Hello, friends! I something to share with you today, but it’s not a Finished Project. I do have a lot of finished projects to show you as well - the drafted blog post list is stacking up like you wouldn’t believe - but we’ll get there in a hot minute.
I made a Rather Big Change to the structure of my sewing life in mid-August (the 18th to be exact), and it’s started to affect the blog so it’s time I told you about it. The Rather Big Change’s name is The No New Projects Until the Wedding Dresses and Plan are Under Control Embargo. I’ve been calling it the Wedding Dress Embargo for short. It’s not that I’m behind with anything (yet) - but the urge to make all the things was getting too strong and I needed to curtail things a bit. I’m one of those people who sometimes needs a bit of structure in order to not go completely mad. The embargo does not extend to projects that were started before August 18th, and I also have two requests to fill that I’d agreed to before August 18th. It also doesn’t specifically prohibit me from working on a non-wedding project at times I wouldn’t normally have to work on wedding projects. I’m still taking my non-wedding knitting to knitting group, for example - and I made a macrame plant hanger while Jon and I were watching TV one afternoon.
In the time since the Wedding Dress Embargo has been active, I have watercolored, designed, and printed my wedding invitations, and then individually hand lettered and mailed them. I’ve made the first flower and some leaves for my flower crown, and sourced wire for its structure. I’ve made a bit of progress on the tambour embroidery for the ceremony dress, I’ve started a google sheet wedding planner to keep track of everything, and I’ve gathered information in said google sheet on things like hair and makeup artists, cake bakers, marquee tents, and festoon light rental places. All things equal, the dress is a lot less stressful than the rest of it. At least the dress is familiar territory!
I’m trying very hard to film a new video so that I can talk to you guys about all that, but quite frankly I’m much quicker at the whole ‘making’ thing when I’m not doing the whole ‘filming and editing’ thing. So I have to prioritize a little bit. I really like making the videos, so I’d love to keep going! I just need to feel a bit more comfortable with progress I’ve made.
Now. You’re hip to the plan, but you’re probably wondering why I said it was starting to affect the blog. That, or you might’ve noticed it in the last couple posts: The blog has entered catch-up mode. There are no new projects coming off my machine right now, so everything I’ve been telling you about (and everything I will be telling you about) is from August, or before. A few of the posts I have planned have been sitting in drafts for a while, just waiting for photos. I much prefer to write about a new project no more than a week or two after I’ve finished it - long enough to wear it once or twice out in the world, but not so long I start to forget about things. Some of them, though, are things I made and then completely forgot to write down all the details for, and I imagine that will show in their posts.
I’m not telling you this because I feel like I have to apologize for something. It’s my blog and I’m completely happy to carry on blogging about exactly what I want to blog about, in the way I want to blog about it. I suppose I’m telling you because part of the reason I like weekly posts is that it’s a way to catch you up on my week, as well as telling you about what I’ve been sewing. When I blog about an ‘old’ project, I’m not really catching you up on my week anymore, am I? I think that changes the voice of the blog post a little bit - maybe not even in a way you’d notice - but it’s tinged with a bit of me trying to remember the details of a project from months ago. I think the biggest reason, though, is because I can tell in the blogs I read when I’m reading a scheduled post, and I don’t want this to turn into that kind of blog. It feels a bit disingenuous to allow things to carry on as if everything’s normal without telling you about it.
Anyways. That’s me. Next week we’ll be back to the regularly scheduled finished-object programming - I’m pretty sure I’m going to show you my linen pants draft from, like, July - but the photos I get will depend on the weather. I’ll try to show you some dress progress as well, and I’m also going to write posts about all the other DIY aspects of the wedding, for those of you interested in things like hand lettering and watercoloring invitations and making decorations and such. As it stands, I have enough finished, unblogged projects to get me halfway through December - and that’s not including anything wedding related, so I’d say we’re good!
Also - because I haven’t said it in a while - thank you so much for following along with me and my random projects, and for all the lovely notes you leave me, and for your support in general. I love that I’m able to be part of such an amazing community, and you guys are the best! We'll talk again next week <3