Learn to sew my own clothes!

how hard can it possibly be to make a pencil skirt?

so i fall into a conversation with lauren the wardrobe mistress backstage while the show is up and running and as i watch one of the stitchers repair a costume, i tell her that i want to sew, that i used to sew when i was a little kid, i used to make the most wonderful things. i tell her that i have a sewing machine but i just can’t get it off the ground. and she suggests that i get a pattern and figure it out but i’m like, there’s no pattern centers in nyc—lots of fabric but none of those stores with those big drawers that you open up and pick out whatever you want in the proper size and all that. i can totally remember sitting at my mother’s elbow while she went through bin after bin, looking for the just-right pattern to make curtains or something.

so lauren says, we can go shopping for patterns if you want. we can go whenever. and as God is my witness, it felt just like christmas.

we are going tomorrow afternoon. wheee! she’s starting in on the next show - the king and i (it’s summer stock after all) - and a lot of the cast members are in that show as well. should be interesting to see how the show changes, what with a lot of folks rehearsing during the day and doing this gig at night.

i want an oversized african bag to carry all of my stuff for the day. i want to wear low heeled pumps, pencil skirts and t-shirts with thugged out hoodies for the rest of the year, with variations in vintage diane von furstenburg wrap dresses and maybe some high heeled sneakers and some hot pants to break up the monotony. i want a vintage men’s suit to carry me into the fall. i don’t want to look like anyone else—and as long as i’m true to myself, there’s no chance of that ever happening. now i feel that i can without going broke.

i’m so glad i came up here. i was in dire need of a vacation. everything happens for a reason. i know it’s probably a little ambitious, but i’m going to make something for myself as a birthday present (june 30th).