Celebrating 2 Years Since the Sewcialists Relaunched!

Two years ago, I was scared. I was relaunching the Sewcialists, and what if no one cared? I’d burned out after running the blog from 2013-2015, and that would happen again if it didn’t become more of a team effort.

Luckily, I hit “publish” on that first post, proclaiming,

It’s been two years since the Sewcialists blog was active… but we’re back in action! And by “we”, I mean me, Gillian, and YOU. I blog about my personal sewing at craftingarainbow.wordpress.com, but my goal here is to facilitate a space where anyone can contribute, regardless of experience, age, size, or background. The Sewcialists blog has always been a group blog representing diverse voices.

The response ever since then has been overwhelming! We’ve published at least three posts a week for two years, which is over 300 posts. At this point, I think we’ve had well over 150 guest authors, which means we’ve been able to amplify the unique voices and experiences of a huge range of sewists!

A few months after relaunch, I started the Who We Are series, focusing on identity and intersectionality in sewing. I remember it seemed rather political and a bit strange to some people at the time, but I’m so glad we started when we did! The sewing world is increasingly focused on inclusion and representation, and I hope that reading through our posts has helped people understand different perspectives in a positive, approachable, poignant way. At this point, we have not one but many posts talking about various topics, including age, size, ethnicity, ability/disability, mental health, gender, sexuality, and so much more! When I look back at all our Who We Are posts, I’m thrilled that so many people trusted us with their story.

Along the way, we have also hosted 8 theme months and one Mini-Challenge! We always try to pick theme months that are open to interpretation, will work for either hemisphere, are gender neutral, and accessible to sewists with any budget or skill set. Our motto is “A Sewing Blog for Everyone,” and we mean it! Thank you to everyone who has joined in our theme months by writing a guest post or by tagging their makes on Instagram. We love seeing what you come up with!

And then there is Instagram! We have over 26 000 followers, and somehow we still manage to have insightful, kind, thoughtful conversation every day! Sewcialists, you are my favourite corner of the Internet.

I’m so proud of what we have created here on the Sewcialists, but none of it would have happened with me alone. In fact, I play a minority role now (especially since my concussion this fall) and the true labour is done by the most incredible volunteers. I’ll brag more about them later this month, because soon we’ll be looking for our next volunteer editors!

As I reflect on 2 years of running the Sewcialists, I’m reminded of our fundamental mottos: Lean into the good. When in doubt, love. You get more flies with honey, and everyone makes mistakes. We try to keep that positivity at the core of everything we do, in hopes that building a diverse community and learning from each other will make the sewing world a better place!

Thank you to all who have joined us for the past two years, and here’s to many more years of sharing and sewing together!