I just got to go to an open studio/party at the Burdastyle office! The purpose for the party was to celebrate the site reaching the 100,000 member mark. in case you haven't heard of it, Burdastyle.com is a website that produces open source (=copyright free) sewing patterns and functions as am online sewing community.
The founders Nora and Benedikta are very sweet and enthusiastic! They are basically running this site with a very small staff and a lot of creative energy so the open studio was an opportunity for them to meet some local members and talk about the site and our crafting habits, wants and needs. They even convinced me to talk on camera a bit... terrifying, huh? One of my favorite parts about the open studio was being able to look at all their samples up close to see the finishing techniques and feel the fabrics they used. I also got to see some of the new design ideas for the upcoming months... exciting stuff.
In addition to meeting the Burdastyle staff, it was a good opportunity for me to meet and mingle with other members and indie craft types. One girl looked very familiar to me and I soon realized that it was lalalayla, whose projects I was admiring just yesterday. Not so coincidentally, Burdastyle is in the same building in Brooklyn as Etsy so a lot of the Etsy staff was there. I met Anda and her adorable baby Sidonie (of dress and skirt fame!). Quite a few people there had garments named after them which was amusing.
Anyway, I had a lovely time and I got just the motivation I need to finish my 3 (yes, 3) Burdastyle WIPs so I can post pictures and be a more involved member of the online sewing community. Hopefully I'll be able to post something successful soon.