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Weekend Reading: Tropes, sports bras, and shine theory

writing-corner

I have this ritual. Every morning, either at home or first thing at the office, I write 1000 words.

There are many benefites to having a creative ritual like this, but one of the primary ones for me is that every day, I feel like I created something. Even if I spend the rest of the day answering email or trying to solve an unsolvable problem, at least I produced something.

The photo above is of a nook in our soon-to-be new HQ. I’m planning to turn it into the writing corner, with club chairs and pillows and cozy blankets and lighting. It will be a little retreat for anyone to use when they want to get a clear head.

I can’t wait to show more of the move-in as it progresses. We’re still trying to figure out how we’ll arrange things and what we need to buy (and what to get rid of).

Weekend Reading:

  • This week on Snippets, we talked about saving thread for basting. You can subscribe to Snippets here.
  • “There’s nothing about too thin, too pale and really sad that implies that people will want to buy an expensive good, and in fact, there is probably data that shows that happy people actually lead to more sales. But these ads are about labeling and fitting in and sending a coherent signal.” Seth Godin’s incisive comments on chucking out useless tropes.

  • A wonderfully geeky look inside a sports bra from verypurpleperson.

  • Devon shows the evolution of her fabric stash.

  • The Consumption Conundrum on Design Sponge. Kinda funny to see this next to a “Summer must-haves” slideshow, I gotta say. I’m not saying that to be snarky, either. It’s a tricky balance for bloggers, creatives, and independent businesses.

  • Don’t forget to download the new pattern hack for Laurel! I can’t wait to do more of these.

  • Favorite read of the week: ” I want the strongest, happiest, smartest women in my corner, pushing me to negotiate for more money, telling me to drop men who make me feel bad about myself, and responding to my outfit selfies from a place of love and stylishness, not competition and body-snarking.” Learn all about Shine Theory from Ann Friedman.

For more links every week, you can follow me on Twitter, where I’m always posting interesting tidbits I find.

image above via colettepatterns on instagram

Sarai Mitnick

Founder

Sarai started Colette back in 2009. She believes the primary role of a business should be to help people. She loves good books, sewing with wool, her charming cats, working in her garden, and eating salsa.

Comments

Noelle

August 22, 2014 #

Hi Sarai, just a heads up- you left the P out of ‘sports bra’ :)
I’m off to do my weekend reading!

Noelle

August 22, 2014 #

In the title of the blog post, I meant to say!

Margaret

August 22, 2014 #

I love that you shared the quote from Shine Theory. I was immediately compelled to share it with a friend who is much stronger than she thinks and the quote embodies what she does f0r other women in her life. That internal struggle is really hard sometimes.

Secondly (sorry for rambling) I love your new studio space! It looks quite a lot like my studio building where I rent, though tons cleaner. I would kill for some windows right now!!!! Keep on doing your magic.

Andrea

August 22, 2014 #

Re: shine theory–you do realize you’ve just encouraged all of your blog readers to pursue a friendship with you, don’t you? ;)

I really appreciate the Consumption Conundrum link. The author is completely right about the state of consumption in general–everything we have has been touched by human hands, many if not most of those hands have not been treated fairly, all of our products have environmental impacts. But I’m not satisfied with his answer.

Owning less and consuming more mindfully is fine, so far as it goes, but it is not any kind of answer. For one thing, even if we have less we’re still going to have something, so it is at best a reduction, not an elimination. For another, that kind of mindful consumption is highly privileged regardless of income. Ask any mother you know if she has the kind of time to become well-informed enough about *all* of her household’s consumption to make those kinds of purchases, or if she has the time to wait for something to show up at Goodwill. Of course not. The baby’s growing *now*, he needs pants tomorrow, and she’s got five minutes at the end of the grocery run before she has to get home and get something on for dinner.

The answer can’t be to expect everyone to become a PhD in consumption and hope that our choices will force companies to change, because most people (myself included) can’t participate in that effort due to a complete lack of necessary time. We need to change the conditions in which things are made, and as uncool as it is, that means organizing to change laws and regulations. Then consumers won’t need to be encyclopaedias of business practices to choose toothpaste and deodorant at the drugstore.

Sylvia Long

August 22, 2014 #

Love the ‘Shine’ post. On my list to find that. Wanted to share with someone who would get it about my fun day! My husband and I are on a business trip in Malaysia, and I got to go fabric shopping! WOW. Absolutely wowed me speechless. Lovely fabrics. Floors of them. Very reasonable prices compared to US. Silk crepe, and silk jersey, and lots of other silks and blends, and some very cute Japanese cotton. We got 4 meters of one beautiful silk print for what amounts to 13$! At least they assured me it was silk- and it feels like it. :) My great husband tagged along, KNOWING what he was getting into! It was a relatively hot and humid day, and he sort of hates the heat. And still, he patiently walked or asked questions or sat and generally enjoyed me enjoying myself. Wonderful day! If you get to go to Malaysia check it out. The ladies there are so helpful and patient to try and interpret!

Lisa

August 22, 2014 #

Just want to say that I look forward to weekend reading every Friday… There’s always something interesting!

Amanda

August 22, 2014 #

Loving all the links, as usual. :) Also – I’d like to hear more about your creative writing, if that’s something you can share with us. Do you write about anything in particular? Or do you just write what feels right for the day? I write papers for school, which keeps me in practice, but they can be a bit formal (read: boring), and I’d love to pick up the habit of writing for FUN, about day-to-day things that are interesting. I think it will really help my blogging – I feel like I take the writing there too seriously, and if I would just practice more, writing a blog post would become more natural over time.

Hope you have a great weekend, Sarai!! And thanks, again, for all the lovely content this week. :)

Sarai

August 22, 2014 #

I do mostly essay writing, but it could be anything. Sometimes I write for this blog, sometimes I write for other projects (I’m hoping to start a small business focused blog someday, for example), sometimes for Snippets, sometimes it’s even internal documentation and project plans!

A lot of the 1000 words never sees the light of day, and I think the trick is to be ok with that. I’d suggest writing for your blog, but with the expectation that not everything you create will turn into a finished piece. Just crank out the words, no matter what! That in itself helps you become a better editor.

Alice Elliot

August 23, 2014 #

I love the geek post. I, too, love to take things apart and figure them out. Don’t always need to re-create. Just sometimes! But it’s so fun to see inside.

Christine

August 24, 2014 #

Thanks for the reminder! I committed myself this week to writing every day. Just writing every day period. With two little ones home, just remembering to write can be a challenge, so thank you. Must to write now…

francesca

August 25, 2014 #

Great reading as always, thank you. Must say though that the Shine Theory comment, although a great article, ends up pretty stupidly – I think worry about people’s responses to your selfies is insecure in itself, and quite honestly, I think the whole selfie thing is kind of narcissistic, unless you are either a) inspiring/promoting your business, or b) doing some kind of a challenge like Me-MadeMay. That of course is totally my take as someone who has a full time job, an enormous flat with three demanding and very hairy cats (one 21 year old and incontinent), and too little time left for myself and my creative passions to even think about taking pics of myself. And posting them. So many of my friends have told me I should blog my sewing – I once took a bunch of detailed technique photos for something I made from Liberty lawn from Sewbox, for her blog – and it tooke me so much time, I could have finished the dress in that time.
anyway my point is that that comment was so interesting and so was the article, but that bit just didn’t fit in.

Sara

August 30, 2014 #

That shine theory article was fantastic! I also often find myself feeling like if I see another woman being successful at something, it means there’s less room for me to be successful—she has to be my competition. I love the idea of befriending and celebrating those people instead, makes for a much nicer world.

Sarai

September 2, 2014 #

I’ve been thinking about this and how it has such wide and insidious repercussions for women.

I was reading a book yesterday that pointed out that women get the message that it is very difficult for a woman to be perceived as both likable and competent. You see this everywhere, that nearly all successful women are reviled. As a result, many women use all these tactics to undermine ourselves, in order to appear less confident and more likable.