Saturday, January 17, 2015

wordy

This is a post about my disarraied idea on faux fur and a postponed retreat.

Please be warned, the first half of the post is muttering and it ends without clear conclusion. The latter half is an apology. I just couldn't avoid this post. I hope you will have a brighter day!



*
Faux Fur
It was a very cold night in December. When we were living in England many years ago, we often went out at night for various musical concerts in London. It was at Royal Albert Hall, or maybe it was at Royal Festival Hall, I'm not too sure but that night was very cold. We enjoyed the music in the choir seats (tickets for the choir seats were much cheaper and it was so much fun to share the moment facing to the conductor and other part of audience beyond playing orchestra. We loved those seats.) and then some memorable thing happened to me after the concert.

When the program was over, everybody stood up and tried to exit the hall as usual as in every concert. People were slowly heading to the exits, like being a flow in a complicated shaped river. It was crowded around me, as usual. And then I felt someone grabbed my purse that was hugged with my both arms. In the moment I turned my head back to see the person who was vigorously kneading my purse, the woman behind me barked

"Bowwow, wowwowwoow!!!"

with her hand still on my purse. She had a very evil grin (I'm sorry to say so but this is my polite expression) in her face as if she demanded me to reply back to her kneading or barking.

I didn't know what happened at first, and my initial guess was that she was too much affected by the moon or alcohol. She was wearing a colorful long knit cardigan over a Boho long dress. She seemed a civilized person rather than a growling wolf, although her lifestyle seemed slightly hippie side at the same time. Then I noticed that she accused me of having too much hair on my belonging. I was carrying a clutch-type small purse made of faux fur. I think I bought it at TOPSHOP because it was before my sewing era.

Yes.
I realized that she was trying to criticize me on animal abuse. She didn't have paint to spread over me, so she barked at me instead.

In a second after realizing, I reflexively replied to her saying "Excuse me, this is faux."
She loudly said "Reeaally??"
I said "Of course."
A 5-second silence.
And, she stormed off bumping everyone else to make her way. That was all about the incident. Nobody got injured, technically nothing happened.


However, it kept raising some questions in my head since that day after all. Although she promptly gave up accusing me falsely, it influenced me later. I keep asking myself the questions that I can't find right answers for. Probably she's done an amazing job in a different way without knowing it.

I personally don't think that production of animal fur for fashion purpose is any good or gorgeous at all. I think we should be intolerant of unnecessary animal abuses in the present day. We have plenty other options now especially for garments. I have no doubt in this part. However, hey, is it really OK when the subject is faux fur? Especially when it is purposefully similar to the real one? What's the point of faking it while I don't appreciate the real ones?

I wonder other questions too.
Will there be people who'd attack me or say bad at me because they wrongly think my items are real, again? And is there nothing I can do about it? Do I always have to make excuses that my items are not real? Why don't I give up entire idea of fur material rather than appreciating fauxness of faux fur fabric? Is faux fur pretty by the way? Doesn't it lose the glory even a bit even if no one uses real fur any more? Is real fur pretty, in the first place? If I think faux fur cute, why? Why on earth do I love those hairy synthetic fabrics while I don't approve them if they're real? Doesn't this mean I am indirectly supporting real fur?

Of course those questions are rather pointless (maybe you don't know what I am saying at all. I'm sorry if this post is utterly unreadable) and I don't know the right answers at this moment. What I understand so far is that I feel that faux fur is mostly cute but I have no legitimate reason for it.

I made a casual jacket in a long haired faux fur fabric. I think it is pretty. And wearing it is fun. It's like cos-playing. But I don't know whether I'm doing right or not because I don't know the answers yet. I'm not feeling guilty too much but it is possible that I'll be feeling differently in 10 years. At this moment, I think, it's OK. I hope it's OK.

Sewing-wise, it was one of the least precise sewing garments in my entire life. Too much hair and too much self-propelled movement in the fabric! I'd say I was cleaning the floor rather than I was sewing a jacket. It was fun though. Of course it's always fun when things get messy.



**
Sewing Retreat

As I wrote in this post, with helps of my friends, I was planning a "sewing retreat" which I wanted to carry out in this coming May at a beautiful lakeside near Mt. Fuji. We visited candidate sites and discussed schedules and other things in the last Summer. I was really hoping to throw a great event in 2015.

However, regrettably, I have to say that it has to be postponed for a while because of my private situation.

At this moment I have several private issues that need my strong commitment quite hugely and urgently, and I find that I literally have no time (or energy) for preparing well for this event to make it successful. One year ago I didn't know that these things were coming to occupy me... Thus it shall be postponed for a year or two.

I imagine that not many of you would be disappointed by this news as only few of you can actually come to Japan to attend it anyway. However, please accept my sincere apology if you were considering to attend the retreat in this May and if you were disappointed by this postponement. I hope your 2015 will be full of excitement and joy of sewing.

Happy sewing to you, everyone!

xoxo
yoshimi



===== 
Faux fur jacket
A cardigan-type jacket without lining. The only feature of the jacket is a pair of side pockets. Giant snap buttons for closure.
Pattern: Jennifer from Annee-patterns (PDF) 
Fabric: Acrylic fur fabric with polyester knitted base, lighter than it looks, very furry. Brown and off-white.

Coco sweater
I knitted a close fitted turtle neck sweater.
Pattern: Coco from Jo Sharp
Yarn: Cashmere yarn, pink and white.
More info about the sweater here.
=====

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Giveaway Winners!




Happy New Year! I hope your 2015 will be a brilliant year, and I also hope we will have a more peaceful year ahead everywhere on the earth.

I have picked three winners of the giveaway at RANDOM.org, by generating a set of three numbers between 1 to 51.  The numbers are 16, 30 and 47


and the winners are Lynn(the first Lynn), Sharon, and Melanie Y, who have left comments in the respective orders(excluding my reply in the comment section). Please contact me at yoshicomo(at)gmail(dot)com with your mailing address if your have won the prize. Congratulations to the winners, and a very big THANK-YOU to all of you who entered the giveaway!

===
As for myself, I still have one more day before I get back to my work from our new year holiday. I've been knitting a pullover (I'm a 100% seasonal knitter) for some days and would like to finish it in a week or so... sewing not much, but I will post about the faux fur jacket very soon. It is pretty much funny thing when worn. It can be amusing to look at, I think. Said that, I'm having a problem with writing about it to tell the truth, because it is made of faux fur. I had a very memorable incident about this material maybe 10 years ago in London in December at Royal Albert Hall after the concert when all of us audiences were slowly moving towards the exits pushing each other slightly politely but hoping crowd's faster flow. Well... the story makes my writing even slower. I hope I will manage to write it up.

Happy sewing to you!
Talk to you soon,


Love,
yoshimi