huge slog, I do really like them. I think I'm kind of a font nerd. I really enjoyed doing all of the page formatting, picking colors, fonts, and doing the graphics side of things. I also like figuring out how to convey information in a way that is accessible and easy to understand, but still using technical language. I really wanted to make sure that the tone of it was technical pattern writing. And not like, “Hey, bestie!” I don't want it to be super conversational or apologetic. I feel like some patterns that I've read can skew that way. Like “Thank you for sticking with me!” I didn't want to diminish the work of it, I guess.
N: I want you to know how impressed I am. I feel like, at least for myself, that is something that has come as a secondary aspect. There is so much that goes into getting a pattern ready for sale: creating a size chart, doing the photos, going through the fit testing, all of those things. Is just so much. And then you're also writing a book!
K: Yeah, yeah. I know. It was a 30 page instruction manual for Petal!
N: And so to have this perspective of like, okay, not only am I writing this, but how do I want it to be perceived? How do I want my voice to come across through this? It's very insightful of you to be able to have that thought.
K: Thanks. I think it's something that I think about an above-average amount. I don't have a writing background, but I think I've always been a pretty good writer. My partner has an English degree with a specialization in rhetoric. It's the kind of stuff that we talk about sometimes. So it like pulling from that rhetoric and then also my nonprofit work. A lot of the work I do is in accessible events and working with artists with disabilities, lots of different marginalized groups. A lot of like neurodivergent people: people with varying access needs. And so that is also like the kind of incubator that I've been in for the last 5 years or so. Coming from a background of accessibility work and rhetoric, I think that that is coming through in the pattern writing and I've received a couple of really kind messages from people, specifically talking about how much they like my style of writing and find it easy to understand, and that is, it's just the best feeling to know that the intention is matching up with the response because they don't always align.
Q: Who, or what would you say inspires you?
A: I feel like fashion-wise, I am always looking at Cecilie Bahnsen. I love all the frilly details, but then she's always got like a bungee cord in there or toggles and stoppers… I really like that mix of girly sporty. A beautiful dress with an ugly shoe is like my favorite thing on earth. Every time I get a pair of shoes, my partner's like, those are ugly again. They're very ugly. I know. That's why I like them.
Fashion-wise, I feel like that space is a place that I like to live in - Utility that's been abstracted a step. I think the ultimate goal of fashion for me is to look cool and have fun.
Rapid Fire Questions 🔥
Q: What is your favorite online craft/fabric store?
A: I gotta say, Blackbird Fabrics. It's hometown hero!
Q: What are you reading/listening to right now?
A: I am rereading, Pop song by Larissa Pham. And I am listening to the new Mitsky album that just came out.
Q: Favorite sewing pattern?
A: I feel like this is gonna be kind of a shocker, but it’s the Ninni Coulottes. I've probably made them 7 or 8 times.
Q: What’s your most unique or niche sewing tool?
A: I use a kilt pin a lot. It’s like a giant safety pin. I use it for threading elastic through casings. I also I have one of those big quilting rulers, and I love my suction cup handle.
Q: Do you have any sewing hot takes?
A: I feel like if you didn't make a toile and you don't like how it came out in the end, then you can't say anything about it.
Q: Online sewing creator crush?
A: Sadie! @spaghetti_western_sewing
Q: “Finally, where can people find you?”
A: You can find my patterns on my website SoftBodiesStudio.com, and I’m on Instagram at @softbodiesstudio
If this interview inspired you, check out our Confident Patternmaking & Grading Program where you can learn how to draft sewing patterns, and join our network of incredible alumni creating beautiful size-inclusive sewing patterns for all people.
Nat Della Selva
