Opening the Doors of Creativity: Conversation with Zane Zaharova

For many, sewing begins with a desire — to sew something for themselves. Something beautiful, special, personal. But along the way, doubts often arise: will i manage? will i know how? isn't it too complicated? This is exactly where people who not only teach the technical side but also help you believe in yourself make a huge difference.

This time, we invited Zane Zaharova—the founder of the Sewing Academy—to join the conversation. Her approach to sewing isn’t about quick results or “two seams and done.” It’s about the process, respect for the craft, intentional creation, and the joy that comes from creativity. For years, Zane’s work has helped women open the door to a new world—where patience becomes strength, mistakes become teachers, and self-made clothing becomes a source of pride.

Zane, how did the idea for the Sewing Academy come about, and what was its original vision?

Now, looking back at the creation of the Sewing Academy, it was a very organic continuation of my
for the activity. I’ve been teaching sewing since 2015. At first, they were one-on-one
training in the autumn/winter period, because spring/summer is very intense for me working with brides — I make wedding dresses. I follow ideas and my intuition a lot in my daily life. When an idea comes, I don’t overanalyze; I look at how I can make it happen as quickly as possible. And that’s how, in a single day, the individual garment-making lessons were born. They became very popular — I couldn’t take on everyone who wanted to learn. Honestly, since then, broad advertising for this format under my leadership hasn’t been necessary, because there’s a waiting list; likewise, many ladies want to continue after one season. Then in 2018 I was invited to teach group courses at the RTU Cēsis branch. There too, there were more groups — demand was greater than initially expected. So everything was happening actively; we bustled in person until
In the spring of 2020, the world changed a little. My Ladies—that’s what I call my course
the attendees wanted to continue. My studio is in Riga, they were in Cesis, something had to be done. And that's how the first masterclass came about, as an experiment to see whether I could convey in this format
to share knowledge and show all the finer details. In a short time it became clear that it works, so I opened access to a wider audience, no longer only to my regular participants. That’s how Šūšanas Akadēmija was born, and soon it will be 6 years since we’ve been operating.
The initial vision was to create masterclasses for classic products that would fit into any
in the wardrobe, and the patterns could be found and chosen from ready-made pattern magazines. The main focus was on high-quality, technically correct sewing. But that changed quite quickly as well. Even the very first publicly available masterclass used a pattern I created for a Slip dress (a bias-cut dress). As a result, Šūšanas Akadēmija started to play a very significant role in my life. Preparing such a masterclass takes a lot of work.

I also realized that Šūšanas Akadēmija won’t be a one-season project; there will be significant growth and ample development opportunities.

What kinds of people most often come to your workshops or courses - and how do they usually feel when they leave?

Very different women come to me. Some already have a clear or roughly clear understanding that
sewing is a process; a craft whose mastery is multi-layered. but there are also those for whom, at the beginning, there is
the notion that it will be quick, or that some fast, easy version of sewing will be taught. But that’s completely normal; I absolutely understand this illusion, largely created by today’s fast content, quick tutorials, the video format—how to sew a skirt in an hour. But it’s not sustainable. From the very start of the training, it becomes clear that sewing is a much deeper process—technical nuances, patience, understanding, steps, immersion. I talk a lot about quality. Yes, not everyone continues sewing after the course, and that’s completely OK. But those who stay and keep creating experience a very beautiful transition from “I want a quick result” to “I want to create beautifully, with understanding.”
And what feeling do you leave with? In my view, definitely greater respect for this craft, for yourself, and for the time invested; a deeper understanding of how clothing is produced and created. Many say this experience changes their attitude toward sewing, raises quality standards, and makes them appreciate the relationship between time invested and price. One of my personal values, which I strive to pass on, is to fill the world with beautiful, high-quality things. We have enough cheap, mass-produced items made from synthetic materials that the world is already struggling to cope with; each of us who creates is responsible for not continuing this, but for choosing quality fabrics as much as possible, not buying more fabric than
It’s necessary to create deliberately, not to cater to quick whims. All of this goes hand in hand with the kind of people who come to me, because I convey these values through social media, so most likely the people who want something done quickly—"two seams and done"—don’t end up with me at all, but choose other forms of training.

Is there a particular story or moment at the academy that reminded you why you do this work?

In winter, creativity is a very good remedy for a dejected and depressed mood and, at the end of the course, the lady admits, that the depressed mood never arrived this season, that winter felt short and quick, and the dark the evenings are no longer so gloomy, that's when I realize that all of this has a much, much greater and deeper meaning how to easily sew a new dress.

What would you recommend to someone who dreams of sewing for themselves but thinks, "I definitely can't do it"?

But to begin with the story isn't about perfection, but about the joy that comes from opening up to creativity. Perfection is fine-tuned later.

How do you encourage people not to be afraid of mistakes and to believe in their sewing abilities?