On my last day of teaching,
one of our students gave me this cute Eiffel Tower print.
Don’t you think it needs to be a spring/summer A-line skirt?
white
shop small saturday is here!
pan gongkai at the frye art museum
I bought a little book about Pan Gongkai, featured artist at the Frye recently. His paintings are humongous–one covered an entire gallery wall. They’re black, white, and gray. They’re troubled. But there is peace, too.
What I’m going to try is my own watercolor painting on fabric (Gongkai’s is on paper). But what about also digitally printing his paintings onto fabric? Gosh, that would look amazing on a big A-line skirt.
Of course, I’m not gonna print anybody’s stuff without permission, but a girl can dream…
Frosted leaves
I’ve been going on walk-abouts around my work neighborhood lately, noticing all the things one finds on the ground in the pacific northwest during autumn/winter. First there were the leaves, vivid like flames. Then the moss, growing in velvety clumps through sidewalk cracks. Finally, last week (and for a short time only) there was frost, lacing leaves and branch tips.
I am really in love with this poster for the hunger games. Very cool.
A nice painting at a cafe in Pike Place Market
What about a black collection with white stitching, a little bit Picasso-like in the sense that the pieces of the garment appear to be off or assymetrical or out of place. An undeveloped idea, keep thinking about this.
now i become myself
Music by Tycho
Poem, “Now I Become Myself,” by May Sarton
Sculpture Echo by Jaume Plense
Tunic tank top, self-made and hand-dyed, from Alabama Chanin
Now I become myself. It’s taken
Time, many years and places;
I have been dissolved and shaken,
Worn other people’s faces,
Run madly, as if Time were there,
Terribly old, crying a warning,
“Hurry, you will be dead before–”
(What? Before you reach the morning?
Or the end of the poem is clear?
Or love safe in the walled city?)
Now to stand still, to be here,
Feel my own weight and density!
The black shadow on the paper
Is my hand; the shadow of a word
As thought shapes the shaper
Falls heavy on the page, is heard.
All fuses now, falls into place
From wish to action, word to silence,
My work, my love, my time, my face
Gathered into one intense
Gesture of growing like a plant.
As slowly as the ripening fruit
Fertile, detached, and always spent,
Falls but does not exhaust the root,
So all the poem is, can give,
Grows in me to become the song,
Made so and rooted so by love.
Now there is time and Time is young.
O, in this single hour I live
All of myself and do not move.
I, the pursued, who madly ran,
Stand still, stand still, and stop the sun!
shopping for my girl nettie
In this photo I did my best to emulate a favorite blogger o’ mine,
Things Organized Neatly.
These are the supplies required for the Nettie.
I get so excited when I purchase new stuff I’ve never used before!
I’m particularly excited about the twin stretch needle.
Will it work? I’m going to find out!
And snaps!
I remember my mom using snaps for something when I was little.
The snaps are recommended for the bodysuit, which is what I’ve decided to make.
I could have made a regular t-shirt, but here’s the deal.
In the past, I’ve worn t-shirts with high-waisted skirts,
and it works pretty well except the t-shirt can get a little loose.
I like the bodysuit idea because I can wear it with jeans or skirts and not have to worry about whether it’s coming untucked.
In the future I am sure I’ll make some regular tees too.
The project calls for cotton with lycra, so I checked on Mood first, but I chickened out (again) about buying fabric I’ve never touched. I want to actually see the fabric first! Oh I know I can order sample swatches, but then I have to wait for them in the mail…
I got some white cotton/lycra at the ol’ Pac Fab for a pretty good price, and best of all I was able to check on how transparent it was. It’ll be thick enough to not show off my bra. (Some of the t-shirt material out there is a little thin, y’know?)
I had previously debated going with white OR pink,
but decided a pink tee and pink skirt wouldn’t pop as much.
Not only that, I would have to color-match the pinks pretty exactly
‘CUZ THAT’S THE KIND OF PICKY PERSON I AM.
(One of my 4th graders used to always say,
“You always match. Don’t you ever wear anything non-matching?”)
I decided to go with white. I’ve pre-washed it, so next up is printing the pattern and getting started!
okay, fine, i’ll cut the lining pieces
For whatever reason, I didn’t feel like cutting my lining pieces until I actually got to the stage of putting them in. Minor hiccup, usually I pre-cut everything, but sometimes I just want to start SEWING!
Have yet to cut the skirt lining still, hee hee.
The lining fabric was in my stash for ages. I’m not sure how comfy it’ll be for a summer dress–we’ll see!
CUP AND PENNY 