Posted by dannitangent on 2006-11-14 23:06:41
Post Subject: Dress Patterns
Hello All. I am new, so far I LOVE this site. Hopefully you guys can help me out. I am looking for dress patterns that are not vintage or a little on the farm girl side. I can find a knitting site for every possible need but I can't seem to find any dress pattern or pattern making sites that have a modern look. Thanks!
Posted by Sewlittletime on 2006-03-09 10:17:12
Post Subject:
I'm so sorry your friend is having trouble finding what she needs for her bridesmaid! When my sister got married in 2000, my mom and I sewed my matron-of-honor dress (size 18/20). I just happened to own a formal dress pattern that was a similar style to my sister's bridal gown...but not exactly the same, of course. (My sister is about 5'2" and weighs maybe 110 soaking wet, and I'm 5'7" and weighed in at about 180 at the time!!)
Does your friend know a good seamstress?? It might be worth it to have someone make a dress form the pattern and fabric of her choice. But I have no idea how much that would actually cost.
Posted by Athos on 2004-10-01 14:36:09
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*so* interesting.
i think it's the same as finding a dress pattern and fabric you like, and paying a seamstress to make it for you. nothing wrong with it, but you didn't make the dress yourself.
the quilting example - well, i think it's okay. esp for older people who might not be able to do the same things they once could, why shouldn't they keep crafting however they can? and if you are so busy that you know you'd never finish the quilt, why not pay someone to do the tedious part? though i wouldn't lie about it, and i wouldn't claim to have "made" it. only designed. ; )
i think with crafting, as many things, there's an unfortunate all-or-nothing tendency (as espoused by the martha aesthetic! though i do love her...). like unless you also make the crust yourself, you shouldn't bake a pie. well, that might keep tons of people who lack the time, tools, or talent to make the dough themselves from ever baking. so if it gets more people expressing themselves in a postive way, i'm all for it. hell, maybe being a crafter for hire should be my new career!
"Have more grandchildren than you can knit for? Have you grown tired of making new Christmas stockings every year? Now you can have the fun of designing with someone else's labor to make it happen! Athos, crafter for hire, will assist you in making gifts that no one needs to know weren't soley your own creations."
Posted by xuli on 2004-10-01 20:09:00
Post Subject:
Thanks for your thoughts, Craftistas! These are all good points being brought up, and I especially like this analogy from Athos:
i think it's the same as finding a dress pattern and fabric you like, and paying a seamstress to make it for you. nothing wrong with it, but you didn't make the dress yourself.
I totally understand people who are dedicated to a craft, but don't necessarily have the ability to finish all aspects of the craft. And I understand people who have crafty businesses -- especially people who sell quilts -- because it's just so much more efficient time-wise to have someone else doing the "grunt" work when what you're marketing are your own crafty designs and ideas. (And Shawneemonkey's example of the Amish women doing it is really good, too, because my understanding of quilting businesses that have Amish ladies do the quilting and pay them fairly for it is that they are investing in a really high-quality product, because Amish women have been passing down this knowledge for such a long long long time and have lots of knowledge and experience that your average hobby quilter just wouldn't have.)
But -- for hand-made things made for personal use ... I dunno. My friend's mom as example: I'd always admired my friend's quilts, and she always told me with such pride that her mom makes them. Then as I started getting really interested in quilts and really looking at the work on them, my friend was like, "Well .... actually .... she didn't do that part. She designed and pieced it though." It just seemed weird, even though my friend's mom wasn't the one claiming to do it herself.
And I guess another thing is that I get *such* a feeling of satisfaction out of a knitted garment after I've done all the blocking and seaming and tedious finishing stuff. I'm just not sure if I'd get that really satisfied feeling if I didn't do it all myself. I mean, yarn can be so expensive, and a knitted garment (even when made with relatively inexpensive yarn) is such an investment of my personal money, energy, time and work. But it's worth it in the end to me because I feel like I've really put myself into it. And I love being able to say, "I made that." It just seems like it would change the relationship between me and the things I make if I were to say, "I sorta made that."
