Wins, Regrets, and Foggy Bits

Biggest Wins of 2024

☆ Not completing everything on my goal list. While I am struggling financially from
not meeting my sewing & sales goals for the latter part of the year, I am still okay with not pushing myself to focus on the sales and sewing to-do list through the whole of the year. Something happened this summer during my summer assignment that is hard for me to explain. I worked hard all day at tasks that had a very clear, physical start>do>complete process with no loose ends or flux due to being pulled this way or that. The result surprised me: I finished each day feeling accomplished and found I no longer had the strong need to “make” when I got home. That need to make was replaced by the want to do, to be outside, to wander, to see, to people. This was a feeling I had not felt like this, let alone for weeks, in a very long time. It was nice. This also meant I made significantly less through the summer – less shop stuff, less project stuff.

☆ One of my favorite making parts of this year was finally venturing into making Bergère hats. It took me too long to embrace making these 18th-century hats. Between a lack of confidence for maintaining the smooth flat brim and thinking the market was fulfilled by the mass-market, machine sewing hats out there, I pushed off making this style for years. After making the first couple, I quickly found I enjoy making them. This is great news because as we enter 2025, we are rolling into America250 preparations. My plan is to make Bergère hats each month this coming year, both plain and decorative.

☆ My other creative/making win of the year is patchwork. Fancy patchwork, aka “crazy quilt” patchwork, is something I flat out rejected for years. Why? I have no idea. Making a patchwork cat last year sparked my fondness for the process. Now, I find the freehand (unplanned) process of piecing silk scraps and embroidering as the whim flows to be a calming form of process art. In a way, this is my personal Victorian version of the modern, mindfulness slow-stitch trend.

☆ Speaking at Symposium – Of course, speaking at GCVM’s Fall Fashion & Textile Symposium is on the top of my list. (It only sits at the bottom chronologically.) This “win” is doubly important. First, I’ve wanted to do another conference or symposium, ever since speaking at the Genteel Arts Conference in 2010. Opportunity and ability finally aligned this year. Many thanks to those of you who requested a talk from me in the spring. Following the Symposium, I have had requests for smaller speaking engagements quasi-locally in the coming year. Stay tuned for information on those. (PS – I do have a dream vision of displaying a large assortment of my original winter hoods alongside a presentation on the styles of hoods.) Second, the research rabbit hole of looking for rural milliners through various documents is ….. Incredible? Amazing? Fascinating? Basically, it is one I am very glad to be on. I find I really enjoy trying to uncover the stories of women who would have otherwise been forgotten.

Regrets of 2024

♤ I flat out regret the Recreational Dress from this summer. I don’t recall ever having such disdain for a project. As I write this, I am not even sure where I stuffed that outfit. The whole process from research to making felt forced. When I displayed it for the intended event, the layout was visually appealing. But, that is where the positive ended for me. The whole day felt disconnected with little engagement. I never even wore it.

♤ My biggest not-doing regret of the year is not pushing myself to participate in a particular exhibit I was asked about doing. I really dropped the ball on that one. (Yes, I am leaving that cryptic.)

♤ While I am not sure I can count my epic face plant fall in the school parking lot as a regret as I didn’t choose to do or not to do it, that moment had a significant negative impact on the latter part of the year. The injury itself kept me from sewing for many weeks. I still haven’t sewn a hat or bonnet since October because my thumbs just aren’t there yet. (Knees keep swelling too.). Not being able to sew going into the holiday season left me about $4,000 behind in sales compared to last year. Mentally, I find I am extra cautious about every step and how I hold things. I dislike this.

Foggy Bits

I am not sure what to call this section. These are things I tried, but I can’t really say whether they are successes or failures, or I am just perplexed by them.

◇ Given last year’s response to doll millinery, I thought it was a brilliant idea to invest in doll scale blocks for hats and bonnets. Afterall, I do have hanks of narrow straw plait on hand. Then, doll items just sat there. I have theories on why – Determining size and fit virtually, view time for new customers. Going forward, I need to decide whether to make more or box the doll millinery blocks up.

◇ Along the same lines is Clara’s Corner – I had this idea of making a bunch of cat themed items for that section of the shop to help pay for Clara’s rent and Chewy order. I didn’t get as far on the making of cat themed items beyond the bookmarks. (The bookmarks did really well last holiday season. Then stopped.)

◇ I have a lot of hope for my Digital Whimsy shop section. I love the idea of offering smaller, nearly free projects throughout the year. I am not sure if people love it as much as I do. I have my fingers crossed that it will be successful in the coming year.

It looks like that brings me to thinking about 2025.