So I have officially gone with a new name. When I started this blog I wanted the angle of it to be all about saving money with sewing, however I’ve quickly come to realise that cheap fabric is cheap for a reason, and often when I sew with cheaper materials I take less care. I’ll always love a bargain and I’ll find ways to save wherever I can, it’s just how my brain is wired, but I want to create high quality, well made items, so I’m changing the stance of this blog to reflect this.
I’m a bit obsessed with Ted Talks (if you’ve never watched one, you must – go now (but come back here after!)), and I watched one called “Where joy hides and how to find it”. In this talk Ingrid Fetell Lee ‘reveals the surprisingly tangible roots of joy’ and it really struck a chord with me. I have a bit of an in-built radar for spotting pops of colour in the everyday, and these images from the street photography book I created in my last year at university give a little glimpse of that. When the general ‘art school thing’ was to create something deep and meaningful, I just wanted to make something bright and happy to make people smile: 
…and in all honesty, with my love for sewing taking the front seat and photography getting shoved to the back, I think my eye for these everyday glimpses of joy has dwindled, and I want to revive it!
I’d been mulling this over, and while thinking of a new name I came up with The Polka Dot Palace. I absolutely love polka dots, and as simplistic as it sounds, I love circles. That literally sounds like something a 4 year old would say, but in her talk, Fetell Lee surmises in one sentence what I could never put in to words about the joy circles and polka dots bring me:
“I saw all these patterns; round things. Pops of bright colour. Symmetrical shapes. A sense of abundance and multiplicity. A feeling of lightness and elation.”
And with hearing these words, the new blog name was decided!
My aim is for this blog to grow in to a hub of creativity, colour, style and happiness. I’ll share photos of things I make and photos I take, and I hope you’ll enjoy sharing the joy with me.
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