We’re thrilled to share an exclusive interview with Jenny, the founder and pioneer of Cashmerette, the trailblazing brand behind inclusive sewing patterns designed for curvy sewists. Yardblox partnered with Cashmerette to launch their latest Winvale Dress & Tunic using one of our Designer Floral Green Ramie Plain Woven designer deadstock fabrics. Whether you’re a seasoned sewist or just starting out, this interview is packed with insights, tips, and inspiration!
Winvale Dress & Tunic Pattern
How did Cashmerette come to life? What inspired you to create sewing patterns for plus size sewists?
I learned to sew in 2010 because I was so frustrated with never being able to find clothes that fit me or reflected my style. As a plus-size person with a large bust, it was truly depressing trying to shop! Once I learned to sew—and most importantly, to fit those patterns to my body—everything changed. I realized I could change my clothes to fit my body, rather than change my body to fit clothes. I knew I wasn’t alone—the average cup size in America is a DD, and the average clothes size is a 14/18. So, I decided to set up a sewing pattern company that actually reflected that!
What was the biggest challenge in launching Cashmerette, and how did you overcome it?
When Cashmerette launched, very few people were drafting for plus sizes, and no one was drafting up to an H cup. So, my drafter and I effectively were drafting from scratch, creating patterns that would actually fit curvy bodies—rather than trying to adapt existing ones that were created for very different bodies. It took some time, but when we solved it, we really solved it! And the popularity of Cashmerette ever since is a testament to the fact that our patterns fit curvy bodies so much better than mainstream patterns.
What’s the core philosophy behind your patterns?
We’re all about empowering curvy sewists to make clothes that fit them well—because when your clothes fit well and reflect your personality, you feel so much more confident. By being specialists in larger busts from C–H cup, we can really focus on what we do best.
What are some common fit challenges curvy sewists face, and how do your patterns address them?
The average bust size is a DD, and yet most patterns are designed for a B cup—which means many sewists have to make constant adjustments. We provide a range of C–H cup options, as well as full bicep and full bum pieces, which means there are over 50 different size combos to choose from, skipping a lot of the sometimes laborious fitting process. In addition, while we have a size range of 0–32, we are “plus-size first”: we draft our plus-size range first before expanding down, always use plus-size models in every shoot, and have experts in plus-size fitting on our customer service team. That means we know plus-size sewing and fitting REALLY well and can help our community make clothes that fit really well.
What’s your creative process when developing a new pattern? Do you start with an idea, fabric, or silhouette?
Inspiration comes from all sorts of places, but we’re much more about what people wear in the “real world” rather than high-concept, runway fashion. Our customers want clothes that they can wear every day—and maybe just a few gala pieces mixed in! Once we know the style, we work with our drafter to create the first pattern and then iterate until we have it nailed. From there, it’s onto a process of testing, instruction development, samples, and photoshoots before the pattern is ready for the world. We release over 15 patterns a year, so at this point, it’s a well-oiled machine!
Curvy sewists can sew and wear absolutely any fabric—there really are no limitations. For a long time, ready-to-wear designers made curvy and plus-size people feel like only certain styles or fabrics would “work” for them, but that’s simply false. Once you can sew, you can make any style, any garment, and any fabric look fabulous.
Tips on choosing the right fabric - Start by looking at the fabric recommendations and the fabrics chosen for the samples as inspiration. If you’re buying online, I also always recommend ordering swatches beforehand so you can experience the fabrics before you commit.
What are your top three sewing tips that every sewist should know?
- Measure yourself well and often: we all fluctuate a lot, and it’s important to keep up to date, as well as take seated measurements to ensure you can move around comfortably in your garment.
- Make sure you’re in the right size: it can avoid endless adjustments and failed projects!
- Look for patterns made for your body shape. If you’re curvy with a big bust, Cashmerette is a great option—but there are also lots of other brands that are good for other types of body shapes.
What advice do you have for beginners sewists?
Just give it a try—until you try to install a zipper, you’ll never learn how! Almost all your learning will come from giving it a go. Common mistakes beginning sewists make is not measuring and picking their size accurately. If you just go by your “store size,” you’re likely to run into trouble because sewing pattern sizes work really differently. We have tons of guidance on our site on this—including a size calculator where you plug your measurements in, and we’ll tell you what size to make.
Which Cashmerette pattern do you recommend?
Upton Dress & Skirt mix-and-match pack it’s not surprising: it has over 350 different combinations of dresses and skirts that you can make. We’ve seen tons of people make wedding dresses from it, but also a plethora of gorgeous day dresses and skirts. It’s a whole wardrobe in one pattern.
What's next for Cashmerette?
The Cashmerette Club, our exclusive membership program, is going from strength to strength! It’s the best way to experience Cashmerette, with new high-quality patterns every month, an ever-growing library of video fit masterclasses, live events, and more.
Where do you see the sewing community heading in terms of inclusivity and design trends?
Since I launched Cashmerette in 2015, I’ve been very pleased to see the growth of size ranges in the independent pattern industry. I’ve worked with many companies to help them do this, and it’s amazing how many brands now have a good plus-size range compared to 2010 when I was first looking for patterns to try. Moving forward, I think this has become the new “minimum” standard, and we’ll see more inclusivity of many types, especially as independent companies crop up specializing in particular body types, styles, or needs.
Thank you Jenny and the Cashmerette team for speaking with us and bringing to life the Winvale Dress & Tunic pattern with our designer deadstock fabric. If you are a member of the cashmerette club, you can enjoy 10% off this month on our entire store to make your own Winvale designer fabric dress!
About Cashmerette
Jenny Rushmore is a best-selling author and founder of Cashmerette. Jenny has been a pioneer of the curvy and plus-size sewing world since 2014 when she co-founded the Curvy Sewing Collective, and 2015, when she founded Cashmerette, the first sewing brand specializing in curves with cup sizes in C–H. Since then, Jenny has taught plus-size and curvy sewing and fitting around the world and written the best-selling book Ahead of the Curve, as well as the first learn-to-sew book for plus-size sewists, Sewing the Curve.
