Creativity, Confidence & a Sewing Machine

Speaking at Derby Virtual School’s Creative Thursday Sewing Club

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Last week I had the absolute pleasure of speaking at the Creative Thursday Sewing Club, run by Derby Virtual School for foster children with a personal invite from the lovely Abigail Wastie who runs the sewing club.

And honestly… I wasn’t quite sure what to expect!

When you’re talking to a room full of adults about business, fashion or entrepreneurship, you have a rough idea how the conversation will go. But a group of young people .....many of whom have had very different life experiences, is a completely different audience!

What I found instead was curiosity, honesty and some brilliant questions. And a lot of creativity.....

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Why Sewing?

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The club is built around something beautifully simple: learning to sew! But it’s not really about sewing. It’s about giving young people a space to create something with their hands, to experiment, and to build confidence through making.

Something I’ve always believed, both in fashion and in life, is that creativity can be incredibly empowering. When you make something yourself, you realise you can shape the world around you. That’s a powerful feeling at any age!

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Sharing My Story

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I spoke to the group about my own journey into fashion. How I started sewing when I was young, how that curiosity turned into studying fashion, and eventually how it led me to build Fazane Fox Production Agency.

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But I was also honest about the parts that weren’t so straightforward. Starting a business is rarely a straight line. There are moments of excitement, moments of uncertainty, and sometimes moments where things don’t go to plan at all. The important thing is learning that those moments don’t define you.....they just become part of the journey.

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The Best Part

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The best part of the evening wasn’t the presentation. It was the conversation afterwards.....

After the talk, I spent some time having one-to-one chats with each of the students, looking through the work they had been creating, their sewing projects, their sketchbooks, and the ideas they’re starting to explore.

Seeing their creativity up close was brilliant!

One young girl shared an idea for a completely fabric-based shoe, because she finds normal shoes uncomfortable. Naturally, that caught my attention straight away......it’s exactly the kind of problem-solving product idea that we love working on, and I asked her do develop it for me further so I can see the full concept next time we meet.

It was a wonderful reminder that great ideas can come from anywhere, and often start with someone simply trying to solve a problem in their own life.

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Why This Matters

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At Fazane Fox Production Agency, we spend our days helping founders turn ideas into real products. But at its heart, what we do is still about creativity.....about taking an idea and bringing it to life.

Seeing young people discovering that same feeling of creativity and possibility was incredibly special. If even one of them left that session thinking “maybe I could do something like this one day”, then it was time very well spent.

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A Thank You

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A huge thank you to the team at Derby Virtual School for inviting me to be part of the Creative Thursday Sewing Club.

And to the young people who were so welcoming and curious. One of the organisers later sent me this message, which meant a lot:

“You were so great with the kids on Thursday! I’m amazed how much they spoke to you and how comfortable they were with you. A credit to your demeanour.”

I’m not sure about that.....but I do know it was a privilege to spend time with such a thoughtful and creative group of young people.

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And who knows… perhaps we met a few future designers in the making.

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My Final Thoughts

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Experiences like this are also a reminder of why I care so much about the kinds of products we help bring into the world at Fazane Fox Production Agency.

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Some of the most meaningful innovations start with something very simple......someone noticing a problem in their own life and imagining a better solution.

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And sometimes those ideas start surprisingly early.

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