Ease Into Motherhood

I’ve been chatting recently with some friends of mine about the difficulties of adjusting to life after the birth of a child, and the important role sewing has played in learning to love our “mom bodies” and encouraging self-care. This blog event is the result of these conversations.

Ease In to Motherhood is a sewists’ celebration of motherhood and the changes it brings to our lives. During the month of July, we invite you to share your experiences of the physical and mental changes of pregnancy, childbirth and/or any other way a child comes to your life. We invite you to share how you embrace yourself throughout motherhood, to appreciate all the physical and mental energy it takes, to accept and love the changes in your body, your mind and your life. We invite you to share how you still dedicate time to care for yourself. We invite you to share how sewing is a part of your life through the journey.

Why are we doing this?

As both new and experienced mothers, we (Monserratt, Erin, and myself) have found that it can be hard to make time to sew. It can be hard to make time for ourselves. It can be hard to love ourselves. It can be hard to love all the changes that being a mother brings. We know that one way to find support is in community and we are a part of an amazing community of sewists. Let’s talk about sewing as a way of loving, finding and embracing our new self as we let go the self we used to be. We want to hear stories, struggles, and successes of other mothers who sew so we can derive strength from them. We want to get our community talking so we can support each other. All mothers who sew are welcome to participate. It doesn’t matter how or when you became a mother, what you sew or how long you’ve been sewing.

How can you participate?

During the month of July…
If you have a blog, write a blog post and talk about your experience as a mother and sewist. If you’re on Instagram, share your story there or just share a moment that makes you feel like you embrace yourself in this journey. We’ll put together weekly roundup posts on our three blogs (so keep an eye here, at MexicanPink and at Seamstress Erin) so it’s easy for us all to find each other’s stories.

How to share?

If you write a blog post let us know in a comment on this post or email us at easeinmotherhood@gmail.com.

If you post on Instagram, use the hashtag #EaseIntoMotherhood.

What should you write about?

Anything that has to do with motherhood and sewing.

Some suggested prompts:

Describe what role sewing played in your life before you became a mom.
How did life change when baby #1 arrived? How did life change after the first few months? (Feel free to share the good, the bad and the ugly. You might want to discuss: Your relationship with your emotional self, your physical self, your partner, and/or your friends. Work. Your feelings.)
If you have more than one baby, how did life change when further babies came into your life?
Did the role of sewing in your life change? How? (You might want to discuss: Did you sew for yourself? Your kids? Did the things you want to sew change?
Was there a specific sewing project that was a break through moment in positivity or self-care?

We welcome contributions long and short. Write a novel. Snap a single photo. However you want to share is an important contribution.