Black Girls Sew: Projects and Patterns to Stitch and Make Your Own

Hekima Hapa and Lesley Ware’s Black Girls Sew supplies tools, builds skills, and offers encouragement to help young sewists create a powerful sense of self and style.

Black Girls Sew is a nonprofit organization built on strong messaging: Teach and empower young girls to take ownership of and have pride in their clothing. Their first book offers the tools, knowledge, and vocabulary to help young people take back their fashion narrative. Black and brown girls and boys need a space where they do not have to encounter misrepresentation of their culture, and this book provides them with a safe space in which to explore their creativity.

Primarily the book teaches basic sewing skills and design principles so that readers can create one-of-a-kind looks. By encouraging them to follow their curiosity, rather than telling them what to create, Black Girls Sew helps young fashionistas learn to take risks and explore creative play in clothing design. The way we dress is a means of expression, and by encouraging boys and girls to immerse themselves in the world of fashion, providing projects to create their own wares, and offering historical looks at prominent Black figures who have impacted the industry, Black Girls Sew is a guide for all who are interested in fashion, design, and building their own powerful sense of self and style.

Includes color images

Black Girls Sew is a nonprofit organization committed to positively impacting its community through education in sewing, design, and entrepreneurship. Its mission is to offer the tools needed to create a more fashionable future, and the organization focuses on teaching fundamental life skills such as creativity and resourcefulness through the design process. Black Girls Sew is based in Brooklyn, New York.

Hekima Hapa is the founder of the nonprofit, community organization Black Girls Sew. Hapa is also a fashion designer and business owner.

Lesley Ware is an author, educator, and entrepreneur. She has created fashion education programs for the Parsons School of Design, Metropolitan Museum of Art with the Costume Institute, Pioneer Works, Museum of the City of New York, and many other institutions.