Right now I'm in Atlanta attending a 4-day sewing expo. I've never been to anything like this before, so I had no idea what to expect.
So far it's been a roller coaster ride. As I sit in the classes and walk around the vendor booths I find myself
critiquing a lot. A big lot. And then I start to wonder what's wrong
with me that I can't enjoy because I'm finding too much fault.
Because of
Patternreview.com and its sizeable population of young, hip,
fashion-forward members, over the last few years I have begun to see a new dawn of possibilities. Well-fitting
elegant fashion
is possible from the individual home sewist, and should be expected.
Now, wading through a sea of
tapered pants and crocs in the Expo hall, I again despair for the future of sewing. The home
sewing industry is stuck in the 80's and early 90's, led by a group of
apple-shaped menopausal women wearing unflattering "wearable art".
Good techniques are buried in frumpy designs; stylish designs are
frustratingly poor in quality and quantity. Every independent patternmaker out there is marketing their version of
something boxy and asymmetrical and with odd design elements present purely for
the sake of a design element.
Where are the sewists copying what's
au courant? I know they're out there, I see them on
PR all the time. Current fashion is wearable by many body types if it is fitted correctly and chosen wisely. And, much of today's fashion is insanely easy to sew. I mean, camisoles? Please. As easy as they come and obnoxiously expensive to buy.
And the vendor displays - oy vey. One would think we sewists were all a bunch of jackdaws for the shiny trinkets put out there for us to peck at. And we flock to it in spite of ourselves, because the people selling delicious designer wools were standing idle while the embroidered frippery and quilting fat quarters on eather side were hopping off the shelves. In addition, a good portion of the sewing "classes" offered are really used as marketing time for an instructor's patterns, books, videos, etc, etc.
So tonight I'm vaguely disgusted. I'm glad I came because I really needed the break from clinic. I've learned a lot so far, but not what I thought I would learn, and I guess that's the disappointing part. Expectations are difficult. Especially for a tough grader like me. We'll see how they get fulfilled tomorrow.
