Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mary Evelyn Gunn. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Mary Evelyn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us 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 started to really take to sewing at 14. My mom agreed to teach me how to read a pattern, taught me how to sew on a machine and how to embroider. Something just clicked inside and I felt I had found my medium. I interned at a costume shop when I was 17, then went on to study Fashion Design at Savannah College of Art and Design. After graduation I helped run an alteration studio for 8 years, worked in more costume shops, and am finally branching out and allowing myself to create for the sake of creating.

I have sewn just about every day for the past 20 years and that is a piece of advice I will give any budding designer, sew every day. Start young and explore, go thrifting, buy the piece that fascinates you, photograph it inside and out, then take it apart slowly. Photograph every step. Then try and put it back together. It is invaluable part of well designed clothing, to know how things are constructed.

I most assuredly stood in my own way of learning more. I wanted to stay in one city and was not open to moving and trying new things. Stay open and take risks. If you find yourself living the plot to Groundhog Day and you are repeating the same task day in and day out, it is time to move on or actively seek more balance within your life. Seek out mentorships as well, some of the most important tips and tricks I’ve picked up were from women 3 times my age who were just beyond deft at our craft. Ask all the questions and never stop being curious.

Mary Evelyn, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m Mary Evelyn Gunn, I’m a seamstress and a sustainable designer. I juggle a lot of different types of sewing, I have a small alteration & custom design studio and I have started my own small line, Lushka, of made to order upcycled shirts.

This pet project has been my shadow friend for over a decade and has ebbed and flowed with me throughout the years. It started with just wanting to make very well made classic womenswear using all natural fibers, hand dyed, simple silhouettes, yada…yada… It never felt quite right so I stuck it in the back of my brain until this previous year when I read The Artist’s Way. I learned how to be easy on myself and how to play again. I started making shirts exactly how I wanted to make them. No influences, no conformity, no pressure on “how is this going to be marketable?” (consume, consume, consume).

I took myself on an artists date to a local antique barn and found a ziplock bag of peach voile cotton quilting squares that were hand embroidered, each one with a different labeled flower. The were perfectly preserved and each dated from 1929 & 1930 and more than likely had never seen the light of day. Someones beautiful artwork stuck in a trunk for nearly 100 years. There were not enough to make a full quilt (I am also not a quilter), and I knew I had to buy them and showcase them somehow. They needed to be loved again.

I have a love/hate relationship with fashion and in letting go of the hate I’ve found a work around that I’m comfortable with! And it’s very slooowww fashion. I source my materials from Goodwill Outlets, estate sales, thrift shops, family heirlooms, donations, scraps from alterations, retired costumes, anything that checks the boxes for my quality assessment. I deconstruct my supplies and create “bundles” or combinations of the different fabrics that I’ve picked for a shirt design. I then illustrate what the shirt will look like so you as the buyer have a visual, think 1990’s J. Peterman or 1890’s catalogs. If you like a bundle you just reach out and we start the process!

I teach you how to take the measurements I require and then go over which silhouette you’re interested in and any details you’d like to change, such as a super stellar 1970’s collar vs peter pan collar. I love getting to know my customer, it’s all very personal and if you need help choosing what’s best for your body type I can guide you. I also offer a curated option, if there isn’t a bundle you love then we’ll go over what you like color palette wise, fabric content, etc and I’ll pull options for you.

One thing I love about not cutting into the raw materials until I have an order is that it allows me to be size inclusive. These truly are one of a kind pieces and if I cut into the dress I grabbed from a Goodwill bin and use it for a size small Ginny cut, that’s it, done, rules out anyone larger than a small fem from being able to enjoy that design. It also prevents me from spending 7 hours working on a shirt that is going to sit on a rack, time is money honey!

This is just the beginning of Lushka and more options of silhouettes and pricing are going coming soon! I only wish is that you enjoy getting to see the process of how something like this is made, knowing who made it and that everything used in the process has had a previous life!! My mother and grandmothers were huge influences in my appreciation of everything sewing and I just want to keep the tradition alive and bring back to life pieces otherwise forgotten.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

For me personally the biggest thing non-creatives have struggled to understand about me is the amount of time I put into everything and that isn’t always necessarily lucrative. I am very detail orientated and everything that comes out of my brain and becomes something has a story, has a reason, has a meaning to me. This has most assuredly been a blessing and a curse, but at the end of the day I know it’s what makes me, me and the more I trust that part of myself the easier it is for me to just create out of a blissful place. I’ve gained more traction in the past year by just letting it all go than I had for years of worrying about having a steady paycheck.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

People pleasing. I worked at/managed a bridal alteration studio for 8 years. I became unrecognizable to myself by the end of that experience. I changed how I dressed, wore my hair and nails a specific way, made sure I wore makeup every day, I even changed how I spoke. I had become devoid of my natural personality. Some people may say yes, that’s just being professional, but it really broke me down. I second guessed myself all the time and I worked 6-7 days a week just to keep my head above water.

I still work that much but on my own terms and I don’t pretend to be someone I’m not anymore, and you know what? People are extremely receptive (queue Sally Field “you like me, right now, you like me!!”). It’s almost like being yourself is a wonderful little thing that people love to witness!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.maryevelyngunn.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lushka_designs/