No this is not me....but this woman's satin stitched emboirdered shirt inspired me as teen.........I have been thinking about this blog post for a
while…actually over a year now.
It
is about going back to my ”roots” for creative inspiration. I think about "What is my look"? "Where do I get my ideas..?" "What draws me to certian styles?"
I was a teen in the 1970’s.
I had a mother that taught me how to
sew really well and a couple older sisters that were pretty crafty with a
needle.
My oldest sister was a flight
attendant for United and crossed over the continent hoping another high-jacker
would not get on the plane again….she passed her time on layovers with embroidery.
The surface was usually a denim
shirt.
After living on the east
coast for many years, she had met a man that exposed her to the San Francisco
Bay Area, where we were from, in a very different way then she had experienced
when she was a teen in the 60’s.
The
Bay area in the 70’s was about music, art
and politics.
The non-working drugged out
hippies moved on and the thirty something’s that were still there and
liked the organic or hip way of life realized they still needed jobs and ways
to support their families.
They
still drank and partied but they had to make a living.
Anyway what I saw come out of this was
some pretty incredibly creative people doing their art and crafts, starting
businesses, becoming graphic artists, publishing books, designing and making a
big impression on me.
My closest
friends were graphics artists starting to work for small electronic companies
with fruit as a logo, doing posters for local radio stations and starting
skateboard and art magazines.
I was listening to Ridgetop by Jesse Collin Young this
morning and it brought back memories of hanging out in San Francisco at my
sisters apartment a block from Haight street. We would be sewing or embroidering things to wear or put on
our backpacks.
I embroidered this
patch that went on an old green surplus knap sack I carried in high
school.
My sister had turned me on
to this book, Native Funk and Flash.
I loved this book, as well as American Denim.
I loved to sew and knew I wanted to be
a clothing designer, photographer or artisan.
I continued to make things over the years.
Here is a yoke of a top I made in the
80’s , I never made the shirt but can’t part with the work.
I only have a few things left…these two
things are a few survivors.
I hate
I have rid myself of some of my handy work…. denim skirts, vests, bags, leather
patch suitcase.
I am sure I can
dig up old pictures of myself, but I was usually behind the camera.
I bought this cool book at the quilt show a few weeks back
by Sue Spargo I loved the look of her work…reminded
me of what we loved back then. A little Bohemian. As I looked through the
book it was all the same stitches I have in two other little stitch books my
sister had given me back then for reference that I still have…but I like Sues
colors and ways she used the velvets in layers. So it will go into my library with all my other little
stitch books I have collected. As
I collect reference books over the years, I have found some books I would have just
died for as a teen. I loved
anything that had design references.
Art Deco, Art Nouveau ,
flowers, anything I could put on my clothing or bags.
Which brings me back to searching for my look, my artist way. I keep thinking I have to have a look,
something that is mine. I am a
very good crafts person, I can swing a needle and thread or put together a garment with
the best of them, but I never felt I had a specific look…too many ideas and too
many directions. I am working on
narrowing this down I think……go back to my “roots” the look I love and still gravitate to now….that look of the
70’s beautiful embroidery, patch work, denim, tapestry. I came from a great area of the
country, in a time when music and art were flourishing and I was around it, it
influenced me to go into the clothing industry. I just need to re-ground myself to what my dreams were. Now I have the money, studio, stash of
fabric, beads, floss, books, tools and knowledge. I have learned so much in the past 30 years except how to trust my ideas and design skills. I will continue to sew my way through the studio and make up my ideas inspired and updated from the 70's that influenced me.
