My Seamwork Article
I’m really excited to share my article for Seamwork Magazine. You can read it here!
It came out in the January edition of the magazine with the theme Adventure, and I immediately sent the link to all of my friends and family. Putting it together was definitely one of my favorite accomplishments in the year 2020.
Here I am with my cape-coat, and a construction cone
I loved the challenge of trying to describe how I found inspiration and how it informed my creative process. I also enjoyed sewing the projects I had come up with for my micro-collection. For the cape-coat, I realize now that I should have redrafted the coat lining from my hacked coat body pattern, because the lining ended up hanging strangely on the inside of the coat, even though I had adjusted the lining pattern. I could fill a blog post about lessons learned from sewing those coats!
For me, the hardest part of writing the article was focusing on one topic. There were many things that I wanted to talk about- how I found inspiration, the challenges I had working with different sewing patterns, my fabric choices and fabric shopping, and much more.
It helped me to keep a sketchbook where I could doodle or jot down thoughts, and also a word file on my computer where I could paste links and write down bullet points on inspiration. Then I spent some time reorganizing those bullet points and little snippets into a story, and then writing the narrative.
(I didn’t include these “pop of color” inspiration images in my article, but this is the MmuseumM, which is a tiny museum of objects inside of an elevator shaft downtown. The museum is currently closed, but there is a new window in the door so you can still see the exhibit inside, and you can also scan the code on the door for more exhibition info.)
Reading my published article made me think back to my Spring 2020 Design Your Wardrobe plan. I mentioned in my article that I was part way through the DYW program when the pandemic lockdown began in NYC and made me rethink my workwear wardrobe plan. In fact, I had already drawn up my plan with three different outfit styles, went fabric shopping (including four yards of solid black stretch wool for pants), bought some patterns, and had gotten started cutting out my fabric.
Those unfinished projects have been sitting in two tote bags since the spring, and at the beginning of 2021 I peeked inside, like a sewing project time capsule. I’ve decided that I’m going to try to reuse the fabric and notions for new projects. I started this year by recutting one of my 2020 unfinished projects into a new shirt, and I’m looking forward to chipping away at the rest of my 2020 time capsule projects, letting my inspiration take me in new directions.