If you want something bad enough, go get it; or if you are Jess Bailey, make it!
For the past six years, Jess has taught herself everything she needs to know about fashion in order to create her own clothing.
It all started with the desire to want something that she couldn’t have.
“It originally started with these big circle skirts. They’re very expensive and I could not figure out where to get them from in the fabrics and length that I wanted,” she said.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to teach myself to sew; it can’t be that hard’ – I was wrong.”
Although her initial designs took to some trial and error, she soon found her feet and now creates various beautiful designs that the Beaudesert community has noticeably taken a liking to.
“It’s just really fun. I know a lot of my outfits attract attention because I tend to go more vintage inspired,” Jess said.
“I get to hear a lot of stories from the older people that’ll stop you and be like ‘Oh, I remember when I used to wear a skirt like this,’ – it’s just really cool to hear all their stories.”
From vintage with a hint of cottage core, Jess’s style radiates a combination of elegance and extravagance as she enjoys wearing long skirts, pastels and the occasional matching flower crown.
“I pretty much get 95 percent of patterns from op shops because you can find the older patterns, which I much prefer,” she said.
“I really like taking those patterns and putting them into more up-to-date fabrics, which is really fun.”
“There’s not too much thought pattern in it except that I have seen a thing that was really cool and I need to make it – I just really like to be able to wear my own things.”
Jess tends to find inspiration for her designs on the internet and says YouTube was her best resource to teach herself how to sew.
“I went on the internet, and I was like ‘Hello, YouTube.’ I go through Pinterest a lot; also, Reddit – I’m in quite a lot of the sewing groups,” she said.
“People are like, ‘I’m making this, and this is what I’m making it from,’ and I’m like, ‘Yes, I also need to make that. That’s amazing.’”
For people who are new to sewing, Jess highly recommends giving it a try if you have the materials to do so.
“People will say, start with something like a pillowcase; don’t. It’s boring. Unless your aim is to make the most beautiful pillowcase.”
“If you’re aiming for clothes, just start with the clothes. It’s not going to be great for a while, it’s going to be pretty bad actually – but you will get there.”
