Abi
Abi lives in Hampshire with her husband and two dogs. She has been sewing since 2014, and tries to make all her own clothes. She also knits, and partakes of other textile-based crafts.
Abi has ME, tenosynovitis, asthma, and is neurodivergent. She started Sew Enabled because she realised that there weren't easy resources available for people with all kinds of disabilities to find accessible sewing shops, websites, and patterns that could easily be adapted.
Melly
I'm Melly of manylemons.com. I've been a chronic illness advocate for some years now, wearing a few hats for a variety of projects. A few years after Multiple Sclerosis made itself known in my bod, I became a very active part of the chronic illness community. Then a couple of years ago, a few more conditions were added to my list. I was diagnosed with Hypermobile Spectrum Disorder, a kind of sister to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, and its companions of dysautonomia, gut issues, and histamine intolerance.
I fell for sewing last year. I'd finally found a hobby that I could lose myself in, and that worked around my fluctuating fatigue levels (or rather, 'energy limitations', my preferred term). I can pick up tiny parts of my sewing project, whether that be to watch a video detailing the next sewing skill I need to tackle, trace a pattern piece or 2, or sew and iron just 1 seam.
When I lost use of my hands during one of my MS relapses, I entered the disability community. I quickly realised there just weren’t the tools I needed, nor easily-accessible content, let alone style. I’ve been on a mission since then!
Tasha
Tasha is a self-taught sewist who started sewing as a teenager with a pair of self-drafted jeans. They weren’t perfect, but it certainly gave her the sewing bug. After taking a break from sewing while she was at uni and beginning her career, she has returned to her sewing machine and still enjoys the odd pattern hack or self-drafted pattern but also enjoys picking patterns from the wealth of patterns designers that exist nowadays. Outside of sewing, she is an avid DIY-er, enjoys walking her dog through the Wiltshire countryside and playing with her two cats.
Andie
Andie is a self-taught plus sized sewist. They are nonbinary and their pronouns are they/them. Andie lives in Toronto, Ontario. Canada, with their partner, Velvet, and has lived in several provinces on the east coast of Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland). In their spare time when they are not sewing, they perform improv comedy in the city with Velvet. Their sewing ranges from costumes/casual cosplay to vintage dresses to everyday basics to bramaking. So everything!
In 2016, Andie was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. They advocate for disability and chronic illness awareness, as well as blogging about sewing accessible garments. Andie also manages the Instagram account @chronicallysewn for sewists with disability and chronic physical and mental illnesses.
Do you want to join the team? Introduce yourself and lets have a chat.