howdy // im back

It’s a weird feeling starting a blog at 28. I spent many of my formative years journaling in some way or another (password diary, xanga, livejournal, tumblr – you name it, I probably had it), but it’s been a decade since I’ve taken the time to write a post for ye olde internet. And I’m really not sure why – was it growing into adulthood and becoming too busy? An encroaching and paralyzing sense of perfectionism? Or simply a fear of how public the internet had truly become? I mean, it was always public . . . but at least to a teenager in the early 2000s it didn’t really feel that way.

Anywho, here we are. The year is 2019 and I find myself back in this space. It may be past the true heyday of blogs as an entity, with different platforms moving increasingly towards micro-content – but that’s okay and I suppose that’s why I’m here. Instagram is great space, but there’s only so much I can do with it. The character limit is real, and when I’ve made a dozen adjustments and pivots during a particular project, it’s tough to document all that information in a single post. Things inevitably get left behind or forgotten.

When I first discovered the world of sewing blogs in 2016, I was amazed & crazy inspired by the things people could do with a single pattern as starting point. Create an elastic channel! Add a faux ribbon bow and pocket! Use cozy flannel instead of quilting cotton! My eyes were opened to the possibilities of sewing, and the myriad of ways that basic skills could be transferred and applied to any project you want. These blogs posts were inspiring but also really educational – walking me through the logic & thought that went into all of these decisions. What worked, what didn’t work, and why they tried whatever particular adjustment they did. I still can’t get enough.

So there’s the educational aspect of sharing more about my makes – but there’s also a very practical one. I’ve sewed enough at this point that I’m losing track of what went into each piece. How much did I add to the bodice? Did I do a swayback adjustment? Was there another change I wanted to make to future versions of this garment? I’ve got a lot of post-it notes everywhere trying to document this stuff – but they are increasingly hard to find and often incomplete. And so, this blog exists in an attempt to develop a more comprehensive archive of that information. Mostly useful for me – and maybe helpful for somebody else, too.

Finally, I love teaching people things & I’d love a place to write comprehensive tutorials. Not everybody wants to sew their own garments from start to finish, and that’s okay. But a few basic skills can take you a long way. In a word of cheap clothes and astronomical levels of textile waste – knowing how to repair a torn seam, change a hem, or replace a button can keep clothes in your closet and out of the garbage. And we all need less things going in the trash, amirite?