After the 2024 review, comes the challenge of the 2025 resolutions!
As you know, ideas are not lacking in my head but as my grandmother used to say, "you can’t do everything"! One of the biggest challenges will therefore be to choose because too many ideas, desires, and resolutions paralyze. So we sorted things out and above all I took the time to refocus on the values and principles that guided the opening of the shop and our workshop.
Rethinking what drives us, what makes us want to get up in the morning to open the shop, give courses, offer beautiful supplies... and ultimately, what is the heart, the essence of C'est du Joly?
I took the time to note what was very important to me, what made me happy...
Ready to discover what I’ve learned, what I’ve chosen to keep improving in 2025?
Let’s go!
Our values and core business
When I started my blog in 2019, it was values of sharing that inspired me.
To be honest, I had nothing to gain. I forced myself to write one, sometimes two articles per week; a bit like a tenacity challenge given the low readership at the start. Gradually, more and more readers came, my writing became a bit bolder, my expression easier...
This little blog from the early days is now 6 years old and today has 350 articles! You can no longer call it a little blog, it’s a mature blog 😂 a bit like me 😂
One article per week for 6 years, even on vacation, even sick, I stuck to it... tenacity, perseverance... a touch of madness? In any case, a lot of passion!
It is also the passion that drove me to apply to the Burda contest and become one of the finalists for the fashion show in February 2020 just before the lockdown. That’s also where I met Astrid and Auriane from the show Cousu Main with Christina Cordula...
This pushes me to learn and expand my knowledge for myself but also to better support my students since I started giving courses in 2020 for another Brussels haberdashery that is now closed.
I will start a pattern making course some time later 😊
This passion, covid, and Gaëtan pushed me in 2020 to open the online shop. From threads to needles, from masks to fabrics, from buttons to straps... my apartment turned into a small stockroom, even a large one. It was more than time to find a place to store all my stock!
I also wanted to find a classroom to share my love for fine finishes, good methods, and help my students progress toward greater autonomy with each course.
Pride, fulfillment, achieving these things. That’s what excites me and makes me want to have my own classroom with my teaching methods based on a solid theoretical foundation, practical exercises, and the creation of final pieces.
The stars aligned because two months after resigning from the hospital, we found the perfect space to set up and create the cozy place I dreamed of. A little cocoon where you feel good whether you come to the shop, the workshop, or both 😊.
The first blog articles
With Astrid and Auriane at the Burda contest in February 2020
In short, when you come to C'est du Joly you can expect:
-The fulfillment of our customers, students, but also our employees and myself because we must not forget ourselves 😀
Fulfillment is giving someone the fullness of their abilities, making them happy, fulfilled
For us, it shows in your smiles when you complete your first rows of stitches, whether by sewing machine, embroidery needle, knitting, or crochet! Seeing your pride and happiness in creating your first pieces is priceless! But it’s also seeing our students progress! Some are now sewing their own coat, jeans, jacket with welt pockets, etc., having started their learning with our "discover sewing" module. Watching them grow in knowledge, seeing them delighted and proud to wear their creations is a huge pleasure for us!
Fulfillment is also seeing your smiles as you leave with your head full of projects and your purchases from the shop, receiving compliments on our Alibaba's cave, on the blog articles I carefully write every week, it fills me with joy!
-Sharing knowledge, love for beautiful materials and colors, passion for fine finishes
Sharing means passing on information, spreading, giving a part of oneself, and that is what we want for C'est du Joly.
We want to provide quality teaching, in a cheerful and caring atmosphere to all our students. We also want to guide you in the shop and look for solutions to create your projects, sometimes repair them or even improve them.
Finally, we love sharing our love of materials and colors because the sky is gray enough in Belgium without adding it to our clothes! It’s no coincidence that I bring back beautiful colorful fabrics from Japan!
- rigor in teaching and methods, in the choice of our suppliers and supplies
Rigor is the character of someone or something distinguished by perfect accuracy, logic, and precision.
As I often say when introducing courses, "here we don’t do frou-frou 😂"; here we promote beautiful finishes because we want every creation that comes out of the workshop to be something you’ll be proud of and that will last over time! We promote durability through a careful choice of materials and by choosing solid finishes.
Finally, C'est du Joly is also a good dose of energy, colors, and fun!
Resolution 1: Share
In 2025, we will continue to share our passion and love for textile arts and thread with:
- a blog article every week 🤘🏻
- courses with our classic themes, new themes, and new offerings (but let’s keep a little mystery...)
- a love for beautiful finishes because we really want our students to learn the right techniques and methods so they can be proud of their creations
- participation in the first Art of Thread festival in Brussels!
Céline, Marie, Gaetan and I will also continue to do activities together, share great moments, exchange... because that’s also the spirit of C'est du Joly... we work hard yes, but with fun!
It also involves moments of DIY, tidying up, but also little restaurants, slices of pizza, bubbles to celebrate life’s events!
Resolution 2: Find great partners
Last year we introduced about twenty new partners for sewing patterns and it was a great experience discovering some wonderful designers.
We have also found great Japanese and European suppliers to offer you fabrics and supplies of very high quality like: Daruma, Tulip, Clover, Olympus, Kobayashi, ...
In 2025, we will definitely continue to offer you new products!
Gaetan and I have already planned visits to trade shows and a visit to our Japanese suppliers.
Resolution 3: Keep growing
When I was a teenager, I had a small card with a picture of a bike and below it a little mantra that said to move forward you had to pedal... but also that if you don’t pedal, well, you fall!
In other words, immobility causes your fall.
I agree with that and that’s why, as a true hyperactive, I am committed to continuing to develop C'est du Joly for you, for me, but also for the team!
Having new things, offering new beautiful supplies and materials, course themes, concepts... that is also part of our identity.
We are still looking for a larger space that would allow us to offer more evening and Saturday courses. If you have any ideas, don’t hesitate to let me know.
Resolution 4: Continue training to offer you new course themes
As I said earlier, sharing and being rigorous is good but it requires a good dose of self-work! Staying up to date is very important to me, the team, and our students. In 2024, Marie, Céline, and I continued to train ourselves, document to offer you lots of new courses:
- patchwork
- lingerie and lace thongs
- summer tops in crochet and knitting
- knitted socks
- quilted lined jackets
- theoretical courses on fabrics
- ...
In short, some great workshops and of course there will be even more new things in 2025!
Resolution 5: Take time for yourself, recharge
I have been working a lot for 6 years now and I love it! I was already doing it at the hospital and I guess you can’t change who you are 😂!
I always have 1000 ideas per second, I sometimes (often) get overwhelmed by my enthusiasm or even my positivity, and sometimes the landing of realism is a bit harsh!
That’s also why I need to take a step back, so this year, I decided to take two half-days off from the shop and the courses... because the pace of 6 days out of 7, sometimes even 6.5/7 days, is really "a bit much"... Usually, when you don’t see me in the shop, it’s because I’m placing orders, doing data entry, communication, reaching out to future partners... there’s no shortage of tasks!
So I will take advantage of two half-days off to do relaxing activities, sew, embroider for fun, work on my Japanese, read novels... in short, do things I love and that make me feel good because that is also part of a person's fulfillment.
I am counting a lot on our new recruit to help me in this regard... because she will allow me to free up time in my work week... Can't wait to introduce our future colleague to you!
