Some of the first 'old' things I bought, like, 3 years ago towards the end of year 7 were sewing patterns, stemming from the discovery of well, sewing. I made a strawberry bag in textiles that didn't fall apart and thought I was some sort of seamstress oracle. I have built up quite a collection of them and despite three being destroyed last year when I made a shift dress for a fashion project in History and left them at the bottom of my bag with some rotten sandwiches so then they went all mouldy and shrivelled (bye 60s shift dress patterns) *holds head in shame* I am relatively protective and in awe of them.
Fashion and that sort of stuff is all about perfectionism, some of it is anyway and that's how the media portrays what is somewhat make-believe and that is why models are seemingly super humanly grown in laboratories (tall and skinny) and I am led to believe pop stars have make up tattooed on their faces because they're rarely seen without it. I don't know what it is about the illustrations on the front of sewing patterns but the use of drawing instead of pictures is kinda refreshing. Maybe it's their imperfect nature, the sketchy lines and stuff, one of my favourite quotes is "Imperfection is underrated" - Helena Bonham Carter, I write that from memory because I use it so much but it truly is. The awkward intricacies of people and nooks and crannies of language and pop culture and other wondrous things that aren't widely known of are what I (as I am sure others do to) relish in. I'm not saying that popular things aren't good too, they are, but I just want others to recognise what's great about the imperfect and the unknown.
Knitting patterns, furthermore, share the same nature, people take things at face value but I for one have recently been trying to take everything in life with aesthetic value, trying to pay attention to the world a bit more I suppose, and while on study leave a couple of months ago I cycled to a charity shop and sifted through the knitting patterns and took pictures of the girls striking such gawky poses, their jutting elbows to show the full design of a garment or bending so unnaturally to show some embellishment. It's hilarious in part but beautiful in another.
I don't really know what I'm going on about and my head is crammed with chemistry and other inane knowledge, I can't wait to not feel guilty when spending time poring over blogs and being somewhat creative. I want to make a cropped tie dye top and it's my birthday party in a few weeks, I'm going to try and invite most of my class and friends to have a picnic in a flowery field near my house and tie dye and paddle in the river there. Should be fun, and I really want to see moonrise kingdom but it only seems to be being played in the 'cool' cinemas like Brighton and Camden in the UK (odeon anyway), and be an explorer in general. It's 1:51 in the morning and my brain is in a conundrum as to whether I should watch Pretty in Pink or not, I lost Ghost World otherwise I would be watching that but I did re organised my shelves so it may be suffocating under all of the junk there. There are doilies with revision notes on them round my room and my nail varnish is chipping off. My room is becoming a bit of a hovel and I have a four foot pile of books and clothes adjacent to me. Paul McCartney was good at the jubilee concert and I wished I had a 40s Union Jack flag from the war to take pictures of because I have become a monarchist and feel this requires me to be patriotic, I am about to read books about feminism because I agree with what I have heard about the movement but don't want to declare myself one until I know I am one because it's what I truly believe in and not because a lot of other people on the internet are feminists, or because it's seems to be becoming 'fashionable' to be a feminist, but the Rookie article about street harassment really angered me and it's opened my eyes to a lot of things that before I just accepted as how society is, going to an all girls school I probably don't see a lot of it and this is why I don't know a lot about why it is 'required' to be a feminist, or why I
need feminism. This paragraph is way to long and really not chronological but I'm reading Adrian Mole and think I'm secretly an intellectual, no I joke, I joke.
Sorry if you painfully read all of the above, I'm a bit befuddled.
This was not a painful read! I enjoy your writing style and I often wonder about feminism too. I think now it is a fashionable term and people use it quite flippantly, while in the past it was alot more polarizing. It was something that could cost you relationships, your job, possibly even your life. I think using the same label now is a bit antiquated. I personally don't feel comfortable using the term as a result, but I am pro-women. You don't HAVE to put a label on your self, but I'm glad you are looking up more about it.
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