We recently connected with Olivia Harvey and have shared our conversation below.

Olivia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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 began learning to sew when I was a kid and consistently took classes with costume designer Brooke Stanton through middle and high school. She made sewing fun, but also implored us not to cut corners. She was teaching her craft and skill rather than just the steps from start to finish, and I think that made all the difference in our learning. Being taught a skill by someone passionate about that skill immediately sets you up for success.

I don’t think you can speed up learning a craft. It takes time to develop techniques and skills, and the only way you can do that is through practice and allowing yourself to make mistakes and continue learning. Even though I’ve been sewing for 20 years now, I’m still learning by making mistakes and trying again, and I think that will always be the case. But you also have to listen to your gut with creative endeavors, too. Don’t force yourself to learn something or finish a project you’re just not connecting with. Take breaks, regroup, and come at it again with a fresh perspective (or don’t! It’s also okay to let it go.).

As long as you have a passion to continue honing your skills, obstacles don’t really exist. Creative people can and will always find ways to create, despite a lack of time, money, expertise, etc. Once you have the drive, you can’t be stopped.

Olivia, 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?

My name is Olivia Harvey, and I’m an upcycler. I mainly work with secondhand sweatshirts, which I refresh with my own designs that I make out of scrap fabric. Although I’ve been sewing for about 20 years, my upcycling business was born out of pandemic boredom. Unable to go out and buy new fabrics and materials, I got creative with pieces from my own closet, mashing together t-shirt logos and letters and sweatshirts. I now source secondhand pieces from thrift stores and donations and make designs completely from scratch. My designs have evolved throughout the years, but I’m taking a lot of inspiration from my local area and community right now. My bestselling design is called the Masshole Lobstah (it’s a lobster holding a cigarette in one hand and a coffee cup in the other — if you know, you know!). I have so much fun creating my sweatshirts, and I think that shows in the quirky designs I come up with.

I’m proud to be taking pieces that are potentially headed to a landfill and giving them a new lease on life. Everything I use, save for the thread, is totally secondhand, so my customers can feel good about supporting a local artisan *and* the planet!

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Buy their art! Purchasing arts, crafts, and clothing from creatives in your area is the absolute best way to support them. Doing so allows artists to keep making their art, grow their business if they have one, and make their community a more interesting place to be.

And make sure to buy from the *original* artist — refrain from buying stolen designs and rip-offs from fast fashion sites or drop shippers. Yes, you will have to pay more for the real thing, but that’s always the right thing to do. Plus, the real thing is always higher quality, and you know your money is supporting a person, not a corporation.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the community that comes along with it. I’ve met so many interesting, talented, and skilled people right in my own town that I would have never met if I weren’t creating and sharing my pieces. It’s been so inspiring to take classes from these fellow artists, swap notes about our creative processes, share ideas about business and social media, and come together for art events. Even though we’re doing different types of art, we’re all kindred spirits.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ohpleeze.com
• Instagram: @oh_pleeze

Image Credits

Olivia Harvey