Garment and Competitions
Monday, May 14th, 2007Quite a few years ago I was an active competitor in several of the nationally recognized shows with juried-in garment categories. I had the time necessary to devote to the garments; in many cases several months worth of time.
My fabrics were always my own hand dyes - I mean if you’re going to do it, I figured I’d do it all. Besides with the fur-kids help, I’d usually end up with some rather unique patterns on the fabrics; a cross between furry tails and my planned (yeah right, planned) effects.
I’d use linens, cottons, and poly blends; several kinds of salts, wintergreen rubbing alcohol, and hand-applied dyes. I’ve never gotten into vat style dyeing, I apply my dyes to the fabric one at a time with a brush or some other hand technique.
Then we get to the beads or fancy threads - sometime both. Hand sewn beading effects: seed and bugle bead patterns, bead fringes and rayon cording. Decorative threads: candlelight, heavy metallics, sliver, and yarns couched in seams and over specific sections.
I played. A lot.
Mostly I created two-piece garments, a jacket and skirt with a plain blouse as to not detract from the outer garments. The one rule I adhered to, mind you this was my rule - not any of the competitions, was that the garment had to be wearable, not what I considered a costume.
I needed to be able to wear it out in public and feel comfortable. It might be only for a really nice evening out, but it was still completely wearable. I quite simply did not want to put forth all that effort, all that time, to not be able to wear it in a real world situation. I need to enjoy my creations, not hang them in a garment bag forgotten.
Well after about four years of competing and not winning, I asked one of the judges why. If there was a techique I was messing up, I wanted to know!
Nope. The response was my pieces were technically wonderful, but not ‘flashy’ enough. My one hard-fast rule, doomed me to a non-winning status.
So what did I do? I decided to stop competing and sew for my own enjoyment instead. And you know what? I haven’t regretted that decision once.
