Have you ever looked back at the very first story you ever wrote? How about the very first drawing you ever made? Or the first dress you've ever sewn? Or let's just say the first article you've ever written in the blockchain. Perhaps after reading this or even before continuing, you would have the urge to dig up your old posts to look for your first ever projects. By all means, please do. Just don't forget to come back and finish my article. I mean I just wanted to share a story here, man.
One of the reasons I don't go commercial with my crochet projects is the fact that I'll have to follow the same pattern over and over again just to fulfill orders from consumers. I like it better when my project is one of a kind and was specifically made for the person I am making it for. Making another Moana costume has come to my mind over the start of the pandemic but for that very reason, I refused to create another.
But when my little one asked me to make her a Moana costume for our vacation at the beach, I just couldn't say no. 4 years ago, I made my very first crochet project, her Moana dress that she wore on a Halloween party. Back then, I just left the corporate world and was looking for things to maintain my sanity because man, being a stay at home mom after years and years of being a corporate slave was no joke!
I thought of picking up the crochet hook and started making a costume. Moana was a common name in the house during that time so it's a given. Now that she's slowly transitioning into a big kid, she now knows that she can make requests on what outfit she'd want to wear. It's fine, I love dressing her up. The only trouble this time is because she made the request less than two weeks before the vacation.
I remember what 
I am in competition with no one but myself.
My newsfeed in my social media account is filled with all sorts of crochet projects. A huge percentage of my friends list is composed of crocheters I met through different channels. I usually would browse through my feed to find ideas on what to crochet next. When I was just starting out, I used to feel so insecure because my projects are nothing compared to their finished products.
It got me inspired though to push through and learn more. Now that I have learned so much, I realized that I should not compared my work against theirs. I should compare my previous works to my latest ones. Now I know that it feels so much better to overcome your previous achievements. Crochet, like life, is not a race afterall.
The victory is so much sweeter when you yourself could say that you are so much better than who you were before. I learned so many lessons along the way.
It's all in the details
On my first attempt at making the Moana costume, that was when I first rediscovered my long lost love for crochet. My whole being was filled with so much excitement. There simply was so much I wanted to do yet at the time, I have not yet developed the skills that I needed to do with the project. I'm not saying I wasn't proud of the dress, I was. It was my very first crochet project after the crochet pencil holder I submitted for my 5th grade project.
If you look at Moana's costume in the animation, it may look a little too simple but the top has many intricate details that may seem easy to make but in reality, will enough skills and experience to make. On my version 1.0, I did not have those set of skills. Yet. And 4 years later, I have made enough projects that gave me options.
Each part of the costume is full of details made with skills I could not have known 4 years ago. The hula skirt was the most tedious of them all. I now have a huge respect for anyone that makes hula skirts.
Try to make the projects dual purpose
Another reason why I'm not a big fan of making crochet costumes at a commercial level is that I know that my customers will only wear it once or twice and then that's it. It's either it'll go to storage or will be sold to someone else. I give every project I made a lot of love so that thought somehow breaks my heart. Although one of my customers said she had the costume rented, then sold it so she made a lot of money out of it.
So for this Moana costume, I designed the top with the goal that my daughter may mix and match it to her other outfits. I also made the belt into a scarf. I'm excited now to go to Baguio because we have enough crochet scarves for the family. The Hula skirt though may be difficult to repurpose but that's fine.
Always learn something new
This is the first time I tried dyeing yarns. I was really nervous because the part I dyed was the hula skirt which took a lot of time to finish. It wasn't basically crochet but still, working with yarns, making big tassle like thingies to dangle on the skirt. I learned to dye yarns! Which was really big because my tie dye project in gradeschool was made by my brother.
I also learned a new stitch here called the nautilus stitch. The nautilus is sort of like an ancient ocean animal. (I learned that on our visit to the Manila Ocean Park from years ago.) The nautilus stitch is a perfect stitch for Moana's necklace. I just used a combination of white and blue colors and bam! Not only did I learn the nautilus stitch, I made a variation. The only thing is I did not write down the pattern. Maybe I'll play it by ear should the need to make the nautilus stitch variation arise.
Learn to pause every once in a while (even when you are cramming)
My daughter gave me just a few days to finish this costume. I was working on a different crochet collection when she asked me to. Instead of jumping right into this new project, I gave myself a break. Not only to rest my fingers, but to also collect my thoughts and ideas on what I should do with this costume. I made the top for one day, then the wrap around skirt the next two days. Then I took a whole day to take a breather. That was just enough because the next part of the project was the hula skirt. It took a lot of time from cutting the yarns, to tying them, then dyeing them, and waiting for them to dry.
By that time I had no idea what to do with the necklace. And it was during that break (after staring at the necklace for hours) that I found the perfect stitch needed to make it.
Always give it your 100% and put your heart into it.
It is true that no matter what happens, if you gave your best effort for something you want to do, no matter the outcome, you'll still feel good. You know you had good fun doing it, plus you're really not that stressed out. Crocheting is my hobby. And hobbies are supposed to be what you like to do when you're tired and stressed out.
Put a lot of love into it. I made this crochet Moana costume version 2.0 with all my heart. I paused when I needed to because I wanted to make sure that this is done with 100% effort and 200% love.
Though I have learned a lot, looking at my daughter's Moana Costume version 2.0, I can still say that I still am a work in progress and I know that I can still do a lot better. Who knows, maybe after 4 years, my daughter will once again request for another Moana costume.
P.S. This article has been sitting in my drafts for a year. It might have thought it would never see the light of day. Technically, the version 2.0 of the moana costume was made 4 years after the first one.
