Nothing went to plan this week, but everything sort of came together.
We realised it was our 1 year YouTube anniversary, next year is our 20th anniversary since mum founded her pattern label, and we finally had a chance to figure out our direction for next year!
So read on to see what came out of this week and what we have planned for you at Pattern Poole, 2022.
1. We did a re-brand.
This week we planned on shooting our Christmas video, all our designs were drawn out, and we were really excited to get started. Then, for the first time since lockdown, I went to an event in Sydney, it was an art show, and it was great. Unfortunately, on Monday morning, I received a notification saying that there had been a positive case at the event. I needed to isolate and get tested immediately. So our Christmas video plans were ripped out from under us. However, it gave me a chance to rebrand and get things together for Island home. Oh, and my result was negative, so no stress.
Over the years, our logo has changed numerous times as we have been finding it difficult to define what we do since 2020. Without figuring out the crux of who we were, it was tricky to communicate that in our branding. Before 2020 we existed solely in the physical space; we did shows, workshops and sold our printed patterns. However, when the world came to a halt, we could no longer sell our designs; we couldn't even get the paper to print on them. So we had to think on our feet, and we did our first online course, 'Twilight Dreaming'. This was a fantastic experience as we had always wanted to do an online course; however, I had no idea how to film and edit! So each week, I had to learn on the fly, and it was exhilarating! I would design a block Monday, applique it and then by Wednesday mum was quilting and I was shooting the lesson.
The participants of this course are now like family; we could all just focus on making a quilt together and support each other through 2020. We will never forget this experience.
Twilight Dreaming, 2020
Making decisions on a whim is how mum and I operate. Twilight Dreaming spurred our YouTube channel, and even though this pandemic has not left us unscathed, it has given us a space to share our love of sewing and build a community with all of you.
Film and self-made content on the internet are changing how we humans communicate and create meaning in our lives. It is exciting to live in a time where you can self publish your own videos and create a connection with anyone, anywhere in the world.
The time we had this week to chat on the phone and reflect on the year made us realise that we are not just a pattern label anymore. We are now full-time YouTubers and Bloggers, thanks to all of you!
We decided to re-brand our business around this. The branding message is the amalgamation of the comments and messages we have received over the year and our relationship as mother and daughter. We have started incorporating a polaroid aesthetic to frame photos; this is a nod to the times when photography was organic and in the moment. This concept is like how we work and film for our channel; we like to keep things simple and not stress over multiple takes and perfectionism. When watching our channel, I want you to feel you are in the room with us when mum is teaching. The pink sunset image was a photo I took at the beach on a full moon during lockdown when we were allowed our daily walks. The atmosphere reminded me of mum, a calm and feminine force. The ocean is an integral part of our life and culture in Australia, and we wanted to convey that message. All in all, we want to share our laid back Aussie style of quilting.
So here it is, Pattern Poole: Monica + Alaura 2022 Feel free to let us know your thoughts in the comments
2. So where to for 2022?
Well, only a few patterns in our range have been converted to PDF; we have a catalogue of over 150 designs. So you will be seeing a lot of handbags, clothing, and, of course, more quilting tutorials on our channel. We do a lot of sewing for ourselves during the week, and I have since bought another camera to film our adventures. So expect to see some behind the scenes vlogs (video blogs) on our channel filled with mum's sewing tips and tricks. In addition, we have a quilt as you go online master class in the works for next year (Island Home), with a fabric collaboration! We also want to source more sustainable products and fabrics, use more scraps, create a handmade wardrobe and get a bit more thrifty.
Our main goal is to build a community and online destination that you can come to for all your quilting/sewing resources and advice. We believe the skill of sewing and quilting is empowering. It brings so much joy and freedom of expression to one's life, and we just want to share that with you.
I am so excited about Island Home; I have been working on it and thinking about it all year. However, with the uncertainty of lockdowns and limited supplies, we decided to wait and do our scrappy free quilt as you go along. Again this was another decision on a whim. However, it allowed us to focus on something fun with another lockdown, probably the most gruelling we went through. Lucky I could still go to work during this time, so mum and I had each other and all of you!
So if you are interested, plan on taking a deep dive into our world. There will be behind the scenes content, live Q&A's, lots of vlogs with the opportunity to see the Australian landscape. Oh and, this is a master class on all mum's quilt as you go methods with lots of new techniques to master.
If you are interested in signing up, registrations open end of January 2022. Don't worry there will be plenty of reminders between now and then.
3. SEW-ALL & our first blog write in: You may have noticed the photo at the beginning of this post titled SEW-ALL. Well, we are playing with the idea of naming our blog SEW-ALL. Like a tell-all and showcasing all we sew because mum really does sew it all. Sewing and quilting is community building; only your quilting friends will understand the joys of seams lining up, the importance of fabric scissors and the memories one's stash can hold. The secrets of sewing are found within the community, and the lessons learnt along the way, not only sewing lessons but life lessons. So think of a blog-azine with write-ins, fun projects, and an easy way to go back and find info. You can read our first write-in here!
4. Our one year anniversary on YouTube: About this time last year, we decided to take a leap of faith and participate in the virtual Quilt Festival. We made our Quilt as you go Easy Cover Strip Method video for the show, and we also posted it on YouTube. Nothing really happened. We didn't make any sales, and our video got no views. We thought, oh well, this is business and went about our merry way hanging out together. We were a bit sad as we felt we had failed at the big exciting thing we had been looking forward to.
Then one night, January 2021, I woke up to all these notifications and subscribers to our channel. We had 5k views, and we were thrilled!
Then it just kept growing, so I said (as you can guess, on a whim), "let's do another quilt as you go video," and then that one went crazy!
It is serendipitous how failure can lead to success, and now we are here with all of you. Thank you so much for 34k subscribers. We appreciate it so much and can't wait to make more fun videos and tutorials in 2022.
Final: Goodbye 2021
We have had an incredible year; we published 65 YouTube tutorials to our channel, made countess quilts, did our free quilt as you go along and our first YouTube brand collaboration! So, we are heading on holiday now
and have decided to not finish our last video in a rush and wait for next year.
So Goodbye until 2022.
We wish you a wonderful festive season and will keep you up to date in the Facebook group of our holiday sewing.
Lots of love, Alaura & Monica
