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“Honey, can I wear this sharks top?” He called out from the top of the stairs.
“Sure you can babe. You don’t need to ask my permission, its in your closet” came my mildly annoyed reply as I hurried to get the laundry going seeing as 3 of the kids had wet their beds.
“OK its just that it hasn’t been photographed yet for the blog has it?” with genuine confusion and concern in his voice and on his face as he comes round the door while pulling the top over his head.
I stop loading the machine to look at him and suddenly realise that he was right. I used to be manic in my determination to catalog every single thing I made. When I started the blog that was the purpose – to have an evidence journal of my creative outputs as part of managing depression. An easy to access record.
I relaxed my posture, “its all good now, I don’t have to do a photoshoot”. It is at this juncture that it occurs to me that I have matured in my hobby/craft/passion. Although strictly speaking there are 2 separate things here: sewing and blogging. I am aware that there are many (many) more people who sew and don’t blog about it.
I love blogging and I love sewing.
Maturity is when your identity solidifies a little bit and your energy levels reach a steady level point – nicely located halfway between having no sewjo and being panicked there is no time to possibly sew everything I want to sew.
Maturity means I now curate my fabric collection rather than add to my stash.
It means I mindfully add to my sewing pattern collection not just for me but for possible future generations.
Maturity means my husband is now allowed to wear a new off the sewing machine garment without waiting for photoshoots to be done first! That’s growth people!
But just for the fun of it – here is the hooded T-shirt I made him. Pictures taken on my phone :-). The pattern is self-drafted. This was the first go and it has a few adjustments to be made. He loves the upper half but would like it to be a narrower at the hem – something about it letting in too much of a draft. The next iteration will have cuff bands and a hem band.
The fabric was from Laura whom I have had the pleasure of meeting in person several times. She is just so lovely and please do go check out her small online business she started where she curates the fabric she sells (also reasonably priced). Her online shop is called The Fabric Magpie .
If you have been blogging for a while now do you find that your reason for blogging has changed? Or is it still the same?
Thanks for stopping by and until next time,
Happy Sewing!
Peace and love,
Hila
tialys
October 12, 2018 9:09 amBless him for asking.
I started blogging to promote an online shop originally but don’t bother with that any more. Now I treat it as a personal record for my own pleasure, a depository for some favourite photos, an excuse to do some writing and, most of all, as a way of communicating with people I will probably never meet but with whom I enjoy exchanging ideas, learning about new things and the mutual encouragement we all give each other with our projects.
Let’s keep doing it! 😊
Hila
October 12, 2018 11:28 amWhat a wonderful way of describing the joys of blogging! It has become much more than just about sewing for me as well.
Donna F.
October 12, 2018 12:41 pmA good story. I would just lengthen it and forget the cuffs. It is more of a T-shirt. Then call it good. 🙂 🙂
Hila
October 12, 2018 2:04 pmThanks Donna!
Becky Thompson
October 12, 2018 1:03 pmI took a look at my blog archives and they go back to June 2015 when I started. Entries are noticeably fewer now – maybe once a month? – and sometimes now I find myself wondering what to blog about even though I’m in my sewing room daily. I think, “I already blogged this in another make, or Nobody would care about this, or Oops! I should have blogged this but forgot to take pics along the way!” But I totally relate to what you call maturity. I go in cycles between quilting, garments, machine embroidery, quilting, etc. In fact today, I’m picking up a new-to-me Brother Quattro 6000D sewing/embroidery machine to up my game in the technology dept. These last weeks have been all about embroidery and garments have taken a back seat even though I just picked up a couple of new patterns. Manic much? lol I love the hoodie. Nicely done. And your hubs is such a sweetie to ask. It’s a blessing to have a man who appreciates and values what you do to the point of remembering your blog and the sequence of events for blog-then-wear. Lucky girl!
shoes15
October 12, 2018 1:49 pmI don’t blog or do a review on PatternReview.com for everything I make. I do it for two reasons – to remember what I did when I made the garment (adjustments, problems with construction etc) in case I make another, and to help others who are working on the same garment or have similar issues with sewing and fitting. I also blog about other stuff. If I feel like writing, I write.
Hila
October 12, 2018 2:04 pmHelping others with a review of a pattern is a great purpose to write for. I always look for reviews before sewing up a new pattern. I no longer blog or review everything I make now.
Beads and Barnacles
October 17, 2018 8:39 pmI think I have moved more to blogging about my makes as the quality of them has improved.
I am awful at taking photos of them so I really need to get round to doing that.
I feel I should record my makes so that I can remember what modifications I made and to review patterns. And show it made up on another body type because I always find those images so useful when picking patterns to make
Hila
October 18, 2018 1:22 pmPattern reviews are incredibly useful. I used to try and write down my modifications in a notebook but I found that the blog was a better place for it as I had to think about how to write them coherently. My notes were not easy to categorise either unlike on the blog – another good use for blogging too 🙂