Spotlight: Just One Step

Greetings all ^-^

A few weeks ago, I posted the Big Cosplay Etsy Top Ten.  All of those costumes were really inspiring, but the one that really caught my eye was the first:

Anna's coronation dress

Sold by JustOneStep, and made by the shop owner Natalie (known by her friends and family as Tink), the detail and the professional finish of the piece just set my crafty fangirl sirens blaring.  I decided to find out more about this seamstress & her methods.

Amazingly, Tink has only been sewing for the past five years.  Her first inspiration came when her Niece hit the fancy dress stage.  Unimpressed by the shop-bought costumes, Tink decided to try her hand at making something better.  Her mother-in-law, who used to do her own dressmaking and involved Tink in the process (cutting out pattern pieces), sold her her first sewing machine.  From there Tink turned to books (ALL the books!), YouTube, and Pinterest for help and inspiration.

From there, this self-taught seamstress began sewing with the cheapest material she could find; upcycling old curtains from charity shops, or anything else should could use.  To be honest, I think this is a great idea, as it takes a while to hone your skills, and there's no point wasting money on wonderful material if you're going to make a pigs ear of whatever you're making!  Practice makes perfect ^-^

Belle

Mulan

All that practice and patience definitely paid off.  Tink's Etsy store is now filled with Disney character inspired costumes.  Fancy dress or cosplay, all her items pretty much hit the nail on the head when it comes to detail.  As a very nit-picky cosplayer myself, this is something I really look for if I'm buying a completed cosplay.  Otherwise the differences between the costume and the original character design will bug the hell out of me!  Tink makes what she loves (she'd wear them everday if she could!), and this is reflected in the finished products.

Until recently, these beautiful costumes were only available on Ebay, but Tink quickly found that Ebayers are only really looking for a bargain.  Making something like this from scratch is expensive and time consuming.  Tink found that "[people] didn't quite grasp the hours that can go into one outfit", and as much as she wants to keep her items affordable, she still needs to cover her costs.  Something that has been mass-manufactured from iffy materials might be easy to turn a profit on at a relatively low price, but breaking-even on handmade items can be difficult if you're pitching to the wrong market.

Cinderella

That's where Etsy came in.  A friend mentioned the website to Tink as an alternative online market place, and she found it suited her much better.  Setting up shop was simple and affordable, and the sense of community is something you won't find in many other places.

Rapunzel

Since setting up her Etsy shop last year, Tink has also started branching out into different crafts.  She is currently working on her own handmade wigs; some of which are available in her Etsy store.  This is just amazing to me, as I have difficulty just putting on a wig, let alone making one!

Tinkerbell wig

However, life as a talented seamstress is not without it's gripes.  I asked Tink if she had any pet peeves when it comes to sewing, and it turns out she does have a couple:

1. Pricking yourself with pins (personally I miss my pincushion and stab my thigh, but Tink has a habit of holding pins in her mouth meaning her lips suffer more than my legs.  She wins at "accidental sewing self-harm" by almost swallowing one of her pins!)
2. When the spool runs out as you're half-way though a seam (it's always the bobbin for me, and I never notice until I've finished.  Curse my unobservant nature!)

But, of course, there are good things too.  I was intrigued to hear about a mystical box that sits on Tink's kitchen table.  It is full of things that have been thrown in there with the view of "I may need it again one day!", and sure enough, the box of requirement coughs things out just as you are looking for them: "the amount of times I've dug in that box and found what I needed is unreal... I love that box".  I choose to believe it is a small part of Hogwarts.

I also enquired about Tink's other hobbies, and it turns out she is a budding artist (look out for a painting on one of her princess skirts - such an awesome idea, I wish I'd had it first) and a dab hand in the kitchen.  She even made her mum and step-dad's wedding cake (I would have crumbled under the pressure... because cakes crumble... and I'm not that great at baking.  That's the joke).

Aurora

So, if you're a Disney fan (and who isn't??) I wholeheartedly recommend visiting this lovely lady's shop.  I love her work, and just from chatting to her on Etsy I can tell she is a great person.  I know my work isn't quite up to this standard yet, but finding another self-taught dressmaker is wonderful inspiration to keep practising and improving.  I hope anyone reading this who is trying to teach themselves to sew, or is even thinking about it, will return to their thimbles and pins will renewed vigour! 

Live long and prosper ^-^