To design and sew outfit are my passion. Let me share my story.
I started learning how to sew when I was in third grade of elementary school, if I am not mistaken. At the time, I sewed only simple things like pillow cases, small and medium pouches, table linen, everything with so-so straight machine basting. And it all started by family influence: my mom sewed, my mom’s sisters sewed, my grandma sewed. As far as I remember, every time I went to houses of relatives , I saw a sewing machine, notions, pile of fabrics at a corner dedicated as sewing nook.
When I was little , my mom a couple of times requested her youngest sister to sew my outfit. She couldn’t refuse the requests because my mom’s wish is my aunt’s command :D. (My mom and my aunt is the oldest and the youngest of 5 children respectively). Every time my aunt handed me with her creation I was so excited as nothing would compare with my dress. There would no embarrassing situation where two girls who barely knew each other wore same dress from one brand, moment that I didn't really like.
Growing up into my teen years, I often got my apparel sewn by seamstress, since styles offered by clothing store those days did not suit my taste for fashion. During that time, clothing stores at my hometown were somehow old fashioned. If I wanted to shop trendy items, I had to go to a big city two hours ride from my house. Heck no! So, to catch up with current style, I brought a teen mag with picture of outfit I liked or my simple-modest design and fabric to seamstress.
My mom must have had me into habit of getting my outfit sewn. (Although she sewed her own clothes in her young age, but she stopped doing that after she had my oldest sister. She chose to dedicate her full time taking care my dad and her children.) When I was kid, I used to accompany my mom to shop fabrics for her or me. Seeing beautifully printed fabrics all over the racks really hooked me. Not to mention getting end result which were totally different from imagination/simple design or picture on mag was as equally had strong impact on me. My passion for design and sewing must have stem from all those experience.
Even though I loved to design my own outfit and really liked having my clothes sewn, I didn’t enroll in fashion school. Instead, I chose accounting major because I was told that being accountant made easy to land a job. And yes, I got a job in accounting field, just what I wanted since beginning of college time.
When I felt any burnout during the time as an accountant, I killed the boredom by taking a look at pictures of beautiful clothes (or any kind of design) on websites or magazines. I thought how remarkably the process of turning fabrics and threads, sometimes with beads and other material into something different. I was fascinated by dedicated people behind a successful work making clothes, from designing until finishing. But the fascination did not all of sudden push me to resign. It took me 10 years working in accounting world to realize that my passion were not fully for the job. I finally fed up. However, it is admitted that there were several years I loved my job and was so content with it. Maybe if I persistently stayed there, I would had got a high position. But if I were given a big chance to get back to my previous career/position, I would brave enough to say no. Enough when it’s enough. And…voila! My childhood and teenager experience, blended with my family influence made me decided to quit my job.
Am sure I was not the only one who decided to take a huge leap in life, leaving a promising career only to follow what passion needs to fulfill. It was leaving the comfort zone which was not really comforting though had financially supported me for years. It takes courage to say goodbye and make a choice. It was tough, very tough, but I did.
And how about you, do you have similar story like mine?
