Hi

I’m Leslie Cumming, a maker and textile lover. I’m on a mission to build a thread that ties my passion of raw resources, manufacurturing supply chain, design, development and business of heritage and mass manufacturing of textiles and knitwear via the journey to a Textile, Manufacturing and Design graduate student September 2019. My journey (to date) has been one of equal parts joy, love, success and implosions. I’m a writer, teacher, designer, maker, developer and marketer in the makers industries with a breadth of experience in the yarn, Indi pattern and apparel markets.

 Loving this life!

While living in Edinburgh in the early 2000s, I rekindled my love of knitting and sewing and began my journey into the maker’s and apparel world.

I’ve worked in a yarn shop, taught knitting, written for Yarn Market News, designed custom knitwear, created a collection for Colette Patterns and consulted for independent creatives doing marketing, sales and product development. I was the U.S. Director of Marketing and Sales for Pear Tree Yarn, the U.S. Marketing Manager for Zealana and have worked for the iconic brand Pendleton as a knitwear, and cut and sew pattern developer in the women’s wear department.

I attended the knitwear program at the Academy of Arts San Francisco, completing coursework in design, color theory, fashion history and pattern drafting. I have also completed 7-years of coursework in the Nihon Vogue hand knitwear program. I live in Portland, Oregon, and love that I am close to the Indi makers community, fellow knitters and sewists, along with friends and family in the Pacific Northwest.