Meet Isabel Wilder

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Isabel Wilder. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Isabel below.

Isabel, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
I like to draw my ideas, if possible when they come to my mind, and that helps me to go back to them when I need inspiration for a new project. I also like to experiment just to see if an idea will work. I find that by just experimenting even if I do not have a clear goal of what I am making, I still learn a lot in the process and most often new ideas are born there in the experimentation stage!

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

My name is Isabel Wilder. I am an Ecuadorian-American artist currently living in the United States. I was born and raised in Ecuador, a small but beautiful country in South America and around 24 years ago I immigrated to the United States. Since 2007 my family and I have moved around the world every few years. We have lived in Argentina, Vietnam, Ukraine and Peru.
I grew up drawing, creating and sewing. I studied Fashion Design and worked in various jobs related to design and sewing. In 2009, I found Etsy while living overseas and started my brand called Gypsy Tailor. I had recently left my full time job as a First Hand in the costume shop at the Washington National Opera to follow my husband in his first job assignment outside the United States. Etsy seemed like a great opportunity for me to keep creating, designing, sewing and selling. At that time, I started making accessories with leather. We were living in Buenos Aires and there were beautiful leathers there that inspired me. I designed and made small wallets for women and men, and with that I opened my Etsy shop. After my “Mini Gypsy” coin purse debuted and received so much interest, I mainly focused on selling that design since it is a perfect little accessory that can be mailed anywhere in the world from the various countries in which we have lived.
Creativity has been part of my life since an early age. I really can not remember a time when I have not been working with my hands. I also love teaching people to sew and how things can be made, and I especially like to inspire creativity! With that in mind, I created sewing tutorials and pdf sewing patterns of my own designs to sell in my shop. I now have two sewing classes on Skillshare as well. I believe sewing is for everyone and creating something with our hands has a special magic!
Since I have to move constantly from place to place every few years, I have learned a new skill that can give me location freedom and also help my business to grow even more. I have learned to design fabrics and I am incorporating them in my sewing projects. I recently opened a Spoonflower shop where my fabric designs can be found and bought.
I am proud and happy to have embarked on this journey. It has been a great learning experience working on my business, being the hands and soul of Gypsy Tailor! Something that comes within this creative journey is the connection with other makers and customers that give me feedback and also provide new ideas. My family are my biggest supporters and my twin sons are my inspiration to work harder and stay on this creative path where I feel I belong and would like to continue!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Learning to sew and practicing a lot! Designing my own patterns and draping on a dress form.
Learning to use a program to digitize my patterns and also to draw fabric designs.

If someone is new into sewing I would advise them to start by getting a good sewing machine. It does not mean that it has to be expensive but get one that will be good enough so it will not cause trouble when starting to sew. I also advise practicing a lot by sewing small projects at the beginning but not being afraid of tackling bigger projects. Now with social media being a big part of our lives I will suggest opening an account and follow people that are doing what you would like to do in the future and be inspired by them, not to copy them. Join in sewing challenges or collaborations, or to be a pattern tester. Getting involved in a community where people share the same passion is very helpful and one can learn a lot from others and others can learn a lot from us.
Show your work even if you feel like you are not ready.
Try new ideas because after one idea there are a hundred more coming!

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
Both my parents were big supporters in my creative path. From an early age I was influenced by my mother, her sewing skills and the work she did from home sewing beautiful garments for people. She was a very talented professional seamstress. For me that was my biggest influence and inspiration to dive into sewing and the creative world. Both my parents were always present and supported me in my pursuit to get a creative career and guided me to continue to do what I love most!

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