𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒐𝒘𝒍 𝑵𝒆𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆.. 𝑨𝒏 𝑬𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑪𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒆

Hello Needle Workers..

Been a minute, hope you're prepared for a new week filled with great opportunities to excel.

Well, I am prepared for the new week and that's why I wanted to share my story to encourage someone out there.

While trying to declutter my wardrobe on Saturday, I stumbled on my first cowl neckline dress ever and it brought back so much memories. I remember when I was still an apprentice for my boss so many years ago, I had so many challenges trying to make two styles, they were the bustiers(princess) and the cowl neckline.

One of my colleague painted the styles to be very daunting and that I would fail at it even if I made an attempt, at first, I ran away from those styles but I noticed, the more I ran, the more I was scared of them.

Few months later, I had a wedding to attend and I was part of the bridesmaid, the bride was my friend's sister who was aware that at that point I could now make a dress for myself. She gave me the option of choosing either to make the dress myself or pay extra for the cost of outfit and all. At that moment it dawned on me that I needed to wake up and do the needful.

I accepted to make my dress myself even though I had deep seated fears, I quickly ran to YouTube for a detailed tutorial on how to make a cowl neckline, but it wasn't adding up, I guess the method the person used made matters even worse.

Thankfully, I had my books where I sketch out the course outline whenever my boss was teaching, I always made a rough sketch with arrows to indicate the length, breadth and necessary measurement. I studied the book over and over again and went ahead to buy a brown paper for more practice.

After I felt confident enough, I brought out the fabric at that time to cut and make my dress myself.

I doubted each sketch of chalk and each measurement that I had placed, only to convince myself that I needed to call one of my senior in the game, we did a face time of which I showed her all the measurement I had placed on the fabrics and she told me it was okay to cut.

As soon as I cut the fabric, my fears were all gone, I smiled and was ready to sew them, knowing they might not come out as beautiful as I expected.

Well, it didn't come out as ugly as I imagined but it wasn't as perfect as I wanted but the point was I got to work despite my deep seated fears.

Today, I am now a pro at cowl neckline as I have made it countless times for families and friends and here is a picture of my most recent cowl neckline dress I made for a client who had a function to attend.

As I journey through my fashion world, I never fail to recount the humble beginnings and my tough days as they are a drive to keep staying in business.

This purple cowl dress you see here, is a prove that we keep learning if we want to grow and if we are determined, we can be proficient in our niche.

This dress didn't take much time as it didn't need lining for it, I only doubled the front bodice as it was draping.

The back of the dress was a combination of a quality yellow net to spice up the dress, it requires patience to perfectly attach the net to the lycra, but I could scale through with the help of my pins.

It took about two hours to make the dress asides cutting, but the time spent on it was worth it at the end.

Even if you fail at your first attempt, don't stop trying, don't let people scare you with the way they magnify your fears, it's not always easy to face what we fear, but it makes us feel fulfilled in the end.