Lately

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Happy Friday, friends!! Here’s what I’m up to lately:

For the past…hmmm quite a long time, actually, I have been slowly working on drafting and then sewing pants. I’m on a mission to make myself some pants that are comfortable and cute for fall. I put together a Pants board on Pinterest so you can see some of my inspiration. You can see a little sneak peek above, I’ll try to post more pics of my progress soon! Also shown in that pic: I got some new Danskos for fall (they’re called “Thea” just in case you’re interested)! I love that tealy-green color.

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I also bought myself a sleeve board for pressing. It makes pressing kid pant legs, sleeves, and other narrow tubular stuff so much easier. I’m looking forward to finding even more uses for it. That’s kind of a silly thing to post about, I guess, but maybe some of you who sew clothing might find it handy!

I also joined Periscope last week. Periscope is a new social media app that allows you to do live broadcasts from your phone; viewers can comment and add hearts so it’s very interactive, but the videos disappear after 24 hours so it also feels a bit Snapchatesque because it’s very impromptu, unedited, and temporary. This week I got up the courage to do two broadcasts (one from home, talking about my current work/home situation, and one from my studio, doing a little tour) and so far I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I feel brave for doing something that was really hard, and so many people responded positively to it and that was very encouraging. On the other hand, I felt frustrated that Periscope didn’t have a better way to deal with annoying commenters; there were a few people who joined the broadcast who posted annoying comments (and in one case, a really offensive word), and I wasn’t really prepared for that so I didn’t block them soon enough…anyway, that part was a bit of a bummer and a lot of people who were watching felt bad. But you know what wasn’t a bummer? Seeing how many people joined, gave me hearts, and said nice things and that they enjoyed it. So that was really fun. (Oh! I’m @madebyrae if you want to find me on Periscope!)

Some linkadoos:

I was really flattered that IndieSew asked if they could include my Beatrix sewing pattern as part of their fall collection. They just finished hosting a fun blog tour to feature the patterns and there was some mighty cute stuff in the mix. I really love what IndieSew is doing; rather than just selling third-party (other peoples’) PDF patterns, Allie makes an effort to actively promote the work of the designers, as well as produce awesome blog content like tutorials and information on different types of fabric to support those of us who want to sew clothing. I also love her story about how she got started.

My friend Anna just posted about the arrival of Knitting Season, and I feel like I’m getting the knitting bug too. Maybe this is the year I will knit myself a sweater???

Loved this post from Colette about supporting small/indie business.

Oop! Hugo just woke up so I’ve gotta go! He has a new tooth (#5) as of this week and has been a wee bit out of sorts as a result. Here’s a pic of him from the orchard we visited after school on Wednesday; the kids love sticking their heads through the big wooden shapes so I can take their pictures…it’s become an annual September tradition!

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Have a great weekend!