And what a year it's been. We started it in Amsterdam and we end it in Spain, travelling (as you read this) across the North of the country searching for a place to settle down (Madrid, where we are based now, is only temporary).
After 10 years or more living in London (a place that we still feel is home) and one and a half in Amsterdam, it feels incredibly difficult finding a new place that we can call home again. I suppose it will take time feeling like we belong here. It is as if we are mourning the life we had and trying to find ourselves again.
2022 has also been a different year for CocoWawa. Apart from the virtual and in-person teaching, which has stayed more or less the same, I decided not to release new patterns. I was feeling a lot of pressure from the market and from what other companies were doing and I realised I was not able to, both financially and mentally, follow their lead. I was starting to feel no joy and a sense of being stuck overwhelmed me, so I took a break.
Working on a pattern from a simple idea to when you see it on the website requires a huge amount of work, time and money. That's why this 2022, I have been focusing on promoting one or two patterns each month (there are 16 of them plus two quilting patterns!) to give myself a rest (and my creativity) and for people to be able to rediscover them all over again :)
Next year, CocoWawa will keep changing as I focus more on the quilting part of the business, a craft that I have learned to love in the last few years and that I hope you will want to know more. I have filmed a vlog that you can watch on my YouTube channel talking all about this change. And of course, the dressmaking patterns will still be available as usual and I will keep sharing your amazing versions using those patterns. I am also still offering virtual classes both focused on dressmaking and quilting (or on any other project you want to work on), so if you are interested, please send me an email to hi@cocowawacrafts.com.
Last, I want to say a huge, ginormous THANK YOU to all of you for your amazing support this year. Thank you for your orders, your messages on social media, your comments, your emails... for sharing your versions of the CocoWawa Patterns (please, keep sharing them! I love, love finding them on Instagram) and for all the love you have sent my way :)
I hope you and your loved ones are healthy and safe and I hope that the new year will bring you everything you wish for. See you in 2023 for lots of quilting, sewing fun and more patterns!
