Ten Years Blogging!

Ten years ago I designed a WordPress site and published my first post. I was at the beginning phase of learning to sew my own clothes. I started by mostly refashioning thrift clothes. My progress was slow and gradual. Now, ten years later, almost everything I wear is me-made, and I have achieved my goal.

It would take too long to go through ten years and find the highlights; I’d rather be sewing! But I will share a few examples. Beware: image heavy!

This was the first project I shared (it was close to Halloween):

These are some of the outfits I’ve sewed:

Some of my refashions:

from 2 pillowcases

from sarong

from sarong

Shirt to Kimono Refashion

Big Shirt Resized

Dress to Top Refashion

The main focus of my blog has been sewing clothes, but I’ve also done plenty of other needle arts and crafting.

My quilted projects:

My embroidery:

Summertime Embroidered Towel

I stopped knitting because of carpal tunnel and arthritis issues. Sewing by machine is much easier on the hands.

Some knitting and crochet projects:

Some of my favorite posts:

The Dress Doctor Part 1

The Dress Doctor Part 2

Thoughts on First Year of Blogging

What My Mother Wore

End of Summer Leftovers

Sewing During the Pandemic

My most popular post is Easy Fix For Too Small Skirt. That’s a great title! Subsequently, I’ve realized my tutorial is not so easy; I removed and reinserted a zipper. I also removed the waistband and sewed foldover elastic.

I ‘ve never been a frequent poster, but my goal has been to have at least one post every month. I’ve only missed three months in 10 years.

What has changed in 10 years? I’m older, ha! The traffic on blogs has decreased as the rise of the smart phone has changed the focus to apps like Instagram, which are more easily read on a small device. In the sewing world, independent pattern companies have gained a larger customer base, and larger sizes are now routinely included as a result from some heated debates on Instagram. A few of those pattern companies were started as a progression from blogging.

I have a free WordPress account. I am happy with WordPress, and would recommend the platform, although I find it harder to use the new editor. Ads are perfectly fine at the end of a post, but a few times I have seen ads in the middle of a post which I don’t like. I appreciate the free platform, and that my blog will remain up indefinitely without any action from me. After uploading 1,679 photos and publishing 174 posts, I have only used 37% of my allotted storage space.

So should I continue? Most of what I sew is pretty boring – everyday tees, pants and shorts. But the things I make are my story, and I like telling it, so I doubt I will suddenly stop at this point in time.

I’m always excited about the latest thing I’m sewing! Currently I’m working on a fall/Halloween wall quilt. I finished sewing the quilt top, and I will be back with the completed project, and the story about it.

To my readers, I hope you have found something of use or interest in these pages. You probably also know the pleasures of creating with your own hands, and together we inspire each other to make, to learn, to grow.

Seasonal Refashions and Sewing

Two fairly quick refashions from my own closet:

I never wore a jersey knit romper I sewed a few years ago, so I refashioned it into a top for summer. It took a little work because I had to remove the underlining from the shorts portion.

It was worth a try to see if I will wear it now.

The vee back is noteworthy.

I still had the last of three rayon dresses I bought at the same time about 20 years ago that I had stashed away when they became too tight in the bust to wear. I made sleeveless summer tops from two of them.

The print of this fabric has beautiful warm fall colors, so I decided I wanted a sleeve on my new top. I used the cap sleeve from a pattern I had recently printed out, and managed to make it fit with gathering of the sleeve cap.

The blue Hawaiian top pictured, one of my previous dress to top refashions, is one of my all-time favorites and I used it as a guide to cut my new top.

This refashion is not as easy as just chopping off the bottom and rehemming. I have to use the bottom of the dress and cut out new armholes and neckline. I used bias tape to finish the neckline.

I need to make pants to go with this top, or it won’t get worn.

Now for some fall and Halloween sewing! I bought some fun Halloween fabric on sale, and was excited to sew something with it. I made a few dog bandanas for Sparky and one of his friends. I’ve made many revisions to my bandana pattern over the years. This is my current favorite, 2- sided with a curved shape. I used sew-in velcro for a few of them.

After sewing a few bandanas , I was inspired to put aside my garment sewing to start work on a wall quilt with simple piecing of different size squares and applique. I’m making it up as I go and enjoying the creative process.

I hope to finish the quilt top before the end of the month, but may not get the quilting and binding done. In any case, I plan on writing a second blog post this October, which will be a special post.