Sew Excellent

Unabashed enthusiasm is a hallmark of my personality. Not a bad quality, on balance, though if you need to live, work or hang with me while I'm in the midst of "exploring" something new, I can be vaguely, um, overwhelming.

To wit, my latest "interest": the (almost) lost art of sewing. You may know that my daughter has always been very creative, loves crafts and specifically sewing. I definitely want to encourage her natural talents and put that plastic childhood brain to work. And, of course you know that I love fashion and that I more than appreciate good design, construction and material. While I've never had the opportunity to learn sewing until now - interest and confidence have not converged before - I'm finally on the bandwagon, peeps. Apologies, in advance.

It occurred to me, while explaining to my slightly concerned friend Nicole - a year or so ahead of me on this path - that I am an immersive learner. She gingerly inquired, as I talked (without pausing for breath) about sewing wool jersey drapey tops with cowl necks, if I were the sort of person who was "at all crushed by uneven preliminary results". Let me clarify: I'm not so nuts that I believe I'm going to be able to machine sew even a straight line to begin with. But I can't set my sights on cotton twill makeup bags even if I'm destined to make a few of them. And lots of other easy patterns.

Nonetheless I'm going to keep my eyes on the prize because, IMO, creativity is about reach.

What excites me tremendously about sewing is that it's the next frontier in my love of clothing. Heretofore I have only been able to admire the skill of others in creating garments that drape beautifully, that flatter my frame (and those of others), that apply incredibly gorgeous fabric to dexterous design. No doubt, that's nothing to shake a stick at but what if, someday, I have the skill to create items for myself? What if I can rework stunning vintage garments to better suit my frame? What if I can make lovely things for others? (Talk about a great gift!)

I've spent many years observing clothing as it relates to proportion. Naturally, I have the most knowledge of my own proportions in clothes but I'm a fairly three-dimensional thinker, which is why I've been a popular choice "stylist" of my friends and coworkers and people I meet at parties. And girls on the subway. (What? I'm friendly.)

Unquestionably, I believe that all bodies are beautiful when they are dressed well. And dressing well, IMO, means wearing luxe fabrics with give and ease that drape one's frame elegantly (not too much - or too little - fabric), in suitable colours and shapes. We are all unique. A Club Monaco size 10 top is not going to fit one woman the way it fits another - even if both women are notionally a size 10. The likelihood is that one of those women is going to look better than the other because the cut of said garment suits the woman with large breasts or small breasts or wide shoulders or long arms etc. Most modern peeps have neither the time nor interest (nor natural skill) to understand which shapes they should embrace or avoid - and they've never made anything, which would give them a lot of context.

Now I've never made anything either, but I'm fortunate to have discovered which brands of clothing suit my size. And I have a good tailor. What if I could take the guesswork out of it altogether? What if I could amend the almost, but not quite, perfect mass produced garment to fit me perfectly? And what if, after some concentrated time of exploring that, I could make things from scratch that play up all my assets while playing down the things I'd prefer to hide? Wouldn't that be EXCELLENT??

In my next post I'll address my own personal way of exploring new hobbies - cuz I'm sure that's fascinating to y'all :-)