Sarah Gunn - Life Force Behind Goodbye Valentino

(Originally published in SCHMETZ Inspired to SEW #3, March 2014. Written by Rita Farro.)

Before she became the life-force behind the popular sewing blog, Goodbye Valentino, Sarah Gunn was a busy wife and mother with a successful career as the Executive Director of the Spartanburg Music Foundation. One of the things she was really good at was shopping. She was a big fan of Diane Van Furstenberg, Milly, Nanette Lepore, Lilly P., Kate Spade — anything at Nieman Marcus or Nordstrom’s. Her two twenty-something daughters, Katie and Mimi, shared her love of high-end ready-to-wear and shopping was a joyful mother-daughter bonding activity. At some point, Sarah felt like she was spending a lot of money on clothes, but had a closet full of nothing to wear . . . too many special occasion dresses and a lot of black and white. By August 2011, after a series of graduations, weddings, and other special events, she’d been on a six-month spending spree. Her “ah-ha” moment came at a home “skirt party” she attended with her daughter Mimi. After trying on several styles, and looking at the fabric samples, they ordered three custom skirts. The bill was nearly $700. When the skirts arrived, Sarah looked at the simple skirts — and she KNEW she could have made them herself. She felt such tremendous buyer’s remorse — that’s when it happened. She snapped. On that day — August 31, 2011, Sarah vowed to go on a Ready-To-Wear FAST. Her intention was to not buy a thing for one year. She would sew her own clothes for one whole year. And, to hold herself accountable, she would blog about it. She named her blog, “Goodbye Valentino”. Initially, she didn’t tell anybody what she was doing. She wasn’t sure she could do it, and she didn’t want additional pressure from her family. Sarah dusted off her seldom-used sewing machine, reorganized her abandoned playroom, and started SEWING. Using an Amy Butler pattern and a Laura Ashley dress (circa 1987) from her closet, she made a really cute skirt. Sarah had no way of knowing that she was starting a revolution . . . . CLICK HERE to read the full story.