"I only sold one copy"

This summer I discovered a new-to-me music artist that I’ve been enjoying a lot. His name is Jonathan Ogden.

In an interview, he shared that when he came out with his second album he only sold one copy.

He said he wasn’t doing it to make money but because he loved producing music.

Now he makes his living through his music.

It’s amazing to hear stories of where people start.

If you’re starting a new project, don’t be discouraged. Everything starts small. Champions don’t start by being successful. Success is the end result, not the first step.

Wearing my memade swimsuit and swimming in this soft linen before I cut it into a dress.

Blog Series on The Thread - Embrace Your Measurements

There is something beautiful about stripping back layers and taking a look at something in its rawness. In this article on my series on the power of sewing on The Thread Blog, I tell the story about disobeying my parents and trying to grow dreadlocks while they were on vacation, and then shaving my head 10 years later.

This article is all about when we are willing to look at things in the rawness and to get to know them, our appreciation and love grows. That’s the power of getting to know our own bodies, the power of sewing for them.

Here’s an excerpt:

You get to fall in love with yourself. You scrape off old paint (clothes that don’t fit you perfectly) to discover the unmatched beauty of the natural wood underneath. That’s who you are – you are unmatched beauty.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Blog Series on The Thread - It's Time to Recognize the Untruths You've Believed About Your Body

The last few months I’ve had the honor of having a column on The Thread — the fascinating and inspiring blog by Fabrics-Store where I talk about the power of sewing.

Here is an excerpt from my latest article…

For some reason or another, our body seems to be of particular interest for attack from mean voices within. The mean voice is surprisingly convincing. It starts early in our lives. It is not invited inside, but it finds a way in. It cleverly twists things you hear or experience into unhealthy comparisons with girls around you. Because it starts so young and because it’s so constant, you become accustomed to the voice. It feeds you lies, but you start to perceive them as truths.

Click here to read the rest of the article on The Thread.

How to Find Your Dream Husband

All the advice you’ll ever need to find The One.

How to Organize and Keep Track of Your PDF Patterns

PDFs can be pesky things. Here’s how I organize my patterns from other pattern makers I love to make sure I don’t lose any and I can find them easily.

I notice for me personally, staying organized is much easier if I put the pattern in my filing system right away after buying it instead of leaving it in my messy downloads folder.

Most patterns come as .zip files. Once the files are extracted, you can delete the .zip file.

So here’s one good option of how to organize patterns

1) Have a folder just for sewing patterns.

2) In that folder, have a file for each pattern maker.

3) In each pattern maker’s file, have a file for each pattern you have from them.

4) In each pattern file, have all the PDFs that go with the pattern.

Again, once you have the PDFs, you don’t need to keep the .zip file. Declutter and toss it in the digital trashcan.