Loose Thread #2 Grace Schulman

CELEBRATION

Seeing, in April, hostas unfurl like arias,
and tulips, white cups inscribed with licks of flame,
gaze feverish, grown almost to my waist,
and the oak raise new leaves for benediction,
I mourn for what does not come back: the movie theater -
reels spinning out vampire bats, last trains,
the arc of Chaplin's cane, the hidden doorways -
struck down for a fast-food store; your rangy stride;
my shawl of hair; my mother's grand piano.
My mother.


How to make it all new,

how to find gain in it? Ask the sea
at sunrise how a million sparks can fly
over dead bones.

Grace Schulman

Loose Thread #1: Barry Adamson

Disclaimer: I'm not a musician and I'm not a music critic. A co-worker handed this to me the other day and walked away. I put this in my car CD player and have been letting it play over and over. I can't say if I like this CD or I don't, but I'm fascinated by it. If David Lynch wrote an auditory mash note to Jacqueline Susann during a drunken fever dream, it would sound like this.

Listen for yourself.

New Year's Resolutions

It's the end of May and I am pleased to say I have not yet broken my New Year's Resolution. Good for me! I know, I know....New Year's Resolutions are dumb, old fashioned, and you don't need an artificial holiday to resolve to do something you should be doing anyway. I know that. I have a whole set of resolutions outside of my New Year's Resolution. There is my weekly resolution to exercise regularly, my monthly resolution to turn the reports for my job in on time, and even my quarterly resolution to perform some sort of spiritual upgrade on myself. I'm not talking about resolutions like that. I'm talking about a New Year's Resolution for I have declared 2009 to be A Year of Finishing.

A Year of Finishing means I am not going to start any new textile projects during the calendar year. I did this once before, in 2005, and was amazed at how much I accomplished. I made a list of projects I have underway.



1. Karli's Bees: Several years ago, like 8 or 9 years ago, my brother in Florida and I conceived a plan in which he would design a quilt and I would make it for his youngest daughter. It sounds so good, artistic collaboration among family members to create a lasting legacy and so on. The whole plan goes off line when you take into account my brother is a map maker by training and there are 90 some of those sharp little points,complete with shading on either side. I originally planned to piece them until I came to my senses, decided to paint in the shading, and if I carefully quilt along the painted line, no one will notice it's not pieced. There will be also appliqued flowers and leaves, trees, clouds, and little bees flying around. I'm particularly excited about the bees. I have some bright yellow cotton velveteen dyed to make the bees fuzzy. I hand dyed the flower fabrics, too. My contribution to making this already fabulously complex project even more complex was deciding to make the sky out of pieced hexagons so it would look like a honey comb. Karli is 11 years old now, and if I hurry, it'll make a great wedding gift.


2. Tim and Sue's Christmas quilt: If you know Tim and Sue, keep this quiet because it's a surprise. Every year, my Pennsylvania brother and his wife host Christmas and they do it up big. I thought I would make them a Christmas quilt as a present to say "thank you".




3. Kalidescope quilt: A few years back, only 6 or 7 years this time, I bought this Paula Nadelstern fabric and began making kalidescope blocks. I got some more of the fabric, simplified the block construction, and am making this quilt as a surprise for someone else.



4. The Dream Mask: I drew this sketch while I was thinking about a dream I had while I was listening to the Many Bright Friends cover of "East West". I am embroidering it on a piece of emerald green shot silk dupioni. I posted the sketch because the embroidery is all wrong and I ripped it out.




5. Twelve Days of Christmas wallhanging: Last summer, I was in Peace by Piece quilt shop and they had this as a block of the month. Each month, you get all the fabric to make one block and at the end, you have all your blocks made for the wallhanging. I had broken my kneecap and wasn't able to work the dye buckets or sit at the sewing machine, so the fused applique with the button hole stitching seemed like it a good couch project. Even under the influence of pain medication, it didn't seem like I could hurt myself too much. I am pleased to say I have kept up with it and will soon be ready to assemble and quilt it. This one is going to hang in my dining room this Christmas.

6. Dragon wallhanging: A friend asked me to make her a wall hanging. She likes Asian designs and I found the batik dragon at a quilt show. I got as far as appliquing it to the black and metallic gold background and inspiration deserted me. I have an idea now, so work can proceed.




7: Yellow leaf batik fabric: Yet another fabulously complex project. This appeared in an earlier post. I photocopied leaves, made plastic templates, and drew the leaves in a random overlapping pattern on a piece of yellow hand dyed cotton. I have the space between the leaves waxed and now need to carefully wax the lines of the leaves. The plan is to drop autumn leaf colors into the individual leaf shapes. Hopefully this will be good enough to go to the art cloth show next year.



8. Basket weave quilt: I am happy to report that this quilt is all quilted and has the binding machine sewn on. I just need to flip the binding over to the back side and stitch it down. This quilt got started when I felt the need to just sew something easy.

See what I mean? I'm a GOOD starter!

Then there are the projects that I have all the stuff ready for, but just haven't cut into the fabric yet. I asked a few people whether or not this qualified as already started projects, but most politely declined to commit themselves to some sort of opinion. My Child gave me The Look and Steve told me about an artist (I forget who) that would think and plan his painting all out before even putting a brush to canvas. Then he would just sit and paint it. If I follow this example, all the following projects count as already started, so if I cut into them, I won't (technically) be breaking my Resolution.

Here are the planned ones:

1. A fish quilt: I have some hand dyed fabric, with coordinates, with a batiked fish pattern. I'm saving it to make my first Smart Cute Grandchild a quilt.

2. 1820's reproduction pillar print quilt: My brother the mapmaker gave me a desk calendar a few years ago that had antique quilts in it and I fell in love with one that had a pillar print in it. I bought all the fabric and that's as far as it got.

3. Coverlet print flag: I have a couple yards of different prints taken from woven coverlets. The plan is to make an American flag using the coverlet prints. Like I said, got all the fabric and that's as far as it went.

4. 1920's embroidered baskets: I got a pattern produced from a vintage 1920's quilt that alternates blocks of embroidered baskets of flowers with plain blocks. I saw the original quilt at the Quilt Odyessy and it was gorgeous.

5. Jack and Jill baby quilt: This is so cute. It's a selection of prints taken from the old Jack and Jill school readers packaged in an old fashioned metal lunch box. It was a present from Gladys in preparation for a Smart Cute Grandchild.

6. Whole cloth baby quilt: I have a nice piece of pimatex cotton dyed in multiple pastels. I'm going to do a little raised quilting on it for my Smart Cute Grandchild.

7. Peter Rabbit quilt: I was at Peace by Piece picking up my Christmas block of the month when a Peter Rabbit panel jumped out at me. It'll be a nice every day, drag around quilt for my Smart Cute Grandchild.

8. Embroidered Christmas quilt: This is going to be a pretty quilt. Once again, I was down at Peace by Piece and saw this made up. It's a white on white fabric with a light teal embroidery on it with coordinating light teal batik snowflake prints.

So, I need a Year of Finishing. I could probably declare a Decade of Finishing and still have plenty to do. Wish me luck!

A Pleasant Present

While Gladys was on vacation in Asheville, she went fabric shopping and brought back this reproduction pattern because it reminded her of me. See why we are friends? Although the glory days of me wearing anything that exposes that much skin is long gone, if they ever existed, I couldn't help weaving a fantasy or two around this dress.

Fantasy #1

The Dress is sky blue satin. I am wearing pearls, standing on the veranda of the chateau.

"No, Henri," I say, "it can't be. It just can't."

"But, darling........" he protests.

"No, Henri. I can't. I won't. Our time together was special, but it is over now. There is nothing more to discuss." I withdraw my hand from his. Henri begins to speak, but I silence him with a raised finger.

"No."

He turns to leave. I watch him without expression. I know he will rejoin the gala and soon there will be another candidate for Duchess. A soft breeze rises up from the Loire Valley and I wonder where it will send me next.

"Greece," I murmur to myself, "Greece." A villa on the Aegean, the perfect backdrop for my next adventure. I will begin packing in the morning...........


Fantasy #2

It is the annual Christmas party at my city house. There is music and dancing. The chandelier lights glint in the diamonds I am wearing with The Dress, this time in a smoky garnet velvet.

"Elise," the British ambassador says, "the Nazi storm cloud grows darker every day. You are the only one who can help us in this endeavor."

I laugh gaily. "Ambassador," I say, "do not be so serious. Surely we are being watched." I gesture to the Gauguin on the wall.

We drift over to the painting. Pointing to one of the figures in the painting, the British ambassador says, "So you will help us?"

I sip my champagne. Gazing at the painting, I remark, "At great personal risk to myself?"

"You are a resourceful woman," he responds.

"Surely you must know, ambassador, that the Germans have already approached me." My eyes lock on his.

"As surely as I know your family has not retained its great wealth over the centuries by picking one side over another," he replies.

"Then, ambassador," I laugh, taking his arm, "we understand one another. Do not contact me. I will make all contact. And now, I must rejoin my guests."

The National Museum of the American Coverlet

Yesterday was a sunny spring day. I had no appointments. I had paperwork that needed done. I did the only sensible thing; I gathered up Gladys and we took a trip to Bedford to the National Museum of the American Coverlet. (I tried really hard to make a clickable link. However, cut and paste http://www.coverletmuseum.org )

We expected this to be an interesting little place to add to our agenda that included stopping at Nothing But Purses, a few antique stores, and a nice dinner afterwards. We did have the nice dinner afterwards, but the museum turned out to be far more intriguing than we had anticipated. Coverlets, if you are unfamiliar with them, are woven bedcovers that evolved from home production on basic four harness looms during the late 18th century/early 19th century to the elaborate and incredibly beautiful jacquard woven coverlets. In the picture above, you'll notice that there is also a jacquard woven carpet on the floor, known at the time as Scottish carpet.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Melinda and Lazlo Zongor. The museum is based on their personal collection of coverlets and Melinda has authored several books on the subject of coverlets. Lazlo's department is charm, and he gave us a personally escorted tour of the museum.

We learned that most of the jacquard weavers were from Germany, England, and the Netherlands and you can tell which state the coverlets originated in by the design. Germans were very fond of including red and the British weavers loved the classic indigo and white combination, but this is by no means exclusive. We learned the jacquard coverlets were most extensively woven in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. The Zongors are currently working with the Indiana State Musuem in Indianapolis, assisting them with their coverlet collection. Many weavers wove their names, a date, place, and the name of the person the coverlet was woven for into one of the corners. The home weavers were women. The professional weavers were men. If there is a female name woven into the design, she is the owner, not the weaver. In the early 19th century, most of the buyers of woven coverlets were successful farmers who wanted a way to demonstrate their prosperity. Professional production of coverlets slowed considerably when the Civil War started because wool and cotton production went to soldiers' uniforms. After the Civil War, the railroads made consumer goods more available and the production of handwoven coverlets ended. I loved the older, home produced coverlets and the museum has old photos of women at their home looms. I try to imagine growing, spinning, dyeing, and weaving everything needed for a coverlet while cooking meals, raising children, undoubtedly doing some farm work, and cleaning house.
















The museum has a little collection of old looms and spinning wheels. I have tried my hand at weaving. Warping a loom is a two person, all day affair. I can appreciate the difficulty of warping a loom and passing each warp thread through those twisted strings on the loom above.

This coverlet was one of my absolute favorites. The old indigo dye colors are so beautiful and this design just flows so nicely. Coverlets were woven in two sections and sewn together in the middle. If you look at the far right of this picture, you can see the weaver cleverly designed this coverlet so that there is a nice stripe up the middle instead of having to match horizontal stripes.

Windham Fabrics has produced a line of quilters' cotton based on designs from the coverlets in the museum's collection. The museum shop has this collection as well as some other reproduction prints. I couldn't resist these two.


There is so much more fascinating information on coverlets. If you can't make it to the museum, check out Melinda Zongor's books, Coverlets and the Spirit of America: The Shein Collection and Coverlets at the Gilchrist: American Coverlets 1771-1889.

If you do make it to the museum, I hope you get the chance to talk with both of these fascinating people. Tell Lazlo I said, " Jo napot."

Fashion Fusion

My niece lives in Chicago and my brother, on his way from Florida to Pennsylvania, took a little detour to visit her. While he was there, they visited my niece's favorite vintage store, Fashion Fusion, and I got some vintage sewing patterns as a gift.

I like old sewing patterns. They're nice to collect because they don't take up a lot of space and are relatively inexpensive. I've used some of them to make clothing, but you have to be careful when you wear or sew vintage. You run the risk of looking like you are in costume, or maybe an extra in some period movie. But here are my prizes:


1. From the 1950's, we have a nice skirt pattern. You can bet there are several petticoats under those skirts. There are 3 yards of fabric in each skirt. I rather like the top shown with the yellow skirt, which is not included in the pattern. I could troll the vintage pattern websites for a pattern for a similar top, but where's the thrill of the chase?


2. Might as well get the embarrassing part out of the way. I confess: I knowingly bought this pattern in 1969, made the shorts, and WORE them. I made them in a cute little blue floral print with white rickrack on the suspenders. Very Tyrolean. I don't know if you can see in the picture, but someone wrote "no" with little zig zaggy arrows pointing to the knee socks worn with the yellow skort. Sound advice that I, in 1969, did not take.




3. This one is my favorite, a nice A line dress from 1970. I think I will make this one. Might need to do a little work on the armholes and I'd prefer the neckline to be a little looser, but this one is a keeper, a style still wearable 39 years later.


4. I am trying really hard not to squeal embarrassingly, but look at this one. I want to make this and wear it SO bad!! Don't you love the stand up collar on the jacket? With the cape, it is just too much. This groovy darling is from 1968 and the only thing stopping me from making this one is that I don't have a hat like that. I'm seeing it in red wool gabardine with the top stitching in red sewing silk. Black patent leather shoes and a purse. I'm there. I am so there.

Pitfalls of Vintage Clothing

I love vintage clothing. I love the evolution of style over time. I love contemplating how old an article of clothing is based on color and fabric. I love the workmanship. I never wear vintage clothing.

One reason I never wear vintage clothing is my height. I'm nearly six feet tall and that's gigantic for the Edwardian/art deco styles that really attract my attention. This lovely gown is from 1908.

From the measurements given, I'd estimate it to be about a size 0 or 2. At 53 inches in length from shoulder to floor, it's going to be slightly below knee length on me. If I could get it buttoned.

Another reason I never wear vintage clothing, as much as I love it, is that "vintage clothing" now includes items of clothing that I have worn back in the day. It's one thing to wear something from the early half of the 20th century, IE, before I was born, but it's another thing to wear something that I remember from high school.

Here's a pattern from the early 1960's. Not only did I sew this, but I wore it. A lot.

Don't you love the way the skirt is split to reveal the shorts underneath in the view on the left? I fought long and hard with my mother to let me hem it up shorter than the pattern shows. Should I mention that I used fabric in a navy blue print with large, dinner plate size daisies for the skirt and top? Groovy! Let's not even discuss a Carnaby Street style dress I made and wore extensively in high school that would make vintage clothing collectors drool if it still existed. (it may still exist, somewhere. I hope I never find it.) It was a cool burnt orange and orange checked plaid with white collar and cuffs, set off by a kelly green man's style tie. Yeah, baby!

Have you ever seen a picture of someone like Vera Wang with one of her over-the-top creations?

Lovely, lovely gown. I wish I could have found a large picture so you could really appreciate it. But check out Vera. She's got a black, ready-for-action outfit on, minimal makeup, and a low maintenance hair do. Vera Wang can create her ultimate fantasy gown, but when it comes down to day to day life, she's going for comfort and convenience. Sort of like my admiration of vintage clothing.