Interview with Stephanie Waslohn '08 on Pandemic Sewing and Fat Liberation
Stephanie Waslohn is a professional archivist and amateur everything else. She lives in her hometown in Northern California with her small dog familiar.
Shelly Anand, WU Founder: The last two years have been trying to say the least. Overall, how has the pandemic gone for you?
Stephanie Waslohn: I've been both really lucky and fairly lonely. I felt so lost in space living alone and suddenly working from home in the early pandemic that I decided to think about my isolation like an astronaut focused on my mission. That mission has changed over the last two years, but the metaphor has let me redefine what's necessary for my survival.
Shelly: One of the highlights of the pandemic for me has been watching your garment sewing journey on Instagram (IG handle @lemonseltzer). What made you start (or re-start) garment sewing?
Stephanie: Honestly? Panic. I'd like to say it was sustainability, or out of pure desire for the kind of clothes I couldn't buy as a fat person, but the truth is I planned my first sewing capsule during wildfires in my hometown-- one tab open on a fire map, the others sewing patterns and fabric stores. I was taught to sew as a kid; I had my mom's old machine and my rusty skills in a vast ocean of time and uncertainty. My personal motto is "do what you can and let go of the rest." Planning sewing projects was something I could do at that moment. I will say I wouldn't have latched onto it without the work of Muna and Broad, an indie sewing pattern company who specialize in plus sizes. Knowing that they designed for larger bodies meant I could mentally skip the fear of needing to adjust a pattern drastically.
Shelly: You also talk about how painstaking the process can be, how you have learned so many new methods of sewing, and how it has been a lesson in patience. What are some key takeaways?
Stephanie: Cribbing from Octavia Butler: happiness is steady progress towards a worthy goal. Sewing is a physical manifestation of that personal truth for me. (Hobbies, dude, they rock.)
Also! Social media is whatever, but finding a community of fat makers and designers through it has been rewarding. My greatest inspiration is other fat people living their sartorial truth. I teach myself skills piecemeal project by project, but the thoughtful work of being part of a community based in mutual inspiration is what keeps me coming back.
Shelly: I absolutely love how you are expressing self love and body positivity through bespoke clothing. How has this process been for you with respect to loving yourself and loving your body?
Stephanie: Body acceptance is both at the center of this work, and an after-thought. From a pragmatic point of view, the size range is the first thing I check when I look at a sewing pattern. Loving my body won't magically extend a limited size range to fit my hips. By the same token, loving myself won't teach me how to adjust a pattern for my body, but it sure as shit makes doing it a lot easier in application.
The revolutionary part for me is the freedom of aesthetic self-expression-- for most of my life my main criteria for clothing was "does it fit?" rather than "do i like it?" A (literal) bind made all the more fun house mirror-esque by the plus size industry that historically offers a pretty warped version of what fat consumers want. It's really rewarding to define for myself the intersection of comfort and self-expression with less external pressure, while knowing I'm partially opting out of yet another system built on the exploitation of women’s labor.
Shelly: How does it feel having been made to measure clothing in a world that doesn’t cater to fat bodies.
Stephanie: Shitty. Even in sewing, the big four pattern companies have atrocious sizing, and many indie pattern companies choose to only offer a limited size range. I have the personal rule not to buy a pattern (or a garment) where I wear the largest size.
But clothing is the tip of the iceberg in a world that rejects fat bodies-- anti-fatness creates systemic barriers to health care at the most life threatening, limiting travel, where we can eat in restaurants and what personal services we can receive, who will hire us/how much we're paid, access to hobbies that require specialized gear, all the way down to mundane risk like the weight limit of my household step stool. There is no sphere of my life untouched by my body type. And I say this as a privileged fat person-- I'm a white, cis, and often perceived as "not that fat.” (As an aside, that's like... a quote from my Wellesley undergrad. After standing up against a fatphobic statement about another student, I was informed I was the appropriate, proportional kind of fat like I should be flattered. The 2000's were wild, man.)
Shelly: You actually helped me review and edit the manuscript of my upcoming picture book I Love My Body Because, co-authored by Nomi Ellenson (sister of my W bestie Hannah Ellenson '08), a picture book I hope will teach kids about body positivity, body acceptance, that someone being fat isn’t bad or negative, that its beautiful, that all bodies are good and capable of so many things. What are your thoughts on the body positivity movement? On the movement to fight fatphobia? How far are we from where we need to be?
Stephanie: The body positivity movement at its core, and its best, is based on the work of fat liberationists. The deeply personal internal shifts of meeting our bodies where they are can be both personally rewarding and serve as a gateway to building a more equitable future.
The way I see it, I'm fat like my eyes are brown. They are both two equal truths about my body. If eye color was as likely to determine the quality of my medical care as my body size, that's how far we are from where we need to be. Not to say that my little brother didn't tease me that my "brown eyes look like poo" but it's a funny reminder of the scales of impact. I love the idea that your book is for the next generation of kids finding more body equity and self acceptance.
Shelly: Which pieces have been your favorite so far?
Stephanie: I really love my Cobden Chore coat. It's a perfect California three season coat, and was my first top stitching. A professional sewist asked me the same question recently and I pointed to the coat I'd worn in, only to see her politely laugh and announce that she loved that I left in my jacked up top stitching. I'm an imperfect maker and loving it anyway is like blowing a kiss to a perfectionist past me stalled by disliking being bad at a new skill long enough to get good.
Sometimes the materials guide me to the final garment-- for example this gorgeous Japanese import linen was planned for another garment. Now it's a beautiful yet comfortable dress that feels like I'm wearing a piece of art.
Shelly: You’ve taken on other interesting projects that you’ve shared with your followers on instagram including your renovating an RV. WHAT WAS THAT LIKE?
Stephanie: My pandemic freak out! I went full snail self-protection. I could unpack why I made the choice, but the main gist is it allowed me to feel in control in a world and a time when that is rare. I’m deeply privileged that my brother lets me park it on his rural acreage in our hometown, the same place I was watching so closely on the map and where his home was saved from the fires. It’s at the top of a hill with some privacy and outdoor space that offers the scenic background to my sewing photography. Minus cursing the heavens when I bonk my head on a low bedroom beam, the trade of living small’s physical restrictions is worth the freedom of outdoor space and knowing I can weather whatever comes. I don't talk about personal finance much as part of my social media presence, but the tiny living does help my craft budget.
Shelly: You have also had some interesting encounters with deer over the pandemic. Care to share?
Stephanie: I'm a very niche disney princess! The combination of a high deer population, California drought, and my rural cottage core raised bed garden fantasies mean we're good judies. A pair of fawns started hanging around the property sleeping under a trailer after their mother was hit by a car. Besides my resident deer, there's a herd of wild turkeys, hares, quails, and so many types of birds. I even walked upon a coyote stalking prey once!
Shelly: For our readers who have dreams of taking on projects, re-visiting skills or learning new ones, any advice?
Stephanie: Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. Seriously.
