Dress

[j4]

Um, I don't want to seem ungrateful for all the advice and offers of help in comments to the previous post, but really I did sort of want to do the decoration on the dress myself. I already feel bad enough that my mum had to help with the sewing; if everybody else does fancy embroidery and painting and stuff that I could never do in a million years then I'm sure it will look lovely but it won't be mine. Is that really petty and precious of me? :-(

Basically I just wanted advice on what sort of colour scheme would look best or whether it might be better just to leave it uncoloured. I think as it is I'm just going to leave it white, I'm not talented enough to do all the wonderful things that everybody's suggesting so it's probably better just to avoid ruining a dress which I'll be able to sell afterwards...

And besides, Glastonbury's going to be wet, cold and miserable so I probably won't even be able to wear it anyway. :-(

Comments

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

1. I think it would look good coloured. I quite like the colour schemes you had already dismissed.
2. I don't think backstitch could be considered fancy embroidery under any definition. ;-)
3. I first offered you use of paint on spare fabric to see if you liked the technique without having to buy any, and access to coloured threads, then you mentioned the time constraint. The offer of assistance was merely to achieve the goal within the time constraint. Not to provide design input or creativity - after all it was your idea in the first place. If you think that such an offer is unreasonable I'm sorry, but it will be pretty painful to read that you are upset about not being able to do it in time and getting yourself depressed with "I'm not productive or creative" type wibbles, knowing that you turned down help. I think it's an idea worth doing, and would be a fun project, and that I would like to see the finished product. I certainly don't think it's petty or precious, just a little nose-cutting-face-spiting pride. AIDMTIABW. If the offer of help offends, would you really be happy to take advice?

[j4.livejournal.com]

The offer of help doesn't offend, and I don't think it's unreasonable! I was just trying to explain what it was that I was originally asking because everybody seems to be answering a different question.

It's just that ... I dunno, haven't you ever wanted to do something partly because it'd give you a sense of achievement to have done it yourself? If it was something that needed doing then I'd be very grateful for the offers of help in getting it done, but since part of the point of doing it was, well, doing it, it seems a bit daft to then let somebody else do it. Even if I know they'd do it millions of times better than I ever would, because they're talented and creative and basically all the things that I'm not. Yes, I would have been happy to take advice, that's different! Don't you see any difference between "Here's some patterns that might give you ideas" and "Here, I've done all your cross-stitch for you"?

Does that make any sense at all?

At the moment I feel like I'm just too stupid to do anything. :-(

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

But there's also a difference between "here's a pair of hands, tell me which bit to colour with which pen" and "here, I've done it all for you". That was the point. If it takes x man hours to achieve the goal, and you have y hours available to do it between now and Glastonbury, and the addition of z man hours would make the difference between achieving it and not achieving it... that was all. No creative input. The questions about how you were doing it were really because there is a significant time and result difference noticeable if you use different techniques. The pen scheme is good but slow and perhaps not the most colourful in the long run. Embroidery is slow but stunning. Paint is something that needs practice but is fast when you get going.

Colours really have to be up to you, at the end of the day. You're the one that wants to wear it. From the photos it was hard to say that any of them looked wrong, but you seemed to think that some of the schemes didn't work. Without seeing the combinations, in daylight, I would be very hard-pressed to give you any advice on that front. Which is another argument for bringing the spare fabric next week. ;-)

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

PS most painters let apprentices fill in the backgrounds. Most Joshua Reynolds paintings are by "Joshua Reynolds and a bunch of teenagers" and some of the French Impressionists pretty much had conveyor-belt production IIRC. No less impressive as works of art.

Some modern art comes with instructions - I recall one which is a frame the buyer fixes to the wall and fills with flowers of his or her choice. It's still regarded as art, by the original artist, even when it's DIY.

Erm. I think I'm about to trigger my "Modern Art" rant. I'll stop. :-)

[j4.livejournal.com]

Do you remember those things you used to be able to get where you had an outline of flowers and a load of bits of felt and stuff and you glued them on in the outlines, like paint-by-numbers but with fabric (and weird little bobbly bits for doing the lupins and the grape hyacinths)?

It's not Art (because I say so) but it's rather pretty, & good fun for small kids. Wonder if you can still get them.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Oooh, yes, I remember. I will have a look in the Local Toy Shop (for Local Children) next time I'm wandering around it. I'm pretty sure they would be in the Fuzzy Felt/jewellery-making area if they exist.

[taimatsu]

It makes sense. There are things that I feel like that about sometimes. I think the bit I've seen domonstrates that you are, in fact, talented and creative (not to mention the stuff you can do that I couldn't, like the cakes and things). I know you will probably want to disagree with me, and pep-talks, don't really help, but it is what I think.

[juggzy.livejournal.com]

I'm not offended. You asked for opinions. I gave my opinion, cos I have done a bit of sewing, and the options so far as I saw them. But that was always in the context of the fact that it's your dress; you decide!

[k425.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's petty to want to do something yourself.

If you're planning on selling it, I'd leave it white, though.

[mobbsy.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't put too much faith in the weather forecast, more than 3 days ahead is dodgy, more than 5 is outright speculation. Yesterday, the Met Office were predicting 25°C and sunshine for Cambridge on Saturday, now they're saying 20°C and heavy cloud.

[j4.livejournal.com]

See? See? Just like Glastonbury -- they predict sun, then it all goes crap. Fair, becoming poo-shaped later.

(You're probably right, actually, but I'm in a bad mood now, so I'm going to grouch at everything.)

[k425.livejournal.com]

but I'm in a bad mood now, so I'm going to grouch at everything

Make sure you get maxiumum grouching in and really enjoy yourself!

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit late with this, but is the shape of the dress such that it would make sense colouring the flowers on the yoke/bodice but not the skirt? That would take less time, and might be quite pretty.

[j4.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it would work -- AFAIR there's no clear line between the two. Also I think colours on the top and white at the bottom might look a bit top-heavy... not sure. Will have a look though, it's an idea.

[geekette8.livejournal.com]

Or vice versa - colour the skirt, but not the bodice? Maybe even colour a lot of the flowers around the bottom of the skirt and then prgressively fewer as you get closer to the bodice? I don't know, that might be unnecessarily complicated, though.