It's Day 8 of my time in Covid Jail today and it's odds on that I'm going to go the full 10 days with this one. Luckily I haven't been hit hard unlike some, so the wheels of my little clothing industry have been turning and burning for the whole stretch quite nicely from home.
Having a break from trading in person has presented me the opportunity to start being creative again making clothes and no better way than to get back into my Vintage Coveralls. Time on Sydney Street certainly put a big old dent in my stock levels. Not a bad thing as I know that many now have some of my work to wear in the world of utility clothing.
This aside, it's a tricky time as a micro business doing what I do and how I do it. Without a shop I'm having to get back out there with the 'one dayers' again. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining as I get to see people across the city whilst getting some quality social time in doing so. But nonetheless it's a challenging time especially as it's February .... or is it ?
Time out has helped me to reconnect with what I feel is the key to a more controlled and optimistic experience when the chips are down. This being the creative process for which I'm knee deep in everyday at the moment designing my new coveralls.
It's no big secret that my route into clothing after a 20 plus year break was as a result of working on my poor mental health. The work got done and as I felt better inside I then decided to work more on what was on the outside. Not for others but for myself.
I've learnt that the key for creatives or those that would like to be but don't consider themselves as such is to simply "create' I started out blogging about clothers on Instagram and then simply starting making a few designs come to life. Nothing huge, no big plan, just doing something.
Small things on their own are just as important as bigger projects. The size isn't the important thing. It's about the action. In our small world we call the 'Call To Action' JFDI (Just F**king Do it)
My great friend and spiritual JFDI Brother Graeme Richardson or Mr Pinkster as we know him will know all about this. I couldn't not include him in this post as we've been all over this in our respective areas for years now and it works for us and our mental health.
So that's it, nothing too indepth, just how it is and how it might work for anyone. The challenges of running a micro business have just increased, the year ahead is uncertain and I may have to give good old Delivroo a call if things dont work out. Am I bothered ? No way, you just have to keep on going and do what you can. I choose to design clothing and that kinda works for me.
Thanks for reading this and have a great day.
Ali