The passion of sewing

Yesterday I saw Vivienne Westwood being interviewed on BBC breakfast when she said (and I am paraphrasing here) that people going into fashion design industry did not necessarily have the talent to make a career out of it.

Now I am absolutely not disagreeing with her on that, as we all know it is not that easy to pluck a design out of thin air that will have the whole world gasping in amazement as Ms Westwood has done on many occasions.  But I do think there is another element involved that she obviously has in droves...and that is a passion for design and (dare I say it) sewing.

You could almost see the passion exude from her as she talked about the design of Dita Von Teese wedding dress and how she had been personally involved in its design and making.  She looked so proud as she told how it was all made from one piece of fabric except some extra in the back to add volume and this dress certainly screams out quality (I am growling at Microsoft word at the moment as it is trying to tell me that I should have typed ‘accept’ not ‘except’, NO MICROSOFT I KNOW WHAT I MEANT!). 

I thought no more about it until this morning while sitting in a staff meeting.  One of my colleagues is a dance teacher and she was sitting stitching some costumes for her students with grunts and groans of complaint.  Meanwhile, I sat next to her resisting the urge to grab the needle and thread from her as I desperately wanted to do it.  I find sewing challenging, frustrating and sometimes downright annoying.  But on other occasions I find myself sewing away as if in a meditative trance and come out the other end relaxed and happy.

I don't care if the needle is attached to a machine or held in my hand I find an almost cathartic release from all my cares and worries comes with it. Keeping me away from sewing makes me grumpy and irritable.  I love doing the pantomime costumes as I get to play around with fabrics and patterns.  I can spend hours just messing around with trims and things, sewing beads onto bodices or hand pleating bits of fabric just because I think it will look pretty.

I like to think that the majority of people who sew these days are passionate sewists as it really isn't a cheaper alternative to shop bought clothing.  People who sew do so because they WANT to not because they NEED to.  This is why when you go in a sewing shop you can see the excitement on their faces as their hands stroke the fabrics and a strange glint enters their eyes as they consider what they will make with this beautiful piece of material.

So while us normal types may not be as creative as the likes of Vivienne Westwood, I do think we are just as passionate and to this end we should all be proud of our own little works of art (for that is what they are).I am writing this as I still await our auditions, just under two weeks to go now, and that fabric is bashing away at the cupboard door to be let out and made into something amazing! 

Well I can always hope, maybe this is the year I will create something so outstanding it will be reported in the national press! 

Don't hold your breath!