Me and a girl named Laurel shared the role of head stitcher for the past 3 years that I worked in the costume shop (I resigned this year cause I got sick of it - they kept losing the shop director and replacing her once or twice a year cause the hours don't make up even a half time job) Here's my input:
I came in pretty confident as a seamstress, but I can tell you that as soon as you start doing this almost every day you're going to get better really fast. I sewed very well before I started working in the shop, now I so well AND fast. You just have to be meticulous on some projects. Don't ever settle for "okay" stitching, even if it means seam ripping for 15 minutes to an hour to fix it (hopefully you will realize a stitch has gone bad before you have to seam rip for a whole hour =P) Strive for perfection in every top stitch,hem, anything that will show. Press every seam even if it's a pain in the ass. It will help your habits as a cosplayer and it will give you a good reputation in the theatre if your work is carefully constructed amongst the chaos of deadlines. It seems anal, but that's what good sewing should be; a costume should never look like a costume, it should look like an everyday garment, even if it's the everyday garment to Jareth the Goblin King. Jareth would not wear something with amateurish stitching.
Even if you don't think you know how to handle it all right now, just take it as it comes. You'll wrestle through it in time and you'll benefit TONS by doing so! =D Have fun!
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long winded response, typical of a Dawn
Date: 2007-09-13 02:28 pm (UTC)I came in pretty confident as a seamstress, but I can tell you that as soon as you start doing this almost every day you're going to get better really fast. I sewed very well before I started working in the shop, now I so well AND fast. You just have to be meticulous on some projects. Don't ever settle for "okay" stitching, even if it means seam ripping for 15 minutes to an hour to fix it (hopefully you will realize a stitch has gone bad before you have to seam rip for a whole hour =P) Strive for perfection in every top stitch,hem, anything that will show. Press every seam even if it's a pain in the ass. It will help your habits as a cosplayer and it will give you a good reputation in the theatre if your work is carefully constructed amongst the chaos of deadlines. It seems anal, but that's what good sewing should be; a costume should never look like a costume, it should look like an everyday garment, even if it's the everyday garment to Jareth the Goblin King. Jareth would not wear something with amateurish stitching.
Even if you don't think you know how to handle it all right now, just take it as it comes. You'll wrestle through it in time and you'll benefit TONS by doing so! =D Have fun!