About Jenny Hassler
It’s nearly impossible for me to consider that I’ve been sewing for 42 years. I started as a child, at my mother’s knee. She introduced me to her Kenmore 8-stitch sewing machine, helping me to make my first garments. I loved the possibilities I could imagine, looking at the fabrics at shops, second-hand stores, and even around our home. It opened up a world of fashion I couldn't access readily, finding myself sized out of the stores at our local mall.
Finding ready-to-wear garments that fit my body was all but impossible forty years ago. My proportions were all wrong, in addition to being bigger than any designer could imagine - or so it seemed based on the very limited designs that might successfully fit my body. My creative anticipation at all I could do with my new skills was soon overwhelmed by how uninviting it was to shop for patterns that didn’t include me, to join classes that didn’t consider fat bodies when selecting patterns or setting up the sewing space, to attend sewing groups that exhorted me to lose weight or learn to draft sewing patterns if I wanted to be a part of the community.
Jenny is a wife, mother, grandmother, artist, and accountant living and working in the mountains of Western North Carolina. She sews too much, reads too little, and eats just the right amount except when there’s jalapeño popcorn in play.
A Note from Jenny:
I sewed for myself, for my children, for my family, off and on for the next three decades, drafting my own garments regularly to make up for the fashion I was missing out on by being outside the clothing offered in most stores. I resented this requirement often, but also loved the creative dresses it gave rise to. These days I make just about all my own clothing, only hesitating where I've been inspired to purchase someone else's creative work for myself.