Kicking up the dust...

Several weeks ago, I went camping. In the desert. In Nevada. Where lots of other people go camping too. There are costumes involved. I made costumes for my tent-mates and entitled the series "Fringe Benefits." I was pleased with the results.

Fall is here!

Finally. How I covet crispy air, golden sunsets and harvest smells...like pumpkins and spirit sauce. I am diving in. With the assistance of boots, tights, petticoats and scarves, my summer dresses are coming with me. This petticoat is made from a pair of big-lady bloomers from GWO; the dress is made from an old sheet and based on a commercial pattern, which I altered in order to get an A-line shape. Fall brigade of dresses marching in to join rank soon...

Long Live the Three-Pack

At my esteemed German visitor's suggestion, we had a rather intimate tie-dye party in the backyard this summer. He was primarily inspired by a detailed chapter on tie-dyeing in a sixties craft book; one of the many I continue to collect (against my better judgment and desire to own a minimal amount of heavy things). Welp, our party was small but quite focused and our results were rather magnificent in my opinion. Everyone came up with at least one thing they would treasure in the future. Here is my "great success."

History Part Deux

When this whole sheet-dress business began in our Berliner apartment, I distinctly remember informing all of our inhabitants of my intentions. There was a pile of textiles in the "laundry room" (Sebastian's kitchen) that had not moved for months and enough was enough in my mind. "Hey guys," I announced, "does anybody need any of those sheets up there (in the "laundry room")?" "Nope" was the resounding answer. "Okay, well if there's anything important, make sure you get it out of there before I start ripping things to shreds..." "Ja, ja, okay, no problem." This was my first creation (knew nothing about darts really, look how far things have progressed!). After its completion, I sported it proudly to the weekly Sunday flea-market excursion. Upon roommate assembly in the courtyard, Max froze and stared. There could be only one explanation. Me: "Oh no, don't tell me this is something you needed." Max: "...Noooo...it's...just strange to see my childhood bedding as a dress." Sigh.

Another unitard interlude...

while I will the crushed velvet skeleton on my kitchen floor into existence...excited? I sure am. This onsie, by the way, is salvaged from a failed "african pant" experiment in Berlin. It's basically a bunch of fabric scraps sewn together using my favored patchwork method of textile resurrection. Boom.

Thank you.

I just finished reading Dave Eggers' new book, What is the What, which is rather genius not only in the sense that Eggers wrote it, but nears my ultimate favorite genre: Historical Fiction. The best part about this book though, is that it's NOT necessarily fiction. It's true. It's just fictionalized in certain portions for the sake of style, cohesiveness and so forth. The novelized format tricked me into learning all kinds of interesting facts about Sudan as well as marveling at the resiliency and humor of the protagonist, Valentino Achak Deng. It really wove an exquisite web of stories and recent history eliciting a heavy contemplation of the cruetly we can inflict upon one another, befuddlement at the extreme tension between groups of humans everywhere, and utmost resepect for both the protagonist and the author. One for surviving horrific political turmoil and genocide, then using the force of his personality to assist his fellow refugees and rebuild his country; and the other for presenting this information to the public in an articulate, inspiring piece of art.

You didn't want that purple sweatshirt back anyway, right?

We all get a year older every now and then. This dress commemorates Shola's newest age (whose blog by the way, is a must-see for any obscure online image enthusiast: http://shola.endingthealphabet.org). I will admit that many of my recent creations stem from commercial patterns and/or my barely-significant/drastic alterations of them, but this one was complete improvisation. Happy birthday.

Whoa, whoa, whoa

Before we get too caught up in where I am and what I'm doing now (DRESSES! Say it rabidly with a lisp while pressing the palms of your hands together under your chin), let's not forget some rather formative years. Let's back it up to the Berlin days. Karen O was my hero, I had an asymmetrical bowl cut, and flashy unitards were all I wanted to wear. I actually threw together this beauty (made from some sort of heinous flea market women's skirt) for a dance performance in Stuttgart. Our costume was "wear what you feel comfortable in." As I side note: I realized shortly after moving back to Portland that I bounced to California when I was 18, following which essentially ALL of my experience as a non-student adult in the real world occurred in...Germany. It really shouldn't have been THAT difficult to adjust to a new (old?) setting upon my return to P-town, but gosh, in Deutschland I was actually trying. Here, I thought things would just, you know, "happen" because I'd arrived. This is where I'm from, right? Au contraire. In many ways, this is more of a challenge than just hopping a plane across the Atlantic and building my life from scratch. Here I'm supposed to be starting with something...

Ready For Some More

Let's be honest. This is who I really am. Self-portraits in dresses made from well-worn children's sheets in a creepy suburban setting. Watch out though, Portland. I am moving east, procuring a bicycle, and eating this town alive.