I’ve been doing some altering on this dress that I made about ten years ago, for my dear friend Gwen.
Not sure if any of you remember back to the Le Rouge days on Hawthorne st.
in Portland, but this is from that era & Gwen was one of the owners of that boutique.
It’s so odd, I didn’t even remember it (don’t remember making it) til she pulled it out on one of
my northwest visits. Working on it is like entering a time capsule of my own life.
I wasn’t so good with cameras or documenting my work back then, and there are quite alot of pieces that just disappeared into the world without a way for me to remember them. It’s pretty strange to look at how my mind was working at that point. I can see it all in the stitches. This was around the beginning of my venture into making clothes for other people. Back then I lived in my van, in closets & basements, moved every few months, dumpstered or stole all of my food.. working graveyard shifts, battling with depression, addiction, a slew of anxiety disorders & a sad, twisted love affair. It was not an easy time.. but the harder things were, the more I sewed. That was how I worked things out, and made some sense out of the chaos.
& I just kept going, thankfully. It’s oddly the perfect time to be working on this, as the last couple months have been a massive life-sorting overhaul for me. I’m getting rid of
mountains of possessions, processing and letting go of so much.. physically & psychically.
Honouring, releasing the past and laying strong foundations for what I want to
be and create in the world from now on. It’s intimidating, but it feels like
once you start, you can’t go back. Probably a good thing.. Scorpio full moon power.
(more on that here)
It’s so rewarding to see empty space! For a long time I’ve felt like materials were
the crucial element in creating.. to the point where I became a ridiculous
fashion packrat and couldn’t move freely in my house. I’ve started to realize
that most of the magik of making is in the mind, and that the mind needs space.
Space is potential. Anything can happen there.
These lovely poppies just sprung up in our garden.. no one planted them, and they were there almost overnight. So lovely & inspiring. Plants have been helping me alot, they are always whispering
quiet lessons, flourishing and beckoning. Serious role models.
I’m nearing the end of the custom orders.. this gathering is for the last custom
wedding dress. It’s for a fairytale wedding in Scotland at the end of the summer.
It’s going to be a really fun project.. pastels, abalone & moss.
A huge addition to my life these last months has been volunteering over at Cat Town Cafe (as most of my facebook & instagram friends know, haha..) It’s been such an amazing experience & I highly recommend supporting this place any way you can. I’m working with many under socialized, super shy or scared cats and slowly helping them to feel safe with humans. It’s intense and wonderful & I’m a little bit addicted to it.
I’ve honestly never felt so useful before.
Last but not least! There’s a sale in the shop til the 17th.. everything is 10-20% off.
Happy May~
<3s