One of my long-awaited packages arrived today, containing Draping for Fashion Design and Foot Soldiers: Stories from the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk. (I’m still waiting for two more books and 25 red ostrich feathers.) Can’t wait to get into them…I plan to make myself (with Mike’s help) a brown-paper-tape dress dummy and try draping.
I also want to read Foot Soldiers because it’s the most obviously parallel book to the one I’m writing. It seems to have a totally different angle, though–she’s writing stories about women’s battles with breast cancer, I’m writing stories about courage. There’s overlap, but the focus is different, I think. But I’ll have to read more to know for sure.
I’m of two minds about Draping for Fashion Design. On the one hand, I would love to learn about draping, and pattern design, in the abstract. On the other hand, I must face the fact that I have three major Projects going on at the moment and that my time on this earth is strictly limited. If I’m going to do a crazy-quilt top, dye and stamp my own fabrics, write a book, and incidentally train for AIDS Lifecycle and the Markleeville Death Ride, I probably don’t have time to learn about draping unless it is directly and immediately applicable to making better patterns for my costumes. I may be better off waiting until my friend finishes the pattern he’s making for me.
Nonetheless, it sounds really interesting and I’m tempted by it. I will probably take a cruise through the book and see how much effort it would be to drape a costume. I think it’s fairly likely to wind up filed in my book collection, though.
I’m frustrated. Life is so short and there are so many things I want to get done, so many things I want to learn…! Where on earth do other people find TIME?
