Patternmaker of the Month: Leila Knoll
This month I had the chance to catch up with CPMG Alumni Leila Knoll also known as @leilamakes on Instagram.
N: “Hi Leila, can you share a little bit about yourself with me?”
L: “Hi, my name is Leila, I use she/her/her’s pronouns. Right now, I am living in Salt Lake City Utah. I have two cats, two dogs, and I'm a trained veterinarian.
I started in mixed animal medicine in rural Texas, so I did large, small, and exotic, (cows, horses, pigs, dog, cat, and then exotics, you know like sugar gliders, and monkeys)
And then I went on to do more shelter-based work, so dog and cats, and now I do kind of a blend between shelter work, so a lot of spay neuter, wound care, disease prevention work, and then also wildlife disease research.
I am a contract vet, so I get to kind of pick and choose my schedule, but it's usually between those two fields.
Right now I'm pretty heavy in the shelter, but I'm hoping to go back into the wildlife sector, and kind of flip the balance soon.
N: “Can you tell me about when/how you got started making patterns?”
L: I would say I was, I feel like how most at-home sewists do, as they do. They start sewing patterns, they start hacking patterns. They start Frankensteining things. They start just making, like, I went into pattern making without a clue.
I think one the first times I saw someone do this, I think it was like Rudy Jude, where she was just like, “I'm gonna make pants today.” And then, literally just freehand drew a shape. And I was like, Oh, you could do that?!
So in my mind, I was like, yeah, I'll just freehand this.
And so I would just start making these really ill-fitting things, Like I made a tank top out of napkins.
There were just so many experiments that, didn't go terrible, but probably weren't right, you know, like, good, or the best that it could be.
Let's just say that.
But then I found myself in Canada.
And before that, Oh my gosh, before that, I was in California and I had taken a trip to Reno. I was visiting a friend and I ran into Jess. (Jessilous Closet). But I call her Intoku Jess, because that's how I met her.
At the time, it was this new thing for me where people would come and be like, “I love your top. Where'd you get it?”
And if I was feeling really good, I would tell them that I made it!
So it happened where Jess showed up behind me and was like, “Oh, I love your top.”
And I was like, she seems nice. I'm gonna tell her I made it.
So I did, and then we started talking about sewing.
After that I started following Jess's sewing journey, and that's when she started talking about CPMG.
Then, all of a sudden I was in Canada, and I had just dropped out of my PhD program.
I had a lot of free time, and a lot of lingering questions of what I was going to do next.
I knew that sewing was something that I enjoyed, and I had been making these, you know, I would say like 8 out of 10 patterns on my own. So I signed up for CPMG. And since then I released 3 patterns - a bag and two pants patterns.
I think my next pattern will really push me out of just the climbing pant world, which is essentially what I am because I only have the two climbing pants patterns.
N: “So is there something else on the horizon?”
L: Yeah, I'm working on a bikini pattern. It's fun because it's different, but it's also horrifying because it's different.
It's a knit, it’s stretchy fabric, there are different bust cup sizes to contend with. It’s just a whole new ballpark.
But I've been working on it for over a year now. And I feel like the support, of course, in the community has been amazing.
N: “What are your favorite, and least favorite parts of the patternmaking process?”
L: “OK, I would say my favorite is probably the testing.
I've been incredibly lucky with my testing groups, and there's no rhyme or reason to how I choose them, I try to get like the most balanced group possible, you know, sizes and experience levels, but after that, like, I don't know who they are for the most part.
I feel like everyone does their part in trying to make it like really collaborative, which I love.
I have this mini cohort, or like, well, basically like a support base, And they're giving me good, constructive criticism.
I would say the testing has always been like, really, really fun and overall, like extremely positive.
And then my least favorite, I would say, making toiles, I hate them.
As someone who literally never makes toiles like, even for other peoples patterns, I just adjust on the fly, unless I'm cutting into some like really expensive fabric.
If it's a really nice fabric, I'll do a wearable toile 1st because I'm gonna wear it no matter what.
But a muslin?
I hate it.
I have been looking into supplementing my pattern-making experience with using Clo3D, and I think that would probably help a lot.
I would still be making physical samples, but maybe every 4th sample is a physical one, and the first three are just digital renderings, which I think would help me hate it less.
IDES studio has been teasing a course in Clo 3D, specifically geared towards digital sewing pattern design. So I'm curious to see how that course is when it rolls out.
N: “What are your favorites right now?”
L: “A washable gluestick, and my projector.
Both of those have been game-changers for me. Well probably the projector more than the glue stick. Although the glue stick has been pretty fantastic.
From a point of not wanting to waste, the projector has been amazing! I was buying reams of paper to print at home.
I didn't have access to a copy shop when I was printing a lot of patterns.
And so, printing them all out, taping them all together, storing them, and then having to retape them if the tape fell off.
It just felt very tedious.
It was such a big part of making the pattern. Like, half of my energy was taping the pattern together.
But with a projector, I mean, it's inconvenient in the sense that I'm in like a very light-filled room and I don't have blinds that work, so I can't just darken my room.
I have to wait until it's nighttime, but minor inconvenience for what I get out of it, I think.
So projector sewing has been phenomenal.
N: “ What is one piece of advice you have to give to beginner sewists and patternmakers?”
L: “I would say, Impostor syndrome is real. It's inevitable, so just let it happen.
Honestly, if you didn't have it, then I don't know, I'd re-evaluate because I, I feel like impostor syndrome is so prevalent in, like, anything, like even as a vet, you know, or like any profession.
But with pattern making too, there are so many stages: you are so excited, you start designing a pattern, everyone's like boosting you up, and then you're like, I actually don't know what I'm doing, you know, and all of a sudden you're like, do I even know what a pattern is?
It’s like you're gaslighting yourself into thinking you're not like ready for this, like you shouldn't be doing it.
It’s important to realize that it’s totally normal and I've just come to terms with it.
Like, it's OK to feel that.
If you don't feel it, I'm jealous.
This is honestly a pep talk for myself right now, because I'm going through it with my bikini pattern right now.
Where I'm like, you don't know, boobs! But I’ve graded it out, you know, to a bigger bust size, and I have a team of people that are willing to try it, and they know full well, like, I'm still figuring it out.
There is support there you can tap into and you should. And then you realize like, oh, wait, I have been sewing for a long time.
I do know what a pattern is.
Like, I've done this before, you know. There's so many reminders that bring you back. And It's part of the process or maybe it almost always is, and that's OK.
N: “Finally, where can people find you?”
J: “I’m @LeilaMakes Instagram, and you can find my patterns on my Etsy. I also have a free bag pattern you can find on my website!
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
