How to Return to Blogging with a Vengeance

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I'm Back

When your whirlwind blogging adventure goes on an unscheduled, two-year hiatus, there’s only three steps to take:

  1. Remember how awesome you are.
  2. Figure out how to do it better this time.
  3. Tell your story.

Remember how awesome you are

I had no idea what I was getting into when I started this sewing blog in 2012. I thought it’d be fun to sew a garment a week and joined The Sew Weekly’s challenge. Being a contributing blogger on another site was a wild, life-changing experience. The community was amazingly supportive, the sewing challenges kept me on the edge of sanity, and the weekly blogging format was manageable for a newbie like me. But, my personal blog never quite found its way.

Since it was custom for contributors to have their own blog, I started this one and tried to keep it going along with my posts to The Sew Weekly. I sucked at that. And, when life and work got crazy, I got further and further away from my last blog post (and my last sewn garment), until I looked up, and two years had gone by with no blogging.

I felt like a failure for a while. As if the time that had past was a missed opportunity I’d never get back. Then, one day, I started looking at old photos of garments I’d made during that year of blogging. I sewed 24 garments in as many weeks. I went from never having sewn a wearable dress, to learning to custom-fit and construct several. I’ve sewn many different types of fabrics and taught myself pattern drafting, couture sewing techniques, and alterations. As a result of my experience, I have a set of custom-fit patterns I can make over and over again.

Favorite Garments of 2012

My favorite garments of 2012

Figure out how to do it better this time

Now that I’ve accepted that I suck at blogging, I am getting help. I’ve enrolled in a Blogging 101 class to refresh my skills and build some good habits. There’s no grand plans to take over the world with this resurrected blog. Just a near-daily post about sewing and something sewn each week. Getting reacquainted with the sewing blogger community will keep me thoroughly engaged, inspired, and entertained. Old friends and new are sure to encourage my blogging longevity.

Tell your story

My break from blogging began with a string of back-to-back business trips that made it nearly impossible to keep up with weekly sewing challenges. When I came home from the last trip, I was desperate to get back to making clothes. Instead, I found out I that my husband and I had made a human being!

Motherhood became my new craft and growing and raising my daughter, Josephine has been my latest whirlwind adventure.

Meet the Carrolls

Last month, I sewed a dress for myself for the first time in two years.  The moment I finished the hem, I knew I had to make room in my life for wardrobe sewing again. Photographed in front of my house after spending the day with my two favorite people, here is The Family-Friendly Floral Frock.

The Family Friendly Floral Dress

I’ll continue to enjoy this dress into the fall with a cardigan or this pink plaid shirt, an instant smile-generator and reason for pink lipstick.

The Family Friendly Floral Dress

The Family Friendly Floral Dress
Yeah, I’m definitely back. All I had to do was…

  1. Remember that I am a kick-ass seamstress.
  2. Get help so I can become a kick-ass blogger.
  3. Introduce my family and the dress that rekindled my love for sewing.

17 thoughts on “How to Return to Blogging with a Vengeance”

  2. Welcome back!!! We definitely noticed your absence and I always hoped it was due to something nice. Congratulations! And you’re already killing it with your first garment back!!

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  6. There you are! I had found you through your comments on my blog, but then I lost you again! I am excited to see what you have in store to sew! What a fascination notion (see what I did there?) to sew a garmet each week! Perhaps when my kiddos are older I can give this a shot. In the meantime, I will have to be content with watching what you have to show us. Your style is fabulous and fun. I truly can’t wait to see what is next.

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    • Hello, again! So glad you stopped by. That garment a week madness was no joke, especially when I had no idea what I was doing. I kinda feel like I got my act together enough for weekly sewing now — if I discover that I don’t, you’ll learn about it here! Thanks for the kind words and for following along.

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  7. Pingback: Blogging 101: Rediscovering Lost Blogging | Grasshopper Girls

  8. Hello! I discovered you via the comments at Pretty Grievances. My blog is not a sewing blog but I love the sewing blog community so much I decided that I would do a sewing post at least once a week but it hasn’t exactly worked out as planned. (and no one notices even when I do) Sewing a garment a week is a real challenge. Personally, I have the time but I’m not always motivated. Anyway, I LOVE your pink floral dress and I look forward to seeing what else you do.

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    • Thanks for stopping by, Lynn. And for supporting and joining the fun. Challenging ourselves to do anything weekly is brave business. You feel like a shmuck for not keeping up until the day comes when you don’t have to try anymore…things just happen. I hope that’s where I’m at with my sewing. You mentioned motivation. I find it can’t be trusted to give you momentum. That’s what a sewing challenge (not necessarily a weekly one) will do. It puts you in this exciting zone of creativity with its constraints and deadlines – there’s no need to worry about whether or not you feel like sewing, because the challenge drives you to sew. Keep reading sewing blogs, you’ll find your sewing sweet spot. When you do, I’ll be there to cheer you on. I appreciate your lovely note.

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  10. Hey there 🙂 – and welcome back!

    I found you via Grasshopper Girls and am really glad she linked to you. And wow – going from nothing to sewing a garment a week is just crazy! So awesome! Plus they’re looking totally great. I really love your style – and am looking forward to seeing more.

    Cheers!
    Julie

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