Welcome! It’s long overdue and has been a long time coming, but I couldn’t be happier with the results. I hope you enjoy learning, shopping, and finding inspiration on the new site and DSQ community. I’ll be adding more content in the coming months, so come back often to see what’s new. I’m especially excited to have a real home for our Sew Alongs too – be sure to subscribe for updates!
It sounds impossible, but my first website was designed during the days of dial-up internet by fellow RISD grads and partners at the design firm 2X4. A small grant from the Women’s Business Development Council was the help I needed to get the new site off the ground, and I’m thankful for their support!
The process of building a new site is not for the faint of heart. I couldn't have gotten through it without the talent and experience of Miles & Miles. Their unflagging good nature and patience made a long and painstaking process rewarding and fun. Miles & Miles also shot some of the beautiful new photography on the site and I’m excited to work with them on more projects down the road.
We relied on expert guidance from Aeolidia who provided a huge boost to our progress, and helped establish the design. I’m especially happy they encouraged me in choosing the typeface Community Gothic for the site.
Making meaningful design decisions is a part of my DNA – not just for the website but in all that I do. The details might be small and seemingly imperceptible, but I know they add up and matter. The choice of headline font for the new site needed to be just right.
Above is a specimen page for Community Gothic, and (besides the typographic qualities I love) that page right there could be my mission statement!
Community Gothic was designed by another of my RISD buddies, Tobias Frere-Jones. Toby is one of the leading typographers of our time, and this trajectory was apparent even when we were still in art school. Toby sat next to me in our graphic design studio and encouraged me to translate my cut-paper letters into a digital typeface—Scamp—which I was able to sell to one of the many type foundries that emerged during that era.
The tale of Scamp, my first licensing experience, is a story for another time. But if you love type the way I do, I encourage you to read the thoughtful story about the development of Community Gothic, entitled “Grit and Patchwork” (!) here.
One of my favorite passages from that story:
In design, as in life, it can feel as though perfection is only accomplished via the sanding away of rough edges. We’re encouraged to remove the things in our work, or about ourselves, that feel messy or unresolved, leaving only the clean, tidy, and supposedly beautiful bits behind. Reduction as a means of revelation. But, in the course of making Community Gothic, Frere-Jones ultimately reflects that he’s come to learn that this sort of editing isn’t a given. “Sometimes the complexity, what we rush to scrape away like mud, is the real character.”
There’s a lesson there for all of us – and I am so excited you’re here and part of the DSQ Community! With our new site serving as online store, inspiration launching pad, quilting bee and archive, there’s no telling where this journey will take us!
One for the Road: If you find yourself out of your depth with a new project, don’t hesitate to reach out to those with expertise in different areas from your own!
Comments
Hi Barb,
Thank you so much! I’m excited about the SAL with Jennifer too!
Congrats on your new site, I just found it! Can wait to join your sew along with Jennifer!
Hi Barb,
Thank you for sharing your story! It can be so easy to lose our “sewjo” (or any of the activities we love) when life intervenes. I hope you’re able to keep a little momentum going! Some of my free patterns are small, fast projects that might be a good way to get going? https://dsquilts.com/collections/free-patterns
Shopify so far doesn’t have built in replies to comments, so I apologize for not being able to directly reply!
Hi Denyse,
I love the new website. I just wanted to say that due to health problems I hadn’t sewn anything in 3 years. But today I started looking through my fabrics to make a quilt and found some Hadley, Florence, Franklin, and Katie Jump Rope precuts and yardage and I was so thrilled! They’re still my favorite fabric lines and I love them all. Thank you so much for those gorgeous fabrics. I’m looking forward to more in the future.
I just discovered your quilts. I love them and want to order patterns. The are so fresh and unique.
I LOVE this story. I took a screen shot of the passage above and added it to my inspiration file. I agree that the imperfections we try to minimize often yield such beauty in the happy accidents we make. Thank you, Denyse.
Congratulations DSQ. I always have loved your newsletters but this is bringing it to the next level indeed. I’m font of the font and your stories are always well written, humble, warm, inspiring and inviting like your designs and completed works. Kudos to you and your circles!!
Denyse, I’m so glad my team at Aeolidia was able to help you with strategy and design for your new site. I love how it looks, and how well it shares all that you do. It was an honor to work with you on this, and I look forward to continuing to follow along with your work.