About Me

In a nutshell, I’m a plus-sized sewist who is self-taught and loves making things that makes me feel empowered in my body. I’ve been featured in numerous sewing publications. My favorite thing is knowing that I’ve inspired other people to live more fully and accept their bodies with love. 

Hey there, I’m Aaronica.

I’m the woman behind “The Needle & The Bell{e}”.

My mom gifted me my first sewing machine at 13 along with 1 set of sewing lessons that I took with my neighbor. We made these super lame drawstring bags and I was over sewing before I’d really given it a chance. When I was in my first marriage, I think my mom saw that it was getting ready to end so she gifted me with yet another sewing machine so that I could have a hobby that was just mine. As a plus size woman struggling with finding clothes that I loved, I was ready to rock this sewing thing out–until I saw the directions for what was supposed to be a simple dress.

Simple, not.

I struggled the dress but was determined to teach myself how to sew. This was before YouTube University was really big so I bought some books to teach me the sewing jargon I needed and set out to learn. But then I filed for divorce, ended up pregnant and obviously distracted. While pregnant with my 2nd daughter, I broke out my sewing machine and I was determined to upcycle clothes to create a maternity wardrobe. I mean, if I couldn’t figure out how to make them from scratch the least I could do was take someone else’s starting point, right?

From there I’ve grown to sewing 90% of my wardrobe along with my 3 kids and husband. I sew with the following machines:

BERNINA B590 – Juki Serger – Juki Coverstitch

 

One day, I hope to visit

Fiji

Currently living in

Metro Atlanta

Favorite Brand

Indie Ones!

Favorite flavor of ice cream

Cookies N’ Cream