I started sewing when I was about five. My mother made handkerchiefs for my father and she would give me one to hem. I remember sitting there trying to make tiny little stitches, and failing. However, my father was a love and used them anyhow. Mother had a treadle Singer (we didn't have electricity at the time), and as soon as I could reach the treadle I started sewing doll clothes on it. I quickly found they were easier to do by hand. My first dress was actually a pinafore of white pique with little blue flowers. It had a ruffle around the hem and ruffles on the straps over the shoulders. And I was sooo proud of it.
I loved to sew until I took home ec in the 10th grade. After that horrible experience I didn't sew for several years. In college I went back to it because I couldn't afford to buy formals. And I have been sewing ever since. I even made a living being a seamstress for several years, but hated the alterations and finally quit that. Costumes - ah yes, I made costumes for Halloween and then did the entire cast of a period play in college. That was a blast! I made costumes for friends and their kids off and on for years. Then I joined a Star Trek group and made Star Trek uniforms for most of the "crew". Science Fiction conventions required costumes for me and for friends. Then I joined SCA and really got into some serious research. Most of my period costumes are made by hand for authenticity and because I have learned to enjoy doing the hand work now that I am retired and have the time. I enjoy the research, design, finding just the right fabric and trim, and the sewing. I don't really like the cutting out because it is boring and makes my hands hurt. I have a closet full of hand made costumes, and ended up buying three pairs of slacks to take on a trip last month. I must get around to making myself some modern clothes one of these days. Cats - oh yes! Somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty or so. I seem to be the favorite place for everyone to palm off their unwanted cats and kittens (or cats about to have kittens). But I love them and they have an acre of land (and the woods on three sides) to wander in. I have them spayed or neutered so they don't continue to reproduce unwanted kittens, and they get their shots annually. Every month I take two or three to the vet for check-ups and shots. They also have their own door so the can come and go as they please. The only rooms off limits are the guest room and the sewing room. They can get in way too much trouble in the sewing room, and I like to keep the guest room for guests who may or may not be in love with cats. Lalah, Never give up, Never surrender --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Suzi Clarke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Historical Costume <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: Subject: [h-cost] When and how did you start making costume? Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 10:12:04 +0100 In discussion with a couple of friends at the weekend, we fell to talking about when we started sewing. One friend is a re-enactor, the other a former wardrobe mistress for the National Theatre among other things. Both of them had started very early, making clothes for themselves and for dolls. And they did it for pleasure! (And I am a professional costume maker.) Now I never made clothes for dolls that I remember. As a teenager I occasionally, and very badly, made the odd skirt or blouse for myself. I started work in the maintenance wardrobe of the RSC at 24, and the first serious making I did was in a rep company a couple of years later when I found it was part of my job as a wardrobe mistress to make the pantomime costumes. (I hate pantomime!) I got out of that very quickly, and went back to maintenance, eventually got married, had a son, and went to college as a mature student of 40 to learn to cut and make costumes. I discovered I was good enough never to have been out of work since I left college 20 mumble years ago. But I still hate sewing up the costumes! I love the working out of what the customer wants, the choosing of the fabrics, the making of the patterns and cutting them out, (skip the next bit - the sewing up) love hand finishing, trimming, and fitting. But please could someone tell me where to get a magic wand to sew everything together? Oh, and coincidentally to the sewing conversation, we wondered if it was a given that costume makers, whether professional, gifted amateur, or occasional maker, have cats? All the ones I know do. Suzi (about to sew the 5th Mary Queen of Scots costume, and putting it off!) _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _____________________________________________________________ Netscape. Just the Net You Need. _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
