“Don’t think of it as you’re fired…”

Last night on HBO’s new comedy series “How to Make it in America”  the main character Ben was fired from his retail gig. The show follows Ben ,the designer, and his friend Cam, the brains, as they try to launch a denim line in New York City. The two of them are in their twenties and doing none of this things they saw themselves doing as kids. So this line is the manifestation of their dream and they are putting all their money and effort into it. Sound familiar?

In the meantime in-between time, Ben works at Barney’s to pay the bills. On last nights episode, Ben has a tight deadline to get 300 vintage t-shirts to a wholesaler in Tokyo and he cant track down enough shirts; if he can succeed it will be their big break.  He ends up telling his manager that he needs to run out for an hour to handle some personal business so he can hunt down the shirts. His dick head manager gives him shit about it but he takes off anyway, only to get fired upon his return. As he was being terminated his manager says “Don’t think of it as you’re fired… think of it as you’re free”.

While I have been pursuing my design career I’ve been working at Bloomingdale’s (also for a dick head manager). This past weekend I didn’t feel like going into work because I am working on a few pieces and one of the pieces is for someone who needs it by Friday. I didn’t go in and my manager called to let me know she’s not really feeling me right now. Today I am going to in to work and try to break it down to my manager. There is a great chance that I am going to be fired… but if that so happens to be the case I have to look at it as sweet freedom. There may be broke days ahead but so what? Can you put a price on freedom? And if you could…it surely isn’t $14 an hour with 1% commission.

Catch How to Make it in America on HBO on Sunday nights at 10pm.

I Feel Love

I am convinced I am in an exclusive relationship with my sewing machine. A few weekends ago I had NO commitments and committed myself to sewing. I had every evening free to party with my girls and every afternoon free to brunch and shop and hang out in the District but instead I was with my sewing machine. I went back to my least favorite fabric store because even though their selection sucks their sale rack is the bomb. I bought 2 yards of this mint green Georgette fabric and instantly saw a ruffled blouse in my head. I saw something dainty and disco. I don’t know what my new found fixation with the 70s is but I just see the 70s in my head all the time. I see bright lights and Studio 54 and Donna Summer in my head all the time.

So that weekend I just sewed and sewed and sewed this gorgeous retro blouse and I love it. It has long puckered sleeves with a half-inch cuff at the wrist. It also has a deep v-neck with full ruffles along the neckline. Because the material is translucent this is the perfect blouse to go bra-less in. Lets take it all the way back to the 70s and take off our bras! The ruffles lay perfectly on the bosom so there will be no inappropriate nip slips. When I finally finished the blouse I was happy…then sad.

I thought to myself if I had a boyfriend would I be home every night on a weekend sewing? What I love/hate about living in DC is the weekends are built for boyfriends. During the week there are so many nightlife spots to hit up with your girls. From Monday to Thursday there is somewhere fabulous to party every night. But on the weekends the city slows down and people couple up. On a Tuesday night I can be at my favorite spot (Policy on 14th Street) with my girls downing Patron sours and dancing on a table while a hottie-with-a-body makes eye contact with me. On Saturday afternoon, I can be in Columbia Heights doing my grocery shopping  and peep that same hottie from Tuesday night holding hands with some mystery girl on their way to brunch.

DC Weekends are made for love. Whenever my friends come to town for the weekend they  ask “Where’s the hot spot to go out tonight?” and I always draw a blank. There are no DC weekend party spots. DC weekends are for leisurely museum patronage,  bookstore browsing, boutique buying, brunching, hand holding, and dinner dates. DC Weekends are not for the single gal. Maybe that’s why it was so easy to stay in with my sewing machine and watch Friday night turn to Saturday and watch Saturday turn to Sunday.

Until I am on boyfriend status my nights will be spent cuddled up with my sewing machine. It’s just like a boyfriend. it can be unreliable; I constantly have to retread it and undo knots. But just like a boyfriend it can also be so supportive. Everyday it’s turning my dreams into reality. The next date I go on I am going to wear the 70s inspired mint green ruffled blouse I made. Maybe it will bring me luck. As I put it on I’ll play Donna Summer’s disco hit “I Feel Love” over and over in my head.

Ruffled Georgette Blouse

Been gone for a minute now I’m back with the JUMPSUIT

Its been over a MONTH since my last post and I know  I’ve been gone for a while but I committed in my post Style & Error to finally submit my law school applications and to  make a jumpsuit. I don’t think  I had any idea how difficult both would be. Lets start with the law school applications: remember when you were applying to undergrad and you just put everything they wanted in a large manila envelope postmarked by the date and sent it off? Well that’s not quite the case for law school. You have to turn in all your transcripts and letters of recommendation to the Law School Admission Council who then turns them into your schools of choice. Then you turn in the actual application, your resume, and personal statement online. In essence this process is not that difficult but it is very tedious. Going back to your alma mater to request forms, and ship this and ship that, and upload this and upload that, and then wait…

I’ll be honest the most difficult part of this process was the personal statement. Writing in 2-3 pages your life story and why you want to be an attorney has got to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done.I can blog to the universe about myself everyday , and tweet my most random thoughts, but to write eloquently and concisely about my WHOLE life? Now that’s a doozy. It took me about a MONTH to realize that the reason why it was so hard for me to write was I couldn’t quite put into words why I wanted to be an attorney. I started writing something about justice and jurisprudence and all that shit and it just didn’t sound natural. Then I started to write the truth…I have been out of school for two years and I don’t know what else to do while I am working on my clothing line. I can’t quite sit on my ass all day while I build a brand so I’ll just get a law degree from your school. Quickly I thwarted that option because no school in their right mind would pick a candidate like that.

For the past 30 days I have been having nightmares about this law school thing My anxiety was on high and I actually started drinking coffee (Starbucks tall white mocha hold the whip cream to be exact).So finally I dug deep and came up with a good personal statement. It was actually a lot more personal than I thought it would be. And yes, it actually took over a month for me to write. I came up with the notion that why I want to go to law school is not quite important. Whats important is what I would like to do as an attorney. It dawned on me that I will become a successful designer anyway so as an attorney I would like to be a public defender. Yes that’s right, a public defender. When it comes to that lawyer money; public defenders make the least of it. But I don’t care. I’m going to eventually make beaucoup dollars doing what I love so to serve the public will be its own reward.

Think about it; law school would actually be doing me a service. While I am in school I will be working on building my line part-time. Being in school gives you the flexibility to live of your student loan/scholarships/grants/fellowships while you pursue a degree. I rather do tat than work a job I hate ALL day and work on my line part-time. In the three/four years it will take me to graduate; I would’ve made so much progress in the development of my line. In turn, I will give back to the field of law by serving the public.

In my head this plan makes sense.

I turned in all my apps last  Monday and now all a girl can do is wait and pray. Now I bet you’re wondering if it really took me over a month to make a jumpsuit. YES IT DID! I went to my least favorite fabric store (which shall remain nameless) and bought this beautiful silk that was on sale. I thought a silk jumpsuit a la Studio 54 would be so cute for the summer. Now that it’s practically done I hate it. I bet you’re thinking “Man she’s really hard on herself, didn’t she hate that gown she made in her post ‘What Extraordinary Looks Like‘ too? She hates everything“. Well you’re right I am hard on myself. But the main reason I dont like the suit is it’s a little too much Baby Phat and not enough me.

Thats the difficulty in picking fabric. Things look and feel nice on the roll but when you make the actual piece; it’s not always what you imagined. I do like the fact that I made an open back and I’ve decided to make the bottom cute little bubble shorts. I just can’t quite figure out how I want to finish the sleeves. I was thinking a puff sleeve to go with the bubble shorts or a flutter sleeve to go with the Studio 54 disco theme. I’m going to finish the jumpsuit this weekend. I hope you all like the finished product!

Either way I’m back! I know I’ve been gone for a minute but I’m back with the jumpsuit!

Jumpsuit FRONT: Unfinished sleeves and the makings of a bubble short

Jumpsuit BACK: open back