Fashion and Sewing: Esther Boller

Esther is one of the winners of our Summer of Love Contest. Not only does she take beautiful photos, she also makes her own clothes! Let’s learn more about Esther!

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I am from Indiana and come from a creative family. My mom is an artist, my sister is a dancer and my brother is a potter.

I make jewelry, knit, and sew. My dream is to be fashion designer when I grow up.



What inspired you to start your own blog?
I started because I have all these photos that I’ve taken and things that I have sewn. I have no one to show it to other than my friends so I thought a blog would be a great channel to showcase my work, plus I thought it would be fun.



When did you start sewing and how did you learn?
My mom taught me how to sew from a pattern when I was 13. I started because I didn’t like what was in the store. Also I don’t have a whole lot of money and I learned I can buy a yard of cloth for $2 to make a $40 shirt!



Through the Alliance for Young Artist and Writers I was able to attend the Cranbrook Summer Art Institute where I studied Fashion Design, Fashion Illustration, Pattern Drafting and Sewing Techniques for 3 weeks! I learned so much there and it was a really great experience.

Can you share with us your favorite piece?
My favorite piece is a vintage 1900 style dress.



What advice would you give for people who would like to learn sewing?
I would recommend starting off with an easy sewing pattern and keep building up. That’s basically how I learned. The internet also has great advice on sewing.

A web site that I would recommend with great video tutorials and DIY stuff is Threadbanger.com. Also Burdastyle.com is a great sewing community and you can print patterns online.



Where do you get fashion inspirations?
My inspirations pretty much come from anywhere, e.g., movies, books, photos, people, and flowers etc.

Tell us more about the photos that you take?
I’ve been taking pictures for about two years shooting photos of themes that I like. I use a Sony Cybershot (purchased with my birthday and Christmas money) and take all my photos myself using a tripod and timer. I am looking into buying a remote sometime in the future.



Since I take photos on my own, I usually take one or two to see what angle I like best. Also I don’t usually do super close-up shots so I can crop the photos in different ways later on.

At a young age, Esther is already a talented young designer of clothing and jewelry. We wish her successful in her future endeavors!