phew!

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090826-tows-aish-rai-ab-bachchan

oh my LORD!!!! remind me never to get behind on my sewing samples again! i think i may just be able to squeak into the safe zone again. i was thinking about dropping the course because i swear, i can never put myself through the stress of being two samples behind again (i.e., last semester). my teacher is hyperprecise and anal. which is good in the long run but a little STRESSFUL sometimes!!! oh well at least i'm learning properly.

so we're into the third week now and doing some pretty tricky stuff - lapped zipper, curved zipper (yeah if you want to put your zipper on your hip - like on a skirt), high waist, invisible zipper. so much precision, so little time. and today she told us she doesn't want us to rush stuff, because "if you rush, even if you're a professional, you won't be able to do a good job." so true, so true. and yet life looms with its deadlines. i guess i just have to be really careful to block enough time every week to do my homework.

this past weekend i couldn't do the samples on my own so i blew off trying and went for brunch with Joanna Maracle (now you're really famous, Jo). then we went to Steve's and caressed the guitars (well, I did) and i bought a capo. totally worth it but i'd better start asking questions in class or i will never be able to sleep again if i get behind in this course. and my teacher thinks it's a good pace. HA! HA!

Aishwarya Rai wore this incredible saree on Oprah when she appeared with her hubby. wonder who the designer is. if anyone knows, tell me.

back to school :)

So I went for my first Level 1 Garment Construction class last night (the one I documented in the summer was Introductory). It turned out to be the same teacher from my first class, which was great. There were also a bunch of students from that class as well, but not everyone, and she congratulated us on making it to the next level as not everyone did. I felt quite proud of myself. And now I'm not intimidated by the machines anymore! Which is major, because that's half the battle. Industrial machines are beasts. Let's not even talk about industrial sergers.



So glad I stuck it out - feels good to be moving up and on with this. And the new season of Project Runway just started too - what a coincidence! Well, not really. It's almost fall. But I like how everything's lining up. September issue of Vogue, the movie "The September Issue" coming out now, Project Runway, my class.everything starting.yeah I see the connections I want to see. It's meant to be, in my mind. And that's where it counts!



I had a Sunny sighting in the summer - he was in the neighbourhood for Pride. What? You don't know Sunny Fong, winner of Project Runway Canada??? He's a god. I was rooting for him to win, because he's brilliant, and then he did, and it felt like there was a little justice and harmony in the world.



Michael Kors (judge on Project Runway and if you don't know what else he does I don't want to talk to you) said that the show would let people see how insane fashion people are. I was like, huh? Am I insane, because I don't find anything about the show to be insane. At all.



There's a lady in my class who has designated herself as The Character. She jabbers a lot, at random moments. I saw her get into a verbal catfight with another student last semester, over 'her seat' in the sewing lab. But she pales in comparison to the guy who used to wear shiny spandex leggings.



Ah, fashion people.

fashion hippies

This is a great link about fashion hippies - ah, such a relief to find that's not a total oxymoron! All right, I admit it, I'm a bit of a closet hippie. Yes, Jo, I admit it.



http://www.style.com/trendsshopping/stylenotes/081309_Neo_Hippies/



Along with wanting to work with eco-friendly fabrics (bamboo drapes really well) and vegetable-based dyes, I hope to somehow fuse my love of all things beautiful with my desire to uplift. If this ever gets off the ground and I can start getting my embroidery done in India (where the best embroidery is done), I'd like to work a little grama seva (village service) into the picture. If I have traditional artisans working for/with me, I can use that as a platform for starting some sort of program. I'd love to get in there and be responsible for a village. Since India is mostly rural, I'd feel like I was giving something back to the country that has given me so much inspiration.

and the journey continues

Yay, I finished the first course and am still excited about this pursuit! The next one starts on monday and I just registered a couple of days ago. The final projects aren't as exciting - we have to make a sweat suit and a wool skirt, but the prospect of learning how to handle different materials is.

And right now for some reason I just want to climb on my stylish soapbox and vent a little bit about all the opinions I've been receiving about this pursuit, from the beginning. i wish people would be more mindful of what they say and when they say it. we are too reactive in our society, and often stupid in our reflexive, thoughtless reactions. from the woman who failed at her own attempt to be a fashion designer and shot me down (completely!) when I first got the idea four years ago, to my well-meaning-but-annoying-friends who know zilch about the business but have lots of (retarded) suggestions to my mom...let's not even get started on that one! but my favourite has to be the response of a lovely couple who are family friends who said, 'oh, that's nice' when i told them what i wanted to do and then suggested that i become an RCMP officer. i suppose i'm just irritated at how difficult it has been to rally support for myself. why do i have to convince my close people?