passage quilts

Craft posted about Passage Quilts and while this project is totally low tech, it's so in sync with my interests lately. I can't stop copying and pasting quotes from teacher/maker Sherri Lynn Wood....

"Begining with the architecture of the clothing, these quilts are pieced without a predetermined pattern. This process provides the maker an opportunity to examine his or her life patterns."

"The resulting quilts reflect the relationship of the maker to the materials, retain a sense of the body, and in the case of bereavement, carry the consoling essence of the beloved."


"Making a Passage Quilt is an external, hands-on experience that mirrors and reflects the interior process of bereavement and transition."

"Often people express a fear that they may be overwhelmed by grief and I remind them that they are simply, always making a quilt. This process provides a safe container, which will enable you to literally touch your grief and stay present to the task at hand."

Marie Watt

Saw a lovely textile project here. I heard of Marie Watt through the Lower East Side Printshop, where she has recently done a residency and where I sometimes rent studio space.

Last year she did a series of wonderful projects under the heading Blanket Stories. On her website there are 4 links to the sections of the projects here. She writes:

I am interested in human stories and rituals implicit in everyday objects. Currently I am exploring the history of wool blankets....Blankets hang around in our lives and families – they gain meaning through use. My work is about social and cultural histories imbedded in commonplace objects. I consciously draw from indigenous design principles, oral traditions, and personal experience to shape the inner logic of the work I make. These wool blankets come from family, friends, acquaintances and secondhand stores (I’ll buy anything under $5). As friends come over and witness my blanket project in progress, I am struck by how the blankets function as markers for their memories and stories.

The first link from Oregon Live also has some great writing about the project, which seems to have shown recently at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York:

Eight heads are bent over Watt's dining room table, hands working rhythmically to draw needle and thread through thick wool, affixing hundreds of diamond-shaped pieces of blankets to one of the large panels. Some make strong, bold stitches; others are more hesitant, their stitches a little crooked and unsure. Each one, in Watt's words, is "a different signature," a piece of each person permanently embroidered through the piece. It's no coincidence she decided to call it "Braid." (image above) Some of the people here today know each other already. Others have never met before. Some are artists. Others are family friends of Watt and her husband. Many had already come to several sewing bees at Watt's, even returning with spouses and children on subsequent visits. At first, there is always some silence, but the longer they sit and sew, the more they begin to talk. First about the piece, about what it all means, about sewing they have done, or haven't done in the past. And then gradually with each successive stitch, they begin to reveal more and more about themselves. About raising teenagers. About giving birth. About trips they have taken, discrimination they have experienced. About their ethnic backgrounds, their family histories.

Lovely, no?

Cloth

Much like every other person who sews, I have loads of cloth. But I also have a special stash that I have saved since I was a little girl. Most of it the pieces are too small to make anything with, but I hang on to it just the same. Above is a sampling.

Top left: a sleeve pattern piece that my mother cut out in order to make a smock top for herself, but never actually made. I loved this fabric when I was little and it's one of the first pieces of fabric I ever coveted. When I inherited my mother's notion and sewing tools I took these few scraps too. Turns out she started to sew the top, but the bobbin thread kept snarling and so she put it away, I assume to sort out later. I took out the big snarly threads myself many years later.

Top right: a piece of my parents old comforter. I had the comforter myself for many years after my parents divorced, but eventually it was worn out. So I took off the top piece you see here and kept it to make something out of. I made a sweet unstructured jacket during my MA when I was thinking about our emotional attachments to clothes. I'll try to post a picture of the jacket itself one of these days.

Bottom left: the first fabric I ever made. I found a random haiku generator online, ran some of my journal entries through it, loved the haikus so I laid them out in a great font called Cholla and printed them onto heat transfer paper to put on this crappy beige broadcloth. I made quite a few early fabrics this way and I have several scraps from my favorites (one I made a great book cover out of!).

Bottom right: an old sheet from the house I grew up in. I recently took this home from my dad because all of the rest of the set finally disappeared. I made a one piece sort of poncho dress out of it. I guess I should put up a pic of that one too.

Fashion-Incubator

Anyone who works in clothing design or garment construction or fashion, should check out Fashion-Incubator. The site is run by Kathleen Fasanella with help from some loyal friends from the industry. The website is a treasure trove of wisdom and information as well as a laugh and an occasional bite. There are often great discussions in the comments as well, for F-I's readers are a smart set. Of course, the book that Fasanella wrote is the real source of information if you are looking to start your own business. I haven't bought it, only read a few excerpts, which I doubt would please Fasanella, but if I do go out on my own someday, it's at the top of my list to read. I love to be hands-on in the making process and it's a primary motivator for me in terms of starting a business. One of the hardest things working for a big corporate manufacturer as a designer is that I am so far from the making process.

Anyway, back to Fashion-Incubator, here a few of my favorite bits & features:

A simple post about washing clothes with interesting comments to boot. I'm surprised there wasn't more talk about the damage a dryer can do. I really found this one interesting because my MA collection at CSM was made of some fabrics that changed with water. I did a lot of washing machine experiments last spring! When I came back to the US this year I realized the hard way that American washing machines are much more powerful than UK ones. :(

Fasanella has two regular features that I love: Archives, links to articles from the same time last year and the year before, and News from You, links sent in from readers. Both are always full of interesting tidbits.

The site also haas a decidedly sustainable slant with excellent articles about eco habits to develop and organic cotton.

My all-time favorite post relates to my own interests (of course) about invisible components of our clothes. Kathleen was responding to a project called Carnivale of Couture by the Sewing Divas about Ritual Cloth. Fasanella wrote about a purse, backpack, and a couple of jackets that reveal as much in the pictures as they do in her words.

P.S. Pleating!!

Fashion + Architecture

Ping Mag has an interview with Brooke Hodge about the exhibition now in Japan she curated called Skin + Bones about fashion and architecture.


Yeohlee Teng! My favorite!

There's a bit more info about the show here (as well as a downloadable gallery guide!). MOCA describes the exhibition as exploring "the common visual and intellectual principles that underlie both fashion and architecture." Which is usually not of much interest to me. I'm not that interested in architecture in my own practice. I am also not interested in the stated themes such as shelter, tectonic strategies, and minimalism. BUT what really fascinates me is that Brooke Hodge talks about how architects and designers both start with the body and build outward from there, albeit on different scales. She also talked with Ping Mag about how architecture and clothing both represent identity, cultural identity with buildings and personal identity with clothing. I'm also especially enamored by the title Skin + Bones as they represent the interior and exterior constructions of both the buildings and the garments.

Open Source

Patternmaker Burda is doing something really interesting: they call it Open Source Sewing. Based on the ideas in open source software development, Burda is offering up patterns free of charge on their website. You just download them in PDF format and you can print them and assemble them from your own printer. They also offer the PDFs full size so you can take it to a copy shop and print there (so no assemply necessary!). Very nice!

Of course not every pattern is available as Open Source Sewing, but the idea is supposed to be bigger than that. The two benefits they list that seem the most inportant to me are:

"Networking: Connecting designer, patternmaker, creator, seller, and buyer
Product quality and improvement: Great fit and variation through the Burda pattern making competence and the constant testing and feedback of users"

Of course there is also a lot of talk about fostering creativity and sharing information, which is all fine and dandy, and maybe the idea of networking falls in that category too. But someone in corporate at Burda was really thinking if they hope that this kind of open source will improve fit of Burda patterns!

I've already downloaded my first one (ok a pretty simple on) just to give it a try! (see above pic)

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