The Crooked Hem

Hello, 2024!

We’re only 8 days into 2024 but I’ve been making lists of I want to sew, share, and learn in the New Year. I have some exciting things planned for my little corner of the internet this year, including a big announcement coming later this month.

New look

If you are reading this post on my website, you might notice some major changes. I’ve wanted to spruce things up for a while, but I got motivated when I realized that my WordPress template was almost 10 years old (!). So a refresh was definitely in order.

With the new layout, the homepage features three collections (or categories) of posts for easy navigating: pattern reviews, TDCO posts, and links to my YouTube videos.

Scrolling down on the home page, my most recent blog posts appear as tiles in chronological order. Click on any post to read the full length article.

There are still a few tweaks and bugs that I’m fixing here and there, but I hope this new layout makes it a bit easier to browse posts and find information.

New sewing studio

I recently started renting a sewing studio space with my friend Candace, who is a prolific maker and textile artist. Candace is also the owner of Fab Rick’s fabrics, which operates out of this studio. Joining Candace was a big step for me to bring my creative practice out of the basement and into broad daylight, literally and figuratively. My previous sewing space was in the root cellar of my home, a windowless room with 2 inches of clearance between my forehead and the ceiling. So, the new studio is quite an upgrade.

Candace and I have already had some fun sewing adventures together since I’ve moved in. We took a trip down to Portland, where we bought two big drafting tables from Sienna (@notaprimarycolor). We stumbled across a bonanza of vintage textiles and crafting supplies at a private estate sale, and yesterday we took a trip to the Seattle Central Library to thumb through their collection of textile, craft, and art books.

As silly as it sounds, I don’t generally consider myself to be an artistic person. I used to sketch and paint all the time, but I stopped nearly 2 decades ago (thanks, grad school). This studio will be a dedicated space for re-kindling a broader creative practice beyond sewing clothes. Plans for 2024 include quilting, weaving, and painting, and who knows else what the future will hold.

I’m not sure how many studio projects I’ll share here or on social media. If you’d like to follow along for occasional updates, I plan to share those in a separate email newsletter hosted by Substack.

My studio updates will be different from what I share here on my blog. This blog will always be for pattern reviews, deep dives, and tutorials — essentially all content that could help someone else in their sewing practice, and all indexed by search engines to be easily discoverable. The studio newsletter will be more personal with reflections on my creative process and the things that inspire me. It’s delivered directly to your email and available on the Substack website, but not indexed. If you’d like to be a part of this little experiment and receive occasional studio updates, you can sign up here.

And, don’t worry, I have no plans to stop blogging here or sharing on social media. Which brings me to….

2024 Sewing plans (so far)

I have so many patterns on my sewing list these days, but I want to focus the first half of the year on a few trouser and jean patterns that I haven’t made before. I tend to make my favorite patterns over and over again, so I’m going to push myself to branch out because that’s the best recipe for learning. Here’s what’s on my sewing list, in no particular order:

• Daughter Judy Isola jumpsuit
• Happily Dressed Ranger jeans
• Modern Sewing Co. Daphne trousers
• Anna Allen Persephone pants
• Vintage Simplicity 5499 jeans
• Spagetti Western Henrietta skirt
• Soften Studio Clo Bias skirt
• Daughter Judy Wren fleece
• Daughter Judy Thompson coat (or maybe the Grant coat??)

Reader, trust me that there is no way that I will make all of these patterns in 2024. But a girl can dream.

Happy 2024 to all of you. I’d love to know what’s on your sewing list for 2024, or what sewing and making plans you are excited about this year. Let me know in the comments!