Tuesday, April 11, 2006

the fruits of my labor














this is what i've been working on today -- these are black camisoles with "rock" stitching. pretty, huh?

and here you can see a close-up of the stitches.



















i love sewing these shirts, no matter what "sweatshop" comments i may make from time to time. mine is a very luxurious non-sweatshop, with all the tea i can drink, bathroom breaks whenever i need them, access to online radio streaming, and a dog to walk, should my legs need a stretch.

i'm proud of my mastery of the sewing machine (despite the fact that i still don't really know how to sew anything useful, like curtains, say, or clothes). i can thread that thing so fast, wind a bobbin at the speed of light...i can even take it all apart, clean and oil it, and put it all back together in five minutes.

and the actual sewing, when i'm on a roll and not sewing the fabric to itself or letting the bottom thread run out or spilling something on the shirt, etc, is very meditative. maybe it demonstrates a lack of creativity, but i love semi-mindless, repetitive work like this. and at the same time, it is aesthetically pleasing, and quasi-artistic!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why, just yesterday Miss Glissando and I were at Milo, where we picked up a lovely, black tunic t-shirt sewn with love by you! It looks darling on Miss Gliss, but we're going to offer it to Alison in NYC next week and, if she doesn't accept it, it will return to Portland where it will raise the fashion bar at King Middle School. It's good to read that you actually like your sweatshop. I guess we'll cancel the picketing we had scheduled for early next week....

Liz Woodbury said...

yeah, my working conditions are really pretty enviable! i'm glad you and miss gliss like the tunics -- more of them are a-comin', so if alison likes it, we can make sure miss g gets one too...

Anonymous said...

and i'd like to know, are those lovely camisoles a bit on the longer-than-last-season side? as i am a woman in her middle years who does not like the prospect of her "muffin-top" (or in my case, overflowing-cake-top) showing...
they're beautiful...can't wait to see one in real life!

Liz Woodbury said...

alas, they are probably a bit on the short side still. but the times are a-changin', as belly baring is quite out of style now. our distributors should catch up soon. we do have this one shirt, a tunic which has a slightly-lower-than-crew neck, kind of scooped, and short sleeves, and it's super long (like, you could wear it for a shirt and maia could wear it for a dress). it's really nice, very lightweight fabric. i'll bring a couple for your very own trunk show when we visit!