Questions and Answers

Thank you for all the wonderful, encouraging comments that were written on the previous post about the shorts and shirt I made for my son. Comments are fun to read---thank you, thank you, thank you. I love comments. : ) Among the comments were a few questions that I'll answer here:

MaryPat R said..."Is there a zip in that fly or is it just for show?"

The shorts have a mock fly front--no zipper. The button is also just for show, although it never shows because Jacob does not tuck his shirts in. :)

Jessica said..."can you explain sometime how to do this waistband treatment?"

Jeannine said..."I too would like to know how you did the waistband."

Jessica and Jeannine, I intended to write a post with a pictures of how I did the waistband, but honestly and truly, I have not sewn a single stitch since I finished the shorts and shirt. Soon, I hope to make more shorts, and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. Until then, here is a very brief explanation of what I did: Fold the waistband in half lengthwise and press; sew the short ends of waistband to form a circle; sew the waistband to the garment--right side of waistband to the wrong side (the inside) of the shorts; enclose circle of elastic inside the waistband; turn up the seam allowance of the unsewn long edge of waistband; topstitch the waistband to the garment (you'll be topstitching on the right side of the garment), stretching elastic as you topstitch. I also topstitched through the center of the waistband, again stretching the elastic flat as I sewed.

KarenH said..."Don't you love those surprise fabrics at WM? I'm going to be really sad when their fabric depts are gone for good."

Yes, Karen, I always check the fabric department at WM because I never know what I may find. Surprisingly, lately I've found several nice fabrics at WM--and it makes me happy. I hope that my local WM will keep their fabric dept. for a good long time!

Tammy said..."I just started my blog and don't really know what I'm doing yet. I would love some pointers from you guys! How do you get people to actually read your blog?"

Tammy, I wish I had an answer to give you about blog readership, but I really don't know why people read this blog and come back if they do. Jessica and I don't purposely set out to get readers or comments, and we don't "market" our blog. Don't get me wrong---we love having readers, and we love the comments. I'll admit that it's nice knowing that a few people read what we write. I'm sorry I don't have a better answer, but if you do a bit of google searching, you will find many articles about starting and growing a blog.

Your question has made me ponder about why I blog. Sometimes it all seems so trivial to me. Does writing on my blog really matter? Just why do I blog about my sewing? This could be a whole post in itself. But to sum it up briefly...hmm.... The reasons why I started blogging and why I continue to blog are different. Jessica and I initially started this blog in 2005 (wow! has it really been that long ago?!) because she was getting married and moving from home, and we wanted a way to share our mutual love of sewing with each other. Also, the blog was a way to document the process of sewing Jessica's wedding dress. Record keeping and documentation of sewing projects was a big motivation for me to blog. I don't keep everything I've made forever, and before blogging I wasn't good at taking pictures of my projects. Having a record has been helpful in many ways. For example, when I enter items in the county fair each fall, I come back to the blog to see what I've sewn the past year that can be entered. No way would I remember otherwise.

Reasons why I continue to blog are varied---record keeping, of course; sharing ideas, tips and techniques; perhaps helping others with what I've learned; oh, there are more reasons that I won't go into, but one last thought about why I blog is community. The sewing community is awesome. I have been encouraged, motivated, challenged, and inspired by so many wonderful people! Blogging, for me, has been fun and enjoyable. If you care to comment, I would love to know your reasons for blogging.

And because it seems I can't write a post without a picture, I'll post this one of Jacob wearing his shorts after they had been through the laundry a few times.

Ruth