Slow Stitching, Fast Stitching, Freeform Embroidery, Textile Arts, Time For a De-stash?

She whispered into the void,

Eco dyed cotton lining from a vintage curtain, backed by a very open weave cotton , and overstitched in crochet cotton / perle cotton, with tiny running stitches, rice stitches, and French knots. Inspired by Japanese boro cloth or mending methods, tattered clothing was mended by basically adding a layer of cloth over the tear and stitching the heck out of it until it became one piece of cloth.

Derived from the Japanese boroboro, meaning something tattered or repaired, boro refers to the practice of reworking and repairing textiles (often clothes or bedding) through piecing, patching and stitching, in order to extend their use.

I am all about that!

I was thinking about the shoreline at the beach, the color of sand, and all the little bird foot prints, pebbles and shells, little puddles and watermarks

Trying to decide which fabrics to toss and which are still usable, this is a small stash of fabrics that had no appeal for me at all, or were small and off cuts from projects, I made some ugly patchworks curtains from necessity. This is some of the scraps, and some other novelty fabrics gifted to me to “do something with them.” Again with the ocean vibes?

I could not find my sequins when I started this. When I researched some native American embroidery and beading techniques I learned that they used soda cans for spacers, and crimps, and also took advantage of the jingle. I was looking for ways to secure feathers to textiles that were sturdy, not glue or threads. The cut a half circle from a can shape it into a cone, use the small end to crimp feathers to fringes and leave the wide end to dangle with the feathers and make noise. I had a shiny metalic lined bag form my Cuban Coffee grinds. and decided I wanted to try to make sequins. meh….

bottom corner, small taffeta and cotton circles as floral cluster, overall it still looks very watery.
Top corner with very small taffeta, and cotton circles as floral clusters , held in place with seed beads for centers,

AND THEN? (She answered herself because even the void wasn’t listening lol)

Is it funny I can tell you where each of the fabrics in this piece came from but have trouble remembering my phone number?

Top yellow floral, an old hippy skirt from the 70’s, red stripe denim, my brother found a pair of pants in the thrift store he had hoped would fir him, old bell bottom red pinstripes, fun pants! he gave the to me, asked only for a pouch from the fabric if I cut it, I did not cut it for many years.Green plaid next to that was my oldest son’s cotton shirt, the fabric was super soft and light weight “lawn”

and then?

an explosion happened and I may need intervention??

Custom Made Lace Wedding Dress For My Best Friend Lou

Resurrection Rags custom wedding dress

My Best friend got married when I was in Oregon and she was in New York. I couldn’t get to her wedding in body but I was definitely there in spirit.

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She wanted me to make her a custom made wedding dress so I did. All of the elements were upcycled vintage laces other than the under pinnings and layers but those were upcycled vintage as well. The front bodice overlay was from a very old vintage wedding dress possibly from the early 1900’s scattered with some fake pearls. The dress was quite tattered when I found it probably on it’s way to a landfill if I had not rescued it from the garage sale pile of  $1.00 each goodies.

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The bodice back closure was from another wedding dress I found at a flea market also on it’s way to the trash at the end of the day. It was silk shantung but the bottom of the skirt was badly stained so I paid 3.00 for it and knew it would go to good use.
The applique cut from the back of the original dress, will be added to the back as a closure, it is a piece from the upcycled vintage wedding dress, beaded flowers on silk shantung. It is just pinned on now and it will not look so sloppy once I fit it into place and sew it on by hand, I love the little fabric covered buttons

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Back bodice with applique pinned in place

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The back panel after being sewn in place

 

 

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And the back finally finished

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The near finished dress, before I changed the flowers and added a bit of lace for the cap sleeves

Resurrection Rags custom wedding dress

The flowers in their final places, some also on the skirt…

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And the lovely Bride with the groom and the groom’s father.