Sewing, clothes, kids and love.

I started this post in December, 2008. I just never really had the nerve to say what I need to say out loud. I've been waiting for the powers that be to say something like, "Um, Nancy, we made a mistake. No, not going to happen. Thanks for playing."

This is an announcement and I'm not terribly comfortable announcing it. Oh, it's good news, for sure. It's just that, well, I suffer from a bit of underconfidence. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. I mean, if you don't do anything, you don't do anything embarrassing. On the other hand, if you don't do anything, you don't do anything. Which is a bad thing.

The six people who actually read this blog know what I am about to announce anyway, so it's not much of an announcement. But announce I will. Here goes:

I was asked to write a book. Title: Sewing Clothes Kids Love. A book about sewing, clothes, kids and love.

And I said yes.

And I wrote it.

There. I said it.

Now, just forget I said that until it's published.

And then buy the book.

All right, all right, let's back up a bit. Yes, I have written the manuscript for a book about sewing for children. To be published with Creative Publishing International. Now, let me make this very clear: I might be the hands for this book, but YOU--and you and you and you over there and you hiding over there...YOU are the heart of this book. This might be my baby, but Sabine Pollehn is the mother (not the best metaphor; I'll have something better for the book). This book will be comprised of inspiration, ideas, patterns and the joy of creating clothing for your very special little someone as started by Sabine Pollehn. There are plenty of also-rans (yours truly included) and I love them all. But Sabine was the genesis of this kind of creating children's clothing.

And then I want to also somehow capture the story of how much the creative talents of Nic and Maiga and Jeanette and Claudia and Diba and Sanna and Chris and and and and*...have organically and spontaneously added new spice to this stew of ideas (still not a great metaphor: I've saved any good writing for the book). Farbenmix and studioTANTRUM/Fledge really is the old Stone Soup story: Everybody adding a little bit to nourish the creative endeavors of thousands. I truly hope this book documents the phenomenon.

But then there will also be a lot of real value in this book. I get it: The economy. Luxury and non-essential purchases are being dropped faster than Jennifer when Brad saw Angelina walk on set. So there will be a lot of bang for the buck. Lots of projects and sewing patterns. And goodies at that! No duds. No napkins, I promise. The value of the patterns will very likely well, well exceed the cover price. I've been reading reader reviews on Amazon for sewing and crafting books. I'm paying attention. Pretty pictures is one thing, but something to really sink our sergers into is what a lot of you want. But the book will be beautiful. How do I know? Well, for one thing, I am contractually obligated to produce beauty. It's right there in the wording of the contract. Seriously: I put my name on the dotted line to create "beauty". So far, I've pursued beauty, but now I'm contractually obligated to capture it. Have I? I think I have. Very likely in more, but in three particular instances, for sure, I'm confident that there is something beautiful. What has been beautiful is the support and contributions and enthusiasm of many people. That's for sure. I've tried to weave together a tapestry of talent.

I'm not very comfortable with self-promotion. Either you like what I do or you don't. And I'm good with that. Mostly. But, really, between you and me, what I truly want is for you and everybody to do something creative and expressive and do it with love. If I can facilitate that in some way, then I want to do it. I hope that is what happens with this book. I envision this to be a book for beginners, absolutely, but I am not leaving the more advanced sewists with nothing to do. Wait until you see what we have for you. There are many lovely, lovely absolute beginner books and I think they have done an excellent job of introducing sewing to the many, many people for whom the craft of sewing has skipped a generation. My planned book is for those of you bitten by the bug and wanting to see how far you can go with your rotary cutter. Several design will be brand-spanking new. Several will be existing designs revisited and revised. This book will be an opportunity to really go in to detail of using these types of patterns and the different techniques we like to use to construct the garments.

And yes, there is every intention to publish it auf Deutsch. I think it needs to go Dutch, as well. Japanese? Oh, yeah! One step at a time. That's part of the reason we decided to do this project with this publisher, because they are very internationally present.

So why a book? Well, first off, the book came to me; I didn't go to it. In a world of go-getters, I suppose there must also be come-to-them-ers. And much of the time, I would count myself in the second category. And since the editor and publisher passed my test, which is basically recognizing that this style of handmade clothing design for children--despite our amateur ways, marketing naïvité and dogged independence--is a good thing. Some people just "get" it. If you get it, I don't need to explain it. If you don't get it, I can't explain it. Well, I'm going to have to be able to explain it. But I will to pry those pearls of wisdom from my oyster-shelled thought process ("oyster-shelled thought process"? I'm glad my editor is a good one. I need it.).

Thing is, I know I could do this. Well, I could do this with a lot of help from Sabine and a few others. As has been the case all along.

My manuscript is off. The patterns have been designed and drafted. The photographs have been taken. The editors are going over it with a fine-toothed comb this very instant. I did the very best I could. I put a lot of thought into it, Sabine put in a ton of beautiful work and I really hope we did a good job for you.

Am I missing anything? Is there something you'd like in a book?

Better metaphors: check.

*and and and and and and and and and and ...

Guck’ mal da: Bereits im Dezember ’08 habe ich mit dieser Posting angefangen. Seitdem habe ich’s mir nicht zugetraut, diese Bekanntmachung, ähm, bekannt zu machen. Ich habe darauf gewartet, von den höheren Mächten zu hören, “Also, ‘schuldigung. Unser Fehler, Nancy. Wird nichts. Aufwiedersehen.”

So sehr angenehm sitze ich mit dieser Ankündigung nicht. Es ist gute Nachricht, auf jeden Fall. Aber nicht ohne große Verantwortung—euch gegenüber.

Die sechs Menschen, die dieser Blog in Wirklichkeit lesen wissen bereits, insofern ist dies nicht die grösste Ankündigung. Aber bekannt geben werde ich. Also:

Ich würde gebeten ein Buch zu schreiben.

Und ich sagte ja.

Und ich schrieb das Manuskript.

Das war’s. Nun vergiß dies bitte…bis eben das Buch erscheint und dann dieses dann kaufen.

Okay, okay, fahren wir doch ein Stückchen zurück. Das Buch wird “Sewing Clothes Kids Love” heissen und wird 1. Sewing, 2. Clothes, 3. Kids und 4. Love beinhalten. Dies wird durch Rockford Publishing, Creative Publishing International veröffentlicht.

Nun möchte ich in einer Sache ganz klar sein: Ja, ich habe das Manuskript geschrieben; ich bin die Hände, aber das Herz dieses Buches liegt bei DIR und dir und dir und dir darüben und auch dir dahinten in deiner stillen Ecke. Das Buch ist mein Baby, aber Sabine Pollehn sei die Mutter (nicht die verständlichste Metapher; das gute Schreiben hebe ich alles für das Buch auf). Das Buch wird u.a. Inspiration, Ideen, Schnittmuster (ja, Schnittmuster) und die Freude ans Nähen für die kleinen lieben in Deiner Welt nach dem Phänomen Sabine Pollehn/Farbenmix darstellen.

Dennoch habe ich versuch die Story hinter diesem Phänomen darzustellen, in wieweit die Talente von Nic und Maiga und Jeanette und Claudia und Diba und Sanna und Chris und und und und und und*… organisch und spontan neue Gewürze in die Farbenmix Suppe gebracht haben.

Und es kommen die Schnittmuster. Es werden sowohl bekannte Schnitte neu besucht und revidiert also auch ganz neue vorgestellt. Für beide Jungs und Mädls (wobei Mächen sind zwangsweise überrepresentiert, aber Jungs sind auf keinem Fall vergessen). Uns war wichtig, daß das Buch vom guten Wert ist. Alleine die Schnittmuster werden den Buchpreis seinem Geld wert sein. Einiges mehr, sogar. Ich habe auf Amazon die Bewertungen von Nähbüchern gelesen: Schöne Bilder sind nett, aber vielen wollen auch feste Mahlzeiten, etwas für die Nähmaschinen zum richtig Anbeissen  haben. Wir haben eine breite Palette an Projekten: Sowohl Anfänger als auch für Erfahrere. Aber schön wird das Buch auch. Wie weiß ich das? Weil im Vertrag stand in der Tat das Wort “beauty”. Ich habe bisher versucht Schönheit nachzugehen, aber ich bin jetzt vertraglich gebunden auch Schönheit zu produzieren. Ich habe schöne Designbespiele, schöne Models, ein professionelles Editing Team … insofern ist ein schönes Buch möglich. Ich habe bereits Schönheit in der Unterstützung und im Enthausiasmus der Beteiligten erfahren. Ich hoffe, diese Schönheit wird im Buch übertragen.

Ich hoffe sehr. Herbst soll’s soweit sein.