Hello and welcome!

How It Started

Needle+Cloth started as an Instagram account some ten years ago—after I decided, on a whim, to buy my own sewing machine and make bits and pieces for my then baby daughter. Somehow, it grew beyond anything I ever imagined.

It became more than just me posting about my makes. It became an expression of a part of me I hadn’t even realised was there.

My Sewing Roots

It’s ironic, because I’ve been sewing on and off for as long as I can remember. My Czech grandmother, Ružena, was a professional dressmaker. She looked after me after school in a country that no longer exists—the former socialist Yugoslavia. I grew up watching her make magic with her hands and fabric. She never properly ‘taught’ me to sew—she just let me play with fabric scraps and her old Singer. Occasionally, she’d show me how to make whatever I wanted. That’s how I learnt the basics.

It took me a very, very long time to realise how much sewing actually means to me.

A Big Life Change

I was a news producer for more than 30 years. I spent most of that time at BBC News—passionately recording everything that’s wrong with the world—until my mental health simply collapsed. In 2025, I decided to leave that highly stressful job. Instead of pointing out what needed to change in the world around me, I decided to start making change myself—however tiny it might be. I chose to follow my deep love for sewing and clothes to try and find a way to resist fast fashion.

That’s how this idea was born.

What Needle+Cloth Is

I’ve created this made-to-order sewing project around a simple idea: to create clothes with meaning and stories—beyond trends, labels, and fast fashion—with sustainability at its core.

I sew each piece in a corner of my bedroom in South London, using carefully sourced surplus fabrics and end-of-rolls no longer needed by designers or brands. I release small capsule collections a few times a year. Because of the limited amount of fabric I use, I rarely make more than five pieces of any design—so if you wear Needle+Cloth, the chances of running into someone else in the same thing are practically zero.

What This Means to Me

I want to be clear that I don’t see this work as a business. It’s my way of living in line with a core value: kindness—to others, to myself, and to the planet. And if I can make a living by charging a fair price for my work, that’s an added bonus.

My hope is to create garments you’ll wear and love for years to come.

Thank you for being here at the start.