My Sew Called Life

Hi! Lisa here, stitchin’ on a mission with all puns intended!

My sewing story began at the age of 11, when my Bomba (that’s my mom) taught me to use a sewing machine so that I could make the wildest, widest, wide-leg pants of my dreams. They were orange with blue flowers and they changed my life forever.

Fast-forward ten years later with a degree in Fashion Design from Drexel University and an obsession with vintage clothing, I followed the myth that I needed to live in a huge city to be in the clothing biz, so I packed up my Singer and scissors and headed west to LA. With a resolve to never bow to mass production or fast fashion, I sewed and scrambled my way across eight different cities in as many years, finally landing in wonderful Richmond, VA.

RVA is my home and it’s where I teach, mend, and make fiber art in a low-waste sewing studio called Top Stitch. As a fierce friend of the environment, my priority has always been nature and community and the beautiful moments where the two entwine. I believe we can take care of our material things and each other at the same time. It’s my mission to nurture both, every stitch of the way!

About Top Stitch

Featured
Church Hill Newsletter
Church Hill Newsletter

"Hi mend-friends and neighbors! Top Stitch Mending is a sewing studio located on 23rd street, between Leigh and Clay, on the bottom floor of a sweet little carriage house. We offer clothing and other textile repairs as well as sustainable sewing classes by appointment. Our hope is to lighten the load of excessive textile waste that ends up in landfills annually, by restoring the items in your home and closet, keeping them in circulation."

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Sustainability Side Hustle
Sustainability Side Hustle

“I started a sustainable mending business to eliminate as much clothing and textile waste as possible, redirecting it from landfills. Mending keeps things in circulation longer and disrupts the speed of fast fashion. When we slow down the fashion consumption cycle, we get to explore its supply chain, where it is broken, and the people that are affected the most by it.”

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Style Weekly’s Top 40 Under 40
Style Weekly’s Top 40 Under 40

“At 11 years old, Lisa Hutchinson learned to sew from her mother, a home economics teacher. Her interest eventually grew into a business, TopStitch Mending, where she repairs clothing as a way to minimize the environmental impact by keeping used clothes out of landfills.”

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Darn It! A Sockumentary by Liza Hazelwood
Darn It! A Sockumentary by Liza Hazelwood

Darn It! A Sockumentary focuses on the sustainable mending practice of Richmond clothes mender Lisa Hutchinson. She applies her mantra of “anything can be mended” to the human condition, showing her love for fabric, clothes, and the Richmond community.

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Richmond Grid
Richmond Grid

"With that in mind, let’s meet Lisa Hutchinson, a sustainable seamstress based in Richmond who initially created TOP STITCH as a way to keep clothing out of landfills. Lisa, who studied fashion design at Drexel University, has been sewing for over twenty years. At TOP STITCH, Lisa has earned a reputation for clothing repair, alternative alterations, mindful mending, creative fixes, and for teaching sewing lessons. Today, she has turned her skills toward protecting the Richmond community..."

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B side Collective: Vol. 3 Handmade 
B side Collective: Vol. 3 Handmade 

“With involvement in the Ethical Style Collective, her focus is shifting consumer mindset to being comfortable and accepting visible repairs. For Lisa, ‘blemishes are a reflection of the life of a garment well worn.’...” (pg. 85)

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In the press