We recently connected with Patti Gilstrap and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Patti thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I first knew that I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally when I was in high school. One of my first jobs as a teenager was working at my local Joanne Fabrics store in Virginia where I grew up. I had been interesting in sewing as my mother had a machine in the house but once I was regularly surrounded by all the fabrics, sewing machines, supplies and endless project ideas I realized that sewing for others was a great way to make extra money. I would take on a custom kitchen curtain here or a stuffed animal commission there. I also took dance classes at the local dance studio just a few store fronts away from the fabric store. Once they knew I could sew there were always costumes to fix or even new ones to make around recital time. Around this time I started to come up with my own ideas and designs. I started by making fun outfits for myself. I loved having pieces of clothing that were one of a kind and different than anyone else would have at school. This is where my love for clothing and costume design started to develop. At the time I had no idea I was planting the seed of what my professional life would become.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

A bit about me. I moved to NYC in my early 20’s to pursue a career in dance and choreography and costume design. With my knowledge of dance costumes I was fortunate enough to get my first job in the city as the wardrobe supervisor of The Alvin Ailey Repertory Theater for a 9 month tour of the US. Once back from that tour I realized my heart really wanted to be in the city dancing and not touring, so I started auditioning and making costumes for other choreographers. I of course had to wait tables here and there to pay the bills. The next big step in my career was meeting 2 amazing sisters who were looking for a 3rd partner to open up a clothing store and start our own clothing line. I had been hired to make some dresses for one of the sister’s wedding and we found out fast that we worked well together and my sewing and design skills were a good compliment to the team. In 2001 we opened our first clothing store on Smith St in Carroll Gardens called “Flirt”. Our retail journey lasted 17 year and over that time we had 5 different locations. 3 stores in Brooklyn called “Flirt”, 1 sewing school and handmade home goods store called “Home Ec.” in Gowanas and a shared location on 13th st in Manhattan called “Apt. 141”. Some of the highlights from our retail years are that we wrote a sewing book called “Flirt Skirts” in 2011 and had 2 of our designs turned into sewing patterns with the Mccalls pattern company. Our stores featured our “Flirt” line of clothing all made in NYC and other local designers with a mix of clothing, jewelry and accessories. During those years I was also pursuing my performance career and ended up becoming a member of the Hudson Vagabond Puppet company. It is still to date one of my favorite performance adventure. The company was a group of all dancers as we only had to lip sync to a soundtrack so being an actor was not required. When new shows were developed by the company I was also hired on as extra hands to sew puppets and costumes. It was a great mix of my skills and passions. My time with the company ended when there was lots of touring that took me away from the retail locations and both things were a bit too much to balance. During those years I also started making costumes, props and puppets for The Treehouse Shakers. An amazing children’s theater company I am still designing for currently. We have a new show called “Sail Away” for toddlers premiering in May 2024. As our retail journey ended in 2017 I continued to keep up the custom sewing and teaching part of the business. Our last location became a shared space between ourselves and the Brooklyn Robot Foundry who I also had the please of working for for a number of years. My knowledge of conductive sewing had landed me a week long guest teacher roll at the Robot Foundry and when I was looking to close my last store sharing the space ended up working out great. As the pandemic changed the landscape of many retail spaces our shared Brooklyn space closed in 2020 and I now have a private sewing studio where I design, sew and still teach private sewing lessons. As many of my theater and dance clients had also had to slow down during the pandemic I made my own shift by finally becoming part of the the 764 wardrobe union. This was something that friends had told me about for years and the timing was finally right. I have had the please of working on 3 broadway shows and 3 TV shows so far. Now a days I toggle between my work for the Treehouse Shaker, designing stage costumes for the singer Julie Christmas, teaching private sewing lessons and enjoying my new adventures in the TV wardrobe world.

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

For me the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is bringing something to life that didn’t exist before. My favorite part of the creative process is those early days of a project when you are coming up with ideas. At that point anything is possible, you can think big and wildly abstract because you are just brainstorming and conceptualizing. Then there with be a moment where something in that stew of ideas becomes a nugget and you start to imagine all the steps to you have to take to make it a physical tangible creation. Then once those steps have been taken you can hold and interact with what was once just a thought.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

In my view what I believe society can can do to support artists is participate. If that means seeing a show, going to a gallery, buying a piece of hand made clothing or artwork or taking a class from an artist. And the simplest thing to do it to let others know about the things you see and enjoy as artists are not always the best at promoting their work especially when they are first starting out.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.staysharpbrooklyn.com/
• Instagram: pattibrooklyn
• Facebook: Patti Gilstrap
• Linkedin: Patti Gilstrap
• Youtube: Stay Sharp Studio Brooklyn

Image Credits
1st Photo by Mark Adams Pictures 2nd Photo by Mariexxme 3rd Photo by Chris Cash of Mt Phillip Metal Works 4th Photo Mara Mcewin