Everything you see around you was made by someone. From the chair you might be sitting in to the computer keyboard I'm typing on to the empty smoothie glass next to me on the table. As esoteric as it seems, everything that has been wrought by human hands has started in human brains. Hardly rocket science, except when it is.
To that end, I thought I'd take you on a tour of a skirt, from the twinkle in my eye to the finished garment. Because it all comes from somewhere, right?
The idea comes from the world around me, either from movies, music videos (which I almost never watch anymore, because most new music sucks), magazines (Bust, Bitch, Venus, International Tattoo, Varla, etc.) or from stylish friends. Or maybe I wake up one day and decide I like a certain colour and need to have it represented in my closet. Wherever it comes from, it comes, and lodges in my head like a bad 70's easy listening song about Muskrat Love. From there, I have no choice; I have to create it.
So off to the fabric store I go. If I can't find it at the first one, I'll either keep the idea in the back of my head until I come across the perfect fabric, or I'll sketch it out on one of my million sketchpads. Some ideas do get lost in the process, but I like to think that the best of them get made.
Once the fabric is bought I'll cut it into a sample size and put it in my regular rotation. Next to my machines are cut pieces, pinned together and stacked by thread colour, and when I'm using that colour thread I'll grab whichever batch I feel like doing the most. Some items end up not getting made, but since I have a large group of crafty friends to whom I donate my scraps, not much is really wasted.
From there the cut fabric is sewn, seams are serged (take the shirt you're wearing and turn it inside out--see where the fabric ends? Those multiple interlocking threads keep the material from fraying, and make the garment look more professional. This is done with a serger, which is a separate machine from a regular sewing machine. It's also, at times, a giant pain in the ass.) zippers are pinned, and voila! An--almost--finished skirt.
The skirt will then need to have the loose threads cut off, be ironed if it's not a knit, and have any ncessary hand sewing done. (buttons, snaps, appliques, etc. Anything that can't be sewn by machine will be done now. Also, I'll stab my fingers with the needle approximately 253.7 times.)
So now the sewing portion of the process is done, but there's still a ways to go before the skirt is done. After all, now
I have a skirt, but if I want anyone else to know about it, I have to put it on the site. Otherwise I don't have a business; I have a hobby.
The skirt is then put on one of my handy dandy dress forms, Sophie or Ava, and photographed. On the computer, the colour is adjusted to reflect as close to real life as possible, and the background is cut away. The skirt is named, fixed into a web graphic template I've made up for the season, and uploaded onto the Beqi Clothing website. A few lines of HTML later, the skirt is officially for sale!
This entire process can take anywhere from a few weeks (in the busier season) to a few hours (when I'm really motivated), and is pretty much the same for every part of the business: clothing, baby clothing, jewelry, purses, what have you. So just know when your purchase arrives at your door, that it was crafted lovingly from concept to garment by yours truly, and that the money you spent on it will go directly to insuring I'll be able to keep making more for years to come. That, and well, beer.
