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July 2, 2021
In America, the summer is in full-steam-ahead on the 4th of July weekend. Time for picnics, swimming, watermelon, hotdogs, hamburgers and lots and lots of firecrackers. It's also a time when we celebrate our nation's beginning and independence. For me, I feel very lucky that I was born here and have a responsibility to enable future generations feel as fortunate as I have felt. Part of that responsibility involves doing the
right thing. And as I set up SewingArtistry about twelve years ago, that doing the right thing premise has always been my intention.
Now there wasn't much I could do on a lot of fronts, but I could pass on my knowledge and passion of creating styles and clothing that is flattering, fun and fitted. I always felt like Miss Prescott in Funny Face.
Maybe not as dictatorial, but at least sharing her knowledge. And most of all Miss Prescott had fun and was full of enjoyment and joy in what she did!
Starting out was tough because I had absolutely no idea about marketing or advertising or any of that stuff. After floundering around for a bit, I came back to KISS - Keep It Simple, Sweetie!!! And that's what really rang true to me.
I'm also a great follower in hero tales, and I'm sure you're wondering what hero tales have to do with sewing pretty clothes, but hero tales are not only for heroes, but also for those of us who do not consider ourselves heroes. OK well that sounds totally confusing! But here's what I mean.
 We all have choices we make everyday. What we can do with our lives and what we can do with our day. We're presented more choices that we think.
Like the lady here going in to the bathroom to brush her teeth, like she does every morning. Only suddenly she's presented with Excalibur, a magical charm by which a person can complete great challenges and be the greatest King (or Queen) of England!
But the expression on the lady's face is priceless. It's like...."Uh, ....who me? I don't think so. I mean I'm a basic person who simply wants to get to work, so I can get my paycheck to pay my bills, and well, I haven't got time anyway. And besides, completing some magical challenge isn't really practical, now is it?! That's ok, I'll pass for now!"
This is so typical when we start thinking of anything challenging. The first is that of course we're not up to it. I mean if we could do that we'd be doing it already....in spades, but we're not doing it, so there's a reason for that.
Then there's the practical side. I mean do smart, successful people actually haul off on some harebrained idea that has no real proof of success? I mean...really ...seriously?!
And of course there's the faux humility response: "I'm not really that kind of a person, and further that sort of thing is waaaaay over my pay grade."
Another variation of the faux humility is: "Well, I'm just one person, I mean what do you think I am some megalomaniac egotistical narcissist that needs to be a big deal in life?!!! (IOW, You must be thinking of someone else!!!)
All of these are so common that I'm sure they bring a smile to your face. They do me too. But here's the thing; knowing about the canned responses that you've heard, and probably have heard in your head are cautionary tales. The most kind-hearted, and well-intentioned people can lead you into decisions of perpetual doom. Doom of being less that what you can be.
And then suddenly before you know it, time has passed you by, and you realized, "I cudda been a contenda!" Nothing, NOTHING is sadder.
And the opportunities that were common, are gone and the chance to be more than you thought are fewer and farther between. I constantly regretted never going to design school. I should have thrown a fit and demanded it, but didn't. The more college I took, the more I knew I was in the wrong place. I needed to be in art school or design school. And the passion never left. Even though I was accomplishing one dream of
being self-sufficient and having the world as my oyster when I was in my early 20s, I had one dream of sewing my own designs that would never be realized. Then one day the local economy went into a tailspin - a black hole kind of tailspin.
I had to start working. And by that time I knew enough about life, that this was an opportunity that I was not going to let pass me by the second time. This wasn't a time to hide out in my bunker until things got better. The folks who one year before the bust, wouldn't even consider looking at another source except the local bridal shop in town, were one year later, looking for other alternatives, and I was the biggest, most
obvious one out there - all because of the messed-up economy. I had one goal and that was to be profitable from the very start, and continue to be profitable. I had to learn about cash flow, inventory, start-up costs, price-cost marketing for each product and a whole bunch of other business stuff that I didn't even know the name for much less what it meant. But a challenge, and particularly a challenge that you love is worth it.
What brings this all to mind now, is that we are undergoing a similar change in our lives. We hear constantly that the clothing manufacturing business model is completely thrown up against the wall and disintegrated and is gone. The source of our cheap fashion is disappearing. Fashion as was set forth by the House of Worth, furthered by Coco Chanel, then again by Christian Dior is gone. The style show is no more and isn't coming
back. Fashion in seasons is gone, with something else to replace it. This doesn't mean that the idea of having coats for winter and cool blouses for summer is gone. This more refers to the planned showtime, extravaganza of a show is gone. How then will the consumer find clothes? How will they purchase clothes? How will designers and retailers deal with clothes that don't fit? How will they market their clothes? How will they get the word
out on the "new look" or a "fresh look" or ANY look?
There are some rude facts ahead. As a teacher for a local university, I'm busy making sure each student realizes the fantastic opportunities available for these students to change the whole face of fashion - not just the manufacturing side. As a proponent of the home sewists and creative clothing maker, I can't way for this to come home to roost.
In 1989, I purchased an Yves St. Laurent blouse for $189. It was a lot of dough back then. To show you just how much, comparing that price, to the rise in cost of a loaf of bread and a gallon of gas, that top today would cost $700. I'm not too sure that anyone of us would pay that sort of funds for a top.
The reasons are plain:
1. the durability of clothing (particularly in the last 30 years) has been for cheap, short-lasting clothing, and paying $700 for something that would last for a couple of washings, is sheer folly. And I agree it is.
2. The long-term fashion of a garment is as flighty as the durability of the garment - maybe half a season - 4 to 6 weeks at most.
3. The quantity of availability of clothing has appeared positively decadent, albeit cheap and barely-worn.
But what if you could purchase a well-made (that means it lasts past one decade, possibly into two decades), classically fashionable garment that was limited in availability (meaning you might have one of a few "looks" in this garment)? How would you feel about purchasing something like that, knowing that it would last decades in style and durability? We've been through those numbers before to show just how much more economical this
kind of purchasing is.
But what of another question: what would you give to have a garment that was comfortable in your size, flattering your shape, and works for your style? How much would you pay for that? ...$500,? ...$600? How about 25% of that? How could that possibly be?
This sounds like some sort of used-car salesman's pitch. But it's an alternative that's out there right now. The reason it's not as visible as it might otherwise be, is because we have been in a very warped time of fashion. For one thing, this fashion slump we're in has lasted way too long. For another, although it was a predictable and inevitable reaction to the fashion that preceded it, the addiction it caused on
the business side of fashion has way out-weighed it's usefulness and popularity. Face it - aren't we mostly bored with what's in the store or online now?
  
  
None of these even look the least bit flattering or presentable, much less exciting or making you want to rush out to the fabric store and cut something out immediately! They all look like what we used to call in the 70s, a fashion victim - a slave to whatever latest style came out. This is the kind of junk we've been used to seeing for decades, and wouldn't it be nice if someone offered something a little different?...maybe (heaven
forbid) normal?
Fashion has to be by its nature a little scandalous and outrageous. That's its nature. But the truth is, that along with the great novel of our age, the great movie of our age and the great artist(s) of our age, there is no great fashion of our age either! Where's the "Joy Luck Club" of this age? Where's "The Graduate" or "Easy Rider" of this age? Why is there so little art to express the age we are in right now?
It's because it's old; it's boring; we've needed a change for 2 decades but because of the business/financial addiction to the clothing manufacturing model set up by Grunge, we have yet to leave it and move on ...until ...now
Wouldn't it be wonderful to start our own fashion trend? Wouldn't it be fun to have fashion trends that are totally flattering and comfortable but that make us feel fabulous and just the way we want to project ourselves?
Well, take up the challenge, grab Excalibur and come along - cause that's exactly what I love to do!
The sleeve or more importantly the armscye seam - besides seam-ripping, I think, is what everyone perceives as the hardest seam alive. Well, mastering it does take some practice, but everything in sewing does, but once mastered, the sleeve is a beautiful thing. Yes, I know - I don't have a life when I think this is a beautiful thing, but there it is!!!
Watch me take this mess of a sleeve:
and turn it into this:
Don't purchase both of these resources - you only need one or the other.
What I've done here is that I know a lot of you already have the Entire Sleeve Resource. The one thing I've changed and updated and extended is the Armscye-Armhole Alteration Resource. So I'm offering both of them special this month.
If you don't have the Entire Sleeve Resource, it's at a tremendous discount. If you have the Sleeve Resource and want to update it, the Armscye-Armhole Alteration Resource is at discount as well.
Here's the Entire Sleeve Resource
Here's the newly updated Armscye-Armhole Alteration Resource
On the Blog
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