doing sew sew today

Yep, I’m sewing today! Sewing has been a part of my life since I was about 10, hand sewing some stuffed toys. My mom sewed tons of clothes for my sister and I growing up and I learned my basic skills from her but quickly went way past her in skill levels as I learned more. I was a challenge for my home-ec teacher, trying to find things that would be challenging enough for my skills and still fair. While my classmates where doing simple 2 pieces pillow stuffed toys and aprons, I was doing multi piece teddy bears and constructed blazers. Some of my classmates envied that I could sew well and others hated me. Oh well!

In college I repair, hemmed, sewed clothes for others. I did costume work for the theatre dept and for myself for Halloween. I kept reaching further and further in skills and learned lots along the way either by trial and error or from others. When I was in grad school I worked at the local community theatre as an assistant costumer which lead to more and more positions in costuming professionally. I also worked in a wedding dress shop doing alterations on wedding apparel and prom dresses. I kept learning along the way and honed my skills.

I moved to the burbs of DC and went to work for "the" costume rental company out there. I repaired and designed tons of things for them during my short tenure there. I even got to attend the annual National Costumers Association convention and won a prize for one of my designs. This was the first award and so exciting! Then we moved to the SW and it took me awhile to get a job and to do more costume work. I worked for one of the rental places here in town but did most vintage clothing repairs and copying costumes from the latest and greatest films. I met some drag queens during my time there and started sewing on the side for them. Through them I won my second award for costumes, the Today Show Halloween morning costume contest. Funniest part of that was Bryant Gumble trying to shove the certificate down the top of one of the queens! LOL

I had my son and my life as designer to the queens stopped. I did stuffed toy design and sold many a stuffed dragon, unicorn and lizard at craft shows. I developed my own patterns and made these fantastic creations to sell and to give as gifts. I still have tons of supplies from that time that I keep thinking I’ll get back to and make more someday.

After my divorce I got involved with the SCA, the Medieval re-enactment group, and started sewing for family and friends. I did my first medieval/fantasy style wedding dress for a friend about 5 years ago and have done 2 more since then. I have sewn a total of about 12 wedding dresses over time, including one for myself last December. I do very little for money anymore. I know I could make money doing design sewing and even alterations but really, I would have to charge too much for my services so most of the time I refuse paid work so I can sew for myself, family and friends. I was once hired for that large wedding dress chain as their alterations dept manager but when they got me part way through training and told me weekends were expected, I refused and told them if they couldn’t work around that, I wouldn’t work for them. Needless to say, I didn’t officially work for D****s Bridal.

Speaking of bridal, I did my whole wedding party’s outfits for my wedding last December. The pic on my profile is of Hubby and I just after the wedding, waiting for the guests to file out of the church so we could do the whole saber arch thing exiting from the chapel. All in all, I did my dress, my 2 maids, vests for the 2 groomsmen and my son along with ties, a jacket for the man-at-arms and Hubby’s coat, vest and tie. My BFF and matron of honor helped along with another friend but I did most of the sewing by myself. It was "Stardust" the movie themed, really fun!

Today I’m working on two projects. I have some paid work for something Hubby is working on at work. They need Kevlar jackets for rats to wear for a certain wave pattern test. Really weird work and I’ve never worked with Kevlar before but it’s interesting and a help to his test group. Yes, it’s paid but it’s also a test for my design work and sewing skills. I’m also working on outfits from our SCA baron and baroness for the upcoming royal coronation ceremony in CO. It needs to be done by May 5th and I fit the lining for them yesterday. The next step is to alter the lining, cut the main part of the fabric and sew it according to the dimensions of the lining. I have a fitting scheduled with them again on Sunday and hopefully by then I’ll have the majority of the sewing done, just detail work and lots of it! I want them to look exceptionally "pretty" for their first coronation as B&B. Maybe that will impress the new King and Queen with what talented artists they have in their kingdom! LOL

Well, I’m off to sew, hopefully not make pincushions of my fingers!

J