You Can Fake It 'til You Make It

~ fabric detail from my newly made dress ~

Especially now that my sewing studio is fit as a fiddle, clean as a whistle, and in top notch shape.

But not right now ... I have a headache.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

not faking it

yeah, but you can't see the dress, kiddo

ok, whoosh, I'm up & moving

ditto

how's that?

well, better.  how about a front view?

fine, ok?

okay, okay.

For a real look at the cartoon dress, close-up, check out the Clothes from Winter page.  We'll get her over to Patti and the Visibles at Not Dead Yet Style.  That should liven her me up. 

Oh, I should mention that the dress pattern is by Tina Givens, called Etre.  I used two different cotton fabrics: "Home Sewing is Easy" by Alexander Henry and the obnoxiously titled "Country Weekend" (images of art supplies?!) by Hoffman International Fabrics.

Now Is The Time

...for a massive-clean-up-your-mess-however-long-it-takes session(s). 

painting by Cassie Taggart

Enough with procrastination, work-a-rounds, and not paying attention.  Hear that?    I'm going to take the time it takes, i.e., stop sewing (!) and just do it.  yeah.  So this is probably enough talking about it and the moment for action.  woo-hoo!

See you on the other side...

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...

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...

Spring Studio Sweep

But first, a shoe shot especially for Bella's ShoeShine.  

~ my flamin' oxfords (from ebay, of course) ~

Thank you, Bella!

Not nearly as cool, but still substantial, are my shots of the newly revamped and reorganized studio for sewing.  Check It Out!

Addendum to my Previous Report

Now this is the actual State of the Studio these days:

In the midst of it.  Of course I art-ified it to make it a bit more glamorous...

And here's another view around the corner a bit more...

more clutter that can't be glamored

See the sewist's power source after the break.

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!

I Don't Donate and I Don't Thrift

~ painting by Alice Neel ~

...anymore.  Let me show you why.  I spent today cleaning up and sorting through my fabric stash, et. al.  It felt very virtuous.  So I took some pictures to remind myself it can be done or rather, that I can do it.  Wanna see?  I can get pretty obessive with my organizational skills...Okay, here they come after the break.

Making a Shift

I've been sewing nearly every day this week on a refashion to fit, made-from scratch shift.  Now there's a mouthful.  a RFMFS shift.  Better?

painting by Anita Dominoni.

It seemed to be tough going, but I am actually quite pleased with the final outcome.  It was the big patch pockets that did it for me.  Quite unexpected they were.  But that's how creative sewing is, you never know what's going to come out of the hat next - so to speak.  I'm going to wear it for the last day of my class tomorrow.

State of Project Minima - The First Year

Yes, a year has gone by since I decided to launch Project Minima and I'm still as involved as ever.  Let's look back and see if I accomplished my original goals and what other doors have opened along the way.  hmmm.

illustration by Clare Owen.

Well, the main goal I had written on Day One was: "...everything works, everything looks good, it all fits and I like it."  I would say I have achieved that - although in ways that I had not envisioned at the time.  In terms of my starting with the clothes list, I have favored the "play with to be altered" item rather than the "give away the not wanted."  The significant refinement came for me in my second post when I decided to go on a shopping free ban for the year.  I haven't bought a single item of apparel (new or used) in all that time.  This allowed my creativity to flourish -

Status Update: Celebrate Good Things!

I've kept my end of the bargain up - so far so good.  Today is my check-in day with the coach/owner of the exercise place.  Yes, I did the group calisthenics, which was actually more like indigenous dancing if you ask me and performed in a circle so I couldn't even be in the back row!  Nevertheless I kinda did have fun after a bit.  I also woke myself up at 5am to get there by my 6am deadline on one of the days.  I did enjoy being up and about before anyone else was out on the streets. It reminded me of when I was a kid and used to get up real early to talk with my dad before he left for work in the mornings.

painting by Thian Joo.

In other news, the studio/supply room/enclosed porch/dressing room project is declared a success!  All is satisfactorily completed and I'm still in a state of shock after all that moaning and groaning I had going.  Of course there's always some fine tuning that could be done - like organizing my sock drawer by color (oh, it already is!) - but the most important things have been accomplished.

I am so ready to get back in there and do some sewing again.  yea!

On Getting it Done

I did show up on Monday.  I let it slide til afternoon, but that was because I was working on the studio/dressing room extravaganza.  And I did the F.A. (Fitness Assessment) rolling of the eyes here.  Facing reality is good.  geez.  It's a start,

painting by Catherine Kehoe.

I'm starting...and look here,  I'm at the foreseeable end of the studio renewal project which several weeks ago seemed insurmountable.  yep.

To help things along, I instituted a new habit.  After I take that first sip of caffeinated beverage, I go upstairs and get dressed for exercise - whether I go or not is a different matter.  It's the getting dressed for it that's the habit I want to form.  So linking the task to something I already do without thinking - like getting my caffeine is the idea.  Like I said, it's a start.

How the Universe Provides..?

Coming up on a milestone birthday and the first anniversary of my blog in June, not coincidently.  What has occurred at the same time, without planning however, is my true love's drastic reduction in hours at work.  The resultant cut also makes our health insurance coverage null & void effective immediately.  yeah.  Good thing I've been practicing Project Minima, huh?!  And liking it too. 

painting by Wayne White.

Meanwhile...I've been going down the block to an exercise place for quite awhile now, first as a devotee, and in later years, less often, as a slug.  So yesterday, the owner was in and I asked about the possibility of working there, yada yada yada, for all the obvious reasons.  Be careful what you ask for!   Too funny.  Right away she says,

Keep those doggies movin'

ahhha...

artwork by Nick Scalfittura.

Another day well spent.  After a morning of my task and nap routine, I was able to sustain the task aspect for the rest of the afternoon.  Accomplished much more than expected - even though there's much more still to do.  Man-o-man.  Note to self:  just keep at it, rather than dwelling on what to do or how to do it, etc., etc. and

Just Move It!

I'm doing it, moving it.  With much help from my true love, of course, who got me started this morning.  yea.  

painting by Eric Budovitch.

All the driftwood has been boxed and taken to the garage (it's a long story).  The enclosed porch has been swept, all the shelving cleaned - still some empty boxes to get rid of though.

Moved all the not fitting jeans back there from the dressing room.  Next to go are all the T-shirts I don't wear.  Put all the shoes away for now and started sorting out the wearables from the non's so they can make the trip to the porch too.  Woo-hoo!  Soon I'll only have the items I like to wear and that fit me - all in one place.  Imagine that!  The possibilities for outfitting are too exciting...

Well, gotta go and get back to it!

To Be and To Have

Okay, I declare the studio and art supply room are done and done.  The studio is really cleaned and completely re-organized to my satisfaction and the supply room is good enough to move on.  That took 2 weeks to do with intervening naps when overwhelmingness over came me.

artwork by Alli Arnold.

That leaves the enclosed back porch (if I really need more space) and the dressing room as the next target areas.   I just can't bring myself to deal with that disaster area - aka my dressing room - right now.  awwkk!  It is filled with all the clothes unearthed from ___________ (fill in the blank).

It was about this time last year when I started Project Minima and decided to do something about my accumulation of things, especially clothes.  What I had decided to do was remake whatever didn't fit, I didn't like, or wear. So now I have all this unwearable stuff that has become my fabric stash, so to speak.

Some Heavy Lifting Involved

painting by Eric Budovitch.

Moved some shelving units around today, from the supply room to the studio.  Inch by inch, but I did it, yea!  And started putting some of the sewing stuff on shelves.  Not sure what goes where yet, but I'm starting to get excited about possibilities.  And it doesn't seem too crowded yet.   Still lots to do.

A Studio of Our Own X 2

Rolling up two layers of linoleum covering the hardwood floor was the studio task for today.  It wasn't glued down since I originally put it there to protect the flooring in the first place from my messy art-making materials and processes.  After finishing, the Mr. and I just sat there and enjoyed the view.  smile. 

painting by Sopio Chkhikvadze.

I also brought up the subject of his closet (which he has to access through my studio...ahem).  I mentioned, wouldn't it be nice for him to have a bigger closet that he could enter from the hallway or...  Anyway, we were able to calmly discuss the possibility of expanding his closet through the adjoining wall of an unused office closet in the next room,

Taking Care of Business...Everyday

I found myself casually dropping in and out of the studio today doing bit by little bit - with no trauma, dread, or hesitation...at all!!!!

installation by J. Morgan Puett.

Now I have all the art supplies in the supply room and only the sewing stuff in the studio.  The floor is cleared of obstacles and new light bulbs are in the fixtures.  One by one, it all adds up.


And there's still plenty more a-waiting my attention.

Break On Through...

Yea!  With a little help from the dearest one, that is.  Thank goodness he was off today to give me shots of encouragement as needed.  Spent much more than 15 minutes this morning digging in and doing the things that must be done.

painting by Ray Caesar.

It's all still a mess, but it's more of a controlled mess now - at least in one of the rooms.  Everything is off the floor in the studio and only sewing stuff is in there now - no art supplies (sorta).  Most of the art materials are in the supply room and need to be organized, but there's still lots of sewing stuff in there too, so