Patience is a Virtue

I don't have that virtue. Yesterday was the last of my dress making class at Toa Payoh East CC. As you already know my reasons for learning sewing, i deduced dress making is NOT my thing. I am glad that i signed up for the community center ($60 for 8 lessons) instead of going to a private center that costs as much as $300 for 9 lessons. The only difference is, at the community center, it's one teacher to a min.of 12 students compared to 1 teacher to 2 students privately.

Still, it was a good taste of sewing. Essentially, you need these tools to make anything.

Once you get the hang of it, sewing is actually easy. The difficult part was mastering the technique and knowing how to take measurements and translating it onto paper then onto cloth. Be prepared to not learn any theory at the CCs. I don't know if it's better/easier at the private schools, but alot of students dropped out after the first lesson.

1) the teacher, an old lady is better in Mandarin than in English

2) she won't teach you the terminalogy of sewing, the parts of a sewing machine etc. You pretty much use your own judgement to  see, copy, & do. Many times, i'm exasperated because i want her to explain to me why we have to fold a certain way, sew a certain way. But sewing is something that you can't explain. There's a whole secret langauge for sewing. Terms like kiap,& niap.  Tik it together essentially means to hold it together.

3) you do not learn independence as you rely ALOT on the teacher to pin the peices together for you. She does that, then asks you to go sew according to the lines you've drawn. It's very straightforward. Many times, i don't understand why and what i am doing. I simply follow blindly but it ain't difficult to figure out. Just work backwards and review your work.

After 8 gruelling lessons, i finally completed my top.

It's such a simple top with no details nor frills but already i was tearing my hair out!

Full of threads inside, the sleeve was the hardest to put together.

But such satisfaction because it fits me to the T. Despite the low back cut, it sits on my shoulders without slipping. This is because it's made to my measurements and i designed it.

I learn to appreciate craftsmen more and i understand why hand-made clothing is alot more expensive now. This has taught me to EARN ALOT OF MONEY so i can just buy any design i fancy and not resort to making my own. I guess i shall shelve this for now because i don't have the patience to figure out how to sew. I will pick it up when i retire perhaps. Then again, i doubt i will have any fashion sense as a grandma.

But i can make my husband DESIGNER grandpa diapers!

Futuristic, practical and RE-USABLE.