This story was published in the 2019 Red Magazine. Stop by room 306 for a copy.
By Kayla Hoang
Brightly colored scraps of spare fabric, sewing needles and an old sewing machine messily litter around a dimly lit, white room. At the center of it sits sophomore Ashley Dinh, putting together a new inspiration piece with what she’s found.
Each person has their own distinct way of expressing their creativity, and Dinh channels her inner artist through her passion for sewing and fashion. Recently, she started a YouTube channel named Ashley Sews in the hopes of taking her hobby a step forward into a business.
“I love sewing, knitting, crocheting, scrapbooking, DIY-ing things,” Dinh said. “Basically anything that involves making something.”
Her passion for fashion started in elementary school, when she developed an interest for crafting from a first grade summer camp and later became more absorbed into knitting.
Back when rainbow looms were all the rage in elementary school, Dinh started her first business and made profit by selling her handmade crafts to other students.
In sixth grade, she took her love of knitting by knitting sweaters and donating them to less fortunate children through a program called Knit for Kids.
Starting with spare pieces of fabric, Dinh started with making clothes for her dolls. Her aunt gave her an old sewing machine just as she started developing another passion for textile production with crocheting.
Dinh originally practiced mainly on making sweaters for her dogs and her dolls in her spare time, leading to an unfortunate accident where she accidentally punctured her finger with her sewing machine.
“My parents were scared that I would do something like that again,” Dinh reminisced. “They took away the sewing machine after that incident.”
It wasn’t until high school that she realized how much she missed sewing, and she wanted to go back to it. Inspired by various crafting and DIY YouTube channels, she wanted a public platform to express her love of sewing there and plans to make it into a business.
The YouTube channel, Ashley Sews, focuses on tutorials on making certain items of clothing through materials like fabric, thread, scissors she buys in bulk to sell as a bundle.
Despite the time constraints of homework and other responsibilities, Dinh relies on sewing as her break from school.
Although sewing isn’t her primary focus for a career later on, Dinh wants to at least view it as a possible fall-back career.
“End of the day,” Dinh concludes brightly, “if you’re bad at one craft, don’t let it discourage you from trying another. It took me a lot of time to find my craft, so be sure to experiment around and find what you’re passionate about.”
