Thea Starr describes herself as “a lady in a workshop in the woods at the edge of a bog.” She’s a sewist, vintage sewing machine repairess, and designer. But before all that, she was “a wild girl. A teenage mom. I even went to juvenile detention. You know, bad girl. All the stories.”

Then her father died.

Thea was in her mid-20s, the youngest of six children, with four kids of her own when her dad passed away in the early 2000s. He’d been a military man who retired in his 40s and opened an auto body shop. His health declined rapidly from his 60s on. “To have him leave me so soon, it was kind of a reality check,” Thea says.

Caring for her dying father while raising young children who watched his struggles completely transformed her perspective on life. “Time moves so fast. It moves so fast when the kids are little.” She envies friends who still have parents—or even grandparents—at 49. But that loss taught her something profound about prioritizing what matters.

“What changed for me is definitely my parenting.” Thea had been a single mom from the start, making choices alone while young and “doing all these really dumb moves.” Losing her dad made her reprioritize everything. “Thankfully, my kids are a little bit older than some friends. I didn’t have to struggle with phones too much and screen time. I had the outdoor feral kids.”

Her family isn’t a “gift family”—they’re a “doing things together family.” Memories and experiences over material things. “You can’t take that away,” she notes. The funny incidents, the endearing nicknames, the time her son dropped his pants at the beach because he couldn’t hold it—those stories last forever, unlike expensive toys that get forgotten.

Thea’s second life lesson came from her corporate accounting days: no one actually cares what you’re wearing. She worried constantly about client impressions, maintaining appearances. Then she realized—they didn’t care. “If you think about someone wearing something cool, you’re thinking about ‘wow, I wish I could wear a faux fur coat that’s hot pink.’ It’s not judgment.”

Her advice? “Wear the clothes you have. Don’t save them for a rainy day. You don’t know how life will take you. Do it now. Embrace it.” Thea has become what Tracy calls “my maven of vintage”—someone who can walk around in vintage clothing while looking current, not like she stepped out of a time machine. Her secret? She’s “kind of lazy” and doesn’t do the elaborate vintage hairstyles. That alone tones it down and gives it a “now vibe.”

The third lesson traces back to her father’s auto body shop. After retiring from the military, he put young Thea to work—this girly girl in pink dresses and patent leather shoes who played in mud with his tools. “As much as I hated it then, I appreciate it now.” Holding flashlights in engine compartments taught her patience and how to teach others in ways they can actually understand.

“It’s a human interaction thing to figure out: I want you to understand, and you want to understand, so let’s figure out how we’re going to accomplish that.” Whether teaching classes, parenting, or making YouTube videos about vintage sewing machine repair for her modest but dedicated following, Thea applies those lessons.

She and her husband call it “YouTube University”—learning everything from fixing coffee makers to renovating their rural Washington homestead. “There are so many good videos out there, and I want to contribute to that in the best way I can because I like people who take the effort and say, ‘hey, this is what I know. I want you to know this too.'”

Thea and her husband also run Six by Six Art Company—a laser cutting business named because he’s the oldest of six, she’s the youngest of six, and together they have six kids. They’ve done custom work for NASA and PBS, though Thea jokes they’re taking a break from in-person shows: “I feel like I am the grandmother of the shows now.”

About Thea Starr
Thea Starr is a sewist, vintage sewing machine repairess, and designer working from her workshop in the woods at the edge of a bog in rural Washington. The youngest of six and self-taught maker since 2003, she specializes in vintage fashion and machine restoration. Thea shares her knowledge through YouTube tutorials and runs Six by Six Art Company with her husband, creating custom laser-cut products for clients ranging from local Seattle businesses to NASA.

Website: www.theastarr.com
Instagram: @thea_starr
YouTube: @TheaStarr
Email: thea@theastarr.com

About Tracy Crowley
Tracy Crowley has always been an entrepreneur. Whether it was making gowns for fellow Army wives, taking portraits in black and white, or working on her other businesses, she is always learning something new.

That passion for learning something new and giving something back collide nicely in this podcast.

Join Tracy for Good Life Stories, where simple curiosity brings out great stories, every single time.

Check out Tracy’s new book! https://tracycrowley.life/