Here We Go!

Ok folks, after brushing off my very rusty html skills and conquering the learning curve that is Dreamweaver, we have a website! It may be a little glitchy while we work the kinks out (especially the mobile version…ooph!), but hey, it’s moderately functional and pretty, and that’s what counts, right??? I’ll probably be posting a flurry of journal entries as I get things up to speed here, but I wanted to start with a little note about how this website and the Seam Logic manual came to be, and where I might end up taking it.

I started sewing in the summer of 2025 during a very stressful time in my life where I thought I was going to lose my job to a Federal Reduction in Force or “RIF.” In May of 2025, my agency branch was essentially told “pack up your equipment and get your affairs in order, you’re getting fired on Friday.” By some miracle of government bureaucracy, that didn’t end up happening, but we spent the next six months waiting for the hammer to drop. I turned to sewing as a creative outlet for stress release. Even though I had grown up dabbling in sewing, and had done a few projects here and there with my kids, I was aching to really delve into apparel design. I started with Closet Core’s “Learn to Sew Clothes” course (I can’t recommend it enough and it’s a total bargain!), and kept building on my experience from there. My skills got a big boost when we were furloughed for six weeks that fall and I got to spend all day every day with my sewing machine!

After almost a year of sewing commercial patterns and breezing through Sew Liberated’s “Creative Hinterland" course (another amazing resource!), I started to really engage with the theory of pattern design. I loved seeing how changes in a paper pattern translated into the fit and design of the finished garment. The scientist in me also really resonated with the engineering problem of getting a two-dimensional piece of fabric to fit the contours of a three-dimensional body. I bought Helen Joseph Armstrong’s Patternmaking for Fashion Design and knew at once that I wanted to work through the entire thing! As my patternmaking and sewing library grew, I started to crave a more structured approach to building my design base, but the closest institution offering the courses I needed was in Portland about an hour and a half away. With two kids in preschool/elementary school and a very demanding full-time job (we’re still here!), there was no way I could make that work on a regular basis. Furthermore, the online courses I found were either too expensive or felt slapdash.

This is how Seam Logic came to be. I started to organize a structured list of exercises—most of which are derived directly from Armstrong’s book—to work through. Something more structured than just working through a textbook page-by-page, but not as comprehensive as an entire course. From there (because I’m an overachiever who loves to make work for herself), I started adding little notes, reflections, and projects. After a few months of building and editing the guide, I started to feel like I could share it with other sewists who weren’t looking for a full online course, but still wanted a structured way of working through patternmaking and pattern design exercises on their own time. And here we are.

Let me be clear, I know I set up a snazzy website for this thing, but Seam Logic is NOT a standalone course. I didn’t film any YouTube videos, draw any fancy diagrams, and I’m not selling anything (although you’ll notice I set up a placeholder “Patterns” page should I decide to enter the rapidly growing fray of indie pattern designers). I’m certainly not an expert at sewing or pattern design! I just started learning in earnest a little over a year ago for Pete’s sake!

I think the best way to define Seam Logic is that it’s a manual where you can work through Armstrong’s book and other resources at your own pace, and then reflect on those exercises and put them to use with guided reflections and projects.

If this sounds helpful for you, I’m glad you’re here! If not, feel free to go on your merry way. You’ll notice only a few of the modules are up and running, and that’s because I’m still beta testing the whole thing. My plan is to work through the guide module-by-module, post my reflections and projects here, and then share the finalized versions once I feel like they’re up to snuff. As of this journal entry, I have beta tested the first three modules and the fourth—which is technically a “skills insert”—is underway. That means I have three modules’ worth of journal entries and reflections to post, so those should be trickling out soon. I also have an Instagram account associated with Seam Logic (@seamlogic) but I’m not sure how often I’ll post there. Keeping this journal/blog/website up to date AND posting updates to my personal insta (@this_idiot_sewist) is enough work as it is, and I’ve found content creation to be a slog. Even finding time to take pictures of my makes is challenging most of the time!

In any case, we’ll see how this goes. I’m excited to share my patternmaking journey with you all, and I hope you follow along and put the manual to use.

- M.J.