Cork sewing tutor: I refuse to do anything in my life that doesn’t bring me joy

JOANNA O’Dowd is a sewing teacher and mum of two from Glounthaune. On her Instagram page, @jonannasfeelingcrafty, she shares snippets of her zero waste lifestyle and making her own clothes.

Her journey began when her first daughter was born 14 years ago.

“Back then, it wasn’t called zero waste living, the movement was only starting. We weren’t focused on waste, but doing things as naturally as possible for our child,” says Joanna.

She started by making her own natural cleaning products and using reusable nappies. She admits the phrase ‘zero waste’ doesn’t feel quite right to her.

“I don’t like the term zero waste living, because it’s about perfection.”

She says: “Striving for perfection is setting yourself up for failure. Especially as women, we have to be all of the things and be excellent at it.”

She believes eco-anxiety can make us feel like we need to do everything, and we can “tie ourselves in knots” over it.

Joanna adds that “shame inspires nothing” and we need to “give ourselves grace and do the best we can”.

Joanna grew up in Poland in the ’80s and ’90s, and her mother made a lot of their clothes. All the women in her family sewed, so it made sense that she did too. As a teenager, she began experimenting with making clothes. She later picked it up again as an adult, when she started making cloth wipes, baby clothes, and reusable menstrual pads.

Joanna had a business selling menstrual pads for a while, and says it was interesting to step into “an intimate area that was a bit taboo”.

“I was refused stalls at markets because I was selling menstrual pads,” she says. Her most popular design was the ‘Bloody Mary’, which featured a picture of the Virgin Mary on it. She also made a pad with the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo on it. These represented a form of activism, and a way to start conversations and build awareness around periods and menstruation.

Later, Joanna found a different way to share her skills. During the pandemic, she started making masks, and people asked if she could teach them how to do it too. She set up Zoom classes on mask-making, and that gave her the idea to teach sewing more widely.

For the past three years, she has been running swing classes in her local community centre in Glounthaune. Each term the group makes or upcycles something different, such as yoga pants, a tote bag, or a pencil case. Her message to her students is that “perfection doesn’t exist”, and we learn from mistakes.

There is no place for curiosity in perfection, and curiosity is what you need to learn any skill.

Joanna says her wardrobe is “a side effect of her sewing”, and it means so much more to her than just a way to make clothes.

“My hobby is my mindful practice. It helped me through postnatal depression after the birth of my second daughter, bereavement after my mother died, and a pandemic.”

She says: “When I’m busy with my hands, my brain goes quiet and I can slow down.”

Sewing gives Joanna a sense of confidence.

“I question myself a lot, as a mother, as a human, as a wife. But I know I’m good at sewing.”

She used to struggle with confidence and body image, but now that has changed.

“After sewing for 10 years, sizes are just numbers. I measure myself all the time and it changes. Now I completely detach from what used to be very triggering.”

Making her own clothes has helped her to be more bold in her fashion choices.

“I have gotten bold with my style, and wear a lot of colours. 

I’m not afraid of people saying ‘She is trying too hard’. Yes I am. We are all trying bloody hard!

On the subject of eco-friendly fashion, she says “the most sustainable wardrobe is the one you own.”

For shopping, she recommends second-hand sites like Depop.

At one point, Joanna didn’t buy any new clothes for a whole year, with one exception.

“I allowed myself to buy socks,” she says. “I make my own underwear now.”

While some might find the idea of zero waste living challenging, Joanna says it is second nature to her now. She carries a reusable cup, spork, and face wipe in her bag everywhere she goes.

“If I forget to bring my cup, I just sit down for 10 minutes in a coffee shop and have a coffee in a porcelain cup.”

She believes everything is about mindset.

“I refuse to do anything in my life that doesn’t bring me joy. For example, cleaning toilets doesn’t bring me joy, but having a clean bathroom does.”

Joanna is wary of giving advice, and says her lifestyle is what works for her. She believes sharing stories can inspire others, and any time you find a sustainable way to do something, you should “talk about it, tell people”.

Overall, her message is: “Do as much as you can with what’s available to you, and be kind to yourself.”