By the Yard

I was invited to participate in a show called "By the Yard" and it has a really unique concept: Artists can create textile yardage and that yardage can than be used to create other works.

We were asked to create a minimum of five yards of a surface designed textile - all other parameters were up to the artist.

My concept was inspired by my daily walk to work each day through a cedar forest; I’m calling it “Essence of Cedar”. I've attempt to capture the effect of light being filtered by the dense tree boughs, the texture of the bark and the lichens growing on the trees and the minimal color palette – greens, orange, browns and grays.

The base is taupe striped gauze; that has been  block printed with a stylized cedar bough pattern in both green and orange to represent both living and dropped boughs.

My print block was pretty low tech - craft foam cut to shape and glued to a worn Plexiglas quilt ruler. The clear ruler proved to be a great idea, as I could see where I was placing each print and it helped keep me semi level. I wasn't terribly concerned with very precise placement, as the result was intended to be organic.

I then appliqued the stylized cedar trunks by placing the printed gauze over my tree pattern and overlaying a second piece of gauze that had been sponge printed, then I hand stitched the pattern and cut away the excess.

The tree trucks were than embroidered with merino wool for added texture.

And embroidered lichen was added.

Done!

As usual, I started with a plan that had to be altered a bit, but I'm pleased with the final result - I've even created something with the scraps, to be revealed soon!

If you're in the area, stop by the show and enjoy all the other work in the gallery too.

Better Late Than Never!

 

 

Winter has lingered and Spring is very late this year (right now it's only 51 degrees), but the gorgeous flowers of the season - both wild and cultivated - are emerging finally.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Capping It off

I obtained this mid-19th century night cap via an online auction and while it has some condition issues, it still has plenty to tell us regarding period attitudes and concerns.

During the 19th century, night caps were worn by all ages and social classes. They were designed to fully cover the head and tied under the chin - they closely resemble the day caps worn by women in the 1700's. Night caps were nearly always constructed of white fabric, which allowed for easy washing and boiling if necessary. They were a functional item, intended to confine the hair, protect the bed linens from the oils and pomades used to dress the hair and provided warmth in chilly bed chambers.

The seller did not provide any provenance for this cap, I believe it may be a museum deaccesion due to the number penciled on the tie.

This cap is an excellent illustration of the relative cost of materials versus cost of labor during the period. A cap of this style would usually be constructed with three pieces of material: the brim, crown and neck curtain. This cap has been extensively pieced - 14 pieces in fact - including a tiny triangle, with sides less than 3/4" in length. All the pieces have been very carefully sewn, the stripes matching perfectly and all seams finished with no raw edges visible. A great deal of time was spent in making the minimal amount of available materials (probably recycled from a previous garment) work - a very 19th century mindset.

It's not something we see done very often in modern interpretations of historic clothing; we typically purchase new textiles and go buy more if we run short. It's an option I'm increasingly trying to incorporate into my garments: piecing materials, reusing materials, tiny details that add to the authenticity!

Night cap available for purchase here.

Lingering

Winter will just not leave this year, it just keeps lingering on and on and on...

As of May 4th, there was still a pile of lake ice on the shore and you can hear it creaking and moving in the sun.

The texture of the ice has changed; it's very crystalline and brittle.

The slightest tap, and it breaks into shards.

There are a few signs of spring in the woods, despite the snow which is also lingering - new leaves pushing up and through the old:

Buds, waiting for a bit of warmth to open:

And a few not willing to wait, open despite the cold:

A Knotty Mystery

I've been enamored of vintage clothing and accessories for a very long time - I started collecting as a teenager, and, no, I won't be telling you how long ago that was!

But I've never encountered a piece of fancywork quite like this purse or reticule, that was part of a box lot that I recently purchased.

The knotting is beautiful and very skillfully done, each and every knot is virtually identical. But it's the material used that really is unusual - numerous shoelaces!

The metal aglets even form a kind of "fringe"!

I've spent some time trying to research the technique, and while knotting or macrame is frequently referenced in the Victorian era periodicals, I've found NO reference to using shoelaces as the cording.

Has anyone ever seen another example? Or directions? Please do share if you have any information!

Available for purchase here.

Shoes, Shoes, More Vintage Style Shoes!!!

American Duchess has done it again - another scrumptious reproduction shoe that I covet!

I don't even have any clothing for the 1790-1815 time period AND I still want these shoes.

Why?

 

They're dyeable, or paintable or otherwise able to be transformed! I'd love to create a pair of custom "art" shoes to wear - you can get away with so much fashion-wise when you're considered "arty"!

She's taking pre-orders right now - do you need a pair or Regency era shoes or do you need your very own wearable art?

Reproduction? Or Interpretation?

This is the cap/headdress/bit of foo foo (pick your term) that I created to wear with my 2013 conference dress. I was inspired by a piece I had first spotted on an online auction site, and purely by happenstance, it was one of many original garments on display on Saturday, when I wore mine - here's the original:

And a bit closer:

The original illustrates a number of very typical period techniques:

 - The use of coordinating but not necessarily matching materials. The center square is light and airy and the surrounding lace matches it nicely in weight and color.

- The lace and ribbon have been manipulated to to minimize the need for cutting, keeping the materials in one piece as much as possible; this maximizes the potential to deconstruct the cap and reuse the trims in a new garment.

- It has been constructed completely by hand, with what many would consider large crude stitches; this is intentional, again to aid in reusing the materials.

I duplicated these techniques - all the materials are from my stash, with the center square being a real salvaged piece - it was very dark and stained, but cleaned up beautifully. The materials are heavier in weight than the original, but coordinate well in both color and texture. I used just a single round of velvet ribbon, as mine was wider than the original. I also constructed my bow a bit differently, as I had a length of of the tiny ribbon which matched perfectly. The lace and ribbon are both left in long, uncut lengths.

It is stitched entirely by hand - in the car, on the way to Pennsylvania in fact!

When I was finished, I was a bit panicked - it seemed so small! But actually, it was just right, the same size as the original.

Many people would say I had created a reproduction of the original - but did I really?

I think a better example of a "reproduction" garment would be the two replicas of Emily Dickinson's famous white dress, commissioned by the Emily Dickinson Museum, to be displayed when the original became too fragile.

A pattern was created by painstaking measurement of the original dress and a muslin sewn to check the accuracy of the pattern.

Context Weavers, an English firm, exactly duplicated the fabric by punching a custom set of cards to be used on their Jacquard loom. The embroidered insertion and edging trim was reproduced by an American company.

While finding firms able to recreate the proper materials was difficult, a larger challenge was finding the funding - $10,000 for the two replicas.

Another good example is the Plimoth jacket, and even that's not considered to be a true reproduction - it's actually based on two separate garments.

I would argue that I created an interpretation of the original; the influence can be seen, but they are certainly not identical.

And I would further argue, that's the norm - there are vary few individuals with either the skill set or the budget to create true reproductions, we're all creating interpretations!