New Year, New Look, The Work You Don’t Always See

Things are looking pretty different around here these days. You might have noticed that I’ve redesigned everything – the website, my sewing patterns, the shop, all of it. Running a business part-time, as I’ve done for most of The Last Stitch’s 10-year life, means that you have to be a master of priorities (or perhaps the right word is neglect?). If it’s not urgent or bringing in real income, it gets placed on the back burner.

This means duct-taping solutions together, crossing your fingers, and hoping everything holds up until that mythical free time appears. Which it never does. And one day it all starts to break. This happened back in November, when I noticed that my website began to look off. It has not been properly updated since 2018, and was in dire need of both a visual makeover and a clean-up of tech behind it.

You see, I do everything myself. Partly because I can (I’ve got some coding and design chops), but mainly because hiring a design firm isn’t financially realistic right now. Yet, when you’re a solo operation, it’s very easy to compare yourself to the bigger players in your space. Their sleek websites, the cohesive branding, it all can make you feel like you’re always playing catch-up.

The thing is, I do care deeply about how my brand looks. I want my work to be polished, well-thought-out and professional. It’s super important to me, even if I’m a one-woman band trying to play an entire orchestra.

So just before the Holiday season, I began what would turn out be a major overhaul, which took me almost two months to finish. Because once I started to poke around, it was like opening Pandora’s box. I suddenly saw issues everywhere, and due to my relentless personality (which can be a curse and a blessing), I decided it was time to redo it all.

New website

You might be looking at my new website, thinking, “Okay, what actually changed?” Fair question 🙂 The biggest change is that the layout is calmer, less cramped and more accessible. I increased font sizes, improved line spacing, and tweaked the contrast so nothing feels straining to see. I also made it even more mobile-friendly, because that is how many of you visit my website these days.

The new design is probably more minimal than what you’d expect from a sewing website. But at the end of the day, function beats pretty. At least for websites (clothes is another story, heh). And here’s the unexpected bonus: I’m blogging again! This is the third post I’ve written in the past week, which feels surreal.

Like a lot of people in the sewing world, I basically stopped blogging a few years ago and poured everything into our podcast, my newsletter, YouTube and of course social media. But I never quite made peace with the snippet culture we’re all living in now, the endless short-form content, doom-scrolling and the algorithm-chasing. I missed having a space where I could express things properly in writing. So here I am, flexing those long-form writing muscles again. Since English isn’t my native language, I’m definitely a bit rusty, but the only way to get better is to write.

Projector files and updated pattern design

Using a projector instead of paper to cut out patterns has gotten huge in the last few years. When I released my latest sewing pattern, the Vide Pants, I included a projector file. But my older garment patterns didn’t have that option, so when I decided to tweak the design of my pattern instructions, I also added projector files to the list.

Now all garment patterns have a projector file, and I have sent out updated download links to all customers. If you can’t access the new files, just contact me, and I’ll send you the link.

I also redid the covers, reduced the black, removed colours (to save you ink) and switched fonts to make the instructions highly readable on both paper and screen. I also discovered some annoying typos and made some tweaks to the instructions. It is always good to let something sit for a bit and then revisit with fresh eyes. As I’m now working on my next pattern, it was important to do the overhaul first, so I didn’t have to update everything later.

Online store makeover

This was the final, and oh, so important bit. I run my shop on Shopify, and the company I’d originally bought my theme from had long since disappeared. No more updates, no support, nothing. I was stuck with a layout I couldn’t modify or improve, built on outdated technology that Shopify was eventually going to phase out. The looming fear was real: one day I’d wake up, and the whole shop would be broken beyond repair.

And once again, no agency to call, no tech team to lean on. Just me, trying to figure it out. This was by far the hardest part of the entire redesign. I spent days, nights, and weekends wrestling with code and configurations. The only saving grace was that Shopify now has an AI assistant that is actually quite good. So I had them code and design stuff that I couldn’t figure out myself. This week, I finally pressed publish, did some final tweaks, and now it looks and works great!

Was this the most efficient use of two months? Probably not. Could I have hired someone to do it faster and better? Maybe. But that wasn’t an option, so I did what many solo business owners do: figured it out. Yes is was exhausting and stressful. But seeing everything come together and work feels incredible. I have big ambitions for my brand in the upcoming years, and if growth happens, I want to be ready.

Plus, I’m enjoying writing again, and that last part might be the biggest win of all!