Classics Of A Sort

Every once in a while Seth posts a picture on his blog - Advanced Style - of someone nearer to my age or of someone whose style I can see myself wearing like this picture of Isabel or the one of Beatrix below. I have no idea how old Isabel is. I do know that Beatrix is in her seventies. The love of - and the wearing of - fashion spans decades. It's wonderful.

You can see the similarities between Isabel and Beatrix's styles. I can see my own similarities and somewhere in there is the direction in which I'm heading as I become more adventurous. It occurred to me recently that unique and individualized clothing is as unlikely to date itself as a Channel jacket or a pencil skirt. Both are classics of a sort.

After a longer than I anticipated but quite wonderful coffee date with someone I met only a few months ago, I eventually made it into the studio mid afternoon only to try this and try that and then try something else with limited success. That's the nature of both refashioning and of draping.

The starting point is this grey t-shirt made in January and then never worn. Even on skinny days, it made me feel frumpy especially with the way the sides and hem flipped out and how it hugged every bump on the way down.

My T & T pattern requires easing through the bustline. Apparently, I'm a slow learner because more than once I've chosen a fabric with enough crosswise but not enough lengthwise stretch. It's happened so often that I'm considering a new pattern. The gathers don't flatter.

I didn't want to take out the side seams so I pinned the fullest gathers into tucks from the side seam toward - and stopping about 1 1/2" from - the bust point and then stitched 1/8" from the fold.

Above is a before pressing picture. The tucks are even nicer pressed and the dimples at the end have disappeared. They make me giggle. They look a bit like fingers coming around from the back to fondle. Subtly s-x-e perhaps!

To get rid of some of the side flip, I tapered the seam allowance taking out 2" per side or 4" in total. It helped in part. There's still too much fullness through the back but that's a different problem.

One of the things Diane talked about at the workshop was the need to plan your path. When you're making fabric from fabric intending to make it into a garment or as you're refashioning an existing garment, you need to determine the order of things. My first step was to split the front changing the garment from a t-shirt to a cardigan. Then I eliminated the gathers that were bothering me and began to remove excess ease through the hips. When I reached a point where I thought the resulting garment might actually be flattering, I started spending more time evaluating options. This way of working can make refashioning a t-shirt take five times longer than sewing a new one. And it's fun.

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.

This quote is one of my favourites. It is often - and I have made the mistake of - attributed to Goethe when in fact they are the words of W. H. Murray. I only learned that recently so it's going to take me a while to make the shift but no matter who said them, they are words I find to be true and words that have caused me to ponder what being truly committed looks like.

I can know that a course of action would be good for me and I can want to take it in a should kind of way and I might even make a start but far more often than I wish to admit I slip back into my old ways. When I am truly committed, it'll be accompanied by surprising things coming my way - like yesterday when my friend asked if I wanted this white cabinet above that didn't seem to fit anywhere in her new house. Yes. It's the exact white cabinet that was in the bathroom of my previous home and held my toiletries perfectly - which my new bathroom does not - so I've been missing it. Not only did she give me one, she gave me two. We'll put the second one downstairs.

I realize the degree to which I'm committed (to no extra spending or unnecessary purchases) when  all manner of unforeseen incidents start coming my way. Not only is it encouraging, it's way too fun to see how God blesses and it opens my eyes to the everyday blessings I have overlooked.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - the exact cabinet I've been wanting without spending any money