LISA MCFADDEN
Stories (1/0)
Paper to People
I cut my own bangs when I was around six years old with my mom’s fabric scissors. Needless to say it was a hot mess, but I liked reconfiguring things. I also enjoyed the rush that cutting gave me. It was a final action, hopefully, of mindful deliberation to follow through with a choice that could not be changed. It was my cliff jump, if you will. Somewhere around that time I was making my own paper dolls and designing their clothes. Paper and pencils that she brought home from work were my treats. I’d sit for hours drawing figures, carefully tracing clothes on top of them and positioning the hanger tabs so as not to show when the dolls were dressed. It was only when she realized that I was using THOSE scissors that I learned the difference between fabric scissors and paper scissors. Each has a special purpose. Crayons were my paint brushes. Prints, stripes and plaids created with them were later replaced with markers, ink and guache in fashion design school. Paper scissors still had their place, but now an arsenal of options allowed me to bring designs on paper to life. I am now able to take those ideas from conception to their end result. Creativity gives me immense joy and comfort and that was especially so during the height of the pandemic last year. When much of my life was a guessing game, I was able to channel my energy into using the most important tools I had in the box; imagination and scissors. I think that by continuing to create my happiness through making beautiful, fun, fierce hats showed my clients that there are ways to persevere through struggles by channeling into what makes them happy, too. Developing paper patterns for the perfect fit, now for people, cutting through fabric with precision and the proper scissors to craft a hat that someone will love is how I create my happiness. I create for others.
By LISA MCFADDEN3 years ago in Viva