 |
To View in your browser, click here
September 23, 2022
I wrote a new blog and probably should have previewed it here with all of us "like kind"!!! This book is really not written for us, but then it is. We all know the joy, satisfaction, solace, peace, fun, and fulfillment from creating our own clothes. But it's important
to know that what we feel isn't either shaming or wrong. It's actually more innately right than the option.
We get a twofold bang out of our creations:
The first one is the whole business of creating and all the fun that brings.
The second one is the fulfillment from doing a job well.
Both of these are important, but they are also two different things. We can relate to the artist because of our creations, but we can also relate to the doers or those who fix and know how things work. We know how a garment goes together and how one seam will perform one function while another seam will perform another function. For example making a fisheye dart will perform one function while sewing in an FBA dart, will perform another function. We know what each
one will do, and not only that but we know where each of those darts work best.
But there is something more to this book that the author lays out very well, and that is the worthiness of the doers and fixers in a society that has placed way too much value on being separated from the job or the task or even how something works.
The whole idea of being connected to our machines and the other instruments that perform functions for us, is completely removed. As I sit here and type this newsletter today, I really don't know how these words appear on this screen. I'm punching some keys on a board that is not attached to the computer, once received by the computer, I have no idea how the signals are turned into words and how those words and letters are displayed on this screen. All that
"agency" or power of how this contraption works, is taken away from me.
This sort of "loss of agency" leads to complete loss of what's real and what isn't. Granted its necessary for some to get a four-year degree, and that really is their choice for their life. But there are others who are also encouraged to believe that without a four-year degree, their life is lost, when their choice is not the four-year degree. The author has pointed out that an increasing number of four-year degree students who can't find work
at a decent price, then go into a trade and discover that not only can they immediately graduate (sometimes from a two-year program), and find a job, but that they can make more money immediately out of school than they can in their field of study from their four-year degree. But there's more than that.
After their graduation from their trade or vocational school, they also find that working with their hands and being connected with the workings of the world around them, is not only empowering, but brings about a much greater sense of satisfaction and fulfillment.
 As anyone who knows who has watched 2001 Space Odyssey or listened to any anthropologist talk, it was the oppositional thumb and digits that placed us different from other creatures on this planet. "It is by having hands that man is the most intelligent of animals," by
Anaxagoras, ancient Greek philosopher. And this is certain true. To now divorce ourselves from this handiness causes us to deny our true source - displace our agency (power).
It is the way that things first show up for us. Consider the baby working and discovering the world around him or her. The child is working, feeling and literally thinking with his/her hands. It is with his/her hands that he/she sees the world and relates to everything - very small and tiny world at first, but then larger the older the child gets. This kind of relationship with things felt, discovered and assimilated with hands is how the child collects
knowledge of his/her life.
The author here poses the question that maybe we should look at this from the other point of view: the problem is not "instrumental rationality" (or I take that to men adeptness and understand of the instruments we own or have around us*), it is rather that we have come to live in a world that precisely does not elicit our instrumen-tality, the kind that is original to us - the kind we used to discover who we were and our world when we were kids. That agency is
taken away from us today by a predetermination of someone or things that are out of our control.
What's worse about this in my mind, is that there are a lot of folks out there who are perfectly capable of and have all the knowledge to pick out what they like and what they would prefer, but because this agency has been so co-opted from us, they are made to feel that they can't make a decision about their own selections, without someone coming forward and telling them what to wear, what to make, what fabric to use, what color is right, what shading is good for proportion and all
that other stuff.
I guess what I teach here is that we all have this innate agency and that it's only because we haven't used it, or worse some intellectual from heaven knows where as pre-empted our born-with ability to make these choices. Granted this takes time and study, but to tell a person that they don't know what's good for them, is like telling them they are a robotic idiot and basically treating them like a child.
OK - now there are people who are exceptional at putting together ideas and looks that work. Lagerfeld, Valentino, Oscar de la Renta, Koos van der Akker, Zac Posen, Jason Wu, and they are worth learning from. Like the the Jason Wu on the left showing us how to do small design on dark background as the same pattern but large design on light background - there's a lot we can learn from that. The Zac Posen on the far right is a top that would look so excellent on an
apple type figure with that wonderfully slimming pants or skirt would look really great - as long as it isn't too full. But here's the thing on the both of these, even if they were a little off, you could fix it - because getting that close (using these designs as guidelines) can get you close enough in the ball park, that you all have the agency to know what to do to make this work for you.
  
The middle one is a Koos van der Akker - a designer of the 80's who was great at wonderful print combinations and designs. We have the agency to check out the tech drawing on this:
 Checking out this design (left is Koos's line drawing of the photo in the middle above) from this point of view, gives us lots of information. Once we have a core pattern, this kind of design becomes a cinch because we can trace those lines onto our core pattern pretty
close to where they need to be, only on our core pattern all the information about shoulder slope, waist height, shoulder position and we know all that because we went through all the steps to fit the core pattern and after doing that we know what works, we know why it works, because we fixed it to work right for us.
Most of us who sew have learned either at our mother's or grandmother's feet or were lucky enough to learn in school, even if we had planned not to sew that much, at least we had learned the skill. Even if some of these students were bound and determined to get a four-year degree, they still had the knowledge and agency to make a garment and therefore to purchase a garment that was well-made.
Because that choice to make and fix what we have has pretty much been taken away from us, I have to wonder what else has been taken away from us that I no knowledge of. Possibly I could have the knowledge of how to fix my Kitchen Aid mixer if something went awry with it, and more importantly, knowing what cause the problem, I am aware of how to use the attachments better. Maybe I could learn how to fix my washer with the circulating disk breaks,
and learn how to prevent it from breaking in the future. The possibilities become endless. They also keep us active
We are a race of tool users. To deny that and worse take it away from us, kills us. The person who retires from the job that he has known all his life with nothing to look forward to, dies within a year or so after retirement. The person who is the fix-it person, the make-it person, makes and fixes way past his retirement and lives a much more fulfilled life.
Why is this book for us? Because it describes that the work we do is not only worthy but worthy of being considered, appreciated and sought-after as a vocation. When I was in high school, it was all about preparing me for a college. I actually wanted to go to a trade school. I knew what I wanted to do and knew where I could learn to do what I
loved. The good news is that even though I went off to college, I finally did manage to get the education I wanted and after that knew how valuable it was (I paid for it myself), then when the time came to open my company, I valued my training in my vocation and although it looked totally like folly, I followed it, and have never been sorry or regretful for it.
This is a beginning guide on what to do with your core pattern after you have fitted and worked on it.
All the work that you have done in your core pattern contains all the information to make a garment that you will totally love. This means you really don't have to buy another pattern for making skirts, pants or leggings. Variations on your core pattern makes it possible for you to have the styles you see in a photo or on Pinterest without having to look for the pattern that looks like it might work. You can now simply trace it onto your core pattern and
you're done.
This resource also contains some other important resources at huge discount because they are so important to this creative process of varying your core pattern. It also contains some downloads that aren't available in the Resource Library at all, but are vital toward making good design.
In this world of crazy, illogical fashion, we sewists are having to turn into designers. That sounds really hard and foreboding, but it's not. Unlike designers, we simply haven't had all the experience they have, most of that experience they got when they went to design school. More than anything I wanted to make this process encouraging, empowering and enlightening without having to worry about whether or not you could vary your core pattern.
You can! It isn't that hard. It is knowing some guidelines and charging out into the unknown. That's what we sewists do and we do it very well most of the time.
This is the beginning of the series into variations on core patterns. I wanted to start with something basic, so that you wouldn't feel so intimidated. It takes a while to write these up, cause I'm an idea factory, and coordinating and organizing these ideas can be monumental with the sewing muse yacking in my ear 24/7.
The resource is available now at a discount so that you can enjoy it before spring starts in full force. Right now, I'm thinking happy, colorful and pretty. Those are all fresh looks for future clothes. When things seem upside down, it's great to have something to make us happy and often bright, springtime and summertime fabrics are just as much as drab, dark and somber fabrics. I'm ready to be beautiful, comfortable and look flattering in my clothes and
I'm dying to share that with you.
Skirts, Core Pattern Variations, Part 1 (but there's more than skirts in here)
On the Blog
|
|
|
The other day I was doing the laundry and suddenly my machine wasn't spinning, thus wasn't washing. It was making...
|
|
|
|
We may think that the models on the runway are all bone-thin, and they are, but how close are they ...
|
|
|
|
The Met Gala is the creation of Anna Wintour, chief editor of Vogue US, and she manages to outdo herself ...
|
To view in browser (so all images can be seen) or past emails or in your browser click here.
NOTE: Some email clients, software and web sites, do not allow pictures because they can contain nasty worms and viruses - ICK! So they will by default block you from seeing the pictures. This is a security measure from your email. I can't change that cause that means I would have to get inside your computer and mess with your security which you don't want! So you can do two things: 1.) you can disable your image blocker and that will
depend upon your software. You can Google it to see how to do that for your specific email. 2.) You can view it in your browser which is equipped to handle the nasties that might be in pictures. To do that you can click here to enjoy the full email with pictures!!
To talk about a sewing problem, a style quandary or size situation one on one with Claire, click here.
We respect your email privacy.
|
|
|
|
