2020: The Year of the Pants

Ohai friends. It's been a really long time since my last year-in-review (2015, by the looks of things). A whole lot has changed in my life, both personally and professionally. There have been ups and downs and all arounds, but I'm still here and you're still there, and I really appreciate your patience with me. Thank you 😊

If you know me personally, or if you've caught a few random postings of mine on the internet, you might be aware of the little sewing hobby I have on the side. I first started sewing in early 2015, when I got super frustrated with the state of clothes shopping. I took a class on how to make a pillow and then immediately jumped into sewing my own clothes. (Y'all: I was terrible at it.)

I dove into sewing much like I dove into software development: I didn't know what I didn't know, and I tried and tried and tried again until things started working. Unlike with software, however, sewing depends on more than zeroes and ones - it's a very physical craft, requiring materials, tools, and space. As much as I tried to learn on my own, via classes online and through trial and error, I found fit to be the most difficult to master. And as anyone who wears clothing can tell you: when clothes don't fit, they're hard to wear.

So I decided to go to the apparel equivalent of a coding bootcamp: I went to patternmaking school. There, I learned to be little less of a perfectionist (it's more important to make something, rather than wait for the right thing), began understanding the reasons why things don't quite fit and how to fix them, and began my journey into the apparel industry.

While I still wouldn't say I'm the world's expert at sewing, I can happily admit that I regularly wear clothes that I've made, and I'm really proud of them!

So, about the title of this post. The last 4 years have been an epic adventure in sewing and clothing construction, and I'm finally ready to do the thing that I originally set out to do: make a pair of pants. This post is the first in a year-long series, in which I take you all on a step-by-step exploration to developing my ideal pair of pants.

And, because the sharing of intentions is a great way to hold ourselves accountable: by the end of 2020, I want to make such a perfect pair of pants, that 50-100 people around the world decide they want to have a pair, too.

Ready? Vamonos!