She has long loved sewing, and a few years ago Amaia decided it was time to fully dedicate herself to what she was passionate about, founding You Made My Day Patterns. Let’s see what a day is like for a woman sewing and pattern designer.

Titled “A Day In The Life Of A Woman,” this series celebrates the women in our lives. From the everyday to inspirational, the series aims to highlight women from various fields and share a bit of the diversity we experience every day.

Amaia Arana designs and teaches sewing for modern day clothing. She currently resides in the Netherlands with her family.

7 AM: Wake up call. I like checking my emails, social media profiles, website stats and sales while jumping out of bed. Then, I prepare myself a cafe latte while the kids start to come downstairs. 

7 – 8:25 AM: While the three children are having breakfast, I prepare lunch for my two daughters. Then, I help the two youngest get ready for school.

I try to do some abs and push ups (most days I have to skip this unfortunately), get ready myself and at 8:25 we leave in my Bakfiest (one of this Cargo bikes in The Netherlands, where we live) and carry them to their schools (in three different locations!); this is kinda my daily workout.

When my husband is in town, he helps with getting the kids ready and bringing them home.

9 AM: I am back home. Make my second cafe latte of the day. Get some house chores done, tidying up, washing clothes, etc.

9:30 AM: Three times per week I have a sewing workshop (where I am the instructor) so my students come and learn sewing for a few hours.

The other mornings I work on my pattern drafting business, either by designing new patterns, or by working on the ones that are on the table and need to be improved.

1 PM: Three times per week I go pick up my youngest at his pre-school (so just before that I try to grab something to eat).

1 PM – 3 PM: I try to get him to sleep, do some house chores (yeah the washing machine has finished and everything needs to be tumble dried) while working on my projects. So it is a sliced working time, as I like to call it. I get some pattern drafting and sewing done in this sliced time.

3 PM: I wake my son up, prepare a snack for the three of them, and rush out, again, on my Bakfiets to pick up my two girls, so I cycle about 4 km in between school locations and back home.

4:30 PM: If the weather is not nice (which I’d say is the case most days in Amsterdam, in winter) we go back home. While they do some activity or watch TV, I continue working on my pattern line, sewing lessons, website, etc.

6 PM: I stop working and start preparing dinner for the family.

7 PM: We sit to enjoy a family dinnerand talk about our day.

8 PM: We try to get the kids to bed (this lasts for about an hour)

10 PM: Exhausted, finally the kids are sleeping and I lie down in bed and read for about an hour.

A few times per week, I teach sewing to a bunch of lovely students (adults and kids) and I love sharing my passion (and all I know about sewing!) with them. In the sewing classes there is a special vibe, because we all have the same passion although we all come from different countries. I really enjoy the group sewing sessions.

Im a fanatic of sewing for a long time but fully dedicated to it for the past few years. I love all things crafty and handmade. Seeing something being created with my hands, starting from scratch and finishing with something wearable is the greatest reward.

Did Amaia’s “Day in the Life” inspire you? Interested in sending your “Day in the Life” story? Join the Connected Women community now, it’s free!