baby steps... outside "the norm"

so... i finally broke down... and bought labels...

i often wonder if other moms (or even former garment industry folk), with backgrounds similar to mine, have as difficult a time as i do, in doing things like this, that other crafters maybe take for granted...

after 5 years in a fashion design program and 10+ years in the garment industry, i became indoctrinated into the "how one correctly goes about starting a fashion design label" idea.

it's a sound and well tested hypothesis. and, of course, there are exceptions (i never expect to be that exception). but for the most part, in my experience anyway, after clearing all the requisite physical, financial, emotional and political hurdles, one becomes 1) a small designer with a small label 2) a small designer with someone else's BIG label or 3) a BIG designer with a BIG label.

however, you DON'T just *willy nilly* go out and purchase a label online (!)... without already establishing a business... researching to see if your label already exists... drafting a business plan... lining up the funding, etc... calendaring/scheduling out your production season.... designing a line... selling the line at a market... determining yardages of fabric (haggling for the best prices in fabric) and the notions (closures, thread, elastic, etc)... lordy, the notions!!! producing the line... domestic or international... getting the finished products to the final consumers... yada yada yada...

you can't imagine how buying this little (like .5" x 1.5") woven label... actually - first of all - finding a supplier with the teeniest minimums, and then actually buying the label - very nearly produced a grand mal seizure in me... i would be too embarassed to tell any of my sourcing friends how much i spent on the labels... they wouldn't stop laughing at me...

someone like me just doesn't do what i just did... and if any of my professors or former employers asked me why i did something so miscalculated, so amateurish... i wouldn't have an answer except - "baby steps"

'cuz i don't know why i did it... but i felt like i wanted - or maybe deserved - a label... like a newly mobile baby wants (or deserves) the tv remote control lying across a vast expanse of living room rug... i still haven't got past the feeling that i just cheated or as the porkchop says "don't be a cheeto, mom!"

i dunno... maybe these clothes and accessories that i make will actually continue to go somewhere... maybe they won't...

i just felt, at this time in my life, after all the wonderful and varied experiences i've had in this chaotic and ever kaleidioscoping field, it would be nice to hold a small label, woven with "my name", and sew it into something i made... that's all... :) jeez... when did i pass that threshold where i based decisions on logic and not on my emotions?

anyhoo... after my little crisis of conscience... paloma was invited to a classmate's birthday fiesta tomorrow... so, i made this little dress from butterick pattern 3889 and another little fabric flower - i sewed it to a barette this time.



i hope the gifts are well received... :)

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