Birthdays have always been moments of reflection and re-investing in my life going forward. Walking, writing and making are ways I celebrate. Making a birthday garment has been a way to stop…focus on the self now: honing the voice, simplifying …and editing to the essence of what can be.
This purple shirt a beautiful cross-dyed linen and 2 scraps of solid purples for accent. When I knew I wanted to wear it, Katherine Tilton’s Butterick Pattern, #5891 was the perfect shape.This beautiful shirt is a new beginning for a collection of companion garments including this first one: An Ashland Vest in Kantha. I used the body of the pattern then draped a different collar, to add my spin to the design. How much accent and where is a conversation I’m always having with fabric as I make. It is also a memory of deep friendships as I smile, remembering a birthday weekend and shared Paris buttons! I am settling into what life brings me and finding joy and balance there.
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If we want our work to be a reflection of who we are, it has to come from the heart and soul of our inner lives…not just techniques learned. In your Making, consider how you respond to your materials. Can you give them equal influence, like a dance partner? Making is about a relationship, between you and what attracts you. It is about the feel in our hands, what we can imagine it becoming and how it will look and feel when that dance leads us to the next pairing. Trust. You have what you need inside…. ready to engage and explore a new idea, material and design. Life is so full of things we cannot control- so how do we learn to be there…ready to step forward and dance? Take a deep, deep breath and know we are enough! Learning to let go as we make teaches us. Sharing our voice can be different every time, whether we are making a quilt. a meal or a garment. My goal: That I show up in my work. |
Welcome to our year fellow Dragons!
I know many of you and I’m proud to be in this tribe, Diane
My stitched dragon is part of a bigger past story-