Shirts by auntietk
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Description
I've been busy this winter making myself new shirts, and I thought you'd like to see my closet. I mean really ... were you doing anything super important just now that is so much more pressing than looking at a closet full of pretty fabric? :)
My mother taught me to sew when I was quite young. I remember being eight or nine years old, learning all sorts of hand stitches. I've been sewing ever since, and have been making all my own clothes since I was about 14 years old. I've made things that were as simple as a caftan, and as complex as a man's tailored suit jacket. After 50 years of sewing, though, the thrill is gone, and now it's just something I need to get done, like sweeping the floor or cooking dinner.
When I was young, I poured over pattern books, looking for things that would be cute. I learned to alter patterns, and once tore apart a pair of favorite shorts that were falling apart and made my own pants pattern from them. After a while, I got tired of fussing with alterations. I'm almost 5'5" tall, and have a 28" inseam. If you need that translated, I have very short legs but sit really tall in the saddle! Bill is about six inches taller than me, but when we sit down, I'm three or four inches taller than he is. So buying ready-made women's clothes is almost impossible for me. I can't buy a dress with a waistline, because it hits me high on my rib cage.
In the mid 1990s, men's colored camp shirts were quite popular. 100% cotton, two patch pockets on the front, short sleeves and tails, and in fun colors. I bought a few of them and wore them with jeans, and that was the end of my looking for "cute" clothes. Of course those camp shirts went out of style, and I couldn't buy what I wanted any more, so I got a pattern for a men's camp shirt and started making them out of pretty fabric. I have been wearing that same pattern ever since, and I can't tell you how many I've made. I sit down and make a bunch of them at a time, which is efficient, but that means they all wear out at the same time. So last winter I made four new shirts, and this winter I made seven more. Hopefully that will last me for the rest of my life!
When I was working, I did the same thing with a dress pattern I found that I really liked. I just made it over and over again in different fabrics.
What I learned about myself over the years is that I don't really give a poo about clothes. As long as they're loose and comfortable and I don't have to think about what I wear, I'm happy. I appreciate cute clothes on other people, but it's more of an art thing. I'm about as far from a fashionista as you can get. :P
So anyway, this is what my closet looked like this morning.
And that's probably more information than you ever needed about me! :D
Comments (13)
FredNunes
This is a beautiful artistic image.... The shadows and light work here perfectly!
npauling
I love the colors and patterns you have chosen and reading about your talent for sewing. I too used to make all my clothes and the girls dresses but I drew the line at hubbys and sons trousers, so I admire you tackling a man's suit. These days I buy my stuff and so long as I look tidy I'm happy. I am not a clothes person either and flash clothes aren't much good in the garden. 😀
LivingPixels
Helluva shot T a lot of cool hippy style attire very nice Tara!!
Faemike55
the colour selections are fun and exciting. I'm like you in that it's comfort over fashion except when necessary or I'm in the mood to confuse people.
beachzz
I love the colors you use----right up my alley!! I used to make all my clothes too, but stopped years ago. I don't miss the sewing, but I sure miss walking into a fabric store and losing myself in all the wonderfulness of it all. I think a fabric store in Hawaii might have been nirvana for me!!!!
wysiwig
Is there anything you can’t do? Painting, poetry, photography, writing and sewing? You’re not into nuclear physics by any chance? Very colorful and a, perhaps unintentional, nice homage to our friend Andrea and her closet. I like this very much.
For fifty years I was 5’7”. Then last year at a doctor’s appointment I was measured and was told I am no longer 5’7”. I am now 5’5” with a 29” inseam. Sometimes life sucks.
Wolfenshire
I like the blue one.
RodS
Well you certainly have very colorful repertoire of shirts, Tara! I've got a huge box of colored pencils that doesn't have as much color in it! LOL A most delightful photo, and a lovely range of colorful garments!
durleybeachbum
Fabulous!! It is a delicious sight, and the colours are life enhancing. Like me you don't do BEIGE !
I too have shrunk, I was 5'10 " and am now 5'9" , with a 33" inseam. But my weight means that I look like a victim of Dachau unclothed..and no, I am not posting a selfie in the altogether.
helanker
WOW! I "kind of" envy you, that you can sew so well. You know there are Apple People and there are Pear people. The Apple people have more above the waste than below waste. I am the PEAR, so I have always had troubles getting clothes that would fit me. Is it nice over the shoulders and breast, it is too tight over my lower parts. I was at a clothes party once... the only time I ever bothered. Only because my collegues wanted me to come too. YUK! All the ladies were Apple ladies, so when a dress was fine above, it was fine and loose below.--- ME? I looked like a sack of potatoes with "Serveza" shoulders. Anyway, I bought one dress with alot of flower pattern. I wore it once, saw myself on a photo and saw a person looking like a Christmas tree. Never again I wore a dress. So I wish I could and loved to sew. I do neither. Ok, I can sew easy things but i dont like to sew. Maybe some day, I will ask Noa, my grand daughter 17 to sew trousers for me. She is a genius with a sewing machine and it is her hobby. She just purchased a new very sophisticated Machine. And she already masters it, like she was born with it. I have a little machine I never use :-P
junge1
I like the colors in your closet Tara, but I like your write up even more. I am in many ways like you. Since I don't work anymore my closet is full of suits, shirts, ties, jackets and such which I don't wear anymore. same with shoes. Here in Arizona I wear shots and T-shirts 99% of the time, shoes sometimes and really don't care, as long as I am comfortable!
anahata.c
love the comments here, and love Mark's, and Helle's---the bit about looking like a sack of potatoes! And I can tell you that I've shrunken from 5' 6" to a little under 2 feet total. (My head's most of that. And I, too, have legs too short for my torso, and if you saw my high school picture---the upper torso and head---you'd think I was 6 feet tall.) In any case, I'm impressed with how much you've made---and you've made men's suits??? Are you sh__ting me??? You got some time, lady??? I'll give you my needs...I know you see clothes these days as mostly functional, but you do have colorful and fine taste. (As a personal note, I love wonderful clothes; when I studied them, I fell in love with how many ways we've made visual statements of ourselves. But I hate the concept of "fashion", and if I were making clothes all these years, I'd get tired of them too.)
All that aside, this is a wonderful shot, just as fabric and color. You got a softness to it, and a real glow. It's very pleasing; and I hope people see it full size, because it's really bold and beautiful that way. Love the purples and reds and blues in contrast. A dark shot over all, but with real punch and light. And kudos for making all that clothing over the years. (Men's overcoats have patch pockets too, sometimes: The traditional camel hair overcoat usually has patch pockets, and somehow they look great.) Loved the narrative. And it brought out a lot from your fans. And yeah, you've now entered the pantheon of Andrea's clothing shots. Terrific shot and text.
moochagoo
Very good idea of picture !