Renewed and Reconsidered

~ Mother Self-Portrait, Otto, prismacolor pencil on board, 1977 ~

Something's happening here with these tablecloth dresses.  I tried to stop making them after finishing the 6th one.  (You haven't seen the last two yet).  And I found it rather difficult.  In fact, it seemed like I was a bit despondent, or bereft.   I mean it's pretty weird that I made 6 in a row of the same pattern to begin with -  I've never made more than 2 of any one thing that I recall.  I tried looking through books, patterns, online sources, but couldn't get motivated toward anything else.  I was in a pickle or more like a jar full of pickles.

Here's what I think is going on.  My reaction to stopping was a bit overblown for the reality of the situation.  Therefore it was probably symbolic.  What were tablecloth dresses symbolic of?  I'll give you one guess.  My mother.  Yep, they reminded me of home, the 50's when I was born, and Mom used to wear them when I was young (house dresses that is), while the table wore the cloths.

Mom wearing house dress and that's me!

Sh*t, I even used to wear them during the feminist movement in art school.  Back when there were no women artists in any History of Art books and all the art instructors were men.  I wore my Mom's old pink bakery uniforms as painting smocks in my art classes.  

me as grad student in my studio with portrait paintings

I even painted myself wearing 'em

or hanging there as a still life. 

I did figurative narratives which were personal.  Remember the Personal is Political?  Pink was my favorite color and I had lots of pink house dresses to wear. 

mixed media on board of me as an asst. cook at summer art camp

Maybe that's why I felt so comfortable wearing my current tablecloth dresses, like comfort food, you know?  Plus you can be so creative within confined limitations.  Figuring what goes together, where to place the pattern, etc.  


Anyway, here's what I've been doing since I've made myself stop and reconsider what I'm doing and why.  As Jean of Dross into Gold talks about in her latest post, A Meditation, being more mindful of it all in the moment.

Some are still in process, some are complete.  See them after the break...

Tablecloth Dress #4 - Endangered Species

And now for something completely different...

Yep, those are big elephant pockets

complete with a  lion in them, uh-huh.

Let me tell you...

This tablecloth was so big, I was able to get the skirt and bodice out of it.  Having elephants, lions, rhinos, leopards, zebras, wildebeests, plus vessels on a tie-dyed tablecloth is about as good as you can get.  Finding a checked plaid woven tablecloth for the center panel and inside pocket linings was pretty cool too.

A tablecloth dress for the ages.

Straight on.

Obligatory shoe shot from you-know-where.

To see details of Tablecloth Dress #4, just go to my Clothes from Summer page.  You even get to see the back!   And I've got at least 2 more coming...

Housedresses Are Us

~ Tablecloth Dress #3 ~

 This one took forevah.  Truly.  

with 2 donated tablecloths and 1 stash bit of fabric

 There are thousands (and I mean that literally) of appliques covering holes and staining on these beauties.

sorry for the blurrrrr, not so good at back shots...

And yes that is a donkey on my back.

and that's not all...

State of Project Minima: End of Year Three

~ painting by Gritty Jane  ~

Yes, end of May 2014 was the last quarter of the 3rd year for Project Minima.   My, my, etc.  So let's see what's been going on, shall we?

During this past Spring Quarter (March through May) I did a major reworking of my studio space, discovered the Chicago Sewcialists and met up with them at the Textile Discount Outlet, made 4 dresses, 2 pair of stockings/ tights, 1 slip and a raincoat.  Okay then, not bad, not bad at all.  You can see 'em on my Clothes for Spring page (or go to the posts during that time period).

Oh, I also bought shoes on e-bay, as well as some patterns and occasionally some cloth.

What seems the biggest adventure at this moment is my tablecloth house dresses.  I've made two during this quarter from donated pieces and just love them.  More are on their way...