So It's Been A While...
Hey everyone. It's been quite a while since I've posted anything on this blog! It's been over five months since I last wrote a post. What the heck happened to all that time?!
Well, long story short...
At first, things were really booming around here. I got my business up and running last year at the Washington-Lee Holiday Bazaar. I had a great experience, and I took that momentum and opened my Etsy shop. I started a Canoodlings Facebook page. Eventually I bought my own domain name (I have dominion!!) and I started this blog. I moved away from Etsy and opened an independent shop on Big Cartel (more on that in a later post). I started a Canoodlings Instagram account and a Twitter account and I was promoting myself as much as I could. I was even asked to sell my items on consignment in an actual store, which was truly thrilling. I had big ideas for going forward with my little business, I tell you. BIG.
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I started signing up to do more events. First, I signed up for an amazing craft fair that Living Social was putting on in March. It got canceled. I signed up for four different Sundays to do a new ongoing event in Clarendon called Spark Market. It got canceled. I signed up to do an early holiday market in November. It got canceled.
I think you can sense a theme here.
I have to admit, I was feeling a bit discouraged. Why were all these events getting canceled?! I was spending hours upon hours trying to figure out how to do this blog (I still don't know what the heck I'm doing!), how to use the blog, taking pictures of all my products and promoting them, and updating my online shop...all without any upcoming events to keep me motivated. And of course, like everyone else, I'm busy and life gets messy and unexpected stuff comes up to derail even the best of intentions.
So not much was happening on this blog.
Okay, I'm realizing that this is not a long story short; it's more of a long story long. Whatever. But I'm here to tell you that I am recalibrating my business and thinking about goals for 2015 and I'm excited to move forward. I'm not doing any holiday events this year (I just had foot surgery and it just wasn't realistic when considering my recovery time), but I have an event on the calendar in March. I have updated my online shop and plan to start making more inventory. I am also dreaming up new designs and I'm itching to get them from my brain to my hands and into reality. I'm getting excited about it all over again.
I am a maker and a designer and a creator, and I can't stay sane if I don't
have a creative outlet. So while I wasn't making much in the way of inventory for Canoodlings in the last few months, I was still making things. In hindsight, I think it was good for me to get back to making things purely for the joy of it. With all of my focus on making inventory, I didn't have any time to make something just because I was inspired. I certainly didn't have time to start dreaming up and designing new products. So I took a break from churning out inventory, and I was able to stretch my skills and focus on areas I hadn't before. Like garment making. Wanna see?
My First Moneta Dress
I stumbled on this whole world of online garment sewers, and some amazing independent pattern designers. My current favorite? Colette Patterns. Her designs are beautiful and her patterns are fantastic. The one I made several versions of was the Moneta. It's a relatively quick project, even if you are figuring it out as you go along. It's so comfortable, it's like wearing pajamas. Pajamas, I tell you!! So of course, I immediately made another one:
My Second Moneta
And then I made another one. What can I tell you, I like to be comfy!
My THIRD Moneta. Did I mention they were quick to make and super comfy?!
And then I thought, maybe I should try a different pattern?! So I found this cute Lady Skater pattern by Kitschy Coo. I made my first one without any alterations; the second one I had to do some pattern alterations, which was unchartered territory for me!
My First Lady Skater; I didn't even think about lining up the pattern on the fabric!
Here's the second one, which turned out much better:
I really love this one! This fabric is total awesomeness.
And then, because somehow three weren't enough, I made a fourth Moneta:
My Fourth Moneta. This time with 3/4 sleeves! I think I like this pattern :)
Then I thought I should try a different Colette Pattern since I clearly like the Moneta so much; I made the Laurel Dress, a simple shift dress:
The Laurel Dress
I didn't like the fit of this, so I added the belt even though there's no waist; it's supposed to be a shift dress. I ended up taking in the back darts by an additional 3 inches per dart, and it fit much better; now I wear it without the belt.
Next I made a skirt from this fabric that had an adorable border design:
Skirt from a self-drafted pattern
And then, I made a dress to wear to a wedding. This felt like a much bigger deal! It wasn't just to wear every day with comfort in mind, it had to be presentable. And this pattern uses woven fabric, so the fit had to be much more precise. I had to do a LOT of pattern alteration to get it to fit me properly; I pretty much redrew the entire bodice on pattern paper. But I love the result! This was based on the Peony Dress (from Colette, again):
This isn't the most flattering picture, but I love how this dress looks turned out! I even made the pink cummerbund!
I also made a pattern called Tiramisu by Cake Patterns. It's green and white striped and I love that one, too, but I can't seem to find a picture. Which is fine, because if you've hung in with me this far, you've seen enough selfies of me in handmade dresses!
Actually, if you've hung in with me this far, you're probably either a very good friend or a blood relative.
So that's the update. I want to make a renewed commitment to this blog. Personally, I love to shop handmade, and I am especially drawn to artists who keep a blog. I have plenty of mass-produced items that I use, but when I use a handmade item, I think about the artist. I love seeing the process and knowing something about the artist's personality. I hope to provide a bit of that inspiration and connection here, too.
Welcome back!
