Who inspired you?

[Lady Kett]

Who inspired you to sew?

Gem's post on perfectionism made me think of this - everyone here strives for a level of perfectionism which I just seem to feed on and gain tremendous encouragement from. It would be so easy to be fatalistic and think, "I can't do that so I won't even try" except the atmosphere here is so warm and supportive.

I would like to take this opportunity to give my utmost and public thanks to Dona Catalina, who for two seasons in the morning tailgate at Scarby patiently repeated "sewing isn't hard, you can do it" to me and my husband (who I affectionately refer to as my trusty Sidekick).

Had Dona not been so eternally positive, gentle and encouraging, we would have NEVER thought that we could try a pair of perfectly harmless bloomers and go from there. Now we've bought a new sewing machine, have branched out into chemises, skirts, a doublet and a pair of men's short pants (or whatever the heck they are called, and yes I know I need to post pics!) and built a small stash of fabric for future projects and many great plans.

All of the outstanding seamstresses and tailors here on R/F are also a wonderfully encouraging and helpful group, and we could not have thought this endeavor possible without you. There are such marvelous projects shown here and although many are well beyond our skill, there is always encouragement to "just try it and see how it works out".

And so to Dona, and to all of you here in the sewing forum, I tip my completely non-H/A hat and say THANK YOU!

[Adriana Rose]

My great grandmother was a wiz with the needle, and my mom who always kept me crafting. Those guys helped me get going on mundane sewing.

But in all actuality it was reading what the wenches in the IWG sewed that got me going to the level of obsession that I am at now

thanks to all the help that all of you have given me weather it was directed at me or not

[operafantomet]

Who inspired me?

*When I was very little I saw the movie "Reisen til julestjernen". It's a Norwegian Christmas movie with Renaissance costumes, and I was in awe.

*When I was in my teens I saw the musical "Which Witch". Again Renaissance costumes. Again I was in awe. This musical inspired the pink Bronzino dress in my avatar, and from there it escalated.

*In the online world I was hugely inspired by Jennifer Thompson's Italian dresses, and of Michaela de Bruce's work. For Phantom costumes I also drooled over what Josefine Sjöqvist made.

*Maria Bjørnson's design for "The Phantom of the Opera" might be my biggest inspiration still. She designed such wonderful, textured, beautiful garbs which I love watching and I love trying to recreate.

*But my daily dose of inspiration is what I get from the online world. This forum and my blog friend list is the places I visit the most for costume goodies. I learn a lot from seeing what others do, and I also get new ideas from it. So... thanks!

[Kate XXXXXX]

Not so much a who as a what!  And it's so long ago (EEK!!! Nearly 50 years!) and I was only 4 or so, and can't remember what the spark was.  I started sewing round about the same time I started reading.

Inspiration for things to sew?  Many things over the years...

The pics on the covers of the Georgette Hayer novels!  Sparked my obsession with making historical dolls clothing.  The dolls left home when I went to boarding school with a wardrobe of over 400 items, from hats and cloaks to gowns and undies!   

History!  Good old fashioned school history lessons, along with discussions with my father (MA in History from Edinburgh) about why certain dress types and clothing might have developed.  He was always interested in the social side of history as much as the political and military side...

Reading.  Even as a child I liked historical novels, and read things like Geoffrey and Henry Treece, Rosemary Suttcliffe, Elizabeth Gouge...  For Tudor/Elizabethan stuff in particular, two stand out: Elizabeth Gouge's Towers in the Mists, and Rosemary Suttcliffe's Brother Dusty Feet.

Film and TV.  The BBC in particular...  Elizabeth R and War and Peace are particularly memorable.  But also The Lion In Winter (hilarious!) and A Man For All Seasons.  Many more!  The Duchess, The Pirates movies...  Lord of the Rings...  I never want to copy a complete costume, but love to use them for ideas and inspiration.

Poetry.  Sometimes a line can spark a whole new idea.  Wonderful!

Colours and fabrics.  These can be fantastic for inspiration.  I can see a fabric and know what shape it needs to be, or a colour and know which person I need to wrap it round.

[Amyj]

Grandma and Mom taught me sewing...and the value of that knowledge...
Books, TV and movies introduced me to alternate personas that were possible...
As a kid I was the one dressing up and dressing my friends up for various plays/parades/just playing around (wish I had pictures of the "Battle of the Planets" jetpacks I made from 2 ltr bottles)
Grandma introduced me and Pirate Bob to faire ("there is this faire thing in Bonner Springs you might enjoy if you want to check it out...."  ) and I was hooked.
Melissa of Sempstress.org, all the garb on Featured Attyre (the website) and the info on the Elizabethan Costume Page helped me delve into "historical" garbing.
All the info I get here continues to inspire/challenge/boost me!

[LadyStitch]

From as far back as I can remember Grandma was always at her sewing machine. Every new holiday I got a new dress.  She even gave me her scraps to play with.  At the age of 3 she taught me how to make pillows at her machine.   My whole family of women sews and does crafts. I keep remembering the story my grandmum, now mum tells.  When my mum was 6 she wanted the green dress that Danny Thomas's daughter had from TV.  My grandmother and father couldn't afford it for her.  However my great grandmother just disapeared into her room for a couple days.  My grandmother said all she asked for was some brown grocery bags.  By the next episode my mum was sitting in a matching dress to Danny Thomas's daughter.  Mama just took one look at the dress, so paper bags, and some green fabric she picked up somewhere cheap, and made my mum's favorite dress of alll.  I knew some day I wanted to do that.
Then add in that I was new in Dallas, all of 6 weeks when some new freinds said let's go to Scarbourgh Faire.  It is the local rennisance festival.  Being the seamstress that I was I found a pattern and made a very simple outfit in just a week. (still have the bodice btw) As I walked around I marveled at all the dresses and such.  Some point during the day my husband (now the pink pirate)  leaned over and said something like "You do realize you COULD make those yourself you know".  Something clicked, and I started making garb.
Skip ahead a couple years, and there was a fiasco during one of my the pink pirates's plays. The costumer didn't have time to make his costume, so he gave it to me to make.  I got a taste of making something for stage.  From them on we started working towards me doing theater work.  I talked to a couple people, but nothing really came of it.  Then the pink pirate came across a note saying the the national drama school of NZ was still taking applications.  He sent me the link.  One of the goals of the course was that  "By the time that you are done you will be able to make anything, as long as you have a picture of it." That sound me on it.
4 years later I'm doing custom sewing work for theaters, renfaire, and people, and enjoying it.

You ask what inspired me.  It was a woman I only really knew for 6 years, who wanted to make a little girl smile by making a dress out of thin air.

[Welsh Wench]

My mom. She did what the Nazi Home Ec teachers couldn't do.

And thanks, Mom, for not getting mad when I broke all those sewing machine needles.

[LadyShadow]

I would avoid the schools Home Ec. classes with a passion.  Always managed to weasel my way outta that class and into one I enjoyed    Thinking I'm never gonna wanna sew in my life.

When I was little my Mom would buy me different sew by hand crafts, and eventually I started to sew clothes for my Barbies.  But that didn't last for long. *Got in trouble for cutting up my clothes*  So I stopped doing everything but cross-stitch.  Then my MIL gave me her old 19teen's Singer sewing machine.  I had a fascination with it and with wanting to learn how to sew.  So she taught me how to thread the machine and that was it.  Literally.  Everything I did sewing wise I learned on my own, with the help of google, sewing books and this forum.

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

WOW!! Makes me think back to when I was 9 years old when I started to learn how to embroider and hand sew. I could write a best selling novel.

But I will share who has inspired me for the last 10 years or so and that is my mentor in all things connected to Period Clothihg...Lynn McMasters. Her attention to detail and sewing techniques still guide me to this day.

[Anna Iram]

Well, if this is an open invitation, and as I'm feeling chatty...


I don't consider myself a very accomplished seamstress by any standards,  The machine often gets away from me and I've no skill with a needle, but I do love fabrics, yes they speak to me too Kate. , and I do love to put all those oddly shaped bits and pieces together and actually end up with something fabulous to wear! I think that's so cool. Once I figured out that's really all sewing is about, like a wearable puzzle, then I was on my way.

Inspirations:

My father surprising his daughters with an antique White Brand sewing machine. It was powered by a foot pedal and did little more than a straight stitch, but what a world it opened to go to the fabric store and pick out a pattern and fabric and end up with something all my own creation.

Home Ec. See now, I learned something valuable from my teacher. I'd made a dress with a scoop neck for our end of year fashion show. It really wasn't that low, but my teacher made me put a dickie in it as (in her opinion) my assets were a bit too displayed. So I waited until I was just about to walk onstage and I ripped it out.   I learned my creations are MINE.  

Then there was the theatre company I worked with. We had no budget at all, but we had imagination, so we bought stuff from the thrift stores and ripped and reworked and actually came up with some great stuff.  I learned alot about construction and not to be afraid to improvise. It took more of the mystery out of how garments are put together.

Fast forward to RF. I came here through a search to buy garb. It just never occurred to me I could make something flike an Elizabethan gown for faire. I admit I still have not been completely successfull in a perfectly fitted bodice, and I wish I was more patient learning to sew beautifully  but back those four years ago it seemed overwhelming and I was inspired by FaireMare and so many others of you as I read of your projects, that I realised I could make a corset and a chemise, a hat (of sorts)..even hoops!, and a simple Elizabethan gown. I was so proud to wear my first gown to faire that first year I went as Anna.

I continue to be inspired by members such as yourself Lady Kett, who ask for input from those here who have the skill to make such awesome garb. It really is inspiring to see a project from start to finnish with pictures and all the questions and learning involved. Even those who have much more experience come here with questions and we all learn a little more. I love reading along.

I agree this is a very special place in RF. The best of the best.

[Aiacha]

My grandmother.  She made me first halloween costumes, then some ballet costumes.  Thanks to her I learned how to sew (and crochet, but I don't remember that anymore!) and was eventually working on my own ballet costumes, then blowing through home ec sewing assignments and now making my own costumes for faire, plus a Jedi, Magenta and (eventually) a Star Trek Original Series maroon movie costume 

[DonaCatalina]

I started sewing back in the first couple of years that Scarborough was open out of desperation to find any kind of costume. When I saw the dresses that the cast members were wearing, my first effort became a giant pillow.

Our own dear King Henry sews, and I have always aspired to wear something at least as good as what he wears. 

Being in the SCA for 15 years also gave me the time to mature my sewing skills and knowledge of how to make clothes for 1500-1570 as opposed to making a 'costume'. Most Faire-goers have an idea what I mean, especially cast and performers.

I try to encourage people to make their own garb out of respect for many people who inspired and encouraged me along the way. If nothing else, clothes that you make it yourself it will probably end up better made than something slapped together for quick sale on Ebay.

[ladyharrogate]

When I was three my grandmother gave me needle and thread and started me sewing while she'd work at her machine.  She was a phenomenal seamstress.  Could make anything she saw and never needed a pattern.  In Kindergarten I made my first costume.  It was an Indian dress.  A rectangle of fabric with seams hand sewn under my arms and a neck hole.  I was so proud that I made it all by myself!  So if you hear me say that I've been sewing for thirty years...I'm really not that old LOL (35 in a few weeks).  I went on to make doll dresses, barbie stuff, anything I could and no fabric was safe.  In third grade I started modeling and the woman I modeled for had a daughter who was a designer in LA.  She inspired me to keep sketching and designing and made me think outside the box.  I am so thankful I had such wonderful people in my life who taught me to love not only the art of sewing but design as well.

[Cilean]

Do you know what inspired me? My pocket book!!!!

Franco Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet- To me the only modern adaption, rich historical and in Italy.  When I saw this film I wanted to be at the party where Romeo meets Juliet.  I think this was 1968. Several shows including Taming of the Shrew with Elizabeth Taylor also had me yearning for Renaissance Clothing, Anne of 1000 days... But I think the biggest influence was when I was 14 and it was 1976 and I went to my First Renaissance Faire and I saw the royals at the Pavilion.  I bought all of my wench gear, then I went to check out much it would cost to purchase clothing for my new husband and child. After I picked myself up from the floor, I asked some people who also created wonderful Elizabethans to help me create and I got a used Bernina and I was on my way.  So really? It would have cost $1,500.00 for the gown I wanted, to have someone else make and I made it albeit badly for under $175.00.


Cilean

[auntiegiggles]

My mother-in-law.  She has been a great inspiration - even though I am a very trying student  .  She bought me my machine 7 years ago and I just started using it in January - LOL!  We have bonded over sewing projects and fabric shopping.