Alright, so on Friday I got my wisdom teeth pulled, and one glorious side effect of the pain meds is that you sleep for hours on end. (Yesterday, 17 to be exact).
Alas, I'm sitting around feeling useless at the moment. I need to start packing for school but cannot currently drive to run errands. I just wish I had TiVo.
Anyway, the other day -- pre-extraction -- I went to the fabric store with my grandma. She's belongs to the waning population of women who actually sew. For Joan Hruza, the sight of Abercrombie's purposeful (and strategic) holes is enough to weep. She weeps not because her darling granddaughter dresses like a corporate sex object, but because modern clothes are an endless disappointment of poor design, poor workmanship, and poor fabric choice.
I used to think she was old-fashioned, but now I recognize overpriced garbage. Sure, Abercrombie's SUPPOSED to look worn-in, but why do people pay for it? Of course: the brand. Abercrombie is "cool." Duh, mommm!
But more than that, I think the real reason hardworking citizens pay good money for shitty clothes is that they don't know better. Nobody can sew.
That simple fact became obvious last week at the fabric store; about 1/4 of all textiles were fleece. Polar fleece!
Don't get me wrong -- there's nothing wrong with the occasional warm, snuggly fleece blanket or jacket... but an entire store full?? Tragic.
Sewing used to be economical. Since Americans couldn't get garments sewn for 12 cents in sweat shops and shipped overseas for a dollar, DIY was a practical budgeting solution. Maybe people had more time and less choice, but the fact is, they sewed.
Then there was the art aspect of sewing. Couture designers spent weeks tailoring pieces. Fabric was top-notch, and the techniques used weren't available to the pret-a-porter consumer. Before fashion houses were brand names, talent and a decent atelier were enough to make money. Now fashion is corporate, and couture designs main purpose is publicity. If you can get J.Lo to wear your shit on the red carpet, sales shoot up faster than nipples under a plunging neckline.
Since couture is time-consuming and costly to make, it's difficult to turn a profit. Nowadays, fashion houses make money selling accessories such as perfumes and eyewear. This means less focus on hand-made, individual work, and more attention on run-of-the-mill please everybody design.
And since we can buy dresses for 2 bucks at Sprawl*Mart, nobody's mommy taught them how to make dresses. But since nobody can sew, nobody knows which dresses took time, which ones are for gardening and which are art. Nobody notices matching buttons and belt buckles. Nobody appreciates a well-made liner.
So this is the state of the nation -- a fabric store full of fleece. Fleece because it is no-sew. Fleece because the edges can simply be cut with scissors, left unhemmed, and will not fray. Fleece because teenage girls can cut fringe into the edges for cutesy, double-sided blankets. Fleece because you don't need to put darts in. Fleece because it doesn't need to fit well. Fleece because we can outsource to developing nations and take advantage of impoverished labor. Fleece because quality means nothing anymore. Fleece.
All I have to saw is... fuck fleece.
And somebody stole my molars!