My Philosophy

I am proudly a slapdash sewist. I think it stems back to my childhood. My dad was yellling at me and my sister about having our clothes strewn all over the floor. He told us about a girl he went to high school with who didn't have much money or many clothes, but the few clothes she did have were quality and she cared for them very well and she always looked classy yadda yadda. I told him I'd rather have a bunch of cheap clothes than a few nice ones.

I sew more in quantity than in quality. Sometimes I think I should care more about getting the exquisite details right. But I kind of don't. I'd rather take the 10% chance that it won't come out right than cut my volume in half by muslining every project.

In Tim Gunn's new book, A Guide to Quality, Taste, and Style, he explains the origin of his catch-phrase "Make it work." He was disturbed, he said, by seeing so many of the fashion students scrapping a project when it didn't go as they wanted or they got bored of it. His point was, who's to say the next project is going to be any more successful if you don't know how to see a garment to its conclusion? So I am relying on an authority no less than Tim Gunn to support my slapdashedness and make-it-work-ness. (I suspect that he would not actually approve of my work habits, but unless he weighs in I'm still counting him my mentor.)

So, some things never change. The floor? It's still covered in shoes.