Happy New Year!

...in China.  So I'm a little late for posting this, but I've been a little busy.  But hey, Chinese New Year was just a couple of days ago, so I can't be too late.

So I did it!  Yay.  As I've mentioned before, the whole not buying clothes thing wasn't very hard, especially since I started with a wealth of clothing.  Some good things came out of it though.  I learned to do more sewing things, I saved some money (kinda), and I now no longer have an everlasting need for clothing.  It has really been a problem for most of my life, and it is honestly very freeing to be unattached to that need.  The part that made it the easiest was not even going to clothing stores.  I was actually in a Marshall's the other day, and it was almost painful not to stop in the clothing section after being in a clothing famine for so long.  I plan on keeping up with the no clothing thing as long as I can; now that I'm making my own money, saving on clothing seems much more pragmatic.

Dresses for Tehya

A couple of months ago I decided that Tehya is wonderful and beautiful, and she needs a dress.

First of all, I was being a little selfish.  Basically, I was tired of thinking of clothes to put on an amazon woman (myself).  Looking at my 5 foot and 2 inch friend, I can see so many possibilities.  Boatneck dresses.  Cute short cocktail dresses.  Things that aren't v-necks.  The list could go on, but I'll just stop being creepy.

The thought instantly came to me.  I wanted to make Tehya a one shouldered Latin dress with an asymmetrical hem with sort of a wing on it, for lack of a better phrase.  This might seem like a a really detailed instant thought, but when my imagination is given something that isn't a girl with shoulders like a swimmer, it just runs with it.

As an aside, when I say Latin dress, I mean ballroom dance Latin dress.  For those who don't know what that means, it means being really sexy and awesome on the dance floor.  Familiarize yourself.

In case you couldn't tell, this looks nothing like her body type and a whole lot like mine.

So anyway.  I drew some pictures, told her about it, and she got really excited.  Then I got scared.  I am in no way qualified to make this dress.  There's like no way she's going to like it, and then she is going to hate me for the rest of forever.

Reasons four and five

I found these labels in my sewing box today, and it made me a little bit sentimental.

These labels were made for my grandmother from a friend.  My grandmother moved to the United States with her husband and three boys from the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

Picture of a clock tower in Bern I took on my last visit.

The first entry

Hi,

My name is Alissa, and I'm in way over my head.

On January 1st, 2013, I embarked on a one year mission.  A mission to make all of my clothes for a year, rather than buying them.  Some of you may be thinking (especially those who thought this was a blog about hot chocolate and are totally not in the right place), why can't you just... not buy any clothes for a year?  Well, you see.  I just can't do that.  I, along with millions of women in the world, have a clothing addiction.  I love putting new pieces together and bargain hunting for the perfect sundress.  To me, it is more like an art form.  Some of you who have actually seen my outfits are probably just thinking "art form... this girl just wears a lot of cardigans."  Well, they are well thought out cardigans, okay?

After many years of solving most of my problems with retail therapy, I have decided to embark on this mission for several reasons.  First of all, hopefully I'll save some cash.  Buying patterns and fabric isn't as cheap as it used to be, but given the amount of time it takes to actually make clothes, I'm hoping to spend less over all.  Second, I want to get better at sewing.  The word "seamstress" in the title of this blog is a bit of a misnomer.  Whenever I try to put a zipper in a dress, it just looks like I was in a fight with a viscous coyote while attempting to sew.  Finally, I want to appreciate the things I own and stop my habit of buying clothes when I don't need them.  I suppose that sounds a little counter intuitive since I'm still going to be increasing the amount of clothing I have, but it makes sense to me.  Each of the pieces of clothing I make will come from inspiration and become more than just something I wear.  They'll be something I remember.  Plus, if I just made a blog about not buying clothes for a year, I can't imagine it would be that entertaining.  "Day 35... I had a dream a gang of cardigans were dragging me into a J. Crew..."  No.  We don't need any of that.

So here it goes.