So yesterday was my first day back at school in a few years. I couldn't sleep all night, I was so nervous and excited. So of course, it was a random slightly rainy day that none of us socal people dressed properly for. And my first day went better than I could have dreamed. I've been so nervous about starting school because while I have an exact idea of what I want to do, I worry that my skills aren't developed enough yet and my sewing class would be full of all these people who already know how to sew, etc while I am sitting there all....I made curtains once!
My first class of the day was Careers in Fashion. My teacher is an absolute doll. She held the door open for me and complimented my shirt. We started the day by being given slips of paper with a question on it and were to go around introducing ourselves to our fellow students and asking our questions. This started the theme of the day. That networking would be one of the keystones of our success and future career. Because you never know where someone will end up. All of the little snippets of videos we watched actually mentioned a lot about how blogging can help your career get started or thrive. And I started feeling even better about my idea, rather than unsure.
My second fashion course of the day was Clothing I. But wait, that teacher was adorable too. (I'm sensing a pattern) It turned out there were very people who had ever even touched a machine before, myself included. We were all true beginners. We went through the run down of the class and are going to be making simple drawstring pants, a top, and a skirt or another pair of pants. She helped us all size ourselves and showed us how to thread our machines. We did a practice going over lines on a piece of paper, and then we each threaded our machines and made a small sample seam to turn in. I found out that I can bring my own machine to class rather than using a school one. Which is a relief as my machine is far easier to use than theirs. All kinds of hijinks went on with those machines. Luckily, my sample went along smoothly and I ended up having a half hour to sit and watch the others.
My last class of the day was my workroom sketching class. As in all of my classes that day, I sat in the very front. Just like I have my entire life. It started from trying to help along my poor eyesight, to always wanting to succeed. However, now I have goals to accomplish for myself, and not for my family or society.
This teacher wasn't super sweet like the others, she seemed gruff at first. However I soon became the only one in class to realize her extremely dry sense of humor. I was swallowing laughter all class, while most of my fellow students looked unsure. We mainly went through the syllabus in this class. She told us something that turned on a lightbulb for me. If no one else heard that ding, they prolly had bad hearing. She told us that one of the reasons this class was important for our career was not just to be able to communicate to others how to create our patterns properly. But that we all have ideas in our heads, but words rarely do them justice or are clear enough. But that pictures do exactly that. And yet, we are never taught how to draw a square, or a sphere growing up. And so that was her main goal, to get our ideas onto paper so they can be seen. Just like how ikea instructions are pictures and not words. And it made so much sense to me, and was what I knew I wanted to take this class for. I finally had a teacher who understood what my problem was, and has years of practice in teaching us the solution. Rather than walking in and having them go, oh just draw it out. She understands that not everyone has been taught how to draw.
Halfway through class, she took roll and asked us what our goals in the fashion program were. Most had which certificate or degree they wanted, but no clear idea of what to do with it. When she got to me, I responded with, "Well I am here for fashion design, however I don't care so much about the degree or certificate. I care about developing strong enough skills to make the ideas I have come to life. I want to keep a blog about being here in school and as I go along and learn more and more, I can start making products and keeping a shop on this website and eventually have a the two sites coexisting together and make my living from that. I want my readers to grow and go through it with me."
She stared at me, and then raised her hands and said, "Look who's sitting at the front of the class." It was only myself and one other girl. My face went bright red. She went on saying how they needed to make friends with me and I had such a clear vision and she was going to be keeping her eye out for me. I was so embarrassed, especially when so many have ridiculed my idea/dream since I started being brave enough to speak it aloud the past couple of years. And my first day back, every teacher has praised my idea and wanted to be kept up to date and see it from time to time. Just....so much vindication from my first day. I feel so at home in this department so far. Like I'm finally with people who just get it.
I have my second day tomorrow. I start my History of Costume class, and my Serging class. Wish me luck!!
Ps. Please be patient with me while I get this blog set up all nice and pretty. I am pretty computer illiterate, so this is truly a big learning experience in several areas for me. Thanks for reading!!
