New Blog Design!

Whew! Isn't that a big sigh of relief? Maybe it's just me, but the blog re-design has been a long time coming, and it is so nice to have a cleaner, more usable space!

The last time I redesigned the layout, all my projects still fit in my blog's sidebar, and I had about 2 regular readers! Needless to say, it was time for a bit of a remodel and to clean out all that clutter!

Here are some new features on ze blog:



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Blogger Redesign Tips and Tutorials:

Despite living in one of the tech capitals of the world, I am no coder, so re-doing the html on the blog layout was quite an adventure (it took some serious time!). If you're interested in following any of the tutorials I used, here's a handy guide:


Layout: First, I chose the most basic blogger template, called "Simple." For some good tips on thinking out your blog layout, I recommend How to Lay Out Your Blog by Kiss Metrics. (Note: If you want to use Disqus, I found out too late that you should NOT use a Dynamic Views template.)

Theme: I always liked to think of my blog as an extension of my sewing studio, with pins and pattern paper and doo-dads strung out everywhere. But my old blog layout was too cluttered. So I kept the overall theme, but this time only incorporating a few elements: graph paper for blog graphics and tutorials, old paper for the sidebar, and the limited use of sewing elements in the header. The key for me was to edit, edit, edit!


Tutorials:
1. Clickable Navbar by Pugly Pixel
2. Sticky Navbar by xomisse
3. Sidebar Background Image by StramaXon
4. Post Title Background Image by es71
+ Change Post Title Color by Fundas of Networking
5. Custom Fonts by xomisse
6. Automatically Resize Picture Width by Fashion, Beauty, etc.
7. Remove Image Border by Helplogger
Infinite Scroll Widget by Manki
Submit Sitemap to Google by eBlog Live

Social Media Buttons:
Social Media Buttons by lil boo blue, and email syntax by Spice Up Your Blog
Remove Blogger's Social Media Buttons in Footer by Chron
Add Custom Social Media Buttons in Footer by xomissse
External Links Open in a New Tab by Rich Info Site
Label Sidebar Images as NoPin by The Barn Blog
Integrate Facebook to Blogger by Alrayes Web Solutions

Pages:
Display Widget on Static Page Only by Ultra Random Thoughts

Posts:
Add Background Image to Text by Spice Up Your Blog
Indent a Block Quote on the Dynamic Forum
Remove Bloglovin Frame on About.com

For more tutorials, I highly recommend xomisse.com. She has a ton of stuff, and is so sweet and helfpul - she answered all of my questions left in the comments! I also highly enjoy Pugly Pixel, who posts about creative web design and many things that I find very relevant to sewing blogs.

10 comments:

  1. Ooooh la la! I LOVE the new look of your blog - I know how much time this had to have taken and I am super impressed! It definitely looks clean and simple, but still very cute - I think the tape measure at the footer is my favorite part :) And thanks for linking all the tutorials! I think its great when sewing bloggers talk about the blogging part as well as the sewing part!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Sally! Enjoyed being a social sewist with you this year!

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  2. The new design looks great! This must have been so much work, but what a great learning experience. Thanks for linking to the tutorials!

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  3. i love the new design! and thanks for linking all those tutorials. i'm pretty much a dunce when it comes to blog design, so i'll check them out. great job!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Lisa! Definitely a lot of trial and error haha

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  4. Your new design looks great! Thanks for the tutorial links too - my blog design skills are pretty non-existant so I should really check them out!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! Yeah you kinda just gotta dive in and try it. Kinda like sewing. And definitely practicing on a test blog helped.

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  5. It all looks fantastic, well done! Anything more complicated than write-and-post intimidates me no end, so this is really impressive!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! Definitely spent far too long on it haha ;)

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  6. This looks so good!! Nice job!

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