Folklore Society Event

Action Flollowing Belief ..Change is Do-able and Necessary

FYI on DIY

Beautiful Soul from pages of ReMake It book

 ReFashion and Sustainability -partners in fashion futures 

& so not the dirty , sweatshop "progress" of the old world

 University of Washington Bookstore has great taste and terrific employees. 

Support local and we all rise together.

 

These new books at UW Bookstore prompted me to start pulling at the threads i will need to weave an opening design on something that now appears so obvious that i cannot imagine how i didn't like bump into it months, years ago!! This is the way the "reality" of what is possible shifts when you choose to see another, better "reality." The suddenness can take a long while and that is perplexing yet is where the faith kicks in, so makes another kind of sense.

Earlier that day, I had a great conversation on some of the Bible issues that have bothered me -what with the myth  deconstructing and all- this stuff jumps up and bites.

The greatest thing emerged and i was validated by a "man of the cloth," this was so validating. So wow, someone gets me and that some one wants to continue the conversation. Date and time have been put on calendar.

Then i went to browse the books and saw titles that revived my sparks for reFashion. The fire had been doused with the closing of the Kerf Gallery and was further damped after the Seattle Community College Continuing Education Course manager told me "no one was interested" in these kind of classes.

The school is pushing  big business plug ins, as in deeper tunneling into the current mainstream vision -so leaping is probably not on their radar.

But these books, full of  people and design companies i met during my trips to London, made me happy! Here is further proof of common goals and supportive community working to manifest a new way of thinking!  tThere it is , right there...and it hit me.

Project Talent Hub has been reignited. The Serendipity Trail is now unfolding (unfurling as i wrote to a key person minutes ago today)

I think i hear the uni-verse hum. More will follow, as the lyrics emerge.

Jacket Redo

 

Again- i forgot to take the before picture of this 90's shoulder extended one button straight jacket with velvet collar.

Played with some skirt drapings and really don't like the photo so will drop the drape. However i really think the peplum is sweet and the more fitted jacket has a retro thing going that will add to its longevity.



Mendrs Challenge

 

Mendrs Manifesto and Road Tour Challenge
check it out. We could do it here.

MENDRS

* MAKING MENDING VISIBLE * MAKING MENDING POLITICAL * MAKING MORE MENDERS

Green Tea and Transformations

This creative innovator knows her tea, her green tea suggestion was terrific and comes in a cozy with strainer and timer.  Wallingford has style. Her skirt is from thrifting, the hardware is new the idea quite fun- fresh brewed steam punkery? I should of asked her. These chance ops pop up without warning as i am always on my way elsewhere or planning other encounters; it is hard to plan for spontaneity.

(note to self: create a question list to offset surprise and meld the plan with the unplanned)

Reign Water

ocean the siren ( repurposed sari) , fresh water the naif

( yard sale fabrics) and the practical swamp vixen, witch of the wetlands (vintage fabric)

I am in the midst of designing an installation that tries to connect emotional, visceral and literal communication. The recycouture dresses mix with other mediums in an art meets science wedding. Biology, ecology, psychology and chemistry, natural and manmade systems have patterns that resonate. This is not a surprise as we humans build from that which we know. Our awareness of this is the issue, as we seem to have gone off into ego and lost our way.I guess this makes  FashionRIP Project todays Little Bo Peep. 

I have sewn three of the gowns and they are ready for the embellishments that will create their personas. The dresses are from repurposed, remnant and vintage, or secondary market supplies and are real, wearable pieces -functional. My couture, custom garment background left tracks. These dresses are an expression of my art..whatever that is at the time it is.

Fresh Water is sweet, graceful and innocent, but not naive. She maintains a higher standard of purity and clarity than the human species and wants us to get with the program. She personifies the small rivers and streams of the higher altitudes and is therefore still fairly pristine. She is a dancer.

Ocean is pissed off. She is experiencing major acidification - aka acid reflux- which is damaging to corals, her underwater nurseries and thus it effects the survival of all her children. In response she is fighting back with tsunamis, hurricanes and giant swells that erode human habitats. She is not able to discern who is innocent and who is responsible, she sees our species as a threat. She understands that it is human activity that is making her suffer and she will not be placated by our fairly small attempts to change our ways. That we are hindered by those of us who are blinded by ignorance, greed and ideology is not her problem. Her problem is her children's survival. She is a mother, a creator.


Swamp Witch is the sorceress, the scientist, the amazing alchemist, the liver of the water system. Her job is to detoxify and cleanse the water bodies meeting grounds. She is a permeable, organic flexible and shifting border.  She works with dissonance and harmony, she knows when  to juxtapose and when to blend. She understands and values diversity. She is species wealthy and happy that humans are finally getting to know her. However, her work at times is far too challenging to go it alone. She is seeking our help, our greater understanding and our appreciation. She is the musician.

Belief Systems

Wool roving felted onto nylon which 

was once the bottom of a vintage negligee. Felting is great fun and

creates amazing texture. I did this first piece as an experimental sample. 

Now need to find its "home."

Last month's snow put an abrupt stop in my anticipated flow of events. Watching the world transformed by nature created its usual beauty break, but this year it brought to mind climate change and shock.

Why shock? I thought of culture shock, the feelings that are synonymous to sudden immersion in a really foreign land, one where language and customs are very different from your own daily events.  I surmise there is a correlation between this experience and  my own culture' inability to embrace the next reality. No matter how one may research, gather information, study the language and traditions, no matter the plan; stepping into another "way of living" surrounds a person with all matters of the unexpected. This taps our senses and we wake up to the immediacy of being. 

At this point we choose fear of the unknown (what train, how do i say "show me" etc) or we embrace it. Usually there is a mix of both, but with practice the unknown becomes the magic doorway of possibility. 

Perhaps this is where one can consciously choose to evoke the law of attraction, perhaps it is mere physiology, an  adrenaline response, perhaps it is the way our sacred heart communicates with us and the whole of life. Call it what ever, a rose is still a rose, the point is that when our energy meets new energy, we come alive. Sparks get our attention,

Change in everyday reality, where every minute brings us a step nearer to extreme climate chaos with concurrent ecosystems damage and the nihilistic wealth/resources suck to the 1%, has many of us mesmerized by the virtual undrama. (despite Occupy) We are lost to big reality by immersion in shallow reality.

The signs and symptoms of change show up, little by little, over time. Like a cancer, our cultural dis-ease feeds best on populations in states of semi inertia. Be it cells or humans, populations respond to alarms and they reAct. This must be why fear driven systems are so dominant; it is easier to "prove" the necessity to respond than to chance prediction. (Predictions hang out with the like of wiccans, pagans, shamans and such, and throughout Western history were akin to calling cards for tortuous ramification. The "original church" wanted zero competition for the "souls" of human beings.)

Without bells and whistles, Insidious dis-eases and toxins creep in under the radar and thrive until our immune systems are too weakened or overwhelmed to respond adequately. Is this what has happened? Is our cultural "real" no more real than a person accepting as normal a condition that irritates but until it really is a bother won't take time to investigate and find a cure? Wow, like our daily shallow over rides our true dharma until we are forced awake. 

This is a version of " the lobster in the pot." The poor lobster doesn't feel the creep of the heat's intensity until it is severe. The lobster's environmental shock-up comes too late in the classic story. However we are more conscious than lobsters and therefore "we" have been noting the evidence of our head towards disaster. As a result, thousands (more?) of citizen's groups have formed to treat the symptoms. This is part of that which Paul Hawken's calls the global immune response system. Now, in 2012, there truly is a new level of urgency. We as a species are pulling ourselves, our families, our world of brothers and sisters together and are jumping "out of the pot." We are risking the ire of the ogre for our very lives. 

This jump from the known "boiling pot" towards a new consciousness is evolutionary behavior. We are putting faith in the currently unprovable, because what we thought we knew has proven flawed beyond repair. We can and will do better. We are moving towards that which we want to manifest, trusting our sacred hearts to be the compass they were intended to be. This is a leap of faith, evolution, courage, but most of all, heart.

The sparks are here, the fire is lighted, we are the phoenix and need not succumb to the ashes of our own distorted beliefs and premises. Our hearts say soar, soar beyond this delusion, soar towards the light.

Choose light!

the Waterline chapter

Springing ahead despite the weather. Water color blues and light fabrics are pulling me.

Water is a huge issue but don't just trust me, listen to Sandra Postel -a Post Carbon Institue Fellow and think for yourself.

The waterline skirts will be featured in an afternoon event at the NW Center. I will be leading a discussion that starts with the skirts former lives on April 23. I hope for an inter-generational, multi sexual mix to gather for a this focused conversation all around fashion and refashion. It will be a great way to learn a lot about each other and the recent history of "dressing" The how and why we wear what we do intrigues me Its a fascinating way to undress (address) sociology, anthropology, cultural mores etc.

Please check with the NW Center for more info.

Dior NYC near 5th Ave

the next day

the first day

Had to point out the drag lines across the bust, this top looks uncomfortable even on a mannequin! The gathers (fullness) aren't where they're useful! I took the photo to add to my "famous designer delusions" file. Funny thing is that the next day i walked by and the window had been changed ....spy cams are everywhere in NYC, but there? Anyway it goes to show that we all can add to positive changes; so the next step is to slow the fashion cycle and develop sustainable economies that don't waste resources or need growth to survive- ideas welcome!

Labels

Labels are great.. in reDesign.
This Tee uses RAMPAGE, Kashi, Impressions, LUXE, boutique EUROPA and DJB (hand stenciled, the personal element)