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[30 Mar 2007|05:23pm] |
fass is really scary-- i went down today to pay the application fee, and i felt so tiny and miserable. to be honest, the courses i'd really love to study are at fass. maybe being from the raffles schools my entire life has made me into an elitist creature-- i felt like i'd stepped into a polytechnic filled with the sort of people i wouldn't be comfortable with. i don't personally know anyone else who is applying for fass, but i know they take in people with d7s in english and really bad grades, and i might not fit in for that and various other reasons. on the other hand, i might meet the most amazing people i'll ever meet there, and maybe it will be great. is it too late to apply for arts at ntu? and should i even consider smu? i really don't know.
my first dressmaking lesson today was quite intimidating-- the eurasian lady i'm learning from is really old (she has great grandkids and the most adorable tiny dog in the world, which kept licking my feet) and lots of young, local (and now famous) designers and fashion students from the nanyang academy of fine arts and the raffles-la salle arts college were her ex-students. during the two hours, her phone rang every fifteen minutes, because she's really in demand. her fees are pretty damn exorbitant because she developed her own method, but my mum is keen on me learning because i drive her crazy bumming around at home. anyway the lady is probably 70 years old, and yet she had appointment diaries for each month, which is quite insane!
i got a bit of a shock because i had to draw similar bustier/corset and vest-type patterns, very precisely and all drawn down to 1/4 scale, over and over and over again. it's really complicated--i'm learning the dutch method of dressmaking (i.e. the best in terms of cutting and precision, etc), from scratch, and it'll take at least 8 months for me to master the basics. vests are the easiest to make, actually, since they don't have sleeves, and have a really simple, clean neckline. anyway for the basic template alone, there are around 20 measurements to take and numbers you're supposed to derive, and then you have to use a special scale ruler and go through another 20 steps of precise drawing, all in the right order. the patterns really look like blueprints or something from an architect's desk. i was silly enough to think i'd be working on the sewing machine already, but that's going to take a while. i also have lots of homework-- i'm supposed to draw the patterns out to full scale on huge brown and white paper and vanguard sheets. i'm also supposed to buy lots of different types of tools, pins, carbon and tracing paper, as well as fabric, which is going to be a headache. my second lesson is tomorrow so i'd better rush and get started!
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