Scraplanta with Jonelle Dawkins

Jonelle Dawkins is a sewer, environmentalist, and the Executive Director of Scraplanta, a creative rescue center for the Atlanta creative community. Jonelle is joining the Stitch Please podcast to share her creative journey, from choosing sewing as her childhood hobby to getting a degree in fashion merchandising. This opened up the conversation as we talked about the socio-cultural influences of fashion, building sustainable sewing practices, and what the idea of creative reuse means. We also touch on how her travels influenced her sewing and career trajectory, how she became active in the cosplay scene, and why Scraplanta is meant to be a place for people to come together over their love for art and advocacy for more sustainable sewing practices. She also expanded on why you don’t have to choose between being a sustainable sewer or someone who is deeply creative and experimental, or a cosplayer–you can be all of those things at once. This episode is a conversation around sustainability, environmental justice, and creatively creating in a way that reduces the impact on the planet.