Answers for cathgrace
Jun. 8th, 2008 11:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
isabelladangelo1. What area of your sewing do you feel like you?ve mastered? Need to improve?
At this point, I've mastered figuring out the cuts of gowns. I can look at most outfits and figure out how to recreate the cut of that style. My detail works need to improve, like embroidery.
2. What is your Favorite thing about making Italian garb?
It's pretty easy to make an Italian gown within a few hours and have it look pretty to even an untrained eye. I also love just the research of it all. Looking through pages of artwork from various periods and seeing the changes in fashion. ...and then there is buying the pretty fabrics...
3. How do you approach a new project, as in what order, your process?
First, there is the idea. Typically this is spurred on by something completely random like suddenly remembering a painting I saw three years ago and thinking "Huh, maybe I should try that" or going through my fabric stash to see what I need to get rid of and thinking "Oh, this might do as a 1550's Italian. Let me see if any dresses used a similar fabric during that time period."
Second, there is the research. This is just sitting, looking at pictures, trying to find bigger pictures, trying to find color pictures, trying to find books with more pictures, and then reading if anyone else has bothered with that style.
Third, there is the buying process. This has taken years in some cases. After I find the dress I want to re-create (or the bag, or well, really anything), I try to find a match in materials to whatever I'm trying to recreate. I sometimes won't start a project until I have all the beads, paints, or any other finishing touches I need.
Fourth, the pattern drafting. I've done both the "draping" and the mathematical techniques. Sometimes, I do a bit of both. I might create a pattern, put it on the dress form, edit it from there, and then relay out the edited one to make the final "pattern".
After that, I cut it out and sew it up. Honestly, the hardest part for me is cutting the fabric. It's not that I don't want to, it's that I hate getting the fabric to lie flat! And then there is the Ginsie problem with getting the fabric to lie flat. Once the fabric is all nice and smooth, Ginsie figures it's her new bed.
4. Do you see the general arts environment in Atlantia improving? If so why do you think so?
In some ways yes, in some ways no. I've seen a greater call and need for classes which seems to be good. I think it's important for people to share their knowledge and learn from the knowledge of others. However, I've all seen a decrease in the entries to competitions and I think that might be because the competition announcements seem to be coming in late. You can't announce a woodworking comp only a couple of weeks before the event! There are simply some competitions that need to be announced as close to the announcement of the event as possible.
5. From your non peer point of view, what do you think makes someone a peer? (lets go with Laurel since you?re and artisan.)
I know that this might sound silly but I think a comparison can be made between the peerages and the main characters in Harry Potter. For the Laurel, I think of someone like Hermione. Yes, she studies hard and knows absolutely everything there is to know about the magical world, but she also is willing to impart that knowledge at the drop of a hat (or owl feather).
A Laurel should know at least a little bit about the medieval/renaissance world beyond their chosen specialty. Not necessarily more than to know what things outside their specialty are (like a sewer knowing something about a good piece of scribal art or a woodworker knowing what makes a good jug of mead, ect), but not to be totally ignorant of other places and/or arts outside of their own. Hermione knows potions but she also knows histories and things well beyond a few minor spells.
A Laurel should also show a willingness to help others in some way with their chosen area. Hermione is always helping Harry (a Knight) and Ron (a Pelican) learn about the world in which they live in. A Laurel should help explain the world in which they choose to live in (aka, their craft or time period or region). By imparting that knowledge on to others, and helping others avoid some of the pitfalls they fell into while attempting to create their body of research, that is what I think makes a Laurel.
In other news: I caught the bouquet. :-) It went flying right to under my arm. My brother, Lee, caught the garter. We didn't bother with the putting the garter on for obvious reasons.
At this point, I've mastered figuring out the cuts of gowns. I can look at most outfits and figure out how to recreate the cut of that style. My detail works need to improve, like embroidery.
2. What is your Favorite thing about making Italian garb?
It's pretty easy to make an Italian gown within a few hours and have it look pretty to even an untrained eye. I also love just the research of it all. Looking through pages of artwork from various periods and seeing the changes in fashion. ...and then there is buying the pretty fabrics...
3. How do you approach a new project, as in what order, your process?
First, there is the idea. Typically this is spurred on by something completely random like suddenly remembering a painting I saw three years ago and thinking "Huh, maybe I should try that" or going through my fabric stash to see what I need to get rid of and thinking "Oh, this might do as a 1550's Italian. Let me see if any dresses used a similar fabric during that time period."
Second, there is the research. This is just sitting, looking at pictures, trying to find bigger pictures, trying to find color pictures, trying to find books with more pictures, and then reading if anyone else has bothered with that style.
Third, there is the buying process. This has taken years in some cases. After I find the dress I want to re-create (or the bag, or well, really anything), I try to find a match in materials to whatever I'm trying to recreate. I sometimes won't start a project until I have all the beads, paints, or any other finishing touches I need.
Fourth, the pattern drafting. I've done both the "draping" and the mathematical techniques. Sometimes, I do a bit of both. I might create a pattern, put it on the dress form, edit it from there, and then relay out the edited one to make the final "pattern".
After that, I cut it out and sew it up. Honestly, the hardest part for me is cutting the fabric. It's not that I don't want to, it's that I hate getting the fabric to lie flat! And then there is the Ginsie problem with getting the fabric to lie flat. Once the fabric is all nice and smooth, Ginsie figures it's her new bed.
4. Do you see the general arts environment in Atlantia improving? If so why do you think so?
In some ways yes, in some ways no. I've seen a greater call and need for classes which seems to be good. I think it's important for people to share their knowledge and learn from the knowledge of others. However, I've all seen a decrease in the entries to competitions and I think that might be because the competition announcements seem to be coming in late. You can't announce a woodworking comp only a couple of weeks before the event! There are simply some competitions that need to be announced as close to the announcement of the event as possible.
5. From your non peer point of view, what do you think makes someone a peer? (lets go with Laurel since you?re and artisan.)
I know that this might sound silly but I think a comparison can be made between the peerages and the main characters in Harry Potter. For the Laurel, I think of someone like Hermione. Yes, she studies hard and knows absolutely everything there is to know about the magical world, but she also is willing to impart that knowledge at the drop of a hat (or owl feather).
A Laurel should know at least a little bit about the medieval/renaissance world beyond their chosen specialty. Not necessarily more than to know what things outside their specialty are (like a sewer knowing something about a good piece of scribal art or a woodworker knowing what makes a good jug of mead, ect), but not to be totally ignorant of other places and/or arts outside of their own. Hermione knows potions but she also knows histories and things well beyond a few minor spells.
A Laurel should also show a willingness to help others in some way with their chosen area. Hermione is always helping Harry (a Knight) and Ron (a Pelican) learn about the world in which they live in. A Laurel should help explain the world in which they choose to live in (aka, their craft or time period or region). By imparting that knowledge on to others, and helping others avoid some of the pitfalls they fell into while attempting to create their body of research, that is what I think makes a Laurel.
In other news: I caught the bouquet. :-) It went flying right to under my arm. My brother, Lee, caught the garter. We didn't bother with the putting the garter on for obvious reasons.
