We were lucky to catch up with Laurelei Bent recently and have shared our conversation below.

Laurelei, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I learned to sew when I was in high school. I took every home ec class that my school had to offer because I didn’t have a lot of self-confidence and I didn’t think I’d be good at any of the other electives offered. I worked my way through baking and child-rearing, then in my junior year, I landed in fashion design class which was just a rebrand of the sewing portion of home ec. I was hooked. I began small, with things like pillows, placemats, then pajama pants. Before long I was begging my teacher to let me make a dress.

I was already spending most of my time outside of school vintage shopping, and I noticed that vintage patterns were a lot cheaper than vintage dresses. I bought my first vintage pattern for ten cents and carefully unfolded it, taping together the holes where the paper had deteriorated. Once I began a project, I couldn’t think about much else until I finished it, which was difficult because I was only getting an hour of classroom sewing time a day on weekdays (unless I snuck back to it during lunch.) In my Senior year, I solved this problem by taking back-to-back fashion design for two electives before lunch, starting a fashion design club, and getting my very own sewing machine for my 18th birthday.

College and work eventually consumed a lot of my time and energy, up through the early years of my career in marketing. My passion for sewing was all but forgotten as my sewing machine slowly collected dust, occasionally being taken out only to hem or mend something quickly. During the pandemic lock-down, my love for dressmaking came back in full force and I haven’t looked back since.

Laurelei, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My business, Laurelei Jourdan, is all about creating sustainable, wearable, romantic pieces.

I use almost entirely recycled materials, down to the zippers and thread. Much of it is sourced from estate sales, thrifting, online marketplaces, and vintage shopping. I use a lot of seventies bed sheets, old quilted placemats, and decorative dish towels. One of my favorite peices that I ever made consisted of fabric from old curtains, a placemat, and what was intended to be a plush children’s book about bugs. Sourcing these materials is one of my greatest joys in life, and it’s what puts the “slow” in my slow fashion. If I’m inspired to make something, I will sometimes look for months to find the materials that would fit my vision, because at this point, I pretty much refuse to just go to the store and buy it.

I use a mix of vintage sewing patterns along with my own patterns that I self draft. I am known to mix and match different pattern pieces across decades that they were made.

I consider my style to be whimsical, playful, and feminine. I want everything I make to have a very special quality and feel to it, like something that you could never see yourself getting rid of whether because you’d consider it heirloom material or because you have worn it so much that you feel sentimental and nostalgic towards it.

I also offer a few services on my website that are geared towards sustainable fashion. I have zoom sewing lessons where we can work on anything you want, whether that’s a new sewing pattern, threading a machine, or patching up a hole in your shirt. I also offer alteration and outfit revamp services. If you have a dress that you think you’re never going to wear again, let me help you rework it! We can dye it, hem it, chop it into pieces and make a thousand scrunchies, you’ve got options. Lastly, I offer custom dresses on a case-by-case basis, the dress that I’m most excited to be working on right now is a seventies reproduction wedding dress.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I downloaded TikTok in mid-2020 because I was very, very bored. I had nowhere to go but I still wanted to put together outfits and show them off. I began making TikToks almost every day just modeling my many outfits. At some point, Tik Tok had seen pretty much everything in my closet so I thought, “why not show them what I’m sewing?”

My passion for editing my sewing videos grew from there. I loved showing off the process of creating something that took hours to make but then shortening it down to an aesthetic 15-seconds. I felt like a community of seamstresses and people that were interested in the same styles as me accumulated around me so faster on Tik Tok than on any other social media platform. After about a year, I reached 10,000 followers and was able to join the creator fund, and began hearing from brands that wanted to work together.

Once reels were introduced on Instagram, I was well seasoned at creating these types of videos and I jumped on board a bit ahead of the curb. There weren’t that many reels to watch so I think I cast a wider net then than I do now, I had a small burst of followers last Summer that has allowed me to also cultivate a community on there as well.

My advice to anyone wanting to grow their social media is this: Only post what feels authentic and real to you. You’ll hear other creators and small business owners preach that content is king and how necessary it is to be consistent, but I disagree. It may sound a little woo-woo but just put good vibes out into the internet, be yourself and show up only when you feel like it, and it will work out.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My personal goal is to live my most authentic life. I want to be my most “me” version of myself, and be as “Laurelei” as possible. I’m trying to let go of obsessing over what other people think I should be doing with my time, and only do what my heart yearns for. I’m trying to trust that I deserve to take up the space that I want to take up, and do the things that I want to do. Right now that looks like paving a future where I can just create beautiful clothes all the time.

In the bigger picture, my mission is to contribute in some small way to the sustainable clothing movement. Landfills get filled with clothing every year and clothing donations are often rejected in times of disaster because that’s what the highest in-flux is of. This is largely due to fast-fashion companies pumping out quickly manufactured clothing at an alarming rate.

I want to create things that are meant to last. I want it to speak to someone’s personal style, meaning they probably didn’t see it on pinterest that week. I hope that what I make is sturdy enough but feels special enough that people want to wear it for years and years to come.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.laureleijourdan.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laureleijourdan/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@laureleijourdan

Image Credits
Photographer: Katherine Evangaline Models: Federica Ferrari, Trinh Nguyen, Jade Goodwin