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 By Sandy Gazowsky

I love sewing, but I’ve discovered that in this extreme world of costuming you cannot follow the pathway of others. What a struggle this has been for me. At the same time, it has been an exciting adventure of discovery.

Working with my daughter who designs costumes, has been fun, interesting, and at times, frustrating. My daughter, who is wonderfully creative, will hand over to me a very outlandish design and say, “Here mom, make this!” After all, in high school my dream was to make one-of-a-kind dresses and never “assembly line style”. When I look at her awesome and very detailed designs I am almost drooling with the excitement to sew the costumes, until I come to the realization: How in the world am I going to make this pattern? I have an extreme desire to make patterns but it has been quite a challenge for me. At times, I lie in bed at night and make the pattern in my head about 25 times, but even with all that, I am still in the same situation, left with unanswered questions.

One day, Rocki handed me one of her original looking costume designs for a movie project that we were working on. With great relief and excitement, I knew that I could count on a friend to help me make the pattern. My expectations were very great. I hoped that by watching her I would have an epiphany and a miraculous revelation of how to construct these patterns. My friend, who is in her 70’s, has sewn since she was eleven years old. Her mother was a professional seamstress and, of course, she is one as well. She can do anything and everything. I went to her home and she invited me into her kitchen where she does all of her jobs. I showed her the unique design and the measurements and watched her sigh, saying, “You make much difficult for me.” We laughed. I watched her grab a newspaper and begin to cut the pattern for the costume with such ease and skill. I was amazed she had done it so quickly and was tickled to watch her work. Trying to understand what she was trying to communicate to me through her strong Cambodian accent was difficult, especially when it came to communicating technical terms. I remember leaving her home with a knot in my stomach because I was so close but yet so far from comprehending how she achieved her final results.

At this point, I was consumed with getting answers. In the meantime, my family and I had to go to Los Angeles. While we were there, we went to a bookstore that had all kinds of books from A – Z about the movie industry. I tried to find every technical book I could on costuming. I found a few instructional books on advanced pattern cutting, sewing and also history. I was so inspired that I would sit in bed each night studying these books for hours. But after reading them, I still had the same unanswered questions.

Okay! Was it me? Was I having a mental block? What was the deal? Was this an issue between God and me? Was He wanting me to turn to Him so He could give downloads directly to me? Maybe I was thinking too much inside the box and He wanted to give me a new revelation. After all, He formed the world and created all things. I realized that I was putting my books before getting fresh revelation from God. I really loved my books, but I didn’t want anything to get in the way of God and me. The Lord told me that He wanted to be my teacher. At that moment, the knot left my stomach and faith was released into my spirit. I then went to my library and threw all of my books away and said, “Okay God, it’s you and me.”

At this time, God reminded me of what He had done for me years ago. It was my first attempt to do French Heirloom sewing. French Heirloom is an intricate process of lace insertion, design shaped pintucks, rouching, inserting entredeux, etc. (as you might see in a baby’s christening gown). In this case, I was making a dress for my daughter, Rocki, who was 11 years old at the time. This journey into the unknown was very exciting for me. I remember laying the cloth out on the floor at home and praying, asking the Lord to give me wisdom and skill. I went through this process everyday that I worked on the dress and, when it was completed, I realized that the Lord had brought me to a new level of sewing. During this time, I found out about a contest that was happening at our local county fair. For fun, I entered my dress into the fair. When the fair opened, Richard, the kids and I went to the fair. After an hour of walking down the aisles and searching for my dress, we could not find it. My heart sunk so low because I thought that maybe my dress was not good enough to be in the fair. Finally, I saw one of the officials and inquired about the dress. She said, “We display all of the dresses. Please tell me what your dress looks like.” I described to her the heirloom design and she exclaimed, “Honey, your dress won ‘Best in Show!’” The reason we could not find the dress was because it was displayed in a special glass case. She walked us over to the glass case as I tried to cover up those tears of joy, especially when she told me that I had won a top-of-the-line serger. This dress ended up making it into the California State Fair, which is called Cal Expo.

Now that I have thrown my books away, here I am again: waiting for His direction or even just a whisper. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” It’s like I’m at the beginning all over again. But at the same time, I feel a fresh wind at my back and I know it’s the Holy Spirit pushing me ahead. I see patterns, cuttings, and costumes that have never been done before. The excitement makes me giggle like a little girl who is imagining that nothing is impossible. Okay God, it’s you and me!

Sandy Gazowsky is the wife of Richard Gazowsky and she is team leader of WYSIWYG’s costume department. She has made costumes for the stage plays, “There’s Never Been a Night Like This,” “I Believe I Can Fly,” and the WYSIWYG feature films, “Guardians,” “The Roman Trilogy,” and “Gravity.”