Fashionably Late to My Textile Class

Saturday all dressed in my new Juicy Couture waxed floral jeans for my textile class, I missed the bus there.  Rats!  I would be late for the very first class.  I boarded the 10am X2 bus headed down H street.  It was okay at the White House but once it hit Gallery Place, all kinds of characters started boarding.  There was this one woman who once had a shape but didn’t anymore. That didn’t stop her from wearing stretch pants. That was an embarrassing visuals because her butt wasn’t round but squished together and formless. Then there was this old man selling incense.  He was (probably still is a weedhead) talking about a song that he heard and an affair he had. He lied about earning a store 40 years but I seriously doubt it because it didn’t take much to keep an incense store going. Man just get off of the bus and give me peace of mind!

Thinking that things couldn’t get any worse, I exited the wrong stop forcing me to walk an extra four blocks. Now 25 minutes, I thought I was going to be the last one arriving and chewed out by the instructor.  I signed into Sherwood Recreation Center. Taking a deep breath as I climbed up the stairs awaiting my fate, I opened the classroom door where lo and behold there were two women there: the instructor and the organization’s president. Flabbergasted, I introduced myself breathing a sigh of relief.  That serenity lasted all of 10 minutes because I learned that there were a book and textile kit that I needed but weren’t told. That was more money already out of my pocket which was unfair to me because I just paid $499 for my online regression analysis course and budgeted another $199 for a six-month SAS license.  Now these things were added.  I purchased the book off of Amazon but the textile kit must wait until next pay because I wasn’t going into debt over fashion! I learned some very good tidbits:

·         My instructor was from Columbus, Ohio

·         I was one of two people who paid

·         The class would be delayed until June 1^st in observance of Memorial Day and held at the textile museum

·         The three of us had business backgrounds dealing with ‘creatives’ who were brilliant but mentally scrambled (and couldn’t come up with the money by the 15^th)

Since my textile class is delayed for 2 weeks, this delays the pattern making class meaning that once again I must go for dolo and register for Bits of Thread’s June 2^nd pattern making tutorial. DC Fashion Incubator isn’t putting me in limbo again with its inconsistent schedule and payers! I have my money by the deadline. I am going to be okay.  This missing the bus pattern continues because I miss the return X2 bus forcing me to wait at the bus stop for 10 extra minutes. It also starts raining.  I get back on the bus where this man in a winter coat boards smelling like ‘cold piss’ (a rider’s comment not mine because I don’t know what that smells like).  Once we hit the Gallery Place stop things calmed down allowing me to catch my breath a couple of minutes before exiting the bus. After this commute, I need the three-week break!

Returning home, I order my book via Amazon and start researching the websites that the instructor provides.  Next I go through my closet to see what I can wear for the June 1^st museum visit.  The Gilt Groupe’s Haute Hippie knit maxi dress is a winner because it incorporated the whole textile museum theme. This’ll be perfect!

Finally! My Skirt is Done!

Finally, after five classes (the three-session Perfect Your Skirt, the private session and today’s open session), I have finished sewing my skirt. I’m so happy to finish it that I run into the bathroom, take off my skinny jeans, and put it on for one of the instructors to photograph me.  I originally ended up at Bits of Thread because DC Fashion Incubator didn’t have instructors for its textiles and patternmaking courses. I refused to wait for the organization to get them else I’d still be waiting because it is 6 weeks after the Apparel design course ended on March 2^nd, DC Fashion Incubator still didn’t have any teachers. However, I’ve soldiered on creating my skirts and learning how to sew. Check it out!

Me in my new skirt that I've sewn myself!

Bits of Thread Intro to Sewing Class

I attended my very first sewing class at Bits of Thread this afternoon.  I boarded the metro exiting at Woodley Park.  I didn't know that I had to cross the Duke Ellington bridge in order to get there.  That wasn't half of it.  The company had wrought iron gates where I had to buzz in.  Needless to say, the buzzer didn't work forcing me to call the company where a woman walked down to let me in.  Being from DuPont Circle, this was new to me.  I guessed nothing said 'gentrification' like iron gates and getting buzzed in.  I walked up two flights on stairs to room #5 where there were four sewing machines.  Though it took me a little over the two hours allotted to complete my drawstring pocket bag, I created it!  Here it is

Drawstring Pocket Bag

Though I had registered for beginners part two, my head ached so bad from stretching that I didn't go.  Nevermind the fact that I didn't get the $40 back, I felt bad that the man in my first class wanted to take the class. I would had kindly let him take my place. What I also decided was to drop next Saturday's draping basics and use that money to reenroll in beginners two.  I needed more practice before taking an intermediate class.