Last One

Well guys it's been a good ride. Thanks to my committed readers and for all the support. I figured it was time to come to a close with my blog since my narrative is already written!!! yeah look at me being ahead of schedule! Course I still have a lot to do but it feels good to have a few things done and crossed off my list. So now I'm hoping to cross my blog off too. I've had a blast and blogging has been a really positive experience! Thank you for this opportunity!

Sew until we meet again!!


Emma

Receiving Advice

This was a particularly interesting article to read because it was so relatable... It was titled "Elit Athletes Listen to Their Coaches, Do You?" Funny because my mentor is also my coach! While I was reading the article it talks about athletes and coaches conversing about previous actions and adjusting them to be better.. Right away a memory popped up.. Drew often tells me after a missed attempt at high jump to move my mark slightly, or focus on shortening my steps so I can drive up better. At first its scary. It's like really! take an entire foot length FORWARD for my high jump approach! You're sure!???!?!? But I trust him, he's really good at seeing what can be adjusted or whats out of sorts, the hard part is trusting myself to make sure I make the adjustment and then still execute the approach the same way and keep my mind clear. So the article focused a lot on how to take advice, and with my coaches that's never really been a problem, when it's my dad trying to coach me maybe thennn its a litte different or like in ART  class! I hated getting advice on what could be better with my drawings or paintings cause I always felt they were how I wanted them, but of course that third person perspective is useful to consider. For my wise presentation I plan to stay very open minded about all the advice I receive but still make sure that I get out there everything I want the audience to know.

WISE Reflection

Last wise class :( I've actually really really enjoyed wise class... like the actual class part of it.... we've had such a mixed group of kids in class led by life lesson teaching Mrs. Gergely.. I remember being kind of sad when we started just having class once a week. The class and the conversation and reading that went on during the actual part of the year was fun and enjoyable. Our Gatsby seminar was so much fun and discussing The Things We Carried, I don't know, it was just a really good English class! So it was sad for today to come to an end!  Mrs. Gergely did make a good point though and I'm really going to tell myself to listen! and take Lukes advice! Just get started on all the written work! just do it Emma! I've been thinking a lot about it and my presentation but I need to just sit down and do it! Technically I think all of my materials are due June 3rd.... THATS LESS THAN A WEEK. I have a narrative, a research commentary, blogs to print out and other little knick knacks, AND I have a 10 page research paper due for government class on the same day. :O uhhhh yeah! You're thinking why the heck isn't she writing that ish right now instead of bloggging!!!!! It's cause blogging is more fun!! But I'm seriously gonna get on it.. like wake up at 7:30 tomorrow and work from 8-10 on it!! cause thats like my only focussed time anymore!


ALSO! I wore my dress to school today :) Most people already knew I'd been working on it and so it was great when people were like "OMG thats the dress you made I LOVE IT!" I like it a lot too, I'm happy that I could wear it and feel good in it and on top of that be like shyeah I made this! I'm not sure though whether or not I want to wear it to my presentation.. I kinda think I'd like to pass all my materials around and talk about them and show the parts that were good and bad and then go try it on... but I'm not sure if thats allowed?? We'll see!! anyways it was deff a confidence booster hearing that people liked it and were impressed that I sewed it all myself!

done!!

so guess what! my dress is done! and wearable! it fits perfectly! not too tight or too loose! for the most part it went smoothly.. except when I went to sew the skirt and top together... instead of sewing the seams the shirt kinda got sucked into the machine... so I was ripping stitches for a good 15 minutes.... which is actually more soothing then the actual sewing (well thats just my opinion) of course I'd get no where if I had to rip stitches all the time! anyways it got corrected! then I added the zipper which was a little tricky.. nancy had to switch the sewing feet cuz you need to be able to get really close to the zipper.. which was also tricky.. an keeping it straight really matters... but that's what I struggle with most. After the zipper I sewed the last seams  and then added the cuffs to the sleeves to make the edges smoother! Then BAM! I had a dress :) I tried it on... and well it was a little too long for my liking... so nancy helped me pin it up so we had a better idea of where to cut it! then I took my scissors and chopped off a good 4 inches... (it's just above my knee don't worry!!) then I folded over the bottom and sewed all the way around, it's a good yard of fabric too so it was tiring! at this point about 3 hours had passed so we decided to save the hemming for another day! but nancy sent me home with needles and thread and markers to measure and the knowledge I need to hem the rest! but it actually looks really good the way it is, and fits length wise well, so we'll see!! also I forgot to mention I did a good amount of hand sewing today... I had to tuck some seams in and sew down some loose fabric that was reinforcing the top. It was just a basic running stitch but it took a while! the sewing machine is heavenly when you compare it to sewing by hand!!

I think I may try and wear the dress tomorrow!! I'm nervous but we'll see!! all in all I'm really happy with it! and it's deff something I'm proud to say I made which I think is anyone's goal at the end of wise! 

LUKE

first off I just want to put it out there that I'm thoroughly impressed with luke's presentation and his ability to play the harmonica. He really did captivate his audience and his layout of slides and balance between playing and telling was just right. Luke was really a great example and got me thinking jeeze have I done this much! can I really speak for 30 minutes on my findings. But I realized when I got home and talked it over with my mom that I definitely can. I've learned a lot about sewing but also about myself. Luke didn't focus on that part as much, but it came out when questions were asked. I'm going to focus on of course what I've made and learned from sew green and nancy but also what I've learned from myself and about wise class. What I liked and disliked and so on. I jotted down a list while luke was presenting of such things I'd like to touch on and how some of my experiences differ from lukes. I also really liked his use of the slideshow. The screen was always helpful but never overwhelming. He used pictures and diagrams to lead his talking and remind him of what to say and I think I would like to do something very similar.

Anyways a great job luke! hats off to you for going first and setting the bar high!

MONDAY MORNING

I'm looking forward to seeing Lukes presentation tomorrow! I think it's going to boost me into shape. I've read through the description for our narrative essay and final bibliograpghy and research commentary. I feel pretty good about the narrative. I definitely have a lot to tell! From sew green to working with Nancy Pepin there has been a lot of success but also some struggle and bumps along the way. I look forward to reflecting on my wise journey and I'm going to start writing the narrative soon because my end of the year is actually looking pretty hectic. As for the bibliography I do have some good sources like sew green and some online sources where I got ideas to do my tie dye, but I could use some more to answer some of my macro and micro questions. I need to go back and see what those questions were because I know that would greatly help!

I have work again next saturday and sunday! UHG! but I think that I can get up to see nancy either wednesday night or sunday afternoon! If that doesn't work for her though we have all day monday off and I'm sure we could get it done then! really my goal is to have the dress complete by this time next week that way I can start just focusing on the narrative and commentary of my project. 

ralphie

Ralph Lauren- 

Born in Bronx NY on October 14th 1939 to two Jewish Immigrants as Ralph Lifshitz.  By the age of 16 he and his brother Jerry had hanged their last names to lauren after much ridicule at school. He studied business for two years at Baruch College in Manhattan. After a small debut in the army he returned to take a job at Brooks Brothers. From there he went on to work for a tie company. When they rejected his ideas for a new style he left on the hopes to start his own business.  He worked out of a drawer in the Empire State Building. He sold his ties to small shops around New York but only got his real start because Neiman Marcus bought 100 dozen.  He then trademarked Polo and began designing mens suits. He opened up a boutique in 1970 where he sold polo clothing for men and women. (fun fact he also was asked to design the clothing for the characters in the new movie The Great Gatsby) The success of Polo has earned lauren a personal fortune of roughly 6.5 billion dollars. 

http://www.biography.com/people/ralph-lauren-9374814