craftgrrl | musings on selling, and a tie skirt! (Reply)

someone posted this question earlier, and i started to type this in a reply, but it turned into a long philosophy type rant that i wanted to share with everyone.
this is what i think.
i've grown to believe that, (in general):
those who can, craft, and those why can't, buy.

if i see something i really like, i'll go home and try to make it myself. i'm the type who will try to make things just based on a description of stuff, because it seems like a fun idea to mess around with.

the people who craft are also the ones who actually know that (whatever it is you're making) looks so good because you put time and effort and gods-know-how-many messups into a project before it looks as good as what you have for sale. they can appreciate the time and effort it takes to create something that is really nice. so they'll either buy it to save themselves that time and effort, buy it to take apart and figure out how to make themselves, or not buy it because it seems like a fun idea to try themselves.

people who don't craft can either look at it and say "hmph! i can make that myself" and try to make it themselves (and it suuuucks), or they'll buy it because they "couldn't even draw a straight line if i tried". (i cant tell you how many times i hear that phrase. as if straignt lines had anything to do with crafting.)

i guess if there was an easy way to comunicate the idea:
"i have spent hours upon hours perfecting this idea, and now it look really nice and anything you could come up with would not be as good", then we crafty types wouldn't have it so hard in this consumerist world of "if i can get it cheaper, even if it's worse quality somewhere else, then i will!"

a few months ago, someone had posted their mexicana-esque bottle cap folk art, and a discussion like this ensued, and many people were saying "how can you call your stuff mexicana, and then be mad that other people are making the same things? surely you're not the first one to ever think of that?", and that's what sterted me on this little rant.

instead we crafty types ply our friends and loved ones with beautifully handcrafted gifts. and sell sporadic things to friends and co-workers. and live for that next great idea that will inspire us to make something else, and something else, and something else.
at least thats how i get through my days. i have y'all to blame for most, if not all, of the stuff i've made lately.
and to prove it, here's pictures!

i loved the tie skirt that someone made forever ago, and so i started furiously collecting ties in color schemes to assemble a skirt of my own.

i have a bunch of ties, compared to the original poster (i think she had like 9? unfolded?) because i need... more room than that. so i unfolded the ties (didn't even iron them!) and serged them all together (good for unravely-type fabrics like woven ties)
i saved the tops from 3 of the ties, and put them together to make the waistband

i'm still not sure how i want to close it, because i've never even sewed a zipper before and i'm intimidated. see the little circle? thats the snap that i sewed on and instantly hated.

i even made a lining, because i got this black charmeuse at the cut rate bargin fabric store for $2 a yard and i love the stuff (even though it wrinkles something terrible). my highly scientific lining pattern method consisted of folding the skirt into 4ths, sitting that on some newspaper, and tracing it. cut 4, serge together (can you tell i love my serger?) and sew to the inside of the waistband.

i already have collections going in greens and cremes, blacks/whites/greys, and shades of blue for the next skirts. (i can't help it, i love thrift stores). but i have limited myself to only woven-pattern-fabric ties, because the silk printed ones are too flimsy when i take them apart.

oh, and i want to tell you people. a few months ago someone was talking about the smell of wal-mart/fabric stores in general, and how it gives them headaches. i've been working at a fabric store for a month or so now, and someone mentioned that the fabric is treated with formaldehyde to aid in shipping, and i think that would account for the headache-inducing smells, for people that are sensitive to that kind of thing.

*sniffs* i love you all!