Last month we started discussions about identity and sewing, asking the question, “Does who you are shape your sewing or your experience in the online sewing community?”
I wanted to talk a little about my experience with inclusion and representation in the museum field and how it encouraged me to question who I was following and why.
First, a little about me: Hi, I’m Meris! (she/her)
I am a cosplayer. I am pear-shaped and the Sewaholic Cambie dress really helped me see how sewing could free me from the standard RTW clothing sizes. I am cisgender and heterosexual. I am multiethnic — Chinese, Irish, German-American. I actively identify as a Person-of-Color (POC) and Woman-of-Color (WOC), but I am also aware that my lighter skin and ethnic mix have afforded me varying degrees of white privilege throughout my life.
My professional background includes archaeology and history. In archaeology, I was curious how people expressed their various social identities. When I worked at a local history museum, I started engaging directly with issues of representation and inclusion at the museum. I was in charge of planning lectures, among other educational programs. When looking for a speaker, I might ask our resident historian for suggestions. Over time this resulted in the same pool of experts being tapped. To diversify our lecture topics we took two approaches:
- Feature more lecture and panel topics related to marginalized communities
- Seek out and invite more people of color or individuals from marginalized identities (who are also content experts) to be on panels about more broad topics like city planning, marijuana legislation (it’s legal in WA), homelessness, etc.
Both approaches support inclusion and representation in the museum’s content, but the second one highlights the other identities and areas of expertise individuals have.
It was around this time that I first started noticing a lack of ethnic diversity in the sewing bloggers I followed. This observation was aided by my joining Instagram and participating in #MeMadeMay and the #SewPhotoHop community challenges, during which I saw so many POC sewists that I had never known about. I was embarrassed.
I’ve been sewing and blogging since 2010. When I started, I sought out other sewists who shared my style and my body type. I needed to learn the tips and tricks that would help me sew for myself. When these sewists referenced other bloggers I might check them out and if I enjoyed their style, tips or writing I would add them to my blog roll. So ultimately I followed the bloggers who were followed by other bloggers I followed, most of whom were White and Asian.
I started asking myself:
- Who do I follow?
- Why do I follow them?
- Who else inspires me?
So, is it bad that for so long I only followed bloggers who were similar to me? Not necessarily. At the time they fit my needs. But it has been seven years and my needs are different. I’m looking more for style inspiration. Thankfully Instragram has a “suggestion” feature that lists similar or related accounts to people you just followed. Through that feature I have found so many other sewists.
For the Sewcialist Community, I think it is incredibly important that we highlight a range of body types, skin colors, genders, and clothing styles. Greater representation increases the chances that a new sewcialist will feel included when they see people they identify with. Greater diversity also gives us more ways to be inspired by each other.
Hi, Meris!
Thanks for sharing your journey – also, the bit at work was very interesting! Were there no marginalized community members who were experts on traditional topics in history and archaeology?
I follow a pretty diverse group of sewcialists and sewing bloggers, but it took me forever to follow any conventional looking people. I knew it was ridiculous, but I was reluctant to boost their numbers when a lot of their popularity came from being how their followers wish they looked (I saw, and still see, maaaaaany comments like this). But eventually, I got over myself and followed a few, and learned many nuances about conventional bodies and appearances that I had never been aware of!
That said, most of the people I follow are excellent seamstresses, creative seamstresses, or people I personally like. 🙂 I don’t generally follow people who make ordinary-looking garments, so that’s one area of diversity I haven’t quite gotten into.
I can talk at length about the racial inequity in archaeology and history. I may come back and finish my reply because I do want to respond when I am not rushing off to work. I confess it took me a while to see how I perpetuated the imbalances in the museum. The diverse content experts are there and it required more legwork to find them. Once I realized that and once I could reframe how I structured and pitched the lecture ideas, I was able to increase representation in the lecture series I managed. And when I did, I saw an increase in audience diversity. (I only wish the museum leadership attended the lectures to see this, but they tended to go to the topics that “interested” them or featured speakers they knew. At least that was how it appeared to me.) I left, in part, because as one of the few POCs I felt burned out from doing a lot of the heavy lifting and pushing for change. I had support from many coworkers, but we were all low-level employees with little power.
A great point & well made. I hadn’t thought much about it but I only set my social media account for sewing a few days ago so it’s all new. I am in the process of finding interesting people to follow & I agree I am definitely white female heavy so far. They also suit my needs & inspiration right now but you have provoked me to think a little more and seek out more diverse sewists to follow. Thanks!
I listen to a lot of British history podcasts and watch a lot of BBC… and I’ve really enjoyed the clearly conscious movement in the last year or two to represent more diverse topics and presenters. Everyone is still a qualified expert in their field, but suddenly they aren’t just the same people again and again!
Thanks for this perspective. I looked through who I followed and I realize I follow a pretty diverse group of people. They’re all different races and ages and nationalities and body types. The main thing that ties them together is that they’re all really skilled sewists, and I find them to be good company.
Interesting to think about who we follow. I’m a white female in mid/later life (64). I seem to follow a diverse group of people from different races. There are a couple of over 50 people I follow but wish I could find more. There probably aren’t too many out there. I like to follow people who are either closer to my size or that I can learn from. I’ve sewn for years but have really improved my garment sewing with the help of online tutorials and Indy patterns. There are some really skilled sewists out there and always seem to learn something from them. I’m not huge but 30 lbs. overweight at this point in my life. I’m a retired nutritionist and have muscular dystrophy so I’ve found as the years go on and my muscle mass decreases my weight increases. Anyway, for the first time in years I’m sewing for a curvy figure and LOVE the Curvy Sewing Collective. I follow some of the young designers that I love the designs from (including Helens Closet, Closet Case Files, Cashmerette to name a few). The bloggers I follow are all over the place as far as age and size but all are lovely sewists and talented writers (diaryofasewingfanatic and gilliancrafts are two I follow closely and can think of right now). There are others.