Morgan Makes

"You should be giving mutual aid when you can" is not a particularly new or controversial take in the circles I'm in. Giving to charities often just assists rich people in money laundering without actually helping people in need, essentially funneling money from working classes to the rich just like buying products from a corporation. By instead sharing our excess resources with comrades in need, especially from someone who works for a big company or something, we build community and working class networks and take a miniscule, barely noticeable step towards justice. Miniscule steps can always add up until they're noticeable. But what I'm going to argue here is not just that we should give to those in desperate need, but also that we should give to those who would benefit from minor assistance too, and find a balance between the two. Specifically, I believe that giving mutual aid to causes that would help the requester get more money from richer people is a form o...

Just over a year ago, when I got back into sewing, I bought a bunch of patterns, including a vest, a corset, and a bunch of baby clothes. I had to edit one of the baby patterns in order to make my nephew a denim jacket, because there were none that actually had the shape I wanted (the closest I could find at the store had a zippered hoodie pattern and a long-sleeved t-shirt). I made myself a vest with the men's vest pattern, and last I tried it on it was simultaneously too broad for my chest and too small at the bottom. I haven't actually used any of the other patterns that I bought, but I'm sure they also wouldn't fit me very well because my body shape is like neither men's nor women's standard sizes. I've gotten a bit better at editing patterns, such as the edits I made to the Cypress Dress so it would fit my spouse, but sometimes it seems like it's almost as much work making standard patterns fit as it would be to make a brand new pattern for one pers...

Author's note: This post was not sponsored by and is not associated with Mood Sewciety, I am just a simp. I'm a huge fan of printable patterns (especially free ones). They're not as hard to use as conventional patterns, at least for me, and if you mess up one of the pattern pieces or decide you want it in a different size, you can reprint that piece without having to print the whole pattern again (or buy a whole new pattern like you may need to with a storebought one!). They also, generally, save waste because they're printed on demand rather than in bulk by a corporation that generates tons of waste and makes more patterns than will ever be used. Lately I've been using some printable patterns from Mood Sewciety; I especially love them because not only is the blog populated with cute and easily customizable designs, but the patterns are free (and royalty-free!) and much more size-inclusive than a lot of patterns. That's actually how I found them, because I was t...