Friday, May 17, 2013

New Dress and Photography Thoughts

When Steph mentioned you could use woven patterns for knits I knew exactly what my next project was going to be! (if you don't know what I'm talking about read her interview, part 1 and 2)
I decided to give my newly traced Lutterloh kimono sleeve tee a try in some thrifted knit my fabulous Mother picked up for me. I've got her trained well. :)
I really liked the simplicity of this knit with the stripe set on the bottom. I wasn't sure about the color on me but I wanted a comfy summer dress so that's what it was going to be!


It was a thin knit and curled like crazy and since I have yet to get spray starch to control this, I let it do it's thing and used it to my advantage. I didn't hem anything! I did bind the neckline to add some stability but let that edge roll up on the outside for a subtle design detail.
I ended up sewing the side seams twice in four short goes to get the fit I wanted instead of just making do with the first sew through. I'm pretty happy the stripes still match after hacking off about 6 inches from each bottom side.
I love it with this vintage scarf that I've had forever and never had anything to wear with. I feel like this will be a great travel dress since it is so comfortable and will be easy to accessorize for different looks. Plus this piece has now be STASHBUSTED!

Now we'll politely segue from the dress to photography...
What's the difference between clothing in real life and photographs? Why does something look good in the mirror but not so great when I take a photo for MMM? Today I discovered some reasons why my photos might not look as good when I look in the mirror. Angles, lighting, breathing.
Here's some examples from today's self photoshoot. (I set my camera on custom timer. 10 seconds then 5 photos)
Dress and body in motion, fabric is fluid and moves with us. Me striding along, is a brief second in time, yet captured on camera presents an unflattering wrinkled mess.

Suck it in, let it out, Oh look I'm a MODEL! hehe
(Self timer gives you some interesting shots to work with)
A picture can be a great evaluation tool but I don't think it should be our determining factor in garment suitability. I took 100 photos of this dress today and you can see how many actually turned out decent.  Maybe we need to hold our photos in an open hand realizing how that moment looks might not really matter and in the minutiae of life our clothing is just a covering helping us live every moment well. Maybe what really matters is the attitude we clothe ourselves in...
What do you think?

8 comments:

Carolyn said...

100 photos!! WOW! I only allow myself ten or twelve or so, definitely no more than 15; otherwise MMM would start to take over my life! For me, often the fate of a garment depends on the photos. If it looks terrible in my photos then I know it is probably time for it to go...

charlotte said...

This dress really suits you, looks great!

Anonymous said...

A couple of times I have simply given up trying to get a good photo of a garment on me and just photograph it on my dress form. I can be 100% sure that it looks good in real life (and have that confirmed by other people), but just cannot get a good photo of it.

I think it mostly has to do with, as you say, movement vs. a still shot. I watch 99% of TV on DVD and I have lost count of the number of times I have paused a DVD and the actor has an "interesting" look on their face. They could be the most stunning person on the planet, but a pause at the wrong moment makes them look dreadful.

Gabrielle said...

Well, when I take my own (unskilled!) photo with a timer or remote, I generally hate the way I look and the way my clothes look, and I have to take an awful lot of photos to find 1 or 2 that I can bear to share. But this year a friend who takes lovely photos has been taking my weekday pictures for MMM and suddenly everything looks much better (including me). If a good photographer makes something look good it won't necessarily look good in real life, but the opposite is also true! BTW I really like that leftmost photo of your dress with you walking - this one is my favourite!

EmSewCrazy said...

I know, it takes a long time with a timer. Yep! This is what I'm talking about... Cameras they can unintentionally lie.
Thanks, for the dress compliment. My face was all squinty from the sun in that one.

EmSewCrazy said...

I've had to resort to the dress form too. I'm using MMM to try to get better taking self photographs and more comfortable in front of the camera which is why everyone is getting to enjoy crazy photos.

Hehe about the DVDs, we have that happen on netflix a lot. It's always so funny!

EmSewCrazy said...

Thanks, I'm thinking its a keeper!

EmSewCrazy said...

Since it takes 5 at a time it goes pretty quickly. The first 10 are usually rubbish as I'm trying to find myself in the frame. Plus I move too quickly so out of 5 photos 3 will be blurry.... Yes, I'm working on my skills. I'm always surprised at how many I have taken when I download them. Most quickly end up deleted.
Your photos are an inspiration to me and I hope someday mine can look as cool.