About Me
I come from a long line of women who sewed — including my great-grandmother, who worked as a factory seamstress to bring her seven children from Cape Verde to the U.S., and my grandmother and great-aunt, who later ran a dressmaking shop called The Golden Thimble. I learned to sew young, tried just about every textile craft, and eventually began upcycling thrifted and found fabrics as part of a shift toward slow, sustainable fashion. What started with a shower-curtain dress and a few quilt coats turned into a small business. The Golden Thimble: Second Stitch carries forward their legacy by giving textiles a second life and keeping beautiful materials out of landfills.
Questions? Email me at nataliechristinemckee@gmail.com or message me on Instagram!
Hi! I’m Natalie!
I remember my mother patiently teaching me to sew when I was around 9 or 10 years old. It seemed like she could make anything with her sewing machine. She told me about the dresses her mother made her, and we brought the heavy and nearly indestructible polyester quilt crafted by her grandmother on every family picnic.
I grew up seeing my paternal grandmother’s handiwork and hearing her stories about opening The Golden Thimble, a small dressmaking and alterations business with her sister (the wooden sign here was their original one!) I would sneak downstairs to her sewing room and look in awe at the bolts of fabric, wall of thread, and so, so many sewing machines! She told me about her own mother, who had come to the United States from the Cape Verde islands, lost her husband on the journey over, and spent the next many years working as a seamstress in a factory so she could afford passage for each of her seven children they’d left behind in “the old country” in my grandmother’s care.
A serial crafter, I’ve dabbled in just about every textile hobby out there. Knitting, crochet, embroidery, cross stitch…I even bought Icelandic sheep with the intention of using their wool to make my own yarn (I made about 3 yards of yarn and then realized I’d rather purchase it…)
As I delved deeper into textile arts, I also began exploring the realities of fast fashion and aspired to a more sustainable wardrobe. I went a whole year where I only purchased clothing second-hand, and to a large degree, my wardrobe is either made, gifted, or from Savers! I still have a goal to wear only me-made clothes at some point, but then I got distracted by quilt coats…
The biggest deterrent to sewing my entire wardrobe wasn’t actually time (even with three young kids) — it was money. If you were once a JoAnn-shopper (RIP), you know that nice fabric isn’t cheap. Thankfully, I was following enough slow fashionistas on Instagram that I started seeing more and more textile upcycling. Women who took thrifted linens and turned them into designer dresses. Reminiscent of Maria Von Trap, they made entire wardrobes using materials that would likely end up in a landfill.
Inspired, I started shopping Savers for textiles to turn into outfits. My shower curtain dress was the staple of my summer wardrobe — and I told everyone who complimented it that it was, in fact, a shower curtain. Everyone told me I should start selling my handiwork, but I didn’t think people would actually buy it!
And then it happened. I’ve had a quilt coat pinned on Pinterest for years, so when I came across a bundle of second-hand quilts on Marketplace, I decided to take the plunge. I asked friends and family on Facebook if anyone wanted a quilt coat, and sold my first batch within a couple of weeks. Before I knew it, total strangers wanted my coats too. And here I am!
I inherited lots of sewing notions from my paternal grandmother, and my maternal grandmother sent me many of hers when she saw I was getting into sewing (she purchased me my first sewing machine, by the way, which died under all the overuse — and then my mom lent me hers, which I used to make everything you see here today!) Because of that, I’m able to use second-hand or thrifted materials to make every coat, bag, and scrunchie you see. The smaller items allow me to use the cut-offs from the larger quilt coats, and eventually I’ll make pillows or stuffies from all the itty-bitty pieces I have collected since I started this endeavor!
Not all the quilts I make coats from are handmade, but those that are allow me to honor the hands that spent hours and hours creating something that might otherwise end up in a landfill. Most of those handmade quilts I use have stains or damage that I’m able to cut around or repair as I make the coats, giving their handiwork another life.
My work is dedicated to all my foremothers who worked tirelessly at handicrafts to dress and provide for their families. I’m in a privileged position to do this because I want to — not because I have to — and to work the cozy corner of my bedroom and not a factory. My children won’t freeze this winter because I failed to hand-stitch worn-out scraps into a quilt for them. I think of my Vovo Mommy every time I sit down at my sewing machine, and I wish she could see these coats I’m selling under her business name. I hope she gets a glimpse of this display from heaven.