Shaking the Notions Tin | One Year On

Oh hey! I don't know how this happened but it's coming up to a year since I started this blog. It's been a year of trying to, and mostly failing at, maintaining this online place. It's gotten rather dusty, which has prompted me to think about it a little differently—what do I want from it? How can it be useful and workable for me? And how can I get blog posts done more quickly? (Because, oh me oh my, do posts take a long time to write....)

I think I now have a clearer idea of what I want my Bibbity Bobbity Buttons blog to do: I'm re-framing it as the Notions Tin. I want the Notions Tin to better acknowledge all my making, because there's a lot that goes on at the Brooklyn B-B-Buttons HQ, but I also don't want a separate post for every time that I put needle to thread. And I also want the Notions Tin to be a little discursive: to have place for musing on Italian verbs, for Q&As about cover stitching, for reminiscing about travel(ling capsule wardrobes), and everything in between.

Initially I had three categories, Sewing, Knitting and Italian, and Sewing was the only category that saw any action (albeit fitful action) while poor ol' Knitting and Italian languished in the background. The categories were too unmoving, too inflexible.

So this is the chance to shake the blog into the Notions Tin! To give my bits and bobs a little dust off and find new homes for them. And here you have the results:

A Self-Covered Button

Like individual, self-covered buttons, these are the beautiful one-offs. A Self-Covered Button will house all my major projects (and all past Sewing blog posts). This will be the place for all the projects that particularly engaged me. These posts will be more sporadic, but are the place for deeper-dive looks at all the gritty minutiae of a project: the techniques, the pattern and the fabrics.

Mismatched Buttons (A Monthly Journal)

But I also want a space to document my TnTs (all the repeat makes that I don't want a separate post for), my embroideries, my knitting, my latest thready whims, and who knows what else will cross my flighty, ever-making brain. This chronological record of the efforts of my nimble fingers will be tucked into Mismatched Buttons (A Monthly Journal).

The Buttons Jar

And finally, because my brain is so flighty, I need a space for the miscellaneous odds and sods: a special, jewel-like place that could be full of antique glass and bakelight, or cheap plastic tat—it doesn't matter because it's a prismatic place where they all democratically reside together ... The Button Jar. This is where the things that don't fit will fit, waiting for just the right project.

This is a very personal shift because I have been at the point where I really had to consider how this blog is operating for me—whether it was worth persisting with. I feel like these changes will be a good shift, giving me a little more flexibility, but also a little more impetus to write more frequently. Let's hope it works ... otherwise, I'll see you this time next year with a new idea!

Buttons Buttons, where some of these photos were taken, is a remarkable little shop in Vancouver. I will write about this shop in a blog post about Vancouver, but in the mean time, check out the website here.