Shadowing.

I’ve spread myself a bit thin the last few weeks, and I don’t see an end in sight with the holidays coming. I haven’t been posting, but a lot is going on! Normally all of my shopping is done by Thanksgiving, but this year I’ve barely started. Sigh. I have been making things here and there, but my bad habit of whipping stuff up and giving it away sans photos has kicked in. The patterns are all on hold for the moment, but I’ve been making several items from my existing patterns for gifts….. here’s to getting through the holidays in one piece.

Flickr Down!

Nothing like an entire afternoon of Flickr outtage to snap your priorities into shape. I realize those of you in the Eastern Hemisphere may have slept through it, but let me tell you: it was scary. I felt so isolated and alone…. cut off…. from both my ’stuff’ and other peoples’ ’stuff’. Hold me.

The changing seasons means every morning as I quietly sip my tea and watch the news (sigh)… I am greeted by the sun. It comes up over the Zakim Bridge, and tentatively fills my loft in an orange glow. I’m looking at you western Europe!

Near and Far.

I’ve been enjoying the shift in seasons. Summer in Boston never really came on strong this year, much to my delight, but now it seems the trend is continuing with the premature arrival of winter. I love winter, but I feel strongly that it should not commence prior to Halloween. Right? And as the fat, fluffy flakes fell today I couldn’t help but think about the long spans of darkness ahead, when I’ve already been bogged down in mental darkness.

Thank goodness for friends near and far (in this case, far)! A thoughtful gift, perfectly timed to lift my spirits. One of those incredible Internet moments when someone thousands of miles away seems right next door, at least in my heart she is.

Thank You.

Thank you all for your comments and thoughts. So many ideas to help me dig deep. I feel the same way that many of you have described, and I can’t seem to get my momentum up off the ground. I find myself going through the motions of life, but at the end of each day I go to bed feeling empty of accomplishments and full of anxiety. I think much of this is due to the general climate of things right now.

But I can’t dwell on the negative. Otherwise it’s a slippery slope to a deep, dark place. I need to write out everything that’s in my mind, flush it out, to see it all in one place. I have so many ideas for new designs, new patterns, even new formatting for patterns…..and yet the Kimono Wrap Dress pattern is still not written. Just in time to turn this attitude around, my Mom and Julie are visiting tomorrow- can’t wait! Maybe it will help to talk about all the ideas, maybe that’s part of it. Christina hit on something poignant, about isolating oneself. I do this. As a classic introvert, I might even take this to a whole new level. Now that the heat of summer has passed, it might be a good time to make a point of walking in to town in the evenings, and just look around….. so I remember there’s an entire world around me.

Insight.

I am asking… I really need to know… when you are running on fumes, or blue, or down and out, where do you find your inspiration? Is it a poem, or a phrase? Is it something simple or is it something complex, like religion? What steels you to carry on when nothing is making sense?

Me, I’ve always loved humor and laughter. I laugh a lot. But not too much is funny right now, and I need to get my mojo back. So spill it, leave me comment and tell something (a phrase, a book, a poem, a story) that gives you strength and inspiration. I thank you already!

Pointy.

Just a very quick post…. we are heading to Martha’s Vineyard bright and early. Fingers crossed the “20-foot swells” don’t come to fruition and hurricane Bill fizzles out and/or takes a sharp right. It will be stressful enough dealing with the Obama press corps and entourage as wells as the fall out from a rumored Clinton Wedding. Not bad for a first-time visit to the Vinyaaad.

Got these vintage arrows this week and I’m in love with them. I received the box on Tuesday but have been too busy to open it and enjoy. No longer! Look at them!

Full Disclosure.

Thank you for your replies…. in full disclosure, believe it or not, it is not my preference to sell the patterns. It’s more complicated for me (I’d have to research the technical side (ick!) and then pay attention to an etsy shop), and personally I think it takes me and this blog in a direction I am not exactly thrilled about. I started this little blog  to keep better track of all the things I make, to work on my photography and to better document the process of making. I work full time. I’m not a seamstress- I’m an Architect working in a very irritating economy so adding ’small business’ to my plate right now is not exactly appealing. When I initially put the patterns out there, I never really thought anyone would be interested, I was just sharing as a preemptive strike on the “is there a pattern for that” questions.  But it snowballed and spread into something I didn’t foresee. A learning curve for me, certainly, and a wonderful journey to meeting new people virtually and for that I am very grateful.

I do this out of fun, but 100% of the people in my life think I am NUTS for not charging some type of small fee for the patterns, and it seems nowadays everyone is happy to offer their opinion without understanding the context. I’ve been hearing it since the day I uploaded the kimono, and it hasn’t let up. In fact, if I had a nickel for everyone who called me stupid for not selling the patterns, I’d be rich and wouldn’t have to consider selling the patterns, lol! So I apologize for continually bringing up this subject. I guess I tend towards naive, and I just do not have that killer-business spirit. My interest lies with inspiring people to sew for themselves with the most simple/distilled designs I can create. It is a fun process for me, figuring out how to extremely-simplify conventional techniques. I want people to make their own patterns, their own designs, not take mine for profit.

Enough has happened in this last 18 months to make me realize people will take advantage of you, regardless . I’ve seen everything from “look at this great pattern I made” (when it is MY pattern on someone else’s blog) to a full-on shop selling items made from my patterns (and it is painfully clear that they are my patterns- I know, I designed it!). It’s distressing on one hand and makes me want to shut it all down and start over, but then I get an email from someone telling me they’ve been intimidated by sewing their whole life and one of my patterns was their first try and they are so proud of the result. Those emails inspire me to keep going, and keep sharing. However, it strikes me that someone is always ready to profit from someone else’s hard work, intentional or not. I question what I can do to make the person profiting from my efforts ME, but keep the open spirit of sharing and free tutorials. It makes me feel like I need to push this idea into another place, perhaps one that straddles some patterns for sale and some for free, to keep from feeling used. With each pattern (and I have 4 sitting here to share) this keeps coming up and I need to make a decision and stick with it instead of agonizing over it. I need to celebrate it and share it.

Incidentally… Lottie does stuff like this all the time. Funny little things to make me laugh, especially if she senses I’m sad or stressed. She’s outstanding. Ps…. it’s summer! I just want to be outside with her running around!

Slow Progress.

I’ve charted the sizes for the little wrap dress. It will be available in sizes 12months – 5years. Now I need to make some test sizes in the range, and make sure the extrapolated sizes work. I was considering another option for this pattern and would love some input: I want to make three sleeve options – short, 3/4 and flutter- but that will take some additional time to sort out. If the pattern were for sale (in lieu of free) with three sleeve options, would you buy it (for a very nominal fee)? Or is part of the allure that the patterns are free?I won’t be offended, I’m just curious.