Self-Satisfying Stitching

Other than watching my son grow/develop/learn/flourish etc, there is very, very little I find more satisfying than making stuff.  Similar to the feeling when you get the craving to buy a new dress or pair of shoes, and you take a whole day to go shopping, to treat yourself, and you ram the changing rooms with outfits to try, slowly whittling down your selection, which gets a further whittling when you get to the till, and then you practically float home with your new purchase(s) thinking about how you're going to style it/them up differently for all the various occasions... Then you get home... and I always found that the heady satisfaction I got after I had been shopping would evaporate just as fast as the shopping experience had come and gone.  But when you make something yourself from scratch that whole craving-searching-acquiring-enjoying process has to be so much more prolonged that, naturally, it is so much more pleasurable.  I could compare it to the difference between a one night stand and Tantric sex.

Shopping, like a one night stand, is over incredibly fast, and you rarely get what you really wanted.  Making a dress, on the other hand, like Tantra, focuses ones attention on the finer details, taking time over every layer: finding the perfect pattern, choosing the fabric, the little buttons, a lace trim possiblement... Delightfully drawing out the whole experience, and then slowly, carefully, it all comes together for one final climax, that only continues to go on and on after the piece is made... Every time you wear it.

Last night I wore the dress I made on Monday to the 5th birthday celebration of Estethica, London Fashion Week's answer to sustainable fashion (which I, and my label Nina Dolcetti, have been a part of since 2008).  My dress turned out beautifully, it felt so crisp and Spring-y in a mis-match of pastel shirting cottons, but lacked the perfect accessory... So while my son napped yesterday afternoon, I used up the last of the Laura Ashley curtains left over from these cushions and made a clutch bag with a celluloid tortoiseshell frame I found on eBay.  And I have to admit, as I was getting ready for the party, I felt very pleased with myself.