FITting In At FIT: Day 1

I told you I'd come up with a better name! Well, at least it's better than "The Camp Series," right? Good. Glad we agree.

Today was my first day of classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), but not my first time there. This is my 3rd summer, but my 1st summer in the high school program, since I'm just now going into high school. Funny how that works, isn't it?

Last summer, Lola and I spent hours one night going through all my clothes and planning every outfit weeks before down to the hair accessories. I planned my first day outfit last night. I think it went over well, but I'm not sure. You're never sure at FIT because everyone is so well dressed that no expects anything less and the playing field is even, and therefore no reason to compliment anyone's clothing because we're all on the same level. I mean, people could say, "Hey, I like your dress," or something, because obviously they haven't got the same dress on (well, they could but for these purposes let's pretend they don't), but I've only heard that a few times, and usually within the middle school classes.

Before I launch into a brief summary (I am dead tired, y'all) of today, here was my outfit.
But before that, I want to apologize for the fact that we've gone back to taking pictures in my apartment, after there was such nice scenery for the past few outfit posts. Also my mom took these pictures, and in the last one she turned off flash instead of taking the photo by accident, so that's why it's all grainy.

 Shirt: My grandma's 

Vest: My mom's 

Shorts: Mine (JK, Urban Outfitters)

Shoes: Also mine (Giorgio Brutini--you can see them better in the next picture)

Rings: A woman at Venice Beach

 Now you can sort of see my shoes. 

 I wanted to wear something that was very me--meaning lots of high-waisted-ness, a little bit of crazy, a little bit of old woman and a little bit of old man, so that people got the right impression. I think they got a pretty accurate impression when I was rummaging through my bag in my 2nd class only to drop the entire thing on the floor and spend 5 minutes making embarrassingly loud rustling sounds with my papers and plastic bags as I tried to rearrange my stuff. 

See? No flash. It sorta works though...

So about my classes. 

The first one was fun. We ironed with an industrial iron a bit, and we learned about the grains of fabric, and I ripped muslin, and I learned how to block fabric, and I learned how to thread (and somewhat sew with) an industrial sewing machine, which is SO different from a home sewing machine. There are like 80, totally unnecessary steps to thread the frickin' needle. There's a girl in that class who was in my classes last summer, so that was cool. We didn't really talk though: I spoke to the girls who were working at the machines near me. I think I'll get to know them soon, because those are our machines for the rest of the course. 

We have some good projects coming up, like a raglan peasant blouse, a pair of shorts, and (for me) a denim backpack. The last one is like a filler, that project we work on while we're waiting. Some people might make aprons, or bags, or whatever. I'm going with a denim backpack. I am so down. 

My second class was so much more intense. It was a smaller, darker, more cramped room. There was a guy (!) named Rodrigo. Boys in my FIT classes is rare. It's happened once before. Our teacher speaks very thickly Spanish-accented English, which makes her difficult to understand. We did some more ironing (with a regular iron), and then we chose our dress forms and set to work making the muslin pattern for a basic shirt front. It was quite exciting. I wrote down every step in my notebook so I don't forget. She'd just give us a few steps to do, and we'd do it, then we'd go on with the next few, and so on. I don't know what we're doing the first two weeks specifically, but I know in the last week we have to design a dress, make the flat pattern, drape it in muslin and then cut and sew the real thing. So basically a sh*t ton of work. 

I'm really, really tired right now, so I'll see you tomorrow! Well, maybe a few of you. Not all of you. (Ones I will see--you know who you are.)