welcome To The One Thimble Blog

Photoshoot Styling for sewists

Our inspired photographer and stylist, Chrystal from Poetic Light Photography, managed to shoot our ‘Watercolour Wonder Spring Issue’ in the middle of winter! While I was struggling in the Cairns version of winter (ie. turn off the fans and aircon and leave the windows open), Chrystal was letting me know of snow 20 minutes from where she was planning to shoot!

Here’s her account of how she brought this shoot together (with bonus tips for your own shoots!).

Tips for Photographing Kids

So you’ve decided to use your kids as models for your handmade clothing photoshoot . . . Only problem is when you get to the location you’ve chosen it’s like herding cats! This blog post brings together some of our best tips for photographing kids from the One Thimble Sewing Enthusiasts group!

How to get your model to play along!

• Be flexible. If your model has the grumps and you need some photos it can be very tempting to try to cajole them into letting you take the photos. Some days, (you know the days I’m talking about!!!) it’s really not worth it.
• Work with a friend or another member of the family. If you’ve got someone else looking after your little ones mood it can be easier to concentrate on getting good pictures.
• Make it fun. My daughter LOVES playing Simon Says when we take photos.  It never fails to get her giggling and I get great photos.
• Miquita turns a photoshoot into a game with a few photos, then a game of chase, ‘rinse and repeat’.

DIY lightbox

Katie from Twinkle Boo has a really neat trick she shared after the Backgrounds and Backdrops blog post …

I really struggled to get a great picture when I first started taking them.  Then I discovered to my surprise that the bathroom is the brightest place in my house, without having to deal with the elements!

Finally I had found a nice light place in my house but I was getting super frustrated with using cardboard and fabric for my backdrop….crinkles never mattered so much before in my life!

On a whim I grabbed a little kids desk we had yet to put together, it was white, I needed a white crinkle free background and something small for the space I was working in…. It worked like a charm.

Checklist for a handmade photoshoot

When you’re working on improving your sewing photography it can feel a lot like going shopping with a baby for the first time … so many things to remember, so many bits and pieces to juggle and the outcome is uncertain!

This blog post is a checklist for a modeled handmade photoshoot (though some of the tips could work for flatlays and product shoots).  It aims to take the guesswork out of getting your items looking their best in your photos.  It’s a work in progress so if you’ve got a point that you think should be added to the check list – let me know and I’ll add it on!

Backdrops & Backgrounds for handmade photography

I’ve been wondering where to start this series … Then I realised it has to start with backdrops and backgrounds.

Now if you’re a little further along in your handmade photography journey, you might be thinking, oh I know this already, but stay with me … or skip to the end for some tips on backdrops.

When I first started photographing my handmade items I didn’t really give much thought to backgrounds.

I’m embarrassed to say that some of these photos below (…shame … the one in front of the washing machine) were photos I actually used, in my listings on made it and etsy, when I first started sewing to sell.