What's Coming to Sew Can Do in 2021

Well, it's a new year and I'm ready for new things, how about you?  Besides the pervasive insanity we all experienced in 2020, there were a lot of other things that kept me from crafting & blogging most of the year: a new baby with some health issues (thankfully much better now), 4 other kids stuck in the house 24/7 and my shop cranking up to a whole new level of business as demand for fabric & inspirational items skyrocketed.  It all left precious little free time to create or to even daydream about being creative.  After an entire year of that, I really, really missed the pleasure making things brings. 

 

With this year still being so uncertain, the need to find things that are uplifting and relaxing is high.  I doubt I'm alone in feeling this way, so I've got some plans to foster those positives on Sew Can Do:

 

Trying new-to-me crafts & craft products

There are a number of interesting items out there I've been wanting to try and 2021 is going to be the time for it.  

 

- More Fabrics -

- Crafts & Techniques -

- Supplies & Notions -

- New Gear -

- Organizing Stuff -

 

I'm on the lookout for different things to mess around with - now with a sidekick, my 11 yr old daughter, to really give things a good going over and make it more fun to do as a team.  Time saver ideas and old school techniques that are helpful for sewing & crafting too.  I have a few products I've discovered that I'm currently giving a go and will continue to look for more.  

 

Each is something I purchased for myself and have no agenda or monetary incentive to talk about.  I've really missed reading candid, honest crafter blog posts about trying stuff.  Showing the good, bad & ugly of products and on their own dime has gotten rarer.  So I'm going to do just that.  No sponsored shills or affiliates for products or brands here, just a crafty lady, trying stuff and sharing thoughts about it.  Previous posts like that have the highest views, which tells me they're helpful & needed.

Small Business Support & Tips

 

It's not easy to have a small business these days.  Even before the Covid crazy it was challenging.  Having an online fabric & craft supply shop takes up a lot of time and has been a constant learning curve for me over the past few years.  Prior to that I spent several year running my own handmade shop on Etsy and was a partner in a brick & mortar retail store.  I thought I might start sharing some things I've learned that might help others with a business.  Time savers, mistakes to avoid, things to try/think about.   And, from time to time, highlight some awesome small crafty businesses I buy from to help give them some shout outs too.  

 

Free Patterns & More Patterns

 

I saw a huge surge of interest in my free patterns last year -  especially the apparel ones.  With people spending more time at home & trying to save money, I get it.  So I'm aiming to create more of those & share 'em.     

 

Craft Rooms + Fabric/Craft Supply Hoarding

 

I realize it's been ages since I addressed Fabric (and Craft Supply) Hoarding.  It's a constant up & down issue for many of us and I want to share what I've been doing and not doing since this last post.  Hopefully it'll light a fire under my backside to better balance the volume of stuff, how frequently it gets used and what's worth buying & tossing out. 

 

Reality Based Craft Community Vibe

 

Over a decade ago, when I first started Sew Can Do, social media was in its infancy, so blogs were mainly found while searching for particular things, features or word of mouth.  Communication was literally just comments & emails.  You subscribed to get posts by email or added them to readers to stay updated.  And there was no ranking by another entity under their arbitrary or changeable whims.  No jockeying for search placement, SEO tags, messing with hashtags, or algorithms that decided if you were worthy of being seen or hidden.  It felt so much more connected and personal rather than slick, corporate & controlled.  Over a year ago I walked away from social media and I talked about why here:

 

 

 

With even more negative things coming from social media since then, it's just reaffirmed to me how good it is to make your own community with individual connections, directly on blogs, through comments, email, etc.  Personal blogs acting like real people run them and doing it for fun, rather than trying to be an influencer, internet famous or monetize anything and everything.  That's why I've loved hosting my Craftastic Monday Link Party and plan to keep that going.  Link parties are a great way to promote your blog and discover others without all the strings of social media or getting a few paragraphs in to discover it's really more of an ad rather than a tutorial.

 

 

I'd love to hear what you'd like to see here this year and what your crafty plans for 2021 are.  Sew Can Do has taken a lot of work & time over the years, but the joy it brings to make and share my projects & see others enjoy them too makes it worth it:)

Why My Blog Is Leaving Most Social Media

I had hoped to finally get back to posting new crafts this week.  Being super pregnant and having been very sick with a virus-turned-infection for the past couple weeks, I've not spent much time making stuff to share on the blog or posting on social media.  Finally, this week I'm feeling better and have a little time before baby #5 arrives to do a few.  Yay, right?

So it came as quite a shock to go to do the weekly post for the Craftastic Link Party on Facebook, as I've done for 10 years now, and then get a pop-up message that all of a sudden sewcando.com "violates community standards".  Just like that, I can't link to this blog at all.  No further explanation, no way to contact Facebook.  Blocked.  

It must be some kind of error I think, so I clicked on the "if you think this doesn't go against our Community Standards, let us know" and it takes me to this, which is a generic "feedback" form that says they don't actual review your specific account...
what's the point then?

I then discovered that not only can I not post anything from sewcando.com but ANYTHING I've EVER posted from here has been wiped off my blog's Facebook page.  All the tutorials, projects, link parties, EVERYTHING.  

Any links to sewcando.com I've ever posted on my Etsy shop's Facebook page have also been removed.  If you've ever shared anything from Sew Can Do on Facebook, it's probably gone too.  To say I'm beyond shocked is an understatement.  Sew Can Do has always been a family friendly, non-controversial, non-political personal blog about a mom who crafts.  And that's what gets banned these days???  

But pages full of racy photos, profanity, R-rated memes and spam businesses are totally fine.

Because that makes sense 🙄

At most, any given week, for the past decade, I'd share the link to Craftastic Link Party post here and if I had a new tutorial on my social media.  Which lately has been more like every couple of weeks.  That's it from this site, so it's not that Sew Can Do has been spamming either.  And they're totally fine with me still posting links to other people's blogs, just not my own.  Um what??

And since Facebook owns Instagram, if you click on my bio link there, which is supposed to go here, to sewcando.com, this is what you get:

So they've removed Sew Can Do there too.

I'd already stopped using Pinterest over their censorship policies that deliberately hide pins and permanently ban accounts that don't match their social agenda viewpoint (as explained here).  So instead of being a neutral platform and let you decide for yourself, they all decide to act as editors for what they think you should see or share. It's absolute madness.  

Back when social media first came on the scene, it was a blogger's best friend.  It was a great way to connect with readers & fans, add extra photos, have personal conversations and an added sense of community beyond the blog page.  

Then it became a numbers race to prove popularity in the craft blog world.  And the platforms all started to cash in by offering paid placement while they began to limit what followers who opted in could see.  Pages you subscribed to or liked became harder to find in your feeds.  Posts I made on Facebook to the nearly 7,000 people who liked/followed Sew Can Do's page started only being seen by a fraction of them.  In the past year on average any given post I did on Facebook was only seen by about 200 people out of nearly 7,000 who had opted in.  For a personal blog that's done for fun rather than income, I'm not about to spend $20 a go to push social media posts to a few hundred more people.

I also noticed my personal feed on Facebook has shown less posts from pages I'd liked or those I'd specifically selected to see first.  Why offer user preferences if they're just ignored?

 Truthfully, with running an online fabric shop, homeschooling 3 big kids + having two little ones in diapers to contend with in a matter of weeks, I'd been wondering if I should even keep this blog going.  I barely have time to do projects, photograph them and write them up, purely for fun, so dealing with stupid, ineffective, biased social media makes me want to just walk away entirely.

All this social manipulation has made me decide I just don't care about being on them or want to waste any more time with their unreasonable ways of operating. So I'm stepping away from most social media for this blog and in my personal use.



I'm going to go back to reading other blogs & sites directly, rather than in a social media feed or from links on them.  Why give them the traffic + free content and let them market what they want to you to see, only for them to hobble you at every opportunity?  I miss the days before social media took over and started shaping what & how we looked at information.  For places that supposedly bring social interaction, I feel much less connected than when blog comments were the main way to interact online.  Maybe if more people stepped away, these platforms they wouldn't have such a strangle hold on public communication like they do now.

For now, Sew Can Do will still be on Twitter, since I haven't had issues there, but at this rate, I'm tempted to just disappear from them all entirely.  LEFT THEM TOO!


Maybe it means less people will come here, but this blog was started as a journal for my crafts & to share what I learned as I go.  Being internet famous, making $ from clicks or angling to get glanced at for mere seconds before being forgotten on a bunch of platforms is not the point for me.  And when it stops being fun and starts being only a time suck and hassle, then it's probably a sign to let things go.     

 

Update: 6 months after I posted this Facebook miraculously restored everything on my page.  No explanation, no notice, just quietly put it all back.  It was too little too late, because I've LOVED being free of them.  I walked away from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Pinterest and haven't missed them AT ALL.  I highly recommend it to take back your time, your sanity and your freedom.  

Getting Real About Sewing & Crafting in 2018

Happy New Year!  Are you feeling energized and motivated....or still in a holiday haze in vacation mode?  I'm teetering between both every 5 minutes, so instead of busting into a list of intense craft goals for the year, I'm going to keep it real by starting 2018 with a big confession.

With several out of town trips, many home renovations, starting a retail fabric business, homeschooling 3 kids and spending half the year pregnant, 2017 wasn't super crafty for me.  There just wasn't a lot of free time and I wasn't feeling the creativity bug as regularly either.

If I'm honest, the past few months I've not had a lot of drive to make new stuff.  Maybe it's because my focus has been elsewhere most days.  I've also been trying to pare down my craft & sewing supplies and declutter the house to make room for a new person (who will require a lot of stuff and space despite being the smallest one in the house).  The thought of making a bunch of seasonal crafts or whimsical things we don't really need, seems....kind of like a waste of time & materials.  Does that sound horrible?  

Part of me thinks it does, but the other part of me is like "do you really want to spend several hours ignoring your family to make that?", "should you spend that $ to make yet another Christmas decoration when we have bins full of them already?"  or "those are nice ideas, but where exactly are you going to store all that when it's done?".  With the thousands (maybe millions) of tutorials for every occasion under the sun on the internet, no one ever says where they put it all later on.  In a closet, give it away, toss it in the garbage? It becomes hoarder central in no time with all the gear, supplies and completed items.  I've got enough trouble keeping clutter under control around here as it is!   

As a result, I'm starting a 2018 from a new angle.  I'm still sewing and making things, but a bit more practical on the front.  I've been making cheap & easy maternity-friendly items I can still wear later when baby's out.  Like stretchy pants with tweaks to a favorite non-maternity pattern:

And embellishing knit shirts with some fast materials:

Starting my third trimester recently, my nesting instinct is now kicking in, as is my panic at needing to get loads of baby gear, plus furniture for an empty room.  Therefore, I'm starting to churn out things I need for the baby (and slowly thinning out my still-ridiculously large fabric stash as a bonus):

I'm also continuing to work towards having less stash stuff on the whole.  Every year I use more old fabrics and try to get rid of supplies I'm not using, but I still feel like there's way more piled up than I'm realistically going to use.  With a baby coming in a couple of months, it seems to make sense to thin things out even more now....maybe have a few Free Fabric Fridays here again to pay it forward to fellow crafters and do some more donations too.

And I've got a few projects on the horizon that I AM feeling motivated to do - including some pattern ideas I think will be useful to others, so that's progress and something I'm looking forward to sharing here:)  

With a new year ahead, I'm not going to make a big ambitious list of to-dos or challenges to pressure/guilt myself into doing (or beat myself up about if I miss them).  Quality over quantity needs to be key.  As does creating things to feel joy and share useful info rather than to have a ton of content here or obsess about social media.  That's what I've missed most about the early days of blogs when it was just people having fun and encouraging each other rather than chasing internet fame.  Simpler times are ahead here at Sew Can Do this year and I couldn't be happier!

Crafter's Nightmare: My Work Got Stolen.

I'd planned to share some new projects this week.  I had tutorial post plans in the works. I'd even been brainstorming brand new craft designs in my projects journal (which I hadn't done in ages), but something else came up that kind of stopped me in my tracks.  I had my work stolen.

Almost a year ago, I created my handmade BoxTrolls plush for my son's birthday. There weren't any licensed versions I could just buy, so I created this one.  It was made with love, just for my little guy.  I worked hard on designing it and it took a lot of time to create.  

I was proud to share what I made here on my blog, and how I did it, so other fans could be inspired to make their own BoxTroll to love.  The director of the movie even commented on it on Twitter.  I was thrilled.  

I never dreamed of making them to sell (although I've had many people contact me asking me to).  I've turned down requests to sell a pattern for it countless times.  Not only would it be more work than I'd like to do, it wouldn't be right. It would be copyright infringement if I started churning out BoxTrolls items for profit, or used the BoxTrolls name, with no license agreement from the creators.  Which is illegal.

But that didn't stop this Chinese seller on Alibaba.  Who stole six of my photos and is selling illegal BoxTrolls toys using my design:

My heart sank when I discovered it.  They even had the nerve to Photoshop over the By Sew Can Do text on the box, crop out my copyright marks and plaster their own marking over MY photos.  The cheek of them trying to watermark photos they stole and manipulated is something else!  The day after I found out my son had the new wallet he got for his birthday stolen from a locker at swim class too.  Two thefts in 24hrs.  One nearby and one halfway across the globe.  There are some real jerks in the world.


My photo:

Their doctored version: 

I wish I could say it was the first craft theft that ever happened to me.  I wish I could say I caught them, the shaming went viral and everything got fixed.  But I can't.  You need an Alibaba account just to contact them and this "business" conveniently has no presence online anywhere else.  I sent a cease and desist to the one Shenzhen Levin Toys & Gifts (the business stealing my work) email I could find, but it did nothing.  

Alibaba has an "Intellectual Property Complaint" form, but the kicker is you have to create a user account with them and give them all your personal contact info just to lodge a complaint.  Do I want to give a giant foreign reseller site, with a shady reputation, my personal address and phone number with no guarantee that they'll even remove my photos?  Not especially.  

I know the next thought is get a lawyer.

 I've gone that route before... 

A few years ago I worked with a big name craft supply company and they asked if they could post my Stylish Storage Box project on their projects website.  It was already a tutorial here.  I'd worked as a paid freelance designer for them (making original projects for their site and selling them the rights), I'd hosted giveaways for their products and they'd always credited me & linked to my website on everything. So I said ok.  

Then they told me Jo-Ann Stores had chosen my project and instructions to be used on a free tear sheet in stores nationwide near their product displays.  I was flattered and proud.  I wasn't going to be paid, but it was publicity in every Jo-Ann Store nationwide. That's a big deal, right?  I was even given a proof of what the sheet would look like.  I saw my name as the designer on it.  I was eager for it to come out and share the news here.  

When I saw the sheets in my local Jo-Ann store I was so excited I was practically jumping up and down.  It looked so good! There was my work!  Until I flipped it over and saw the back:

My name was NOWHERE on it.  My copyright text on the photo had been cropped out. There was nothing attaching my project to me and in the spot "Created By", where my name had been on the proof, was that company instead. My heart sank.  I almost started crying right there. It wasn't Jo-Ann Stores at fault - they had never been told the project was my creation and my property.  The company that took the credit for my work knew it was mine though.

They claimed they didn't know my name wouldn't be on it. That it was a "simple mistake".  On the phone my contact was "so sorry" & said it would be reprinted, but in writing they wouldn't respond.  Their legal just ignored me.  Every assurance it would be fixed or pulled went nowhere.  I had them remove anything that was still under my copyright from any of their sites & planned print ads and I removed every trace of them from my own site.  I got a copyright lawyer and official cease & desist letter for the tear sheet.  It was expensive and took a lot of time. And nothing changed about the sheets.  Taking it to court would have cost me a fortune even though it was clear from my paper trail that I would win. The damages wouldn't have been worth the lawyer fees I'd incur.  It's literally years later and I still see my project sheets in stores.  I got nothing out of it.  It burns me that they sure did. 
    

Ironically both projects were things I did for free, with no intention of making any money off them, but others stole them so they could.  

I've loved having this blog and sharing what I make with fellow crafties.  Hearing from people inspired by my work or seeing others making things for themselves with my free tutorials has been a real source of happiness for me. It's made the huge amount of time I've spent on this blog over the years seem worthwhile.  

Yet, I feel like I can't really share some of the things I love to make the most, simply because I don't want to risk them being stolen.  And that makes me sad too.  I hate that a couple of greedy people can spoil things for everyone else.   

So I've got to think about this a bit and figure out how I can still share what lifts my heart creatively and not have someone else use it for their own gains.  Short of either not posting them or putting a distracting giant SewCanDo.com across the middle of every photo, I really don't know....
  

Bringing The Real Connection Back: A Simple Craft Blog Challenge!

Today's post is going to be short and sweet, but I'm putting it here because I know it would just get lost in the faceless noise of Facebook, Twitter or any other social media if it was just a shout out there.  One of my new goals to bring back the real person-to person connection in craft blogs and I'm challenging you to join me - and you don't need to have a blog to do it!

Starting this week I'm going to start making a conscious effort to comment on blog posts I click on or projects I bookmark with a Pinterest pin.  Less of the 2 second "click, skim & leave" or the even briefer "click, pin & forget",  I'm going to take a few extra seconds to let someone know I saw what they made and say a little something about it.  Not spend added hours seeking stuff out, but a few seconds when I'm already looking at something.  A genuine comment, not a quick, generic "That's so cute!".  Just to let them know their effort and creativity is appreciated and noticed.

I've really missed the direct person-to-person blog interactions since crafting went viral & social - both as a reader and with my own readers.  Clearly I'm not the only one, given all the comments echoing that feeling on my Quitting the Craft Blog Rat Race post from a couple weeks ago.  So why not do a little something to bring back a few personal connections?  It doesn't take much effort and it doesn't mean spending ages.  Let's all try to take an extra moment when we see something to let that person know what we liked about their work, ask a question or just share a feeling.  You might even get an unsolicited comment yourself:)

Why I'm Quitting The Craft Blog Rat Race

With Sew Can Do's anniversary coming up this month, I've been thinking about all that's happened with this blog in that time.  Being sick a lot this summer and having a lot of real life things taking up my usual "blog work" time has given me a new perspective on crafting and what I want for Sew Can Do.  I've realized it's time for me to change what I do here, so it makes sense to explain this new direction and why I hope you'll join me.

6 years ago I was just learning to sew my very first pair of pajama pants.  I had no aspirations other than to take one project at a time and see if it actually turned out. There were maybe a hundred craft-related blogs out there and they were a lot like mine. Mainly on-line journals of people learning new skills, showing things they made and sharing ideas & tips you couldn't find in a book or class.  We were looking for others who enjoyed the same creative kinds of things & shared our enthusiasm.  It felt like a community where you could comment on someone's post or ask a question and discover a kindred spirit miles away.  No one had custom styled graphics.  Photos weren't expertly taken and real, lived-in looking homes, kid's toys & other clutter were usually in the background.  I felt really connected to people who read my blog and the people writing the blogs I enjoyed.

Then blogs got bigger.  Making fun crafts wasn't enough.  Having a lot of followers became a measure of how great a blog was and everyone wanted to get noticed.  Expertly styled sites and 100% magazine perfect looking projects in every photo became really important. Social media exploded and every crafty blog needed to have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest & all the rest.  Professional craft bloggers became a thing and sponsored posts & affiliates started making up a good portion of content everywhere. And not just for other small crafter shops, but big brands - many having nothing to do with crafts.  Popular blogs started doling out advice on "How to make your blog/photos/page views better" and "Why you need a media kit".  This was coupled with constant talk about key conferences & shows to promote your brand and the need to network with craft corporations. Thousands more crafty blogs popped up left & right with thoughts that they too could be like the big success blogs and quit their day jobs, get book or sponsorship deals and be paid to craft it up.  The pressure to change, improve and constantly be trying to do more became immense.  

On a personal level, there were a lot of positives from the extra work & effort.  I learned some new skills like basic graphic design & photography.  A lot of things I'd never dreamed of, like having a business selling my own creations & patterns, getting published and going from newbie crafter to being an actual freelance designer, came out of all the growth and change. And the new ways to keep up with things online helped me discover many tremendously talented people.  All of which has been amazing and appreciated. 

But with all the great things comes a price.  Suddenly deadlines, outside expectations & full marketing campaigns are part of every project instead of just making something because you feel like it.  Taking the time to come up with something, make it and write about it isn't enough - it's got to have beautifully staged vignette photos, copyright info, precise instructions and shared on 5 kinds of social media for any hope of it to getting more than a quick glance click or maybe be pinned so it can be forgotten 2 seconds later.  More things to do means more time doing work and less time being creative or being a real person with a family.  Staring at a computer screen for hours every day is part of the blogging "job", but when you work out the hourly rate for any paid work, you'd make twice as much bagging groceries.   It brought back the feelings I had when I used to have papers to write in school & my last 9 to 5 office job.  It sucked the fun right out. Crafting became work and I'd dread when it was time to work on a project instead of being excited.  

And the volume of craft stuff thrown at us online everywhere has left me what I call Craftatonic:

This happens whenever I take more than 5 minutes to look at my feeds or get on Pinterest. That feeling of never being able to keep up, have enough time or that every idea is already out there.  Oh Pinterest, I love your concept, yet hate you for taking over the internet.

So, I've decided to quit the craft blog rat race and not let the the numbers game of page views, social media fans or clicks per post affect what I want to work on...or not work on. I'm going to start doing things a bit different than the rest:

Make Crafting Itself More Fun.  Life's about the journey, not the finish right? Is anyone really going to put "Had the most repins" or "Was a big craft blogger" on their tombstone? Should we even care?  Let's make the process of crafting the most fun part - creating and feeling creative should be why we do it not for page views.  For me this may mean I show less of certain types of projects or more of others - depending how the mood strikes.  Right now I'm thinking about getting back into soapmaking, doing more whimsical sewing and trying out some new stuff all together.  I'm not 100% sure - I'm going to see where things take me. New tutorials may take longer in coming, but it'll be because they're more interesting and made with more enjoyment.  

Thinking Small Time and Old School.  I miss the conversational feel and thought sharing back when commenting really was the social media for blogs. I'd like to share more and ask you to share back.  Things like crafting tips & ideas, challenges faced, what stuff we're liking (or not), what we'd like to try next, etc.  That individual connection is worth so much more and more inspiring than 1,000 anonymous, forgotten in 10 seconds, pins!

Keepin' It Real.  I'm going to keep my photo taking & content writing time to a minimum with a more "yes there's a messy house in the background" kinda feel because real people don't have 8hrs a day to work on stuff to be perfect.  And you're not going to hear how AMAZING something is because I got paid to make a project with it or write a post about it. The products or places you see here are things I genuinely like, buy and support.  And they'll be related to crafting and/or homeschooling (who wants to read the 1,000th "this cutting machine is awesome" paid review posted in one day or about store bought pudding cups or mouthwash on a craft blog!?!). And I'm going to tell you when something was a pain in the butt to make or took a huge amount of time.    

 

Staying Craftastic.  No worries about the Craftastic Monday Link Party & Craftastic Facebook Mixer changing or disappearing.  They'll still be going strong:)

Sure one day I'd still love to have my own fabric designs manufactured, or finally publish a book of my whimsical hat patterns (the finished book proposal has been on my desktop for a year), I just don't need to do it all right NOW. I don't want to miss enjoying today's small creative joys for lofty goals for tomorrow.  I want to make stuff that brings a smile to my face, not a sigh that it's 2am and I'm still on the freaking computer writing a blog post or rush to finish something by a campaign launch date or a company's insane deadline.  I want to get a good night's sleep. Have time to play with the kids a bit before they're 18.  Some time to do laundry & clean more...(well maybe not much more cleaning). 

I hope you'll join me in quitting the craft race, enjoying being creative more and putting fun into the Sew Can Do adventure together:)

Happy New Year And A Heartfelt Thank You

I just wanted to take a moment to say Happy New Year and offer a big thank you to:

All you wonderful readers who came to visit, left comments, shared ideas, linked your own projects and followed Sew Can Do's social media in 2013.  It's been a joy to meet so many others who love crafting as much as I do.  I'm really looking forward to doing even more with you this year.

&

My lovely sponsors and advertisers.  Your small businesses are real assets to the online crafting community.  Your support helped make it a year full of crafting dreams come true for me and I'm so proud to have you here.

Thank You!!

I'm really looking forward to 2014 being a year to share more of the things we love: 

- New projects -

- Crafty goodies that rock -

- Giveaways for great supplies - 

And, most of all, ways to keep crafting fun!  

Too often it's easy to get overwhelmed by trends, perfect project pics and endless streams of projects most of us don't have time to attempt.  I want Sew Can Do to be a place that inspires & assists, but is also realistic with the time & budget constraints of normal people.  I homeschool 3 kids and work part-time, so I know how tough it can be to fit crafting in.    

We want to be able to MAKE the crafts, not just stare at them, right?

And on a personal level, I feel like 2014 is going to be the

This year I really want to:

- Do more sewing projects -

- Share more favorite patterns -

- Show extra tool & skill lessons -

- Offer creative ways to use fabrics - 

Sewing was my first foray into crafting 5 years ago and is my crafting first love.  I'm really looking forward to taking it even further this year.  I hope you'll join me in these adventures:)

Let's make 2014 the year we crafted it up & had fun doing it!

I Want Your Feedback: New Ideas Are Brewing....

I've been thinking a lot about what I like to read on craft blogs and what I want for Sew Can Do these days.  I really enjoy seeing unique projects, tutorials for little known techniques & discovering crafty things that are new to me.  If you're a regular reader here you probably do too.

I've noticed a lot of craft blogs have started looking kind of the same lately and while following trends can be fun, isn't crafting supposed to be about being creative and doing your own thing?  I also miss some of the personal contact since Pinterest, Facebook & Twitter make things a bit more anonymous.  Don't get me wrong, I love knowing that a thousand people saw a post thanks to social media, but it's not quite the same as getting comments from real people.  Getting a chance to talk to them and discover their blogs & creativity is what makes blogging fun (and less like work).

So I'm thinking about adding a few new features to keep things fresh & different and would really like to hear if these are things you'd like to see:

Craft Book Corner: My craft library is full of all sorts of books I've collected over the past few years.  Some teach particular techniques, some have themed projects, others have solid reference info.   I thought I'd share some of these books and what makes them worth getting to know, or in a few cases, why they should be left on the store shelf.  Some of my favorites were used book finds, discovered by chance, so there are some real hidden treasures!

I Can Do Decor:  I love home decorating projects, but even most "simple" DIY ideas I see don't seem to be for those of us with really limited time & skills and pocket change budgets (aka Real People).   Those without a contractor in the family or an on-call babysitter.  Several days of solid work, lots of supply shopping or a room being out of commission for more than 24hrs, aren't real options for me.  I homeschool 3 kids - just cleaning my house is a major ordeal!  So I've been doing some easy, quick & durable projects that can be done with minimal skills and still hold up to normal life.  I'm thinking about opening this up to some guest posters too for even more "Can Do Decor" idea sharing.    

Knock It Off Feature: How many times have you seen something for sale and thought "I could make that"?  I say it all the time, but I don't actually do it very often.  So instead of just talking about it, how about finally making those store-inspired items?  I'm considering turning this feature into a monthly party so others can share their great knock-off creations and it'll give me a kick in the pants to make the stuff instead of forgetting about it.

Do any or all of these ideas strike your fancy?  I think they'd be a lot of fun, but I want to see if you'd be into them too.  

My usual link party, giveaways & assortment of tutorials won't be getting replaced, in case that's a concern.  This is just more stuff to add to the ol' crafting arsenal.  I'd love to hear some feedback on what you'd be interested in seeing or participating in.  Let me know in the comments!