It’s been a long break, y’all. And I really can’t say that I’m sorry about being away. For a long time I’ve been feeling that I was creating blog content just for the sake of creating content. I felt I was posting because I had to, not because I really wanted to share. As a detached observer I could see that I had been bombarded by the million targeted ads about starting a blog and monetizing and making a living that way – and while it sounds amazing, it’s really a thankless treadmill. It filled nothing in my soul.
I took some time off to figure out what it was I really wanted to do, and realized I have a beautiful, tight knit community of sewists that I truly think of as friends. I follow their lives with all their ups and downs, and I wanted to give back to them. I did not want to start a sewing business in competition with these women! I wanted to make something FOR these amazing friends of mine. And thus started MIKIMOOSHI, my custom pattern weights company. I’ve made almost a hundred sets now, since my start in March 2018, each one tailored to my customer’s dreams. In this post you’ll see photos of my work, and while I will be talking sewing on this blog in future, you may see more photos of my art as well.
In addition to starting a legitimate business, we took a month long trip to India with my four and one year olds. If you’ve ever flown 24 hours with two toddlers and landed with a smile on your face, I think you’re secretly Wonder Woman. I’ll sew you a superhero suit and we can do your hair and make up and take photos. If not, I know you’re shaking your head at me and thinking “why would she be crazy enough to do something like that?” and yes, I’m thinking that too. I also made a dozen outfits for the India vacation, and yes, I truly am nuts. Baby T started walking as well, and is the naughtiest child I’ve ever met. Pity me yet? Forgive me for my radio silence yet?
Starting MIKIMOOSHI wasn’t easy. With tons of hiccups and workarounds, but with many adulations as well, I’ve spent the last few months in a flurry of late nights. Pattern testing took a back seat as well, as did any sort of ideas other than my next set of weights. But finally I feel like I want to say something to the world, and talk about valuable sewing knowledge and new designs and designers. After all, I’ll always be a sewist.
I won’t be talking about all the pattern tests I’ve done since August – that really isn’t going to work too well for my chaotic life – but I will post a slideshow of them in my next post. A lookbook, of sorts. I want my valuable sewing time to be worth more than the $7 I save testing a new pattern. After seven years of testing patterns I truly haven’t got too many holes in my stash. I do plan to review and branch out to more obscure pattern companies and talk about the designers. And I’ll be talking of fun things like weight loss and capsule wardrobes and draping in the near future. Stay with me and let’s really get to know one another.