A new year calls for a new look

New year, new look! Ha! So original right?! New year, new creativity! But honestly, I didn't do this on purpose. I was bored the other day and thought it was time for a change. I just happened to make that change around the New Year.

I've wanted a clean, semi-professional look to this blog for awhile. For the longest time I was convinced this wasn't possible with Blogger. I even went so far as to moving all my posts to Wordpress. I fiddled around with it for awhile, decided it was too much of a hassle and went to Google to find some alternatives to make Blogger do what I wanted. After some Googling I found New Blogger Themes and browsed through their many themes and finally found one that I liked. Then with a few minor adjustments I have a layout I'm really, really happy with. It is worth noting that to make even the most minor adjustments you'll need some knowledge in CSS and HTML.

Of course, what's a new year without a few resolutions, right? So, here ya go:

I started this blog with the intent to track both my knitting and sewing progress. And while I have been pretty good about posting my finished knitting projects, I've been less consistent with posting my finished sewing projects, which are adding up. And I'd love to show them off.

© Cheri Engel Chapman

The reason for that is, my sewn garments are a bit harder to photograph on my own than the hats and things I've been knitting. I can't hold the camera out away from myself to show off a dress or a pair of pants like I could with the cabled hat above. My main dilemma is that I don't have anywhere in the house to take quality photos. Yes, I've been doing my research and I know it's best to take photos outside, but when it's winter six months out of the year, that's not always an option. The thing that's really frustrating is that we have a lot of pretty walls in our house that would be fun to use as backdrops. But, the problem is, they're either in parts of the house where there is no natural light or they have large pieces of furniture in front of them. But when the weather warms up I already have a few spots picked out in the yard to test out.

You see? Some of those walls are really pretty and would work great to contrast some of the clothes I've made. After I took these test pictures, I've realized that my main hurdle is the big, heavy furniture in front of the walls. It's nor very practical for me to move a table or a couch every time I want to take an outfit picture. But, maybe there are spots, like in front of the purple wall, where I can just move some things around to permanent new homes. Then all I would have to do is figure out what time of day would be best to take photos so that the light isn't creating those harsh shadows. I don't know, these are just some things I need to think about more. But I hope to figure it out so I can share all my sewing achievements.

As always, I'll be documenting these things on Instagram and Twitter, so you should follow me there for any fun updates.