Hello, friends! Please join me in welcoming our guest for this week’s Meet Me In My Studio, Radha Weaver! After 15 years in the denim industry at Levi’s witnessing fast fashion’s environmental toll, Radha left her corporate career in 2021 with severe burnout. What began as a six-month quilting project during her downtime has become a passionate mission to address textile waste through art.
Working under the handle Sewing through Fog, Radha creates stunning quilts and functional objects exclusively from upcycled materials—primarily denim. Her approach challenges stereotypes that upcycled work must look worn or crafty, instead transforming discarded jeans into clean, modern pieces that celebrate textiles’ transformational power.
In December 2024, Radha took her sustainability mission even further by acquiring FeelGood Fibers, the online fabric resale marketplace, with plans to expand it into the leading resource for secondhand crafting materials across the US and Canada. It’s a full-circle moment combining her textile expertise, passion for creative reuse, and vision for a more sustainable quilting community.
Welcome, Radha Weaver!
About Your Creative Space
Please tell us where your studio is located.
In my home in San Francisco.
What do you create in this space?
Quilts and clothing made from upcycled denim and other repurposed materials.
How would you describe the space?
It’s a balance of chaos and calm. There are big windows across one wall that look out at the Victorian homes in our neighborhood in SF, and usually at a layer of fog across the city. So, the studio is usually filled with light, but sometimes it’s a grey light coming through the fog. And then inside is usually a bit chaotic with piles of found materials around the space. Many of those piles are denim and the layers and levels of blue also create a level of calm despite the clutter.
What’s your favorite part of your studio and why?
My fabric bookshelves are my favorite part, especially the one that is mostly denim. I need to see my materials or else I forget about them, and I use the bookshelves as practical storage but also as aesthetic and inspirational moments.
What’s one thing you wish you could change about your studio and how have you adapted to work with this limitation?
It is very small with limited wall space. I would love to have a bit more room. I solved the wall space issue by installing my design wall in front of the fireplace. Since a fireplace is not very practical in a sewing studio.
Your Creative Process
What small rituals in your space mark the beginning and end of your creative time?
I am not someone who has a lot of rituals or routines, I am much more prone to spur of the moment inspiration and every day in my studio looks different. The end of my day is almost always tied to the light – when I start to lose the light through my windows, I know it’s time to stop working.
How do you approach your work or creative practice? Do you dive right in, or ease into work mode more slowly?
Dive in. I can’t hold myself back when I have an idea or project I’m excited about.
What do you do when you’re feeling creatively stuck?
I switch materials/techniques. Besides quilting and garment sewing, I also do visible mending, textile weaving, bag making, I’ve even reupholstered furniture. Recently I was feeling stuck in my denim quilting, I wasn’t inspired and everything felt like a chore. At that same time I discovered some knit fabric samples at the creative reuse center where I volunteer and I started experimenting with them in a couple different ways. Switching from denim to knits was such a big change, it was the creative boost I needed.
Favorites & Recommendations
What’s your favorite storage solution in your space?
I have a pegboard I covered with wallpaper and put in a giant frame. I use it to hang rulers, scissors and store my thread. I love its aesthetic and practicality.
What’s your favorite project you’ve ever made in your space and what makes it special to you?
Every project I work on becomes my favorite project for a time, and it’s an impossible task to choose just one. My favorite recent project was probably a dress I made from denim fabric samples – I turned the scraps into patchwork using my new BERNINA L890 overlock/coverstitch and then used the patchwork in a vintage pattern. It was special because the whole process just worked. It felt like it was meant to be.
What’s a piece of advice you’d give someone trying to become more intentional about their creative studio time/routine?
Schedule time to experiment and play. That’s when you will learn the most about your practice and yourself.
Quick Finishers
The silliest thing in my studio is: I have so many! I have a framed knitting pattern from the 1970’s featuring men wearing belted sweaters.
The book I recommend to everyone: “Visible Mending” by Arounna Khounnoraj
I always feel best when: I’m starting a new project.
The studio tool I’d rescue first in an emergency is: my Gingher fabric shears.
Looking Forward
Anything exciting that you are working on now?
A t-shirt quilt out of the knit fabric samples I found. But not your average t-shirt quilt…
Thank you so much, Radha! You’ve provided so much inspiration for us through your studio and your work! To learn more about Radha at Sewing Through Fog you can follow her on Instagram, and visit her website. To learn more about what she is up to at FeelGood Fibers and shop secondhand, visit the FGF website, or follow on social!
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