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July 30, 2021
When you are sewing do you think of yourself as an artist? Most sewing people don't. They think of themselves as technicians where they take parts that have already been designed and assemble them and that's all they do.
In the commercial side of the clothing assembly industry, two definitions come up that help us understand this. One is the seamstress and the other is the dressmaker. What's the difference? The seamstress is a person who operates a sewing machine. The dressmaker is the one who not only operates a machine, but chooses how to assemble the garment and often chooses what fabric to use, what sort of interfacing to use, chooses the buttons, zipper length and color,
and a variety of other parts that go into making the garment. Even if the dressmaker is using a pattern, he or she will have make alterations, including style alterations (don't kid yourself, a hem length is an all-important alteration based on your style, your shape, the use of the garment, and what makes you comfortable). The commercial industry recognizes the difference between a seamstress (a technician) and a dressmaker (an artist), and so should you.
So why does this matter? Who cares anyway? And who cares? The reason it matters is because in reality we are both. We have an unusual task. We have to master the technical to be artistic. As a matter of fact a lot of folks who do not master that technical make the excuse that they don't study the technical cause it will impair their creativity. Huh?! I'm a little weak on that, because so many more artist in different fields
don't use that excuse. For example, an artist who creates a painting doesn't say that he didn't master the technical application and color combinations because it would destroy his ability to be creative. Or the musician who says he doesn't have to master the instrument, piano, trumpet, violin, because it will get in the way of his creative way of playing the violin. This gets a little like the art work of the 70's of Christo and Jeanne-Claude who release
argon, odorless, tasteless and invisible, gas into the atmosphere and called it art, or the more traditional, "The Emperor's New Clothes."
Maybe other artists can get away with that not learning the technical malarkey, but sewists can not. No matter how hard a sewists tries, without that technical knowledge, their artistic creation will be slop. The reason this is so hard to see now, is that for the last thirty years, that's what we've seen in stores - slop - being sold as "The Emperor's New Clothes." As sewists, we can create something better than that.
The students I teach at a local university are all striving for that. The new creative generation wants something different. And the amazing thing is that difference is durable, long-lasting, and classic. Some of us are old enough to remember when clothes were that way. You didn't purchase a whole new wardrobe every six to eight weeks. You added a few pieces every season (usually twice a year) because the other clothes were classic and would last for a
decade or more.
But the change is something more than simply having sustainable and classic clothes. Being classic means they have to be beautiful and flattering, something a whole generation of consumers haven't seen. And the great revelation here is that we as sewists, don't have to wait for that to get to the stores. We can do that now.
Think how radical it will be to have classic clothes that last for a decade or more? Think how new it will be to have clothes that are beautiful? And think how revolutionary it will be to have clothes that flatter. Only we don't have to wait. We can do that now.
The adjustment from one fashion phase to another takes a while, but for the adjustment from this post Grudge era will take longer. Remember we are not only change fashion, which isn't as hard as you might think, but we're also completely reinventing a new clothing manufacturing model. At the same time that will involve more expense in the making and in the clothing, and that will require a whole new mindset for the consumer and a new way of retailing for the
merchant. So this will happen slowly in the consumer world.
In our world, it will happen a lot faster. The truth is that not only will it happen faster, it will also bring more people into the art form that haven't been there before because it will be easier, more available, more time-efficient (yes, you read that right) as well as more economically efficient. The economics will bring some in, but the convenience, ability to choose exactly what to wear/make as well as customizing, complementing and accentuating the best part of
you.
So the next question is what to wear! Here are some looks from Paris street style. And don't kid yourself, Paris is still the queen of fashion!
 
Maybe you're not into tartans or plaids, but they don't have to dark and wintry looking, and floral is so hot (no pun, I promise as I sit here in 100° heat).
  
And maybe you don't want to look like a hippie (on the left), but floral and dresses are so perfect. See how the street chic want to change? There's nothing ill-fitting, sloppy, ripped or torn about these looks. They are finished, fitted and flattering.
And this is about as sharp and together as you can get. Nice fitting top with wrap-around matching jacket. Nice flattering skirt, although a little long for me, but this is PAREE! Totally classic look which is about as anti-Grunge as you can get.
And finally glitz isn't for nighttime anymore. Day wearers are getting into the shiny act too. This is just exactly the kind of thing designers love to do - mix up fabric use and do something unexpected. The problem is that it's been 30 years since we've seen anything like this that the consumer doesn't know what to make of it!
So floral, glitz (and you don't have to do all over, do an insert around the neck), classic, and dresses, dresses and more dresses. Other ideas are denim in a soft rayon-esque fabric, animal prints are great, even if you combine them in the same outfit, see-thru, but I always add a skin-toned shell or slip, and that makes it all that much more exciting so that you don't have to expose everything and let everyone else try and figure out if you're wearing anything
underneath or not!
Resources - Vogue.com is a great resource, but so is Pinterest with searches like Fall 21, Vogue, Fashion 21 and then go wherever, but don't get too far down the rabbit hole! Of course the great thing about Pinterest is that you can save them for later inspiration and ideas.
And remember, you don't have to like everything. That's not what this is about. Sometimes it's the color; sometimes it's the neckline; sometimes it's the silhouette; sometimes it's the shoes.
The point is that YOU CAN PICK OUT ANYTHING YOU LIKE, and because you're an artist AND a technician.
You don't need to wait on the movement of the consumer....you are your own designer, manufacturer, retailer, buyer and shopper!
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. 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 is 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 Entire Sleeve Resource and want to update it, the Armscye-Armhole Alteration Resource is at a discount to add to your already purchased Entire Sleeve package.
Here's the Entire Sleeve Resource
Here's the newly updated Armscye-Armhole Alteration Resource
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