Hello?!

    Hi there! So I'm BACK yet again!! after another little "stretch". But this time I'm going to share a bit of a funny story with you all. So why did I (at 5:24AM no less) just get into a full on altercation with an automated service?! It all started off innocently, I was simply calling the USPS number to track a package that should have been here since YESTERDAY and wanted to basically let someone know that I was less than happy and would like to be able to pick it up instead (I won't be home when it's supposed to get here, but am SICK of playing the waiting game "I'm sick (V)Ron" -Sammie from Jersey Shore voice. So I think maybe if I call early enough, I can stop them before it's too late...

wrong!


I get on the phone with this pompous excuse of an automated woman and it went downhill from there. I can't even begin to describe how smug she was!! She asks me my tracking number and then gives me absolutely NOTHING I need to hear, talking about "OHhhhh...it's on the way...more info is updated overnight...wooptie woo" And so I cut her off! "Customer Service!!" and THAT's where it begins. For the sake of brevity, I'll call her "Rita"

Rita: I'm sorry I don't understand you, did you say "track a package"

Me: no, "Speak with an agent"

Rita: Is your package a domestic or international package

Me: Customer Service!!

Rita: I don't understand what you're saying to go to the main menu, please say "main menu" to track a package, please say "track a package"

Me: Look I wanna talk to somebody REAL!

Rita: Please say "Yes" or "No"

Me: *slams desk* You know WHAT!!! Customer Service!!


Rita: I'm sorry...I didn't get that did you say "track a package"?

(And here is where I REALLY lost it...because she kept speaking in this "calm" voice as if to say "Sir please calm down"...and I had HAD IT!)

Me: YEAH you RIGHT you sorry, I said I wanna talk to customer service, I don't want no "yes" no "no" you betta put me on this LINE!! (As I'm now furiously pressing the "0" and "*" keys on my phone)


(And as if to intentionally cut ME off she says)

Rita: I'm sorry you've reached the offices outside of business hours please call back at 8am (and you KNOW she had the most ignorant emphasis placed on the number "8")

Me: o_O Yeah? Well Good Riddance!! 


So there I was...left with nothing....so I decided to write about it.

Good Morning!!

And "Rita" you BET let me catch you out here in these streets!!


-Will

Well LOOKIE LOOKIE!!

Oh hey yall!...hahahaha...I'm back with a new post (a VERY brief one though...I'll do better in the upcoming weeks) but ANYWAY. As you all know I'm singing, and I'm about to really FAST forward with my pursuit, and I was fortunate enough to have a photoshoot today to combine with some other components to comprise what will become my EPK (Electronic Press Kit). And here's a sample of one of the first edited images. Gotta dart out but I hope you enjoy it!


-Will

O M G

    Where have you guys BEEN?! It's been MONTHS!! cmoooooon!!! (lol). Well this post is just to inform you all that I have decided that in 2011 I will (no matter how difficult) post something here at LEAST once a month! (holds for applause)....

Okay Okay okay....

Since I last talked to you all I've done SOOOO much living!! I've discovered I'm allergic to EVERYTHING and what I thought had been colds that sneak up on me year round were REALLY allergic reactions! I got a job!! I quit my job!! I made it through 4 rounds of auditions for season 10 of American Idol. Jennifer Lopez says I have a beautiful smile. Randy Jackson says I have a good voice!! I got CUT from being in the running for American Idol. I was devastated. I read "The Alchemist". I realized that God's hand is everywhere in my life and started to look at the bigger picture of things. I've continued my vocal lessons (which I started up DAYS after I made it through the first round of Idol). I've found a great deal of freelance opportunities (thank GOD). I was accepted into the SAE Institute in NYC to study to become an audio technician (so I can produce all my own music). I went to see Black Swan. I decided to put school on hold for now in light of some new advances on the audition sector (none of which I can really talk about yet)...but they're BOTH verrrrrrry good!! I created my own website www.willwhiteonline.com I discovered David Bowie, Billy Idol, and Boy George, and became a fan. And I moved!!! (to a new beautiful and swank studio in Newark, NJ)...it oozes inspiration. 

(my new house...there's a CRAZY view of NYC)

Welp that was the fast forwarded version of it all (who knows MAYBE I'll dive into details on another day...but right now...I can't bring myself to do it (it's 2:43am).  

Anyway...I love you all so much and want to thank you for being patient with me!!

2011...Let's DO this!!

LESSON: It's never too late to do what you set out to do...

Fools Rush In....

Well....guess who's baaaaaaack?! Me...that's who. A couple of things have happened since my last post. For starters I was able to take some pictures of some fashion shows during New York fashion week, which was pretty fun all around!

I would have to say, however, that the biggest change is.....I'm a year older...yep that's right on March 4th 24 years ago Juanita and William White brought yours truly into this world. I would say that this year felt much more different than any other. This year everything is...NEW...I'm finally pursuing my dreams and don't have too  much of anything concrete going on...which can always be nerve wrecking yet at the same time the most exciting thing you'll ever experience. Ultimately, the unknown is truly that....UNKNOWN!

I decided that it was time for me to put up or shut up....literally. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I also sing and write my own music. In addition to those budding talents, I've also taken up the arduous task of teaching myself to play the acoustic guitar. For a while people had been mentioning "why don't you post videos" or "why don't you go to open mics?!". My mental answer would always be "Why don't YOU?!"...."Yeah...frickin' you do it!".  Really I'd kept telling myself that maybe I just wasn't ready to "go there" yet....and sadly enough was more than content with that. As 24 came rushing up though, I knew my "not ready" days were coming to a close. So finally I decided (in true Will White form) to pick a song, learn it, and record myself singing and playing it then release the video on Youtube, Facebook, and of course my blog at midnight on March 4th. Why not start off this new year of age the right way.

And so....that's what I did....so here you are...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkJq3lZYjeI

(p.s. playing the guitar and singing at the same time...not easy at ALL...I barely know how I made it through the whole thing...There's sooooo many motor skills at work simultaneously...it's like taking the SATs while jumping rope....but I guess practice makes perfect...so it can only get better I suppose...)

ENJoY

Lesson: You can't be so scared to try something new because of what people might say. You'll never KNOW what they say until you give them a chance to say something.

Game Time

First off...let me start with a "Gooooooooo SaiiiiinnnnnntSS!!" Congratulations to a well deserving team and a city that couldn't be stopped, even on the heels of tragedy.

      But now that the trophy's been pumped in the air a bit...it's back to reality. And in my reality, there's a new horizon coming into view ever so quickly. Well I'm not sure if I mentioned it earlier, but as you know I'm an actor as well, and I've recently been cast as the lead in a new 3 act production here in the city called "B.U.M.M. University". A rather exciting production that follows the rise of a star with an urban spin. About a week ago I finally received the script. At that point it became real, like "Whoa...I'm in a play..." then I read it and was like "Whoa...I'm STARRING in a play...with 3 acts". Since this is the first show that I booked since my arrival in the city (and furthermore...the first audition that I had gone on since getting here as well) PRESSURE couldn't even begin to describe my feeling as the date of our first reading (Feb. 11) quickly ensues. The confidence of "Dang I booked the first joint I auditioned for!" rapidly fades when you realize that now it's time for the real work. I've even started working with an acting coach here in the city by the name of Anthony Abeson, or A-Money as I like to call him (he prefers it to Mr. Abeson) all in preparation to "hit em hard".
      I have no other options but to "show up", this is an excellent start for me...but it's just THAT....a START...this play could mean so much if I "do [my] thing" loads of exposure, experience, and what every fledgling actor hopes for...REPRESENTATION (management)! So it's clear I've got my work cut out for me. In turn, I've already read the play from cover to cover twice...now it's time to go back and get some memorization down...and really study my character (Eric). At the reading I'm probably not expected to be perfect...but I'm aiming to be as close to it as possible...I want to show these people that they didn't make a mistake when they hired me. So...as they say, I'll have to go hard or go home. Just like the Saints earlier this evening...I've got a huge endeavor ahead of me and I'm not trying to go into unprepared...I've got to work!

Lesson: Challenges in life are good...that's the point of living...to have "firsts"....and honestly once you run out of them, what's life really worth anymore? where's the excitement? The best you can do is to DO THE BEST YOU CAN. When you want something to go in your favor...you've gotta show yourself worthy of that favor. 

Slow and Steady...

So a couple days off schedule (18 hours to be exact) I was finally able to finish my jacket! Initially as you all know I planned to have it complete by the eve of the networking event, but unless I wanted to rush through the final stages of everything, the decision to wear another  piece that I had made previously ended up being the route I went down.

Whenever you put real time into something, you'll get results, and when you don't all you're doing is selling yourself short at the end of the day!

So with no further wordage...here's how it all ended up....

Once you've trued up your pattern, you have to cut it out, then lay each piece on top of your fabric and cut the number of pieces needed for your design.

I was taught to "baste" my pieces prior to sewing them (basting=hand sewing your pieces together with a loose stitch just as a safe guard to ensure that your pieces match up perfectly) The more comfortable you get with your sewing though, corners start to get cut a little....so now I just pin my pieces together first, which is still much more dependable than free stitching on your machine.

When you sew pieces together one thing that I find always ensures that your garment doesn't look too "Suzy Home-Maker" is TOPSTITCHING (topstitching is simply that, running a stitch on the top of your fabric just off of the seam) as a matter of fact take a look at what you're wearing now...you'll see that it has topstitch finishings all over it....well....go look!!! :)

* KEY Whenever you sew a seam together (before you topstitch) you have to iron it open....the steam helps release the tension in the fabric and can also hide minor inconsistencies in the straight stitch of your seam.

It's all in the detailing....even the pockets get topstitching.

Many people think that designers just "whip something up" but that's not the case. There's actually a lot more involved. You may have noticed that my Tailor's Form is armless....so "How do you make the sleeves?" Simple....MATH....First I measure my arm hole and map out where I want the largest and smallest parts of the sleeve to be. In this case...my sketch called for a sleeve that tapered in then came back out a little bit at the wrist (or cuff), so of course my pattern needed to reflect that. (this was probably one of the harder parts of construction for me when I started draping)

*draping=designing your own pattern from a 3-D figure without the help of any "ready made" patterns

Again my sketch called for different parts of the sleeve as well. Some parts were straight while others were shingled. So then I had to figure out the proportions of each part true up those measurements then cut. (this also included figuring in the "hooded shoulder" that I had drawn.

The only way to get "strips" of fabric is to cut them! So I had to measure the width and lengths of each strip and marked it all off with chalk.

Cut!

Once cut each strip had to be sewn together to create a new fabric with the texture that I needed to match the sketch. (It's tedious, but when you want something, you have to work for it....right?!)

Once that's all over with an you've connected all of the parts that make your jacket, you still have to close it. In this case, because of the integrity of my design I couldn't use just anything to close it...it had to be subtle. So I used closures called "hooks and eyes" where one side literally "hooks" into the other. The only setback is that this has to be done by hand so you have to measure where everything should go first, THEN you can sew each "hook"....then each "eye".

Just when you thought it was over! Don't forget the lining for if it gets really cold (Essentially linings are a less complicated replica of the jacket itself that gets sewn, snapped, zipped, or hooked into the jacket) If you want the option of going liningLESS it's best to attach it with snaps, hooks, or a zipper.

Then You're done!

Front View

Rear View

Detail Shot of Collar

Optional Faux Fur Lining (should be turned inside out when set into the jacket so the fur touches the body)

Model: Jorge

Designer: Will White for JeDure

(shot by Will White)

Sewing has a lot of measurement and preparation behind it, which in turn requires a great deal of patience, but it's all worth it when you don't have to go back to fix a mistake.

Lesson: If you want something to come out right, you have to put your all into the preparation. You get what you work for.

Product Placement

    Well first let me start off by apologizing for not being as avid at this blogging thing as I should have been in the past couple of days. I will say that the past week has been a very trying one for me but now I'm doing much better and am still rather optimistic about the future. That being said, in the near future I will be one of the individuals attending an industry party on the 20th of January where the likes of all types of "notables" will be in attendance. Since I myself am far from notable just yet I have to continuously work at making sure that people do start to take note of who I am and my abilities. In turn I've decided that in going into this networking opportunity, I need something to promote....so I've decided to sew a new jacket specifically for the event!!!

         The creative process of constructing a garment is very personal, but I have decided to let you all in on that process and in the process you can get a deeper understanding of who I am. So basically my design aesthetic is "Fashionable Superhero" (I wish I could have come up with a cooler way to say it...but it's 1:48am....so that's about all I can give right now) But anyway...when people wear my clothing, I want everyone to look at them like "wow!, they're sooo cool...I wonder who they are...." Recently I've been in a bit of an "armor" phase. Since armor tends to give shape to the body and instant masculinity to even the scrawniest of individuals (I'm currently focusing on menswear since I'll have to be my own "mouthpiece" when it comes to getting the word about Will White and the "JeDure"© label) I knew that was where I wanted to focus my research (note: fashion is cyclical, and everything you see has been done before in some way, shape, or form...just innovated upon) So In my research I noticed some accents that I liked from the mid 16th century, the romantic period of the 1820s-40s, and even influence drawn from the riding armor of the Spanish Conquistadors. Then....I sketched out my thoughts...

......from there, it was time to do some draping (this is where you make the pattern for what you've drawn  by literally draping your fabric onto a tailor's form and contouring the desired silhouette with a marker, chalk, or pen....I prefer marker)

(first I mark with tape the place where my seams will fall so that I can make individual pattern pieces to get my desired shape once it's all done)

*note: This design calls for a strong shoulder so I've included shoulder pads, and had to place them on the form while draping so that my pattern will allow room for them

(when making your pattern you use an inexpensive type of fabric called MUSLIN...it's similar to linen but not as textured...they're in the same family)

After the initial planning of your pattern, you have to "true-up" all of your lines so that you won't run into too many fit problems as your garment progresses. If you don't true-up your pattern you could end up with a sleeve that's too short on one side and too long on the other

Now all there's left to do in this part is to cut out your pattern then it's time to use it to cut your fabric out!!

To be continued.....