✨This skirt is 30 years old & full of so many stories...✨.
It has been taken apart and remade. More skirts have been made from the patten of it. But this is the original. The fabric is so thin in parts that it rips a little each time I wear it. Eventually this old fabric will be encased in meaningful pieces of my life from both sides; supporting the outside and underside.
I love the idea of "support" in my work.
Here are some of the pieces of the front side in no specific order...
🧵An eye patch from my daughter Paige.
🧵A bit of lace stitched on by my mom-in-❤️
🧵A piece of my son's pants he outgrew
🧵A vintage wrist band sent to me by an instagram artist friend.
🧵Cyanotypes from the woods Squam Lake
🧵A bit of a favorite glove
🧵A wallet with my fav bubble gum on it
🧵A stitched friend patch from a dear friend
🧵A piece of the liner of a vintage suitcase used by my son ( mom, can we keep this forever? Yes, I answered).
🧵A square of stitches through Italy
🧵A patch of stitches on a vintage baby blanket I had in my studio for years
🧵Coffee bag from Costa Rica
🧵Stitches made beside my in loves while watching the Godfather
🧵A bit of my father's shirt (passed 31 yrs ago)
🧵Lots of fabric given to me by students
🧵Part of a Covid mask
🧵Stitches from a new friend as she offered to "mend me"....in New Hampshire...yes please 🫶
🧵Tiny bits of softness in velvet
🧵Pieces of clothing loved and long gone
🧵People & conversations
🧵rebel patch from a dear art friend.
There are patches over patches over patches. This skirt is also patched underneath as the fabric thins.
What 30 yr old me wore on her hips, 60 yr old me wears across her waist.
And as timely as slow stitching is now, it is who I have always been....and always will be.
I am willing to do the repair work on my clothing, in my relationships and in the world. And repairs are not always pretty. They can be messy.
An online workshop on clothing as our armor and shield is coming soon. I want to add softness into these times...and all times❤️.