About

Hi there! I’m Amy Chapman, the designer and maker behind Cloth Habit. 

Since Cloth Habit’s humble beginnings (as a way of participating in my first sew-along!), it has grown into a popular internet resource for bra making and lingerie sewing. Lingerie design has been a fascination of mine for many years, and after making my first bra I was hooked!

In 2011 I released my first pattern, and since then I have turned my passion into teaching courses and creating a boutique line of sewing patterns.

about Cloth Habit patterns

My aim with my patterns is to create quality over quantity. Each pattern is a like a little course in sewing, offering step by step instructions along with tips on fabric choice and explanations of unusual terms.

handmade-lingerie-collage

{From the top, a few of my lacy designs: bra, Rosy Ladyshorts, and bra}

some random things about me

I’ve been sewing since I was a young girl and was always driven by the most complicated projects I could find, no matter how above my skill level. My dear mother had to be patient in helping me finish projects that never would’ve been finished!

I live and work from home in Austin with my husband and my zoo of cats and border collies. (I love animal rescue.) Austin is my home but I have roots in many places. I’ve lived in Prague, Czech Republic (where I got married!) and Antwerp, Belgium. My favorite cities, the cities that have my heart, are San Francisco and Berlin.

I have masters degree in poetry and am fond of quoting Emily Dickinson, and I like memorizing the Latin names for flowers. Music was a huge part of my life for many years, from singing in choral groups to a stint working as a newspaper music editor. I even took jazz flute lessons for a couple of years.

I designed my very first website in 1998–dinosaur years in internet time!–after taking an class in html and css. (It was an art review blog and is no longer online.) I’m a total coding and web design nerd, so everything you see at Cloth Habit is customized and coded by me, through WordPress.

I get bored easily if I’m not learning something new. As long as I am able, I’ll always love making things with my hands and teaching others how to do it, too.

And for a few very frequently asked questions, visit this page.

7 comments

  1. Amy says:

    I’m not able to subscribe at all. I just stumbled onto your site (from Pinterest) and fell in love with bras & vintage lacy things that I don’t have the courage to try making.

    If you have time, shoot me an email when you finish tweaking your site. I want to subscribe by email so I don’t miss any of your future projects. Keep up the good work!

  2. Debra says:

    Hi Amy,

    A friend just told me about your site. It’s great and so helpful! I’m interested in making bras and I’m just starting out. I’m excited to join your sew-along! Can you recommend a good dress form? The Wolf dress form has been recommended. Do you use a Wolf form?
    Any advice or suggestions will be most appreciated!
    …If you have an email list, please add me to it! I don’t want to miss anything! Thank you so much! And happy sewing!

    • Amy says:

      Hi Debra, thank you!

      There are a couple of ways to subscribe–the easiest being using a blog reader like Google Reader. You can also receive updates of posts by email–by using the form at the bottom of my sidebar.

      I have a dress form, and it is on par with a Wolf form. Many sewing bloggers have written about their experiences of dress forms–I wish I had some links offhand but if you Google about you may find some. You can email me privately if you have any questions. In all honesty, it was an expensive quality form but has done me no good as a fitting tool! After years of wanting one, I finally realized that to really be a helpful sewing assistant it has to actually be my shape not just an abstract size. Most dress forms–Wolf included–are very “unanatomical” (I just invented an adjective!). Now I just use it to pin on jewelry and as a photography background.

  3. Sarah says:

    Hi Amy! Great website. I’m ordering a pattern and I’m going to be doing the bra sew along when it comes in. Great tutorial for a first time under garment sewer.
    I know you mostly sew lingerie, but do ou have any suggestions for sewing sports bras, or making a normal bra sturdy enough for exercise? Finding a supportive sports bra that I don’t fall out of the top or bottom of has been the bane of my exercise routine for years. Thanks!

  4. Leila says:

    Hi Amy. I noticed all of your “contact” and “email” links take me to a RSS feed page instead of an email or contact form.

Comments are closed.