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The Inspiration I Needed

I recently have been in a bit of funk trying to find the perfect dress for my wedding. I feel as if I looked through a million different websites, reviews, etc but just could not find a dress that felt like it was me. Needless to say this left me feeling pretty depressed and anxious about the whole situation.

As a seamstress in the back of my mind, there is always this little voice that says "ummm, Rachel, you *could* make your own wedding dress." It is a crazy voice that seems to think that I have nothing but time on my hands even though I am an Engineering student and just bought a new house. So of course when I first heard this little niggling whisper, I beat it back because I know that I don't have the time. Then as I got more and more discouraged that voice kept getting louder and more insistent that I really should make my own dress. Next I started doubting whether I was really capable of making my own wedding dress, if I had the skills, the time, the knowledge. The more I doubted myself, the more I felt depressed about both finding a dress and making my own. Then I decided that I would just put the whole wedding dress thing on the back burner for awhile and work on losing weight because maybe then I might just find a wedding dress that would fit.

Around the same time I realized that I was starting school again in a few weeks and I needed some more clothes. I found a few things at Torrid and at Macys, but they are mass produced clothes so they fit but not so great. I found myself craving for some really cute, uniquely made clothes that would actually fit me. So I began reading through my favorite sewing blogs and looking for some project inspiration. I found a few things that I want to try out like a circle skirt, and a detachable collar which I know will look awesome with my cardigan collection. Then I came across something that brightened my whole day.
I found Sew-Misunderstood written by Psycho Sue. She is a musician, seamstress, self-described fatty, and artist. I read every single one of her posts and would have watched all the videos too if I could find my headphones (don't want to wake the fiancee.) Her no-nonsense posts about how we should embrace ourselves and love who and what we are, really spoke to me. Not only did her projects inspire me to get my own mojo back but it brought back my desire to at least attempt my own wedding dress. I just have to say what an amazing woman she is and how jealous I am of her totally awesome fabric finds!
 
I took her advice and bought the Butterick Fitting Shell for women. Tip: I just bought mine on Amazon and it was a about $2.50 cheaper than on Butterick's website. I can't wait to start with a fitted sloper for my body instead of constantly trying to adjust each pattern up to my size and then trying to fit it. I caused myself way too many headaches doing it my crazy way. I look forward to posting about my experiences with the sloper pattern.

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