I'm not promising anything earth-shattering, but sometimes I want to quickly blab about some sewing related something-or-other and Facebook seems to be a good way to do that.
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It's back-to-school time and I'm getting sew & tell school ready to go! I taught school in a former life and always liked the fresh start of a new school year!
I'm working on tweaking some of the guidelines for sew & tell and reiterating the existing rules. We've had so many new people join us over the last few months that I want to make sure we are all on the same page.
In that vein, I would like your input on things you LOVE and about sew & tell and things that could improve it.
My main goal of sew & tell is to motivate each of us (myself included) to finish at least one project during the week. I know I've always got a million things started and a deadline always seems to help to keep the finishes rolling in. Consider it your weekly sewing homework, since we're going with a back-to-school theme here. :)
One thing I love about sew & tell is the making new friends. It's been so much fun to get to know a lot of you better each week.
One thing I want to improve is to make sure each link is relevant to that goal and that every minute you spend here is worth your while.
I've been toying with the idea of excluding tutorials. I know we all love a good tutorial, but there are plenty of tutorial linky parties. What I'm thinking is your sew & tell post can just show the finish and if there is a tutorial to share, it can be linked to in a separate post.
What are your thoughts on this?
Have you heard about this yet? (probably, but I wanted to make sure!)
17 crafty mcCrafters commented:
Hmm... I don't generally write tutorials, so I may be biased differently than others, but I'm kind of indifferent to them. I'll check them out if it's a cute project regardless of whether it's a tutorial or not.
I've really enjoyed the Sew & Tell parties and don't really feel like there's anything that needs to be fixed... I just love seeing what everyone has been working on.
I second everything Cecily said. :o) As long as there's not a blatant advertisement "Buy My Stuff!" I love hopping around and seeing everything that's been made that week. Your Sew&Tell is a real motivator for me. Happy Sewing! :o)
Larri at Seams Inspired
People could provide a link to their tute so those interested could check it out. I so want to participate in the Amy Butler Challenge, but my sewing machine really needs to come home from the shop first!!!! I miss her...sniff
I have to say, I've loved your linky party just the way it is. Thus said, I'll play devil's advocate here: this may cause you to have less links as people with a tute for the week may feel like it would be extra work to repost the project sans tute.
that seems like a ok idea...i personally don't write tutorials up to this point, but agree with another commenter that maybe if it just includes a link to another post with the tutorial in it that would be ok. i love sew and tell....i can not always get my things done that i want to in time, but love to see what other people have SEWN this week. sometimes lately other stuff has crept in there that is not necessarily sewing.
Hey, I find that it's all good (except for selling your stuff, there are other ways to do that). I read on with the tutorial when I'm interested. Otherwise, I just enjoy seeing creativity everywhere. I'll say again, I love the opportunity you offer to come meet new friends, I've certainly done that! Thanks, Amy!
:-}pokey
I don't mind tutorials as long as the finished project is pictured first. I agree with Pokey. You can read on if interested.
I just don't like post dumpers who link to a jillion parties and leave. I want to make friends not boost someone's comment count. (My 2 cents.)
Ok, back to sewing. Like the facebook page! It brought me here! :)
I agree with Kristen. I think that the greatest part about Sew+Tell has been making friends through the comments. And I think your original plan to give us a reason to finish something every week is also important. I love to see the new projects that have been finished since last Friday, but I am not as interested in what someone made and/or posted about six months ago.
Maybe you could ask people to only link up to one finish per week? I know sometimes I have a couple of small finishes in a week. You could ask them to choose a favorite and post a link from their post to their other finishes if they want to show them off too? I think that is certainly a reasonable request.
I love Sew & Tell Friday. Thanks for hosting.
xo -E
P.S. Did I tell you how much I love your Amy Butler Love baby quilt? It turned out so nicely!
I don't mind the tutorials, although I'll admit I don't read them if I'm unlikely to make the item being featured. However, I always like to look at the finished project.
I do have an issue with people who link up but don't make the time to visit others' sites. I link here, at Lit and Laundry, and sometimes Lush Stuff, but if I do, I visit everybody. Since that's my goal, I don't link up with more than that because I couldn't handle that.
Hi, Amy! First of all, I love Sew & Tell Friday- it really motivates me to get something done each week. As far as not allowing tutorials, I don't see the harm in it - you can always skip through the tute if you aren't interested, but it's still interesting to see what they made - and I think it might discourage people from posting if they have to make two posts instead of one. And I apologize to all my fellow linkers for not having time to visit the last couple of weeks - I've been totally strapped for time but will get back to checking everyone out this week! Last word - my philosophy would be - if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
I agree with the everyone...tutorials don't bother me-I like to see the process if I like the finish.
While I don't link in every week-I just don't finish a project every week-I do visit everyone when I link in and I've made some friends that I visit all the time.
Thanks for hosting!
I really appreciate this link party. It's so great to submit something and the tutorials do not bother me for the same reasons everyone else has already stated.
I absolutely love the feedback. It is such a great way to make new friends.
Thanks for hosting the party!
I have really enjoyed blogs and projects through Sew and Tell that I probably would not have discovered otherwise.
My blog reading time is often limited to lunch, while holding for a phone call, or other short periods of time. Recently, it has been even more limited due to eye surgeries and other complications of life. I sometimes can't type a well worded comment with one hand if I am eating, holding a phone, or ice pack to some portion of my body -- but it does not mean that I did not care. Instead, I have often chosen to become a follower of that particular blog. That is my way of saying "hi", I was here and I will be back. And I have been back to many and commented for reasons other than Show and Tell.
I normally tend to check early in the morning, when maybe not that many links have been posted. Therefore, I may not always catch all the links and leave a comment. When I do have a chance to catch up, if there are already many comments because the link has been shared with umpteen link parties, I often do not leave a comment. I am more apt to leave a comment when there are only a few.
As for tutorials, they do not really bother me. I can skim through them, if necessary. As others have said, it may be more difficult for some blog owners to place their tutorials in a different post. I would hate to lose their participation.
As for advertising, many of us do own sewing related businesses. It seems we sometimes cannot win. Many of my customers read my blog. If I do not give links to the fabrics or supplies I use, they complain. Other casual readers of my blog may feel that I am advertising. It seems that many of the blogs carry some type of advertising -- whether the blog owner's own business, a give away featuring a business, or paid advertisement. Again, I simply decide what I do and don't wish to read, and concentrate on the projects, inspiration and friends to be made.
Lastly, I honestly visited more of the links before there were thumbnail photos. Again, due to time limitations, I often click on the thumbnails that look like they might interest me. So, it is my own fault if I miss some really great projects and blogs. However, I have found that to be true not only of myself, but many other blog readers, too.
Thank you for all that you do to encourage stitching -- and especially finishing and sharing our projects!
Hey Amy, sorry I'm a little late in the survey. I love your Sew and Tell Fridays and appreciate you hosting each week. I agree with the comments made by Kristen and PinkSuede Shoe as well as Michelle's point about making the effort to visit everyone's link. I used to do that every single time, but I'll admit to being lax since I moved. That's no excuse and I'm going to go back to visiting each link each week as I think that is one of the best parts of your Sew and Tell Friday...making new friends, encouraging each other and being motivated to complete a project each week!
I don't mind tutorials :)
I tend to post less often than I would like so I usually cram a few things all at once. Sometimes I link to the shop if it's available there, sometimes I don't. it really depends on time and mood.
I try to visit everyone, usually will take me all weekend but I get there eventually!
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