We are now in our 3rd month of shelter-in-place due to Covid-19 and I’ve definitely spent my time differently than before. Exploring new things is not a new behavior for me but the direction that curiosity takes is certainly channeled by pandemic-imposed restraints.

Pad Stitching

One of the things I’ve been learning to do while sheltering-in-place is a tailoring technique called “pad stitching”. Bernadette Banner has a great video with Royal Black Couture showing how a pro does it. I’m just trying to keep my coat collar from folding over limp in the 90 degree May weather so my implementation is much simpler. The stitching is meditative and calming. When I finally do finish my coat, maybe by August, I’ll be excited to show you the overall effect.

Selling Your Clothes

The next thing I’ve been working on is figuring out how to sustainably reduce my closet contents. Previously, I tried ThredUp to sell clothing and shoes and that was a good experience. I sent 5 garments in, they accepted 4 and sold all of them. ThredUp set the price but allowed me to adjust it. I didn’t bother because I figured their AI was better equipped than I to suggest a price we’d both benefit from. The only downside is the time it takes to list an item. It could be months between the time you put it in a ThredUp clean-out bag and the time it gets listed. And it could be another month(s) before it sells.

Recently, I tried PoshMark, a fashion consignment app, just for shoes that I love, love, love but that I probably will never wear again or not frequently enough to cost closet space. While I don’t understand yet what it takes to be a hip Posher or a party Posher, I was able to list in one day a few pairs of shoes and within a week, sold and shipped my first pair to a good home.

Scrap Busting

And other recent thing I did was figure out how to make a clutch out of scraps (from the aforementioned coat) thanks to a Creative Bug Class by Fancy Tiger Crafts. With the recent layoffs of 130+ people at Bluprint, an e-learning company now owned by NBC, I am even more grateful for learning resources that I can use at home. And especially the resources that help me #makedo by #scrapbusting with what I have.

I have a few more projects and explorations in the queue and coming soon.

Yours in Pandemic Times,

Jennifer