Meet the Team
Carolyn
Carolyn is our owner and founder, and our main tutor here.
Carolyn trained as a teacher at Sheffield Hallam University specialising in Art and Textiles. After leaving Sheffield Hallam she spent a year in Switzerland studying Art and Textiles in Zurich. On returning to the UK she started her teaching career in Coventry and spent the next 25 years teaching sewing and dressmaking in schools and adult learning centres. During this time she studied for her BA degree with the Open University.
Carolyn trained as a teacher at Sheffield Hallam University specialising in Art and Textiles. After leaving Sheffield Hallam she spent a year in Switzerland studying Art and Textiles in Zurich. On returning to the UK she started her teaching career in Coventry and spent the next 25 years teaching sewing and dressmaking in schools and adult learning centres. During this time she studied for her BA degree with the Open University.
After raising her family she was inspired to start her private sewing school in 2010 to share her passion for sewing in a relaxed and friendly environment. Carolyn teaches children, teenagers and adults and specialises in beginners to sewing, and dressmaking.
Sam
Sam is one of our lovely tutor's and shop assistants. Her background was in education and Space Science but has always loved being creative! She has her own YouTube Sewing Channel called "Sew Let's Sparkle with Sam" where she creates sewing tutorials. She has recently found her love for dressmaking and is working her way through all her favourite patterns and working on getting the right fit.
@sew.letssparkle
Grace
Grace is one of our lovely shop assistants and in house tech expert! She graduated from the theatre and performance design BA at The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. There, she created set and costume designs for theatre and musicians. Experimenting with reusing waste and creating sustainably is her passion. Aiming to build better worlds to inspire our own!
@grace_e_evans
Maz
Maz is one of our lovely workshop tutors. She is a qualified teacher that originally came from a background working in adult mental health therapy. After starting a family and the Covid pandemic, she chose to reevaluate her work-life balance and found Carolyn Rose at exactly the right time. She has been sewing since the age of seven and is now excited to share her passion with others in workshops and is always keen to talk sewing with anybody! Outside of tutoring, Maz tests new patterns for adults and children, makes clothing samples and writes sewing blogs for other companies.
@mazzlesmakes
Sarah
Sarah Laws is one of our lovely external teachers who teaches the pattern cutting and alteration workshops. She designs MHW patterns and works in her studio in The Makers Yard in Leicester. She trained in fashion design at Westminster university before working in the fashion design industry for 7 years. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge and experience to enable everyone to make their own clothes and feel great about their bodies and skills.
@mhwpatterns
May
May is a Costume Maker and Tailor with experience working for an opera house and theatres. She has enjoyed sewing since textiles lessons at school, which led her to study Fashion Design at university. Since then, she has also had experience working as an alterations tailor.
May is interested in thoughtful design and craftsmanship including considering sustainability at all stages of her work. She would like to share this passion, helping others to cultivate their own skills with care, creativity, and purpose.
Carmen
Carmen is the youngest member of our team and has been with us (as a student first) since she was a little girl. Carmen is currently taking a break from working for us to study Fashion at Westminster University. She inspires us every weekend with the beautiful clothes that she makes. When taking breaks from University you might see her running one of her popular children's holiday classes or in the shop.
@cam.fashionstudent
Britannie
Britannie has been with us for a number of years on and off. She started out as a student back in 2018 and quickly become a member of the team working Saturdays. During the COVID-19 pandemic Britannie took it on herself to learn how to edit the website so that we could continue to sell our products online whilst we were in lockdown. In 2021 Britannie took a short break from us to follow her passion for working with deaf children and gained her level 2 BSL qualifations. She has now left that job following the birth of her new baby Elwyn and has come back to work for us from home, editing and maintaining the website. She still comes into the shop regularly though with her little helper to help the team with doing things online.
@shes_sew_small