An Update

Hello there! I'll start by saying that June was a hard month. Three months into quarantine, our country also began to reckon with our legacy of white supremacy and systemic racism and violence against Black people. I took some time away from sewing to protest, to read, to listen. And I have to say I'm blown away by the conversations happening in real life and in online spaces. In Oakland, the city blossomed in art with new murals, street art, and community. After decades of work, activists succeeded in getting police out of our public schools. In our nonprofits with whom I work it is enabling conversations about race and justice that just weren't possible before. Yet there is still such a long, long way to go. It is exhausting, especially for Black folk and people of color for whom there is no reprieve. 

As I'm sure you've been following, the sewing community has been engaged in its own conversations. @BlkMakersMatter has emerged as a powerful voice in the sewing community. The conversations I've been following on Instagram have pushed me to dig deeper, explore my discomfort, and continue to wrestle with my own biases, including in a space that is "just for fun" for me back can quickly feel not fun for those who are excluded. If your sewing community hasn't yet begun this work, now is the time. I am feeling exhausted yet energized by these conversations and am deeply grateful to the many Black makers who have given their time and energy to this movement to de-center white voices in our community and build a more inclusive space.

I was planning to share pics of my new top but I think I'll just leave it at this today. Take care of yourselves, and keep doing the work as we head into the next month, and the next.