Stash Chats – Episode 17: Ruan @theyorkshiresewgirl

Ruan makes hilarous and engaging sewing vlogs, chatting about her sewing projects and shaing sewing subscription unboxings. The sewing community has definitely played a key part in Ruan’s sewing journey. Ruan has made real life friends through sewing and now creates content with her sewing besties Tamlyn and Rachel as the Northern Sewl Sisters. In addition to sewing and creating content, Ruan works full time and has a young family, so she’s definitely got her hands full!

Here are some highlights from my conversation with Ruan:

We talked about Ruan’s sewing journey and what inspired her to start sewing. Ruan has been sewing for 11 years now, since she attended a local sewing class as a way to reclaim her identity and personal time after her eldest son was born. Initially, Ruan thought she’d stick to simple sewing projects such as cushions, but she was encouraged to join a class making a top and she immediately caught the dressmaking bug! Ruan continued attending the sewing classes over the years and enjoyed the friendship and fun with other sewists who regularly attended the sessions.

In 2020, the pandemic lockdowns were a struggle for social butterfly Ruan. She describes the online sewing community as ‘a lifeline’ during those times. On the plus side, there was more time for sewing! Ruan had enjoyed watching sewing vlogs on YouTube and her colleagues encouraged her to start her own – and The Yorkshire Sew Girl channel was created. Ruan likes to keep things simple, recording and editing on her phone – but that hasn’t held back her channel, she now has over 10,000 subscribers!

Ruan loves a bold print, especially an animal print – she reckons a healthy 30% of her stash is animal print! She’s a big fan of the sewing subsctiption boxes, including Sew Hayley Jane as she loves the element of surprise and finds that she works with different fabrics she may not have chosen herself. It was great to hear that Ruan loves using Stash Hub to catalogue her fabrics, and has a system to make sure they’re recorded before going into the stash. The Tilly and the Buttons Marnie blouse is one of Ruan’s favourite patterns. It’s comfortable but also polished and a fun sew with all those undulating pintucks.

We also discussed the evolution of Ruan’s sewing space. From the kitchen table to the small box room to the big spare room! Ruan’s husband encouraged her to set up her first designated sewing room in the box room after Ruan started sewing from home a lot more during the lockdown. She said this was a real boost to her sewing productivity, as she was able to pop in and sew a couple of seams without having to get everthing set up. The move to the larger spare room was an exciting change, and Ruan loved planning it all out. She’s got a series of vlogs on The Yorkshire Sew Girl about the whole process of setting up her new sewing room.

My episode chatting to Ruan was the last Stash Chat of 2023 and the end of season 1. I hope you enjoyed hearing about lots of different sewists’ journeys and stashes this year. The 2023 season of Stash Chats kicks off with another sewing vlogger – I speak to Sam about her YouTube channel Sequingirlie Creates and how she loves being able to sew a fun and colourful wardrobe.

Season 2 of Stash Chats is being streamed live on our YouTube channel, every Wednesday at 8pm. Follow us on Instagram for updates about future guests.