the fabric, the care package and the Cat

Since I can remember, I’ve always loved fabrics. There is something really magical in meters of untouched colors, prints and textures, the way they drape and run through my fingers… I can nearly see all the beautiful creations that can come out of it… or the big pile of ruined scraps and me pulling my hair out over them.

In order to avoid the second scenario, I wanted to refresh my sewing skills for quite some time. Before learning fashion design I was terrified of sewing machines – too many sharp and moving parts – it’s like begging for a hole in my finger! During the course, we never made anything fun. Sure, there were lots of experiments with draping, manipulating patterns and so on, but it was all in muslin and in tiny little model size (for those who never stitched a day in their life – muslin is sticky and smells funny). At some point I really started to resent the whole process: hours of sewing and ripping and sewing and ripping, crossed eyes, cramping fingers and, in the end, not very impressive but smelly results. Not surprising, I seldom felt the need to make “real” clothes in the spare time. 

Plus, for me, the best part of studying fashion was the designing – sketching, illustrating. The actual “putting clothes together” process was always on the sidelines – probably that’s why I’ve never learned it properly. But now, after a solid break from sticky muslin, I started circling around my fabric box and thought, why not give it another go? On my own terms this time.

I figured it’s better to start simple before I jump to inventing some complicated patterns, so I decided to check off some projects from my pinterest list. Of course I made few alterations and there was some occasional ripping, but I have to say, working with pretty fabrics and sewing clothes I can actually wear made all the difference!

While I was moving from skirts to shorts, care package arrived from my parents. Since I spent half of my college life in my home town, the whole care package concept was lost on me. That is to say, until the second half, which I spent in India, when parcels from home were more like lifesaving kits. Fortunately, after we put the genius plan of moving to Goa into motion, so called care packages are pure fun and joy! I have to say, I’m in big danger of breaking my “learn basic sewing before you jump to anything else” resolution. I simply can’t wait to lay my hands on all the new pretty shiny thing, but I’m trying to stay strong, so the book will have to do for now.