I actually Google search on the topic 'how to be a fashion designer'. The answer that popped out was not pleasant to my eyes. Get a four years degree in fashion designing. NOOOOOO~! I don't want to go to school and take exams~! I only enjoy taking exams where I know my marks will be high, other than that... NOOOO~!!! How to be a fine tailor then?
One day, hubby went to Balik Pulau which was work-related and he de-toured and stumbled upon this simple tailor shop at Balik Pulau market. The lady agreed to teach me privately. Hubby accompanied me for the first few months. I learned but went home and did not do anything about it. I'm not one who will practice diligently. Almost every week, I was just moving back to the beginning and it was really frustrating. I think my teacher was more frustrated. The other day when I brought in my handiwork, she was beaming with pride.
I love dresses. I wanted to sew for myself but I was such a cheater. I cheat in every corner. I don't even care if my sewing was crooked or how horrible the whole thing turned out to be. As long as it's wearable, no one will know. But when you're sewing for someone else, it's different. Mummy came into the picture all of a sudden. I thought I'll just make one simple blouse for mummy for Chinese New Year but I almost fainted. It was not easy at all and it would be embarrassing when mummy see all the crooked stitches. I always remind mummy not to flip over. But now I can gladly tell mummy to flip over and admire the hidden seams. There's nothing to see there... all hidden. I do still make mistakes in almost every piece. Mummy has been very supportive and never say anything that will hurt my pride and cause me to abandon sewing completely. Mi madre says I sew worse than those cheap China clothes. I don't know why a perfectionist like I am cannot reach the level of perfection in sewing right till now.
I have a private tutor and mi madre is teaching me as well, YouTube videos taught me more and Google gives me teachers from all over the globe. Books and more books. One cannot learn them all. There's always something else that you have not seen and heard of. I probably have 5% of knowledge right until now. To be a fine tailor will take a long time. To turn this into a business, I think I will have to put in 200% of effort. Mummy will be showered with new clothes while I'm experimenting on different designs and polishing my skills. Just like cooking and baking, you can never imagine how many recipe books I have yet I still Google to get more information at times.
It is never a mistake staying here, so near to Kamdar. I never set foot to Kamdar because I thought the name Kamdar was kinda silly. And I don't see why I need to buy cloth. It's different now. Nagoya was such a huge disappointment I thank God I'm not staying at mainland, I will drive over to Kamdar every week if I'm staying there. I have everything I need near me. God knows best. One can never understand the need to buy this cloth and that cloth. The cloths are fast selling in Kamdar, if you don't get it know, you'll never see it anymore. We saw it with our own eyes the other day. It was less than 30 minutes, the whole roll of cloth was gone and the one wrapping the mannequin was removed as well. Hats off to the person or team making purchases for Kamdar. When I started cooking, hubby bought lots of kitchen stuff and then when I went into baking, hubby bought for me baking utensils. I have lots of toys in my kitchen. Now that I'm into sewing, hubby bought for me more toys. I think it's scary whenever I have a new hobby. Not to mention the fishing equipment sleeping in the storeroom.
Desire...
The desire to create something from scratch. It's just like cooking and baking - especially baking. From a few hundred grams of flour, a few eggs and a few drops of this and that, mix them together and viola~! When the oven 'ting', your heart skips two beats and then you will smile at the perfect wobbly cake. I don't look forward to the 'ting' of an oven now... I really like the whirring of the sewing machine.
The level of desperateness...
I'm talking about myself. When I'm not desperate enough, I won't budge to do anything. When you're so desperate to do something, you will start squeezing your brain and ideas will come especially at night. Don't listen to what others tell you. Just like when you want to bake something, and you hear people telling you 'for goodness sake... go and buy, why mess up the whole kitchen when you can simply just buy...' It's not the same... the taste, texture and the satisfaction. So, when you look at a piece of cloth, thinking how simple that piece of cloth is, when you sew two pieces together, fix the collar and the sleeves - because you're so desperate to see how it will turn out to be... and you'll be amazed at how wonderful your hands are.
Get help...
For one solid year, I looked through the pattern books and I thought I could understand the drawings. I'm very used to lengthy instructions. You need to read instructions and understand them really well when you're baking. You can cheat when you're stir-frying but you can't skip a line or two when you're baking. Mi madre has many old books on sewing and embroidery yet mi madre doesn't sew. Mi madre also has lots of cookbooks but never cook anything from the books. Just mi madre's collection which I put to good use. Hubby always says it's easy to sew. Then I got really angry with him. If he says it's easy, how come he never sew anything for me. And lo' and behold he made me a huge pencil case and sew our bedsheet plus pillow cases. Hubby taught me how to cook as well. Then, I just went ahead and overtook mi madre and hubby. Well, sometimes you just need help to get started.
Do it for others, not yourself...
I started cooking because of my precious. I wanted her to have good food instead of having outside food everyday. Then, I was inspired by the movie 'Julie and Julia' and I started cooking for my friends every Friday. When you plan to serve others, you will put in more effort. Eight years later, I started baking. I was not baking for myself. I fed a whole lot of piranhas in my house. I'll be teaching, my students have papers and plates on the table, one of their hands holding onto pen while another hand will be holding a spoon or a fork. A few of my students went on to become chefs. I'm just cooking at home and they are working in the kitchen of various restaurants. 
Study, study and study...
Buy, buy, buy...
Just do it~!
Yeah... just do it. Again, I am grateful to have mummy as my model. And I'm thankful that I have been drawing quadratic graphs for so many years that I can draw a proper curve without using rulers. Do not despise what you learn in school. You will never know when you will put what you have learnt into good use. I'm using Maths formula to get my calculations right. Circumference of a cicle = 2πr ... and I'm using protractor to get the angle I wanted. 
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