Blogging Tips for Sewing Bloggers

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Recently I've been fiddling with my blog layout and design. Since I don't know anything about anything (I am a millennial and I have exported my brain to google, duh) I spend a lot of this time looking up how to do things and gathering tips and tricks and hints and help from the million other bloggers out there who do it better than I do.

If you are just starting as a sewing blogger, or if you have a sewing blog and you want to make it look and feel better (and maybe even more "professional"), you shouldn't have to 1. pay money to have a good-looking blog or 2. figure this out bit by bit and all alone. There are a million sewing blogs out there and we have a helpful, generous, supportive thing going on. That's what makes this community great. 

In order to decrease the "bit by bit and all alone" aspect and increase the "helpful, generous, supportive" aspect of sewing blog design, I'm rounding up a list of resources I've found helpful. There are some great blogging tutorials created by talented sewing bloggers and some blog tutorials by lifestyle and fashion bloggers that are applicable to sewing bloggers too. (We're sort of a subsection of lifestyle and fashion bloggers, after all!)

For Sewing Bloggers, by Sewing Bloggers:

starting a sewing blog

So You Want to Write a Sewing Blog via Male Pattern Boldness
photography

Photography Tips for Sewing Bloggers Part 1 and Part 2 via Lucky Lucille

Photography Tips for Sewing Blogs via Madalynne

How I take my Pictures via House of Pinheiro

Photographing your Sewing Projects via Tilly and the Buttons
modeling:

How to Feel Confident Behind the Camera via House of Pinheiro

miscellany:

4 Tips for Sewing Bloggers via Madalynne

Favorite Blogging Tips: Blogging 101 via Swim Bike Quilt

Non-Sewing Specific

photography:

Everything I've Learned About Being My Own Blog Photographer via Merrick’s Art

How to Create Bright and Sharp Photos with your iPhone, 5 Tips for Great Outdoor Photos, and Tips for Great Outfit Photography via A Beautiful Mess
blog design:

5 Ways to Make Photos Look Better on your Blog via Everyday Reading

10 Blog Layout Tips via A Beautiful Mess

Blog Design Tips for Non-Designers via Back to her Roots
helpful series:

Blog Therapy via Freckles in April

Primp my Blog via Her New Leaf
miscellany:

add instagram to your blog with Snapwidget

edit photos for free with Gimp or Seashore

I hope this link-fest can help both blogging beginners and intermediate sewing bloggers who want to step up the look and feel of their blog. You might notice I didn't include tutorials on setting up a blogger or wordpress blog, creating images in photoshop, etc. The links above should apply to every blogger regardless of what type of blog you have or what software you have access to. If you have a specific question, I've found it easiest to google "blogger" (since I use Blogger) + "how to ____________" where "____________" is a short description of what I want to do. I also use Seashore to edit my photos (I used to to use Gimp, and still do sometimes, but I find it more complicated and I'm only doing really little edits) and I do the same thing: "seashore how to ____________."

"blogger how to center tabs"

"blogger how to add pinterest button"

"wordpress how to add google analytics"

"seashore how to crop square"

Although my blog is far from perfect, I personally feel more motivated to blog when I know my projects will be displayed nicely on a blog I feel proud of.

If you have other links that you found very helpful, let me know in the comments, and I can add them to my link list up here!

xoxo,
allie

p.s. i got a new blog title (and custom domain, coming soon) since i got married and i'm no longer a miss or a mass! (well, massey, my maiden name, is now my middle name, but still.) according to blogger, everything should stay the same links-wise etc. hope you like it :)