The Pretty Picture: Blogging For Costumers

Anyone who has turned to the vast power of the interwebs has learned that there are myriad Dress Diaries, Journals, and Costuming Blogs out there ready to help you learn what to do and what to avoid on your current or future projects. We turn to these diaries and blogs to help us understand things, to learn tips, or even to just see what other people have done. In fact, almost everyone reading this right now has their own blog!

Not all costume blogs are created equal, however. There are good journals, and then there are better ones, ones that are eye-opening, informative, and make the rest of us go “Oooo!” These types of blogs are fun to visit, easy to read, and very useful.

So how do we improve our costume-oriented blog posts? Well here are some Costume Blogging tips:

1. Include at least one picture. Even better, illustrate each heading, subject, or step with a picture – these can be photos you take yourself or images you pull from inter-space.

2. Write for people who are not costumers. This will draw new costumers, novice seamsters, or just people looking about in web-space. Limit the jargon and hard-core stitchery unless your blog is geared towards advanced sewing.

3. Write it as a tutorial. Try to use your experiences as a teaching tool so others can learn.

4. Show the bigger picture – don’t just show close-up detail shots of pins holding fabric together unless you are explaining a specific technique. People like to see the whole of what you’re working on, and how it progresses.

5. Start strong, end strong – show a before and after, or a beginning and finish. Show the whole dress or garment, front and back. Show it on a body if possible.

6. Include a concept image to remind your readers, even in multiple posts. It’s nice to have an idea of what a finished costume will *hopefully* look like, and fun to see how it progresses and turns out.

7. Respond to your comments, and even better, go to your reader’s blogs and leave them comments on their posts.

8. Tag your posts so readers can easily find articles on specific subjects.

9. Link – to your friends, your suppliers, your research sites. This makes the post interactive and quite useful.

10. Tell a story with your images – many people don’t read the text in a post, but just look at the pictures, so tell the story in pictures.

11. Show some personality – readers like to know there is a real person behind that fancy blog layout. Let your quirky sense of self seep through.

12. Ask your readers questions, what they think, and to leave comments. Get your readers involved by holding contests (if you like). If you’re looking for feedback, just ask!

13. Follow Up – your readers want to see the finish costume on a person. Shoot some nice photos and post them!

Faithful readers, what are some other tips you’d add to this list?

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