an Ancestor dress

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many months ago, my friend James sent this dress my way. he asked me to work with it
freely, no perimeters or requests. it took me a really long time to finally sit down & start.

 

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i’m posting lots of pictures, because there are just so many tiny details to see.

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the dress originally belonged to his great, great, great grandmother.
her name was Alice Wilson.. she raised seven daughters in the hills of Kentucky.

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it’s not often that i know where the pieces i work with came from.. sometimes there is a
bit of a story passed on to me, but it’s rare. the stories usually surface like dreams,
subtle feelings i get when handling and stitching the material. this was an
especially beautiful project because the dress had such a connection to
the person i was making it for.

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this is the dress in the beginning..

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the timing was great, too.. i’d just had to cancel a trip and was kind of worn out. working
on deadlines & custom orders too often can make me feel confined and running
uphill at the same time. it’s really important to make time for experimentation and play. that’s where the inspiration and new ideas germinate. i need to remember this!

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it started to feel biological, like i was stitching someone’s body or internal organs.
tiny beads clustered here, feathered paint there. orange seeds turned lavender,
grey angora amongst antique lace pods. hen-peck stitches, field bracken & mossy yarn.

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this was a wonderful prompt and push towards the future. i’m looking forward to making
more work in this vein, for people to wear. protective maps under the spell of Nature.

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<3s

4 thoughts on “an Ancestor dress

  1. this. this is why i follow you and your work with keen anticipation and delight. seeing your perspective on nature and creating never fails to inspire me. you make such beautiful magic, selene!
    xo

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