A Creator’s Evolution

(Title irony intentional, of course)

This week I’m celebrating (and by “celebrating” I mean I briefly thought about it when it popped into my head at the grocery store while choosing bananas) the twenty year anniversary of the creation of my first skating dress.  This slightly unkind reminder of my own personal aging process brought to mind just how much has changed since those first very stressful days, and I realized that documenting my continuing journey, as well as memories of obstacles past, would be a perfect addition to my company’s website (gratuitous plug: http://www.shopfireflyfabrics.com).  So here we go…

Twenty years ago, my skating dress sewing goal was simple: don’t make my kids look like dorks.  It evolved, as did I, through so many phases: the “make my skaters blend in so no one will know I have no clue what I’m doing” phase, the “make my skaters look better than (fill in the name of some coach who seriously bugged us at the time)’s skaters” phase, the “only have to redo the skirt twice” phase, the “how can I make this dress look like they spent $800 when I only have a $40 budget” phase (which, sadly, still lingers in too many clients’ minds), the “I don’t care if I don’t sleep for six days as long as it’s done on time” phase, the “if it only needs one safety pin it’s a success” phase, the “how can I make you look 50 pounds lighter and three inches taller” phase, the “yes, I’m sure I can finish 18 more dresses in two weeks” phase, and the “if you don’t want to pay this (extremely and ridiculously reasonable) price, then I don’t feel the need to sew for you anyway thank you very much” phase.

Thinking about how much has changed really brought to mind the phrase “blood, sweat, and tears” — lots of pricked, bloody fingers (and yes, this one time I did rip the skin off my leg when I tried to peel off some dried E6000, but that’s another story…), sewing in central California July heat so intense that I had to stone over the sweat that dripped onto and stained the fabric, and, of course, many, many tears when what was in my head just didn’t translate into a finished piece (see a future post on the “Las Vegas Underwear” dress).  But since those less than illustrious beginnings, I’ve probably sewn 300 dresses, many of which are still in circulation many years after their creation, and I see them when we travel to meets both in and out of state.  What used to take me several days now takes a couple hours.  What I used to give away because it felt too unprofessional and crappy now is a full-time business.  What used to embarrass me now fills a portfolio.

Aside from sharing lessons learned over the years, I’ll also share tips and tricks I’ve figured out along the way.  I’ll post current projects and share steps of the design and creation process.  As the business grows, I’ll share trends and new fabric finds.  If you’re an old pro we can commiserate; if you’re a novice you can avoid many of the setbacks and sidetracks I encountered.

And just for kicks…this is a photo of that very first dress I made, which took about two weeks:

And a dress made 19 years later, which, beginning to end, took about six hours:

Let’s continue to evolve together, shall we?