Stephanie Harvey's passion for costume-making began at the age of seven, watching her first pantomime at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. That early spark led to a lifelong career in fashion and theatre costume that now spans more than 35 years.

After training in fashion, Steph's first role was in the Men's Department at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon. She then joined the wardrobe department at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry — the very theatre that first inspired her — working across costume construction, pattern cutting, dressing actors and liaising with designers, and rising to Deputy Head of Wardrobe. Steph still freelances for the Belgrade Theatre and Imagine Theatre, Coventry, most years on their pantomime productions, and runs her own costume and commission business, Stephanie J Collins.

Steph's teaching career spans over 20 years, including more than a decade at Solihull College teaching pattern cutting, garment construction, tailoring and lingerie, where she wrote a pattern cutting course and contributed to a HNC/D in Fashion/Knitwear. She went on to teach at Warwickshire College and other Midlands colleges, delivering City & Guilds and BTEC courses in theatre costume, millinery, corsetry and pattern cutting, and led delivery and assessment of Apprenticeships in Apparel, Theatre Costume and Design.

Sew2it Sewing School is the next chapter: a dedicated space where Steph shares three and a half decades of industry experience with students of all levels, in a friendly, unhurried setting near Henley-in-Arden, Solihull and Stratford-upon-Avon.