Because the comments section isn’t big enough.

Original post by Dibs here.

I didn’t sign up for any –alongs this year (that I remember). Mainly because I like to sew on my own terms (it’s a hobby and doing it someone else’s way turns it into a chore). Molly’s eloquent treatise on this phenomenon here.

My general philosophy is:

1. Respect people who say what they think and do what they say: I know exactly one person who espouses this tenet but I like to think everyone aims towards it.

2. Bear in mind that actions speak louder than words: I’d rather just get on with it than spend time and effort detailing how I’m going to get on with it. I have bought exactly one set of work clothes (Made in Australia-no slave labour for me), all the tights I need (made in the EU, no exceptions) and underwear/ swimwear (made in France) in the last 4 years. Everything else has been self made/ pre-owned. I didn’t sign any pledges I just effin’ did it.

I signed up for Marijana‘s Pattern Magic do last year and never ended up making anything. Mostly out of pure lack of awareness-the month ended and the reveal post went up, suddenly reminding me that I’d done nothing but also because I tend to put off things like that till the last minute and this time it resulted in a fail.

So this year when I heard the call of Jungle January, I sewed up a leather tunic  and posted it when I found the time. I didn’t sign up for the stash-bustin’ sewalong because I’ve been stash-bustin’, on my own terms, for almost two years now. I visited fabric shops a grand total of four times last year. The first two times I bought nothing, the third time I bought fabrics and thread for specific projects (which are currently underway) and the fourth time I bought fabric to sew up for others (also in progress at the moment). I use up all sorts of scraps for facings, pocket bags and linings-I don’t need to sign a pledge to be reminded to do this.

Indie Patterns

I only buy (and sew) patterns designed for my body type. This means no Sewaholic or Collette for me. No By-Hand either (designed for a large derriere? Thanks, but no thanks). I lack the time (and interest) to re-draft things which are suited for other body types just so I can sew (and wear) what everyone else is wearing. I’ve seen far too many posts by sewists with a similar body type to mine, wailing about the hours of alteration and modification required to get Collette patterns to fit. So I’m avoiding that trap with gay abandon.

Blogging

I blog for myself. I’ve enjoyed documenting successes and disasters and reviewing what I think are books worth sewing/ drafting from. Giveaways and Friday Freebies posts are my way of giving back to the online sewing community. Getting new readers is a bonus and comments from people that bother to read what I’ve posted are a joy but all these are in addition to the enjoyment of blogging.

The blogs I follow have one or more of the following attributes:

• I can learn something from them.
• They make beautiful and or unique things that inspire me to do something different (or even do something at all).
• They entertain me.
• I find their design aesthetic visually immersive.

I’ve unsubscribed from a lot of feeds lately (in Reader-I rarely follow via WordPress dashboard) because I no longer remember what made me subscribe to said blog in the first place. This is not necessarily a judgement on the blog-it just means that I’ve moved beyond whatever skill level it offered (or that the blog has re-invented itself to suit a different type of reader).

The above is an xkcd homage to the most interesting man in the world (compilation here) mosquitoes refuse to bite him, out of respect.

Comments

Under Australian law bloggers are held legally liable for the content of comments on their posts, so comments on this blog are moderated (i.e. if someone posts a defamatory/ libellous comment on a blog, the owner of the blog gets sued as well as the commenter*). I understand that submitting a comment and being told it is awaiting approval is not the most satisfying feedback to commenting and I’m actually wondering whether I should just move comments to Twitter. Personally, I feel it’ll free up a lot of my time and attention for other things. While I love relevant and considered comments I do get a lot of questions about issues I’ve already covered in the text/images in my posts and have no interest in rehashing.  Obviously Twitter has its own pros and cons (see below) but I have ways of dealing with that (also I enjoy enraging the occasional Wildebeest).

The converse also applies. I.e. Stop not liking the things I like. Wahwahbooboo etc.

 What do you think?

Some interesting and thought-provoking coverage on commenting-related topics such as setting the mallet to ‘kitten’ mode, legality, disemvowelling, commenting on opinion sites and the best article I’ve read yet on migrating comments to Twitter. Also, some Science on the psychology underpinning commenting threads.

Thanks to Dibs for initiating this discussion and here’s a cool video on contemporary fabric manufacture in Britain:

via neki desu.

*I haven’t linked to sites that cover this aspect because I am not certified to give that sort of advice. Luckily Google exists.

Disclaimer: All non-self-generated images remain copyright of their original owners and are reproduced here for the purposes of illustration, discussion and humour. All images link to original content. 

Disclaimer 2: This is a bunch of thoughts I had on reading Dibs’ post. I chose the featured image as  representing the tragi-comic-dramady of the lives people lead online. If you feel the urge to explode in righteous (or otherwise) indignation at my opinions please do so in an entertaining fashion in the comments.  

Cheers.