Diving into sewing

[breakinglight11]

So I have decided to dive right in and try to sew something. I am attempting to make a "full, gathered skirt" as directed here by my new hero Gertie of Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing. I am doing several silly things on this project. The first is that though I should probably wait for my mom to send me her sewing machine, which would make this worlds quicker and easier, I am too excited and feel like diving right in, so I will be doing it by hand. I like hand-stitching, so it might be fun. Secondly, it's probably too nice a fabric to waste on what will likely be a distrous early attempt, but it was so pretty, and on massive sale, so oh, well.

 

Here is the piece I cut for the body of the skirt, just a large rectangle that will be gathered into a waistband at the top and wide at the bottom. I'm hoping that the way the fabric holds its shape will make for a nice full silhouette.

I am mentally preparing myself for my first attempt to be a mess. Sewing, after all, is actually quite hard to get good at. I remember when I was in the Natick Mall with my parents this past weekend we looked at the display of outfits made by local fashion design students. Some of the designs were interesting, but I was struck by how amateurish the construction of the garments was. I commented to my mother, "My friends captainecchi and electric_d_monk's work is way better." Shouldn't design students, I thought, be good at sewing? But it occurred to me then that they probably have only beeing sewing as long as they've been designing. They're probably only paying their dues hoping that they'll be able to get into a position where they don't have to do their own sewing. It just shows that sewing is hard to get good at, so it won't happen unless you're really working at it.

As a side note, "sew" is one of those words that I never pronounce properly in my head; the misleading spelling just really dug into me for some reason. Somehow I always manage to say it correctly, but when I read it in my head it always sounds like "soo." 

Comments

[valleyviolet.livejournal.com]

A really good design student will learn to sew properly. If they don't they don't have a future in the fashion world. I would cut them a little slack in that those projects may have been very rush (but not a lot of slack :/ ).

Sewing is not all that hard to get good at, it's just a matter of being willing to learn and lots of practice. Much like carpentry or plumbing it's partly an intellectual skill (understanding the materials and techniques) and partly a physical skill (using the tools). There's a near infinite number of materials and techniques you could be using, so most people can improve all their lives, even once they reach a minimal level of proficiency. What really separates the ok from the great is the desire to learn and dedication to getting it right.

No individual skill is hard, just be patient with yourself and don't get upset when some of your early works don't turn out to your high standards. Every project will get better. :)