Who Made My Clothes?

The Fashion Revolution wants you to ask that question.  Maybe become conscious of consumption.

 I know I make all my own clothes...

~ these are from old tablecloths ~

~ but where they came from, I have no idea ~

Is there a limit to how conscious one can be?  Probably not.  Maybe a balance?  Certainly rationalizations abound.   And questions.

~ I never expected to sew all my clothes once upon a time either ~ 

Like where do I buy my fabric?  Or better yet where is it manufactured, how, by whom?  That sort of thing.  I haven't gone that far, that deep.  Nor am I likely.  But who knows, I never expected to sew all my clothes...

 

~ nor get all my shoes from ebay ~

It's a start.

I'm linking up with:   the Ethical Fashion Bloggers for Fashion Revolution Week;  Patti and the Visibles at Not Dead Yet Style; Catherine at I Will Wear What I Like and Cherie at Shoe and Tell.  ooo, do you think there's any amethyst in there?  Let's see what Anne says at Spy Girls' 52-Pick me up: Amethyst.



 

The Artist Not Wearing Banksy or Hirst

I've been toiling away in my studio for the past week or so on a little something something.  Ready?  Oh, but first, let me show you the latest Style Imitating Art inspiration...

Roller Rat by Banksy

Everyone's probably familiar with England's (in)famous street artist, Banksy.  But perhaps you were like me and unaware of this particular piece which has a hilarious back story.  Given a museum show in Bristol, Banksy had several rooms of his work, plus he put things amongst the museum's regular collection.

Lo and behold, the art world's darling, Damien Hirst, had one of his ridiculously expensive spot paintings housed there.  And that is what it looks like now after Banksy painted over it adding his trademark rat.  hee hee hee.

Okay, now you're ready to see what I've done after the break!

Repeat! Repeat!

Seeing as I'm a bit late for the party at Not Dead Yet Style, I'm reaching back into the vault today.  Here I am wearing my hand-me-down flannel shirt...transformed into plaid pants!  Yes you heard right and here's the pic to prove it, y'all.

Before...

After!

I'm wearing a refashioned poet's top, the remade flannel shirt pants, and old platform shoe boots.  (Click on bold type to get to that item's origins.)  I was trying to finish my next corduroy project, but it's not going to be wearable in time, so hey, flannel's the next best thing.  Back to sewing.

Oh, I'm linking up with Patti's Not Dead Yet Style, of course.  And also the Monday Mingle.  Late.  Then there's Lakota's Ta-dah Tuesday.  And now Ethical Fashion Bloggers November's DIY challenge.

This just in:  I'm linking up to Spy Girl's 52 Pick-me-up: Honey!  Check it out.

Hanging Out with Frida - Again

Ethical Fashion Bloggers issued a challenge to Frida yourself, so I'm re-posting something I put together for Style Imitating Art way back when.  (cheater, cheater!)  Interesting how things you like all overlap, isn't it?

Self-Portrait ala Frida Kahlo by pao

Self Portrait by Frida Kahlo

more after the break... 

Ain't It A Darning Shame

And now ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure...mom's elbow length, ivory knitted and pearl decorated gloves!  That's what I'm highlighting today for the Ethical Fashion Bloggers October DIY knit challenge.  No, they weren't handmade by me, but I did clean, darn, and mend them so I can make this fashion statement:

Voila!

Yes, yes, I've just highlighted the gloves.  

and here's a close-up

AI-yi-yi, my inexperienced darning job

Otherwise I am wearing an old pillowcase turned into a top with a lace and trim collar and mom's old kitchen curtains turned into pantaloons all made by me.  The boots, however, were recently bought, used, as confessed here.  (click on the bold items to see more about them.)

Check out what other Ethical Fashion Bloggers have brought to the October DIY Knit challenge after Tuesday.  And I'm joining others at the Pleated Poppy.

Meet Up with Frau Fiber

Made possible by an art exhibition entitled Opening the Black Box: The Charge is Torture.   A call was put out by Frau Fiber (the founder of the original Sewing Rebellion) for local stitchers to join the Chicago Chapter of the Sewing Rebellion in a stitch-in at the Sullivan Galleries.   The task was an interactive one: to work on a prison bed-size quilt within the exhibition space, as a way to commemorate the cases of torture by the Chicago police.

As the host of the monthly gathering of the Sewing Rebellion in Chicago, it was my great pleasure to finally meet Frau Fiber (now living in L.A.) in person for the first time.  

Frau and I happy to see each other at the gallery!

See pic of the opening and quilt after the break...

The Madame and I

...are posing for Style Imitates Art.  Here is David's (pronounced Dah-veed's) painting of her looking right out at us.  Now check out what's happening with me after the jump!

Madame Charles Louise Trudaine by Jacques Louis David

Back to School Day

What I wore my first day back to college where I teach painting & drawing.

I dressed feet first today.  Why?  Well, just take a look at those awesome shoes I'm wearing.  I upcycled them yesterday.

I have been so craving new shoes lately.  Really massively lusting after them.  So...I went through the back of my closet and found a bunch

Rocking Florals 3 Ways

With my Bright Red Floral Print Dress, that is.  Who knew you could take such a stand-out frock and rock it in 3 different ways?!

painting by Pat Otto.

Well, I did apparently.  Really it's just that I like the thing so much and wanted to wear it again and again.

Spring weather in Chicago has ranged from hot, to chilly, to cool and me and my flower dress went along for the ride.

Click on View the Clothes for Spring to see what I'm talking about.

Major ReCon

Artwork by Steven Tabbutt.

At long last, my dress rehab has made it through.  yea!!  and I love it's new look.  Another one of my old mini shifts with matching boxers from days gone by, but this time I went with some major re-construction.  Influenced by my Japanese sewing books, I took bits and pieces from one of the styles - dress Y of the Stylish Dress Book - which you probably wouldn't recognize after all my alterations & additions.

Who Likes Pink?!

photograph by Petrina Hicks.

Spotted a fully functioning pink calico blouse in a bin of fabric bits & pieces to be recycled, so I rescued it.  It was in good shape, only problem being that it didn't fit.  No big deal for SewInGirl.

Had some calico in a coral shade I used for side inserts and under sleeve gussets.  Didn't care for the hem - it was a little puckery in places - so I ripped it out and then added some 2-inch wide pale peach lace to finish it off.  Can't get much more girly than that - pink and peach, calico and lace.  mmmm...mmmm...mmmm.

*Also check out Clothes Collages:  ALL FLORAL ALL THE TIME

I've Looked at Life...

artwork by Camila de Rosario.

Rehabbed an old reversible vest I made long ago to fit me now-a-days.  Just added a side insert in a compatible color that worked both ways.  But of course, it wasn't long before I made it a bit more complicated.  Decided to put buttons going both ways too.  Since I didn't have enough of the vintage ones, I nail polished a

Making Good with Scraps

stitch-work by Hinke Schreuders.

...and learning a thing or two in the making of my Reversible Vest #2 (with one more to go.)  This time I used fabric pieces that were already reversible.

First up, I learned how to officially make a flat felled seam since I needed both inside and outside to have neat-looking seams.  It was actually easy once I knew what they were and how to do it.  I also opted for bias tape around all the edges (except for the collar) for the same reason.  Made a continuous strip 'o bias tape from a small remnant (18" sq.) of black and white print cotton - tiny white outlines of hearts on a black background. ...ahhh.

I barely had enough of some fancy-smancy black fuzzy fabric embroidered with

Tunic Tune-Up

doll by Liat Yaniv.

Just like the other one. Only in red this time.  Seemed like too much red for my taste this time around - though maybe I could dye it at some point...

Meanwhile, it was an easy fix to fit.  Ripped open the side seams all the way into the sleeves about two inches.  Still had the same fabric stashed away too, so I inserted a long, narrow fabric wedge. I did learn to add the side seam pockets while working on the side seam addition though. (yea for the results of trial & error!)  Didn't have enough of the same fabric, so used solid red for the pocket insides.  I obsessively cleaned up all the seams I hadn't gotten to when I first sewed the top.  Then relocated all the buttons.  Was going to change them up, but in the end I liked the ones that were there the best.  Easy-peasy.

BTW, I wore it on Valentine's Day for a cafe date with my husband.

Skirting Vogue, Vaguely

Needlecraft June 1914 skirt pattern

Made a skirt today.  It had already been cut out awhile ago from a Vogue pattern and just needed to be sewn up.  Pretty simple.  I liked the fabric - an old fashioned cotton floral, and the style - a little odd while still being somewhat old school too.

When I finished it, however, the Vogue styling was a bit more subtle than I was expecting.  Perhaps I'll need to slim down the upper part so the lower skirt "bowing" is more exaggerated.  We'll see.

*Also check out Clothes Collages: All Floral All The Time