Maker Spotlight: E. Rega

Name: E. Rega
Home: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Makerspace: Their backroom — a weightlifting/sewing/drawing room all in one.
Day Job: Selling Shoes

E. Rega’s work with sewing toes the line between costume and clothing. As Rega explains “With my sewing projects, I’m always trying to explore the same general theme: where’s the line between ‘clothing’ and ‘costume?’ Is it craftsmanship? If I make something well enough, detailed enough, finished enough, does it cross over? Is it utility? If I make it out of purposeful materials used in ‘real clothing’ like spandex and fleece and denim, does that lend authenticity to even the strangest outfits?”

A good example of this is their work creating sports singlets inspired by sewing crafts such as broderie anglaise. In addition to creating their own designs, Rega has an interest in cosplay. “I’ve been recently fixated on making outfits based on JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure because the author (Hirohiko Araki) is obsessed with high fashion, and the translation/interpretation from real garment [to a] drawing [back to a] real garment is interesting to me. Not to mention each one has been a really satisfying challenge in terms of patterning and fabrication.”

Rega is taking a break on sewing projects for the moment as they focus on finishing up a one shot comic that combines their love of the urban fantasy and romance in manga. While comic’s not up yet, you can start following the comic’s Tumblr page to see the first updates.

You can follow E. Rega on social
Tumblr | Cubus Comic | Instagram

Every day we highlight a different maker from our broad community. Meet all the amazing people featured in Maker Spotlight. Want to nominate someone, maybe even yourself? Send a note to makerspotlight@makermedia.com.