Two years ago I created the blog http://didyoureallysewthat.com/ to supplement and expand the course content I teach as an instructor in the fashion department at College of DuPage. Through the blog, I built a professional network that is valuable for business contacts, product sales, my custom dressmaking business, and friendships. The blog features tutorials, discussions, trend analysis, resources for designers, and news about the fashion industry. In two years over 60,000 readers have visited the blog. I have exchanged information and made friends with people located in the United States, Canada, Africa, Europe, and Australia. While writing articles for the blog is time-consuming, the benefits to readers and me make the effort worthwhile, rewarding and fun.
My audience is design students and people interested in couture sewing. My strength is teaching all levels of clothing construction, and my passion is couture construction. The blog content is professional; I seldom reference my family or personal life. Strangers all over the world have access to the blog, so I don’t want my private life, family, and home exposed.

The blog benefits my business because I do receive regular inquiries about my custom dressmaking services, and an occasional new client. The biggest professional benefit is the creation of an audience to whom I can market books, patterns, sewing CDs, supplies etc. If you have something you want to sell, a blog is a low cost way to build a customer base. The key is to offer relevant, interesting content that establishes you as an expert in your area. If your blog is not interesting or not aimed at a target market, traffic will not build.
I try to post two or three articles per month. If you have visited the blog this year, you know I am posting less frequently due to the demands of attending graduate school. When your blog is new, it is optimal to write three or four articles per month to build interesting content and show readers what you will be writing about. Some popular blogs post several times per week, but my experience is that readers are busy and many will not want to visit a blog more often than weekly.

Blogging can be easy and free. I recommend you obtain the books Blogging for Dummies and Google Blogger for Dummies. I borrowed them from my local public library. These books are great resources because they explain the simple details of creating a blog and give you ideas for future growth such as podcasts and advertising. Google’s Blogger is free and is the easiest service to work with. If you decide you enjoy blogging but are limited by Blogger, consider WordPress or Tumblr.

Many vendors have blogs to feature their products. Mood Fabrics in New York features their products in several blogs. At Mood's blog you can follow twelve fashion sewing bloggers representing all levels of skill. As mentioned in the March 2014 ASDP newsletter, University of Fashion offers a great blog. I recently reviewed the leather articles and they were excellent. A third favorite blog of mine is burdastyle.com/blog. The Burda blog projects are modern, and the blog features professional photographs.
You can spend a few hours or days per week blogging. Reading blogs is educational and fun. If you decide to create a blog, you will have fun, make friends, and establish a new professional network.
Written by Ann Vidovic
