Sewing Saturday

This weekend I had and amazingly productive day, and I owe it all to my best friend Jesse! He’s learned to sew over the past few years and is making these incredible, intricately detailed bicycle bags. He uses technical, waterproof materials, including the zippers, and he makes custom bags to fit inside a bike frame. It’s truly impressive work that is painstakingly precise.

He mentioned to me recently that he’s been having trouble staying focused on his sewing projects, which made me realize that’s been a challenge for me too. Working from home is very distracting. There’s always something to clean or cook or a dog that needs attention; Also, I’m really bad about sitting down to eat dinner, and putting an episode of something on while I eat which turns into several episodes and then before I know it, it’s bedtime and I wonder where my evening went.

Anyway, Jesse and I were each trying to sew Saturday yet not getting much done because of our respective distractions. So we video chatted a sewing circle! We spent hours sewing together in our separate homes, hundreds of miles apart, and we both got so much done!

I don’t know why this is such a revelation to me, but I found it to be an incredibly rewarding experience. Not only did I get a lot of work done, but I got to spend time hanging out with my best friend, AND we got to bond over our art projects and share our problems and advice and triumphs in real time. It felt like a kitting circle, except I didn’t have to learn to knit just so I could have a portable project.

So now I want to create a virtual sewing circle. Maybe something like this already exists… I don’t know. I’m going to explore the idea and see what I can come up with. If you’re reading this and interested in a mutual work party, message me, and we’ll make it happen!