When we can, we like to share with you something that happens behind the scenes of In the Folds. This month, in our sewing subscription Curated by ITF, we released the Sewing Shirts Skills Kit, the first part of a three-part shirt making series, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to tell you a bit more about what goes into creating one of our project series.
WHERE IT ALL STARTED
First, I want to go way back to the beginning and talk about the mission behind Curated by ITF. For a number of years I was creating patterns and releasing them as standalone patterns, and although I got a kick out of the whole process, it always felt like something was missing, particularly on launch day. After working tirelessly on a new pattern for months, launch day tended to feel like I was just pushing it out into the world and hoping for the best.
This is partly the nature of running a digital business. Although it’s amazing being able to create a product that people all over the world can buy, and it was a thrill to see names I recognised pop up as patterns were purchased or when someone used the hashtag and shared their make on Instagram, overall I felt very disconnected from the makers who were supporting my business.
After a while I noticed the disconnection went beyond launch day and that I felt the same way when working through the design process for new projects. I had a very clear vision of what In the Folds was about and who it was for, but not being able to speak directly to my community and check-in and ask what they wanted was leaving me feeling a little empty.
CURATED BY ITF WAS BORN
Fast-forward countless conversations, many daydreaming sessions, and the hire of the brilliant Alys, and Curated by ITF was born. I had found a way to make what I did not just about the release of patterns, but also the creation of a community. A community that not only wanted to sew, but wanted to learn new skills and develop their practice, one project at a time.
When I write it out like that, it seems so clear and so simple what Curated by ITF is, but in all honesty, when we first launched I couldn’t have summed it up like that. Because at that point, right at the start of Curated, we were doing the exact same thing I had done when releasing a pattern in the past - creating a product for a particular audience and hoping they would ‘get’ it.
Now, 26 (26!!) projects in, Curated has become what our customers want. It is no longer an idea that I came up with, but a response to the needs of our community. By having an online community platform as part of the subscription it means we can (and do!) talk to our community on a daily basis. It means that we can see their struggles, their challenges and their wins. What they’re working on, what they’re aspiring to. It means that we can create our content in direct response to the needs of our community. And with that, the empty feeling I used to feel as I sat alone at my laptop when I made a new pattern live on my website has disappeared. It’s been replaced with a new feeling, an excitement about serving our community and an anticipation to hear what they think about the new project and see what they make.
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I must say that the odds feel higher now, but what makes it worthwhile is all the beautiful faces of our community members that I can see in my head as I sit alone at my laptop working on the next project.
So this now brings me to the development of our series. When we first started rolling out projects to our community, I had a ‘more, more, more’ attitude. I was constantly thinking about how much more content we could serve our community, how many more patterns and resources we could deliver. Because that’s what we’re told we have to do. Always do more.
But then we started to notice something.
Members of our community were starting to feel overwhelmed, because they felt like they were falling behind or failing. And that was the last thing we wanted our community to feel! We wanted them to feel excited and inspired and supported to learn new skills without feeling overwhelmed.
WHAT OUR MEMBERS ACTUALLY WANT
And that’s when we realised the true superpower of a monthly project subscription. Each month’s pattern or resource didn’t need to be a standalone product. It could form part of a series, which meant we didn’t have to limit the amount of content we shared, but could do it in a more manageable way that didn’t overwhelm our members. Because there was something else we had learned about our community in this time - they weren’t looking for quick and easy projects that they could finish in an hour or two. They wanted to learn and challenge themselves in new ways. They wanted to geek out about sewing and dive into the nitty gritty with us and understand the ‘why’ behind all that we do.
With the ability to release projects as a series, we can now focus on the skills we want our community to learn in a particular month and can help them learn those skills in the most straightforward ways with the least distractions. For example, this month we’re learning all about the specific sewing skills required for sewing shirts. Sewing shirts is about accuracy and precision. It’s about selecting the right fabric and the right interfacing. It’s about carefully cutting your fabric and sewing and pressing your seams carefully.
By focusing on sewing shirt samplers this month, we can minimise the noise. We’re not getting distracted about fit, or rushing the process to make a completed shirt. We’re slowing it down and starting with the foundations so we can enjoy the learning process itself. Sewing a sleeve placket for the first time (or even the fifth time) can be a little bit daunting when it needs to become part of a shirt. By sewing it as a sampler, the stakes are much lower and the focus can be on the learning. Sewing a collar for the first time and attaching it to a shirt that has taken hours to make can also be daunting. It can be disconcerting to trim something when you’re not absolutely certain you’re doing it right! Again, doing this as a sampler first means you can gain that confidence so when you’re doing it on a shirt you intend on wearing you are already familiar with the techniques and the process. You know where to trim because you’ve practised it.
By focusing on sewing techniques in the first month of the project, it means that we can release a shirt pattern next month and know that our community is ready for it. They’ll be prepared for the challenge both mentally and technically and can go into the next project with confidence. And, it means they can focus on different things next month - picking the right fabric, choosing the right size and working out what alterations they may need to make to the pattern.
There are some really fun bits to sew in the Marden shirt pattern (coming in October!), that we hope our community will feel excited about because they have gained confidence with precision sewing this month through their shirt samplers.
After two months of sewing shirts with the Sewing Shirts Skills Kit and the Marden shirt pattern, our community will have a solid understanding of the components that make up a traditional shirt, as well as what they like, what they don’t like, and what they’re looking for in their dream shirt. And that’s when we’ll release Part Three of the series, giving them an opportunity (and the support they need!) to get creative and push the boundaries of their patternmaking skills with the Marden shirt Hack Kit.
I hope this helps to answer any questions you might have about Curated by ITF, and we welcome you to come and experience our wonderful sewing community by purchasing a subscription today!
Happy sewing!
Emily
check out our pants sewing series
Now available as a standalone three-part project series in our shop!
