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28 October 2019 13:32![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
haptalaonChanging disciplines as an adult is such a wretched nightmare. Every six months someone writes an op ed about "the lack of talented pattern cutters" or how "young people just aren't interested in tailoring",and it's aggravating nonsense. The tailoring pathway is - broadly - £1500 and a year for a foundation course, £3000 and two years for the specialist course, and then £7800 for a masterclass year. An alternative is going to university (£9000 per year). An alternative is getting an apprenticeship, but mostly you'll need to be on one or the other of those paths to get on to one.
The other course I've been trying to save for (for five years!) Is a theatre costume one, which is again £9000 x three years, plus a foundation course.
(None of these numbers, of course, include cost of living or materials, which in textiles is considerable. And when you come out the other side, jobs in costume and tailoring are both notoriously poorly paid, competitive, and insecure.)
It just breaks your heart. It feels like being trapped under ice. My husband is like, we've been here for years now - you should just take an A-level in art (the standard higher education qualification for 18 year olds), and then you'll have a certificate you can show to people & get on the path. I stead of worrying about the big picture and trying to optimise for the perfect course or career progression. He's kinda right - that is the first step. It's also £1600. The fear is that, if I were able to pull that money together once, I'd want to invest it into the things I actually want to learn - not in a passport which would permit me to do those courses, if ever I could get that much pocket money together again.
And so I just wallow in how bad that feels, and the years pass.
The other course I've been trying to save for (for five years!) Is a theatre costume one, which is again £9000 x three years, plus a foundation course.
(None of these numbers, of course, include cost of living or materials, which in textiles is considerable. And when you come out the other side, jobs in costume and tailoring are both notoriously poorly paid, competitive, and insecure.)
It just breaks your heart. It feels like being trapped under ice. My husband is like, we've been here for years now - you should just take an A-level in art (the standard higher education qualification for 18 year olds), and then you'll have a certificate you can show to people & get on the path. I stead of worrying about the big picture and trying to optimise for the perfect course or career progression. He's kinda right - that is the first step. It's also £1600. The fear is that, if I were able to pull that money together once, I'd want to invest it into the things I actually want to learn - not in a passport which would permit me to do those courses, if ever I could get that much pocket money together again.
And so I just wallow in how bad that feels, and the years pass.
