Spirit Cloth

Hunker Down on the Edge #1

 

Where was I?

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And some related rambling...

Can't believe how dark some of these videos were, no sun I guess.

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Yesterdays, Todays, Tomorrows

 

This pic is from Yesterday

Because I knew there would be no sun Today.

The internet is slow today, so I will try working bit by bit on a post  about bindings  (for the robe openings) Tomorrow. 

2006. I found this photo again, that I posted on Flickr, when I announced the creation of this blog. Me. "I will call my blog SpiritCloth." How I appeared, wrapped in woven and patched wool, now somehow imagining that I may disappear in the same manner. I do believe the Wool Robe will be some special kind of Big Cloth project. For the winter of 2020.

For now, I will wrap up the general robe lessons with some binding ideas. And continue to work on and talk about the bird robe and the wind robe now and then through summer. With the arrival of May I will get back to considering quilt/blanket ideas. Maybe one robe post and one blanket post per week. With some life and thought catching in between. It will all run together anyway. As we try to stay sane.

The Big Swing

My mood is unusually unstable.

This old painting says it, pretty much. With maybe the addition of a big laugh in between. The state of the world isn't helping.

 

I do have this lovely photo of the sea, by my son, I will hang it today.  We talked about it. How much I miss her, Old Sea. Maybe we can't won't stay here.  The thing is, if we do, if we need to, it is colder in winter. Winter is longer.

I looked at Mom's lamp, Hi Mom, and the old weaving of earth beast on the wall, and I thought gee, probably because we are in robe mode and one thing leads to another, why not consider a wool robe ?, one that might give me an opportunity to use all the stray wool and woolen weavings around here. And the sun is out! OK, mood swing!

Slow Spring

 

It's late April in the Valley. Has it only been a few months here?

Looking out the front window, after cutting the bushes down, which were blocking the view.

We began a first cut, working a section at a time, to keep the ticks at bay. I think we need to get a small tractor or sit on type thing if we can find a used one. To mulch and cut because the small mower we have takes a lot of energy. Then, probably , for the first time, considering hiring a few local guys to do some clean up, because they probably need the work. If we can. 

That's the well cap sticking up. The water is iffy here. We have a UV filter. 

Surprised to be able to post this morning. Just here, marveling. 

Stitched some dart like distortions into this one with coffee.  Just to note that such things as discussed yesterday might simply be intentional distortions on any cloth surface, not just a solution to needed flatness. Here, like wrinkles in time. Love how darts are like discontinuous seams. Hold that thought.  This is destined to become larger.

Or here, for texture.

If I am trying to say how it happens, where new form comes from, then I need to be truthful. About my focus being something quite formless. Fluid. Not some strict confinement. Can you Imagine strips of wrinkles, applied to a surface. I did.

Then I imagined a colorless robe. A thin veil of imperfection. To shelter in.

Hunker Down and Keep Trying

Today's note to self...posting here, for now, well, it's ridiculous. But I know it's possible. Moments here, moments there, OK, it's a patchwork. Little bits at a time. Duh jude, figure out a way to hold it together. That's what you do. So less often, posts being built over a series of days. Content, in smaller pieces perhaps. In perspective, appropriate. 

 

The thing I like about cloth is that it seems kind.

You can make friends with it, it will cooperate if you give it's nature some consideration. Like working with anything,(anyone), it is basically an exercise in problem solving (not always JUST going), based on what you have to work with.  I often say ingenuity springs from a relationship based on patience and flexibility. Love, I guess. Yes, I just love cloth.

Cloth is like clay. I will be like Clay.

I had been slowly adding strips of that patchwork curtain to the front of the robe. I added one of the other pieced strips as well. but I moved the strip slightly, off it's original course, because cloth lets you do that...to fit the one side of the neckline. I like the gentle curve of the seams. How it flows. Seems to adapt to the situation. Seems to soften. Like gentle wind.

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I was already wearing Wind at this point. Getting know it. Walking, Sitting, even Sleeping with it. Oh Ha!

 

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I have been posting content from an old class, just wanting to finish up the basic approach to robe making as it applies to a large cloth base you might choose to work on. I will get through the basics of that soon and with May, move on to other forms of large cloth.  But know that all these techniques might be applied to a quilt type project as well.  My goal is never actually to lead you through something step by step but to inspire you to find your own comfort with problem solving. Offering my perspective.

As I look back, at any point, I might have taken another direction. Watching all of you doing your own thing reminds me how that might happen. 

Thank you for your patience as always...

Down

As of 4 pm Thursday April 23rd we have NO Internet here.  I will return as soon as it can be resolved. These days, who knows?

3 AM, 4/24. A signal.  Good Morning. I can put some words out there. After calling my provider and getting no help and another to switch, it will take a good three weeks to make a change and still we've no idea why this is happening. There is a slowdown in the area but it shouldn't be like this.  Tech appointments are very delayed based on this whole virus situation. Few and far between. I guess this is the new normal for now. Here. The thing is, I can still stitch, think, imagine. I just can't share. I have a bit of data on my phone, maybe Instagram now and then until...

Hunker Down and Transform a Surface

So we started from scratch here, but the same method I will show here could apply if you just decide to resurface any old garment, like a bathrobe or a robe that has worn out etc. Here I will cover the entire surface, but if working with a pr-existing garment you might just decorate certain areas while mending at the same time. Redesigning is mending too, in my world. Design Mending. 

 

Coating a base with pre-pieced strips

So with the goal of coating the sheet based garment with a second light weight layer, and to use up a lot of small scraps, I want to talk about what I will call pre-pieced foundation patching. Based on a habit I developed a while back, piecing scraps, grouped by color, developed to both organize and store a stash of color related bits. And to live with process...

Here I decided to coat the base with pre-pieced scrap. And I have chosen a neutral palette, thinking that wind is somewhat colorless. And also because I had a lot of neutral eco-dyed scrap. Especially brown, so easy. That is how I began. Consider this a way to use any leftover patchwork as well. And to transform  a surface into something else.

 

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My approach to simple hand piecing here can still be found at Feel Free's Methods Index...under Patchwork/Piecing

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The patchwork I was temporarily using as a curtain was pieced on the machine and then dipped in the black walnut dye and left for a few weeks. I blogged about something similar here. One way to get similar colored scraps is to over-dye them as a group. Anyway, now I am cutting the large patched color blanket into strips to use in this project.

Additional strips are being made straight from the scrap basket. As needed.

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I had in mind here, to keep things light, only coating the front, but the same method could be used on the inside, in this way, you can achieve a reversible garment where the base actually ends up to be the batting.  This concept is where my quilt making and robe making might overlap. I often work from both sides of a foundation when making a blanket. Quilt. There is so much more to say about that. My internet is fading again, so next time.

Hunker Down and Align

These times

create great personal, as well as

collective, Challenges.

Honesty

is a kind of alignment.

Thought Catching

is a kind of honesty.

I need space and light.

Time for myself.

I miss the sea.

My days seem cluttered.

Scattered.

 

One way to make a room seem bigger and lighter is to empty it. Paint it white.  Emptied, yesterday, late in the day. Paint next. As soon as it is warm enough to open windows. Patience. Below freezing again. Another robe lesson coming tomorrow. Or maybe later in the day.  Just taking me longer than expected to put stuff here with all these internet interruptions. I will figure it out eventually.   Thinking about everything, in terms of Alignment, really helps. 

This is on the other wall.

Across.

They seem related.

I needed that connection.

Hunker Down and Appreciate the Ordinary

 

Just a few moments to reflect. 

I did not plan to focus on the Robe thing in such detail here in "Large Cloth".

But how it goes is simply how it is. And I let you lead me my friends. Lead me and accompany me at the same time.

You might recognize this robe "Without End" from one of the videos I published from the Contemporary Boro class in the last few days.  It's the one made from grandma's linen curtain.  With the binding made from scraps of my son's baby quilt. It was patched and dyed and mended and worn. My first attempt at ROBE. Dates back to 1975 or so. And then the cloth began to weaken. To honor it I undid the seams and attached it to a foundation cloth for support. To take the strain of tension away. It is now a wall cloth. And I renamed it Temple. It is not a religious statement. It is symbolic of a dwelling place for an aging deep seated feeling of honor.  I have only begun to put this together, it has been hanging on walls for a while and needs more stitch. 

I put this here today simply to emphasize how one thing might become another. And still be useful.  It could have become a blanket. Maybe it is now an art cloth.  One I wanted to create , wanted it to make an impact. Maybe just a Ceremony. Because I needed it as a reminder of how I feel about cloth. In a new way it is still a robe. It wraps me in peace. And tells, to me, my own story.

How strange,it has grown larger now, Larger than Life.

Hunker Down and Take a Moment in between to consider

Internet issues persist...I keep at it.

The Wind Robe 

as a rough cut.

2012, wow, I wonder if I would actually remember how it happened with out this record of days? I find this blogging such a great tool, well, digital recording, and sharing, in general, helps me learn from experience. Because I do not prepare ahead of time, the truth of how things happen is more present. Real. And what can be more powerful than truth. Marketing has a different kind of power which scares me really. The power over others. Instead of... well, getting off subject here.

This is my audio from 2012. And me in an old sheet. Silly me, not knowing what I am doing. Trusting in something. 

 

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I always say this...this isn't brain surgery or anything. If you cut something away and don't like it, you can always put it back. We are design mending here. Right?  The sewing on a simple rectangle based garment, well it's simple seams, change can be easy. Even the add and take away.  Sometimes even in the middle of the making, things might be deconstructed and reconstructed. And worn at any stage. Get to know it. 

At this point I decided to call this Wind.  It was even making it's own wind when I moved.

Next is cut and maybe shape, then some basic stitch to create the base garment, then look again.

It's just great if you can get someone to take pictures of you in it.  Even a video of you moving in it. Great fun. And you can learn by looking.  If you are posting pics anywhere other than Instagram (use #ragmates 2020)  let me (us) know in the comments. It would be great to see ourselves draped in cloth!  If need be, you can send me a photo, I can post some pics here or there if you are not shy. (If you are subscribed by email, there is a link to #ragmates2020 in the top menu bar of the actual blog, you do not have to be an Instagram member to view)

After cutting/sewing and deciding on a shape that suits and feels ok,  well then you might think about the front/ neck edging and another layer or layers.

About a cloth base...

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As you can see, I did go with the simple curved cut  to make the sleeves.  It didn't make too much difference but it bunches differently under the arm and softens the overall shape.   I often sew totally by hand, but because of my aching thumb way back then, I used the machine for the long side seams. I don't have a sewing machine anymore. Long sticks are a great way to hang these garments when you are designing, so you can see the whole surface.  I remember that the next day after this pic was taken, I went to take care of  mom for a few days. Those were tough days, like these. I miss her when I remember this class. A big cloth can hold days. 

And it feels funny to see the old house again. My studio. 

Next, I will review how I attached a second layer to give this substance.  

And there was a bit of Robe Storming last night...

Note to self: I'm amazed I still sound pretty much the same after all these years. Still the same person but so much not as well.