Mom cut up some pieces of fabric she had lying around and whipped out a dress on that sewing machine in seeming record time. I was at a loss for words, so utterly impressed.
I'm not sure if it was from that incident or just an inherent thing, but I'd badly wanted to learn to sew for the longest time. I asked my mom to teach me, but she was reluctant.
She and her family made clothes and sold them when she was growing up. Mom was the only daughter, and I think she and her mother did the bulk of the sewing while her brothers cut the fabric. So years later, when she was in America, she was ready to put that life behind her, and I guess she didn't want it for me either.
She did have a crafty friend of hers show me a few basics, and I also did some projects in junior high home ec. class. When I graduated from high school, Mom gave me my first sewing machine as a graduation present. To this day, I think of that sewing machine as both the best and most practical gift anyone has ever given me.
But clothes are pretty cheap now, there's really no practical reason to make clothes. Most people I know who sew do crafty things like quilts and decorations and such.
I recently found a blogger who has made a lucrative living as a... seamstress? For lack of a better term? She has a powerful online presence with her fashion and DIY as well as sewing tutorials. Probably another thing that attracts people to her various websites is that she models all her own clothes, and she's not the typical stick-figure anorexic-looking model.
What impresses me is how productive she is - cranks out the outfits and photo shoots and vlogs and blogs with crazy regularity. She says it all happened when she just decided to blog about her DIY a few years ago, never meaning it to be her career, and it all went viral. But it's obvious she's got skill and loves to do this stuff.
Illustration Friday hasn't posted a new prompt yet, so I'm still in time for last week's prompt "skill" with a fashion sketch of Mimi G.
6 comments:
Sewing machines always scared me, I am so impressed to watch someone who can use one effortlessly, my Mom was always good with a sewing machine, but we don't even own one.
I learnt to sew but very rarely use a sewing machine now. I was fascinated with that bloggers website, the thing is that once you get known like that for sewing and diy and you have a successful blog, you HAVE to be really productive because you have built up an audience that want to see new stuff all the time. It must become a full time commitment.
Mine has come in handy several times over the years, but it also collects a lot of dust!
I remember when you showed us those cute Halloween outfits you made for your daughters.
Mimi G obviously has marketing skills to go with her sewing and style skills, and it's all clearly a full time job.
Sewing machines intimidate me, probably because I never had any lessons on it. I sewed a few costumes for my kids when they were younger, and have not touched it since. They frustrate me.
But I’m so impressed by people who use them effortlessly. And I’ll happily pay them to do the work for me. :)
The sewing machine I own now, I bought after seeing a demo. It's a nice machine, but I don't use half of its capability. Halloween costumes and school party decorations. I leave the rest to the pros!
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