Tue Jul 2, 2019 01:53 PM

So, about a year ago I started having serious eye issues. I felt pretty broken for a lot of reasons, especially because I couldn’t sew or do many of the other art things that made me happy. I needed some sort of focus, something to make me feel like I was worthwhile and contributing. I had been sharing modelbuch patterns on my personal page and it seemed reasonable to give them their own space.

I have been researching 16th century design and pattern books for a little over a decade and have had a posted list for about 6 years that sort of got ignored because people didn’t really know what they were looking at. I really, truly love teaching and sharing information and I figured if I couldn’t make art, at least I could facilitate and inspire it. I could show people that they were part of a long history of artisans and give them jumping off points for new creative riffs. So I started trying to break the books into little digestible chunks and to demonstrate what uses the patterns had been put to.

The Modelbuch Muse page is getting close to its year anniversary. I still haven’t gotten the website up with hopefully better search functions and organization, but that is in the works. I am excited for improvements.

Over the last year I have been privileged to have people share their travel photos full of historical textiles with me. They’ve let me glimpse their precious collections of antique laces and embroidery. They’ve asked for help finding patterns and showed me the amazing art they’ve made with that inspiration. They have shared with their friends. They have expanded my horizons, with audience members in at least 15 different countries represented, and a lot of messages I have to throw into translate programs (and hope I am giving an appropriate response.)

Thank you so much for letting me feel useful. We are up to a community of at least 800 followers, a page reach of around 11,000, and almost 1,000 posts.

(Just to reassure. I am celebrating how well my eyes are doing after cataract surgery 3 weeks ago and my improved vision. I will continue posting. I love doing it and am glad people enjoy it.)