If you’ve spent any time scrolling through the UK sewing community on social media, chances are you’ve stumbled across the fabulous Lena King. From her vibrant Instagram posts showcasing her latest makes to her witty series We Do Not Care Club, Sewing Division and There’s Fabric at Home and Patterns Too, Lena has a knack for making sewing feel playful, exciting, and accessible to everyone.

And as co-founder of Ankara Appreciation Week with Juliet Uzor and as a dedicated blogger, Lena isn’t just finding joy in making her own wardrobe, she’s on a mission to spread that joy. And she’s nurturing a vibrant community along the way.

This is Lena’s story, in her own words.

From childhood curiosity to sewing passion

My mum was a trained seamstress. I'm from Ghana and back there, sewing your own clothes is just common practice. When we came to the UK, we had this big industrial sewing machine in our little flat. The sound of that machine was my background noise growing up! We weren’t allowed to go anywhere near it, but I used to watch my mom sew on it. And I was just fascinated.

*Above:* Lena on her 7th birthday. In this image, her mum had made her own skirt and blouse, Lena’s pink broderie anglaise dress (top left) and her sister’s patchword dress (bottom right).

Although my mum was worried about us using the industrial machine, she saw that I was really interested. So, when I was about 15, she gave me a little tabletop home sewing machine and said: “Get on with it!” And that’s what I did. She tried to teach me things, and introduced me to paper patterns. But I wasn’t a great learner. I can't even remember when my first wearable garment was.

My real garment making only took off years and years later, around 2017. I was going to a wedding and I wore this really lovely dress I had made with Ankara fabric. And I got so many compliments! People were asking where I bought it and I thought: I can really get into this! When you make something for yourself that looks so good, it’s such a great feeling. So yeah, I've been dabbling in sewing for years!

Lena’s favorite fabrics, colors, and styles

I'm definitely more on the bright side in terms of fabric colours. My favorites are red and mustard yellow. I like to mix a little navy in there as well.

And I do love prints. But it got to the point where everything I was making was patterned. I thought: Lena, you need a few solids in there! I haven’t quite cracked wearing different patterns together, so I know I need a few solids as a background to my garments.

Left to right: Maisie dress by Sew Over It, Ines dress by Just Fabric, and the Fibre Mood Kirsty top and Lucia trousers.

Over the years, I've grown to love African wax prints. I didn't as a child and teenager, although it’s very much associated with my culture. I think that, at that time, there was a lot of racism around, and I didn't want to be different by wearing those kinds of fabrics. But I’ve since reclaimed all that.

Above left: Lena blouse by Fibre Mood, made into a dress in Ankara.

I'm not a fashionista, though I do love clothes and I love to see how things work against my body. I quite like a fitted silhouette. However, with my body fluctuating, I do need to embrace other styles so that I can move with my clothes and not feel restricted.

I also don’t want to just make clothes that look good but never see the light of day. I need my wardrobe to be wearable. But I think my dream look would be a 1950s, 1960s kind of dress.

Discovering the online sewing community

I homeschooled my kids until my second daughter was 11. When she finally went to school, I had more time on my hands and really got into my sewing. And that’s when I discovered the sewing community on Instagram.

And I just wanted to connect with it. Sewing can be quite lonely - it’s just you and your machine. So, it was just nice to find this community. It also pointed me to great patterns. I didn’t know much about indie patterns before then. So, it was fantastic to be educated and inspired along my sewing journey.

I then started the Ankara Appreciation Week with Juliet Uzor, an annual online event hosted on Instagram, designed to celebrate African wax print fabric.

*Above:* Lena and co-founder Juliet Uzor at an Ankara Appreciation Week Picnic. Lena is wearing a shirred ankara dress designed by Juliet for The Great British Sewing Bee: The Modern Wardrobe.

I want more from the community. I want to connect people. I think that’s why I’m so prolific on social media. We’re truly part of something wonderful.

Making the most of your fabric stash

I don't have a dedicated sewing room, so I sew on my dining room table. It’s a through lounge, so the living room is on one end and the dining room is on the other. I really can’t take over because the family needs the table and the space. I have some great storage cupboards full of sewing paraphernalia and fabric. And there’s a box somewhere in almost every room.

It got to the point where I was getting so overwhelmed with it. Sudenly, I felt: this is actually too much and I don’t even know where to begin with it. So, I figured I needed to pause on buying, look at what I’ve got, and get rid of stuff that I don’t want.
And so I decided to do this series There’s Fabric at Home and Patterns Too. In every episode, I rediscover a piece in my stash and make something of it. I thought that would be a fun way to keep me accountable and help me get through my stash. And it's been really good.

I’m not trying to guilt trip people. I’m just saying that, for me, the stash was becoming not fun. Too much fabric was starting to get me down. I'm not being so hard on myself, but I'm reducing my fabric stash and then really trying to just buy what I need.
And there will be those times when I see something that I just really love and I will buy it, and that will be okay. I'm not going to make myself miserable. It's like when you're going on a diet, you just get miserable! But I don’t want to just store fabric, I want the fabric to be used.

When I'm doing these videos and showing people what I've made, they're coming along the journey with me and making loads of encouraging comments. I've had people saying: you know, that's really helped me. I'm working through my stash too, I understand what you mean about being overwhelmed.

The We Do Not Care Club, Sewing Division

When I first came across Melanie Sanders’ We Do Not Care Club videos, I thought they were hilarious. It's just so funny, isn't it? There's a serious note to it, but it’s done in such a relatable way. You just connect.

Then I was sure that somebody was going to do a sewing version. I was waiting for it, but no one seemed to be doing it. And I had these funny lines in my head for a sewist. And I thought: well Lena, you better do it then.

I recorded the first one, and it just blew up. People were really finding it funny. As a menopausal woman, when it comes to my sewing, sometimes my brain is just fog. I look at those instructions again and again and again or get frustrated. It’s nice to know I haven’t been alone. Others relate to that.
And I also just love that whole ‘we don't care’ message. I'm sewing for me. I love it. It helps to keep me sane. You don't understand it? That's not my problem. Let me sew, let me be. Because for me, it's a mindfulness thing.

And to people who think that people of a certain age should be wearing this and shouldn’t be wearing that, just stop. Stop telling us that we can’t wear florals, or we can’t wear horizontal stripes. We will make what we want to make, and we will wear what we want to wear. We’re not going to care about those opinions. We’ll wear what brings us joy.

Connecting with the SewOver50 community

I can't remember how long ago the SewOver50 community started on Instagram. But the two founding editors of that account had been doing it for quite a few years. When one of them stepped back, the remaining one, Sandy, thought it would be good if there were a little team of editors.

So now, I’m in the team of editors. There’s about eight of us who take a week at a time and find some stories and posts that relate. I've enjoyed being part of that team and finding articles and creating posts that really chime with the community and empower it.
And through that, we've also organized Frocktails. So, it's been so much fun. I do love community and I like meeting up and just sharing fun times with people. There’s so many people from all walks of life who love sewing.

Current projects and upcoming plans

I have an embroidery machine on loan at the moment, and I’ve got this idea for a lovely white shirt with lots of embroidery bits on it. That's going to be a slow project. I'll just probably do a little bit at a time and take people along that journey.

I’ll also be at The Stitch Festival at the Angel on the 20th of March, helping my friend Tanya at Bornella Fabrics.

Lena with Tanya of Bornella Fabrics at The Stitch Festival last year.

And I’m continuing to get through my stash. I also need to make a fleece of my husband. The poor guy came back from a trip to the States having lost his North Face. So, I told him I’d make him one!

Lena’s Top Sewing Advice for Beginners

Just do it. It's so much fun! You get to create a unique wardrobe that's just you. Be careful though, when I started I picked all the wrong fabrics for the clothes I wanted to make. Read the patterns properly and get the right fabrics.

Go into shops and talk to people, learn how to feel the fabric. Learn how they will fit and flow. Soak it all in. The sewing journey is a fantastic one.

Follow Lena on Instagram.

Know someone working with materials in exciting, sustainable ways and/or making a difference in their community through craft? We’d love to feature their story. Get in touch at hello@destasher.co.uk.

Lena King: the joy of sewing and connecting