A Short History of Me...

Ok, so I finally started writing my very first ‘Ramble Folk Blog’ a couple of months ago. It's pretty raw and honest, and I’m both excited and extremely nervous to share it with you… This is not that blog. That blog is freaking me out and has been sent to purgatory in my drafts, exactly where it belongs until it can learn how to behave and have some damn respect!

So, for now you will have to settle for this one, and continue following along in hope, but  also prepared to be disappointed on a regular monthly basis until I have the audacity to post it! In the meantime, I thought I would start with what is widely considered to be the best place to start. The beginning (of Ramble Folk not me, good lord) because it’s been 4 years this month since I launched my business, and I love it even more now than when it was first born!

When I originally sat down to write the ‘about me’ section on my website, I spent 3 weeks, 6 meltdowns and 37 revisions trying to get it right. It was 5000 words long and 4.5 words long and everything in between, because I am freaking terrible at selling myself! If you recognise that last sentence, thank you, it means you have actually read the ‘about me’ section on my website… the next couple of paragraphs are copy paste, because why invent the wheel right!?!

'Anyway, as mentioned, I am terrible at selling myself, so I won't be doing that. I’m not going to recount my Fashion Designer background, Diploma, Tasmanian Gown of the Year winning, backpacker, world travelling, Bridal Designer in London UK couture working, Australian Gown of the Year runner upping past, because that was all a bazillion years ago! I’m also not going to tell you that I have a part time job that I love, working as a Corporate Events Manager, with the most awesome group of people, because they may get ahead of themselves and think they no longer have to work for my love.

What I will tell you is that I registered my business name for Ramble Folk in January 2020 when our country was literally on fire, because I desperately wanted to help. Because I wanted to plant trees. Because I wanted to be able to give more than my regular $50 monthly donation to Greening Australia. Because I needed to feel that I was doing more than just re-tweeting AOC and Bernie Sanders and posting inflammatory political posts on Facebook (sorry Dad ;) and because I dragged my kids (willingly) out of school on September 20th, 2019, to attend the Global School Strike for Climate and have never felt more inspired to do something in my life.

Now, obviously a lot happened immediately after January 2020, covid came and things got very weird, so I was more concerned with the fact that I may have to replace toilet paper with newspaper, and how damaged my kids would be after months of me being their teacher, than I was with starting a business, but I made it back! I picked it back up at the end of 2020, and my business plan/idea had changed quite dramatically by then. Life felt a bit more fragile. Our environment a bit more at risk. Our ability to rely on other countries for our basic needs a bit less certain. Ramble Folk became 100% made in Australia and it became more about, slow sustainability, upcycling, and re-using what we already have, than buying more things we don't need!

Also, I have this goal...dream, and a really cool chick once told me that leaving it unfulfilled was making my heart sick (it’s a whole thing, hope deferred, tree of life, etc). I’ve wanted to design my own fashion label since I was 17 years old. That dream has since morphed into wanting to design a sustainable, slow fashion clothing line, ethically made in Australia, but let’s not get tied up in the details. Ramble Folk is that label. Thanks for coming on the journey with me!'

I wrote this back in July 2021 when I first launched Ramble Folk. Fast forward 4 years later and I am just as passionate about this business as I was then, but my brand and its direction has evolved and grown in a way that I didn’t predict! Surprisingly, I'm actually really grateful that it took me so long to start, because at this stage in my life, I feel so completely connected to and excited by my business. I love it. I’m proud of my work and drowning in ideas and projects for Ramble Folk’s next lap around the sun.

However, it seems I still have just as little time to give to Ramble Folk as I did 4 years ago…

We all know the struggle, right? Kids, work, commute, after school activities, housework, falling asleep on the couch, pretending you didn’t see the next episode start on Netflix, getting distracted and accidentally cleaning your entire sewing area instead of actually sewing, we’ve all been there right?!

Take this weekend for example… I had the very best intentions to sew all weekend, and be ready for my ‘last Sunday of the month’ DROP; prepared to be sewing my butt off all weekend, and confident in the fact that fortunately, I always have my best ideas at the last minute, and do my very best work under extreme pressure, at levels that would break a regular human, but this is my sweet spot, my thrive zone, also a likely cause of intense anxiety, but it’s all about the result right?!?

But as you can probably guess by now, it all went to shit, I believe somewhere around Wednesday night, when I got sucked into using one of those viral overnight face masks, then basically slept upright all night because I was too scared to move, and woke up Thursday with a broken neck (self-diagnosed) so then by Friday I couldn’t move! Friday, I did nothing. It finally came right, just in time for me to watch Happy Gilmore 2 and get to bed at god knows o’clock and proceed to wake up the next day at closer to 12:00pm than I care to admit, thanks to my lovely hubby letting me sleep, thus rendering Saturday pretty much over!!

So this of course, is when I chose to do the ‘cleaning your entire sewing area instead of actually sewing’ thing… I know. There are some things I need to work on!

Anyway, we are almost 1200 words in so it’s probably almost time for me to start getting to the point. In summary, I ran out of time, it’s a mystery to everyone how this happened, and now instead of releasing all of my New Designs at 8:00pm tonight, I have a very fun new plan and will be adding one new design a day to my website, every day until next Sunday! I’ll post on my socials that night when each new design is live, but only those with the link from my Monthly Newsletter will be able to access them (don’t panic, that’s you)!

My first design is now live, and you can find the link for this design (and the next 8 when they’re ready) in my Monthly Newsletter!

Thanks for coming on the journey, Folks!

    ~ Bel Dowde xx

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