Oh Hey, 2015, What's Going On?

It seems we're in a new year. A NEW YEAR! Really? Did 2014 slip by so quickly? Yes, I guess it did. Lots of things are going on over here at Casa Dahl despite my blog silence. You probably know a lot of this already if you're friends with me on Facebook and/or Instagram. But maybe I have an inflated sense of how much you care about my social media streams. Well, good for all of us; I'm here to update you on EVERYTHING!

But first, let's start with 2014. I'm gonna keep this short and sweet: I achieved all my goals. There were three:

1. Launch Pattern Workshop
2. Launch Selvage Designs
3. Have 1,000 followers on Bloglovin'

In addition, I signed contracts with Janome and BurdaStyle, and my family moved to PORTLAND! We are loving it so far. Yes, loving it! I am in fabric shopping/sewing heaven. HEAVEN, I tell you. And I really don't mind the rain because you know what? Because NO SNOW. And because 50-degree high temperatures on average in the winter. And because everything, really.

Oh yeah, and I am having a baby. No biggie.

So let's get on with these little announcements.

Will I be creating more sewing patterns in 2015?

Probably not! The truth is that I design for myself, and my own style is very basic. I wear t-shirts, jeans, button-downs and oversized sweaters/sweatshirts on most days. You know, when I change out of my pajamas. And as you all know, there are already great patterns out there for all those things. I'm just not feeling creatively motivated for it, so I'm going to leave it up to all you creative and innovative friends to give me new things to sew! As with anything I say, it might change at a later date, but for now, no thank you.

Am I sewing?

YES! Well, sort of. I'm in the process of working through the Wardrobe Architect series on Coletterie (more about this soon). It's a 14-week series that helps you determine your style, color palette and basic silhouettes from which you build your wardrobe - handmade or not! Of course, I'm going with handmade. At the moment, I have a 42-inch waist (as opposed to my normal 27-29", depending on lunch), so my dress form is getting a whole lot of use. But that kind of means I'm limited to forgiving knit tops and no bottoms since, well, my dress form has a pole for a crotch. #dressformproblems amirite?

I've sewn some things for the kids, but lately, I haven't been too motivated for kid sewing. They grow too damn fast, and they could really care less at this age if I sewed something or bought it at Target. So, I've been focusing on taking care of myself and thinking I can focus on them after I have a basic wardrobe built for myself. You know, because I don't grow. Normally.

I have been enjoying doing more process-oriented sewing - including kid sewing - and learning techniques I haven't used before. This includes leotards and unitards for Harper's dance/gymnastics classes and outerwear for myself. For a long time, I was a results-oriented sewist, but I realized I was sewing a lot but not really getting much out of it - the garments were too basic, ill-fitting, hastily made, the wrong fabric and/or just not my style. So now, I'm taking my time, learning the techniques, expanding my knowledge and consulting friends/books/videos to makes sure I'm doing things in the best way possible. My friend Maris pointed out recently that I'm a process-oriented sewist. I felt quite proud because I've never thought of myself as such. Perhaps the tide is changing (for the better).

Am I teaching or developing new courses?

YES! My courses on BurdaStyle have taken off and are going full-steam. Currently my digital pattern drafting course is in session, and another session of the fabric design course is open for enrollment. And as always, Pattern Workshop is chugging along with about 400 students! WOW!

I DO have plans for a new Pattern Workshop course in 2015. I'm not ready to announce it just yet since I haven't really outlined it or fully decided I'm going to commit to it. But stay tuned. I should have a better idea soon. Hint: it's not about pattern drafting or digitizing.

Next up, I'm teaching several REAL, LIVE, IN-PERSON CLASSES here in Portland at Modern Domestic. For starters, I'll be doing the Hudson Pants, the Sailor Top and a Stretch Lab (all about sewing with spandex fabrics). These are all happening around March/April.

Finally, I'll be delivering a webinar at BurdaStyle on setting up a sewing blog using self-hosted wordpress on February 23. You can read all the details and/or sign up for that here.

Anything else going on?

Well duh. I wouldn't be me if I didn't have a million things on my plate, right? You may have heard of this tiny little pattern company called Colette. Haha, COLETTE! Yes, tiny. So they are based in Portland and had a job opening recently for a sample sewist. I applied for it thinking I didn't really want the job because sewing for money is kind of not my jam, but I thought it couldn't hurt just to check out the opportunity, ya know? So I interviewed for the position and was offered something else entirely - something that is TOTALLY my jam: working with them to create their Pattern of the Month series and pattern add-ons. With Sarai's direction and collaboration, I'll be creating the monthly tutorials (tech illustrations, instructions, layouts, etc.). I'm really excited about this gig!

Any goals for 2015?

Survive! Have a baby! Lose 50 pounds! And have fun! That's really about it.

HOPE YOU GUYS ARE ENJOYING THIS FABULOUS NEW YEAR AS MUCH AS I AM! xoxo

Blog Sabbatical ... Yep, you heard right

I've been thinking about this post for a few weeks now, mulling over in my head what I would type and how I would explain my feelings about blogging right now. I thought about just silently slipping into sabbatical without even a mention, but no, part of the reason I NEED this sabbatical is to clarify TO MYSELF how I feel about blogging. About everything I'm doing, really. So, here goes.

This year has been kind of nuts. I created a list of three goals in January that consisted of the following:

1. Launch Pattern Workshop.
2. Launch Selvage Designs.
3. Reach 1,000 blog followers on Bloglovin'.

Well, check, check and almost check. I've done almost everything I set out to do this year, and fall is only starting to show her beautiful colors. And since I've gone from close to zero blog followers in January to over 900, I anticipate I'll probably check #3 off my list, too.

And in addition to the three goals above, I signed contracts with BurdaStyle and Janome.

(YES, I KNOW, I AM PINCHING MYSELF RIGHT NOW.)

But lately, I've been questioning all of it. Not whether I should quit everything - NO, NOT THAT - but which things should take priority (and which ones should go way, way, back to the back burner). I've been stuck in that dreaded gray area where it feels like everything is moving so fast and simultaneously NOT MOVING - all at the same time.

So let's talk about blogging. First, let me tell you: I do not make money at blogging. It took me 7 months to even reach the $100 threshold to get paid by Google Adsense. Okay, so I guess that's a little money. But it's barely enough to cover my hosting. Sure, I could grow my readership by posting free tutorials and patterns. Or I could work for product - sewing my little heart out for a couple yards of fabric here and there. And maybe, just MAYBE, I would make a little more money off ads on my blog. But it could take years. And frankly, my heart's just not in it.

That's why I recently started asking myself, "WHY AM I STILL KILLING MYSELF OVER THIS DAMN BLOG?!" It used to be fun, you know? Sewing, taking pictures...blogging when I felt like it. I wrote about my kids, my family, my sewing projects. There was never a motive or an analytic I was trying to improve. I never thought to myself, "Hmmm...should I post this as a free tutorial on my site or do a guest post on a bigger site? What time of day will I get the most traffic? On which social media should I share this post? Will applying a matte filter to my photos generate more shares?"

Now, I have a freaking checklist of everything I have to do after I write a post. Share on Facebook. Share on Instagram. Post on PatternReview. Post on Kollabora. Post on Indiesew. Ask blogger friends to share. Pin on Pinterest.

Not.

Fun.

And let's talk about sewing for fun versus sewing for the blog. When I'm sewing for fun, I just sew. I don't worry about the lighting or time of day or whether or not I took a good photo of that one step. I don't think about how fabulous my stitches need to look or whether or not I should post it on Monday or Thursday.

I JUST SEW. And I make things my kids and I will love - not the few thousand random people who follow me on various social media. And when I'm not spending hours (yes hours - driving to photo shoot location, taking photos, editing photos, writing post, publicizing post, re-posting, etc.) on blog posts, I actually have time...TO SEW. And to do random art projects with my kids. And to, you know, watch Orange is the New Black.

And it's not that I don't appreciate my readers/followers; in fact, I've made so many amazing friends through this blog - many of which I have gone on to meet in person, forge business partnerships with, etc. The problem is that I just focus on it way too much...and for so little return.

The fact is...I want to make money. I make no apologies for that. Because you know what? Money buys fabric. And patterns. And mortgage payments. And college educations. MONEY BUYS ALL THE THINGS.

BUT, money does NOT buy happiness. And happiness is another thing I want.

So how do I make money? And what makes me happy?

I will tell you: not blogging. (On either account.)

For now, I am shifting my focus into money-making activities (teaching, pattern design, etc.) for a while so I can spend the rest of my time JUST BEING HAPPY with my family and my sewing machine. There is only so much time in the day, and I must use it carefully.

Does this mean I am done blogging? No; it simply means I am taking a break. The nature of my work is that I have to put in a lot of effort up-front for a lot of payout in the long-term. Developing online courses and patterns means residual, semi-passive income, and that is my goal: to be able to be mommy while also contributing to my family financially.

Again, this does NOT mean I'm quitting blogging. Hopefully, this sabbatical will help me to clarify my goals and come back even more solid than before. I just need the time to sort it all out and focus some profit-making activities. Because, folks, quilted jersey does not come cheap. And this mamma likes quilted jersey.

Just sayin'.

Okay. So. I am traveling with the kids from September 10-22, then another trip early October and ANOTHER trip (to Quilt Market!) at the end of October. And I have a couple "secret" projects I am working on in the meantime, along with another (different) course launching on BurdaStyle at the end of October (details forthcoming). I anticipate my sabbatical will be about a month, maybe two...with occasional posts here and there. Then, I hope to get back to it in November (or the first of the year at the latest!).

(People ask me all the time how I do it all, and the truth is, I don't. Thus the picking and choosing.)

I will still be around, but I won't be killing myself with make-believe deadlines and invisible ladders to nowhere. I post on instagram all--the--time, so if you want to keep up on the day-to-day and get a few previews of the projects I'm working on, you can follow me there.

xoxo see you guys on the flip side.

Big News Part Two: I'm Teaching at Burdastyle.com!

Okay, okay, I know this isn't BIG news since most of you who follow me on Instagram already know about this. And since I've mentioned it in a couple of my Facebook groups, this is probably not even that exciting anymore. BUT YOU GUYS! I am teaching a master course at Burdastyle.com! EXCITING, right?! And I finally have all the nitty-gritty details to share with you!

The course is called Digital Pattern Design with Adobe Illustrator, and it's a little bit different than my Pattern Workshop course since it's specifically targeted to women who want to design their own patterns (not necessarily to sell). It will go more in-depth into the creation of blocks and will include detailed instructions and calculations for creating the following:

• Close-fitting bodice/sleeve block (wovens)
• Close-fitting body/sleeve block (knits)
• Simple trouser block (wovens)
• Tailored skirt block (wovens)

Unlike Pattern Workshop, however, it will not include any of the videos on marketing, selling, creating illustrations or putting together pattern instructions in InDesign. It WILL include how to tile and grade patterns digitally. The course begins July 28 and runs eight weeks. The cost is $129 (a STEAL for the amount of information contained!), and you can register and see more details here!

In the first session, students will learn the ins and outs of Adobe Illustrator as it applies to patternmaking. Next, I'll show you how to create Google Sheets that help you to easily calculate all the measurements you'll need for the block creation process. Then, we'll create four blocks that can be used to build a whole library of blocks based on your own measurements so you can quickly and easily create your own patterns right from your computer. You'll be able to apply the knowledge learned during the creation of those four blocks to create all kinds of blocks - outerwear, easy-fitting clothing, lingerie, activewear, etc.

Pretty snazzy, eh?! Just imagine seeing an outfit in a magazine or on Pinterest, and then re-creating it in pattern form right on your laptop/desktop computer! And sewing it that same day!

Once that's done, the fun really begins. I'll show you how to use Illustrator's tools to modify basic blocks for an infinite number of styles. And finally, we'll add seam allowances and tile the patterns for at-home printing. I KNOW. I'll even show you how to grade your pattern into other sizes in case you fancy that sort of thing. (And the editors at BurdaStyle.com tell me you do!)

If you don't have any experience drafting patterns or using Illustrator, don't sweat it. I recommend purchasing Metric Pattern Cutting for Women's Wear by Winifred Aldrich to help you along (although any patternmaking book with block instructions will do - this is the one I use in the examples). Some measurements (yours or the ones provided in the course), that book and my course are really all you need to get going. Really! I promise!

So whether you're a beginning pattern drafter or one with 30 years of experience and a degree in fashion design, this course is for you. Stop with all the tracing paper and start designing digitally. No more taping, re-tracing, measuring and wasted muslin. (Okay, you might still waste a little muslin.) Take it all digital and spend your time designing and sewing instead of planting your face firmly in your palm.

REGISTER NOW!

Space is limited. :) xoxo