Why not before now?
I’ve had this website for years now, and up until now I’ve only made blog posts about sewing. Why? I guess the real answer is that it seemed low-stakes. I’m just one random person sharing my experiences, and for awhile writing blog posts about my sewing projects helped me to review what I had done, get clarity on what I liked about different projects, and just gave me an outlet for my thoughts and opinions, with the idea that my posts would maybe reach a few people who might be interested.
I haven’t written about art because it felt more high-stakes. I’ve had a lot of judgement against myself for not pursuing art as a career, even though each time I review my choices, I come back to probably making the same ones again if I had to do it over. I’m a pretty careful person, and I overthink most things! Back in the 1990s, when I was college-age (In fall of 1991 I started with Mt Holyoke’s class of 1995 as an art major), I really could not see my way to making a living with art or being able to pay back student loans, and over time, I’ve come to see that other aspiring artists in my generation came to the same conclusion. I felt that I missed my chance and my credibility and it’s just too late for me.
Well, you know what, I might not ever have an art career. I spent my career years as a full-time mother, and a part-time, unpaid and unseen artist. I’ve lived my life with full creativity, infusing my sense of aesthetics and creative experimentation into my daily life, and maybe that will be the height of my accomplishments. It’s okay. I’ve been beyond privileged to be able to take various classes and explore and expand my skills, and pretty much do whatever I want when it comes to art and sewing. I think most of us in this day and age feel we need to have some kind of specific identity and accomplishments that can stand up to the scrutiny of other people’s opinions, or at least I have felt that way.
As I’ve very gradually shown my more recent experiments with art to others, and gotten positive feedback, I’ve come to see that maybe a few people out there would be interested if I made blog posts about art. I’ve also gotten recent positive feedback that my old sewing blog posts are still circulating and reaching people, so I will probably start making more posts about sewing again as well.
Thanks for reading!
Juliana, November 2026
