7.17.2011

sew weekly sunday: got a black magic woman

on my sewing list:

one (1) maxi dress, wedding guest style, for a best friend who is shortly packing up and leaving town

one (1) jungle gym "roof" with ten (10) grommets measuring six by five (6x5!!!) feet for another friend's child

one (1) invisibility cloak to throw on when peeps ask me to sew for them

i was really excited about the current sew weekly challenge: finding inspiration in album art.  album art, like music videos, used to be the BOMB, y'all.  i would sort through my parents' collection in a mixture of fear and amazement.  (ahem, that is, when i reached the age of understanding and appreciation.  apparently, before that, brother beast and i used the two-record set of "the white album" as carpet ice skates.  in our defense, the album cover was white.  just white.)


it's a mystery to me why i would want to put this on my blog.  this cover scared the bejesus out of me.  it's reminiscent of blue meanies... ehhhh, those things REALLY scare me.  i just googled them to jog my memory.  i'm not putting them up on le blog.  no, my brotha, you must go google your own.


ah, that's better.  a little phoebe snow.  she is a warm summer night with a gin and tonic.  i loved this one because of her freckles and curls.

but my favorite was santana's abraxas.  you'll excuse the naked women and the strategically placed dove.


i loved the blue tattoos on the red angel, and her fantastic wings-- i mean, she's riding a STRIPED CONGA DRUM (although daughter fish tells me it is a congo. i am sure she is correct).  all that pattern and print and cloth kept me fascinated every time.  telling?

weirdly, my stash full of prints didn't have anything near enough wild for this.  i had to find and then wrestle this yardage away from a small woman.  

in the garment district, stores will often have a large cardboard box filled with remnants at awesome prices. usually, several customers elbow each other over one stuffed box.  my favorite remnant store has two such boxes, which is handy.  on this particular occasion, Small Woman pawed through one.  i could see treasures at her fingertips, but i decided to take the other box.  how civilized.   

but the minute i began to sift, she dumped her finds and walked over to my box.  she didn't dig through it, nooo, she just waited for me to find something good and then grabbed it.  and forcefully pulled.  while inching ever closer to me.  in disbelief, i asserted my rights:  excuse me, but you're way too close right now. silence, and continued pawing.

i stepped forcefully into her side and shoved my hands into fabric, coming up victorious with 6 yards of silk chiffon.  her greedy mitts were on it immediately.  i got loud.  HONEY?  THAT'S MINE.  the small woman cared little.  can i see, can i see.  not a question so much as a statement.  you can SEE...  knowing she did not infer my meaning to be:  but you cannot HAVE,  i kept a firm grip on my prize as she pored over it.  i gave her three seconds to "see", then pulled it out of her hands and walked away.  surely there were more treasures in the box, but i didn't want my prize ripped in half.  when the proprietress paused in checking me out to help another customer, Small Woman actually picked it up AGAIN and began to walk away with it. at this point i just rolled my eyes and watched as the owner wrestled it away, in a weird emotionless silent dance.


that's abraxas in silk chiffon, yo!

i was going to make a simple summer halter dress, but when i draped it over my shoulder it told me it was too hard won to be an everyday something.  it wanted to be an evening gown.  for like, a gala.  i hope that it will be.

i just need to get on that invisibility cloak.

14 comments:

  1. That fabric plays tricks on my eyes! It might work for the invisibility cloak.

    Now, for that, if you have the feat "forge ring" and you know the invisiblility spell, it will take you 10 days to make a ring of invisibility. Then it just a command work and *poof* you are invisible. (its a gaming thing... sorry. Had to!)

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  2. Wow, that Santana album-cover is like Oona distilled. Amazing. So is that fabric.

    I feel like I should try to top the Younger Rachael's gamer quote to assert my nerd cred, but I'm afraid she has me beat. I am a total gamer nerd poser.

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  3. Can't wait to see what you do with it! Maybe a halter gala dress?

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  4. ooohhh a gown! A gown! YAY! I can't wait! and omg. that woman? She's crazy! I can't believe the shop keeper had to wrestle the fabric from her as well!

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  5. Oooh, yes! I can't wait to see this made up, bet it'll look spectacular!

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  6. That is lovely! I need the secret coordinates to that shop! Sadly, I was wrong about the conga. I thought you said bongo. It is conga. I was tipsy and unreliable, and apparently hard of hearing. Your basic music nightmare. Glad you won out on this silk!

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  7. Crazy is as crazy does...watch yourself: sneaky remnant bin sifters may carry sharp scissors for swatching! She could cut you!

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  8. Good luck with those grommets. I had to sew an awning for my brother's architecture firm the other week in a weekend, so I told them I wouldn't touch the grommets. Too much to go wrong in such a short amount of time. No doubt you can do it though. You do seem to be able to pull off most anything!

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  9. ~ rachael: that's dungeons and dragons level nerd.

    ~ tanit-isis: chicken.

    ~ saro: close!!

    ~ debi: and the owner was so blase about it. i think she's a regular!

    ~ macksa: fingers crossed!

    ~ daughter fish: you shall have them! come to think of it, i may have said congo to begin with. inebriation all around.

    ~ suzanne: i mean, seriously! there was an air of sociopath about her...

    ~ amy: i told mama this weekend; i'm skipping the grommets. :))))

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  10. Oh, yes -- DND level nerd!

    I love the farris wheel dress, and I"m impressed at you holding your own against such people. Must be a NY thing.

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  11. Wow, that small woman was itching to be CUT, yo!

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  12. I love santanta and black magic women is my one of my favs, I rock out to that on guitar hero, lol. Can't wait to see what you make.

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  13. Ok, so I am waaay behind on your goings-on, but Blue Meanies! Boyoboy, I could tell you a story about that, but not in the blogosphere. They are scary :{

    Nice win. Crazy lady has enough crazy in her...she don't need this silk to wear it on her sleeve, too.

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  14. ~ issasapcey: AIN'T IT THE TRUTH?!

    ~ don: they make em tougher in NJ.

    ~ wildflower: oh, now that would be fun... all i've done is beatles and journey. i failed on lead vocals for journey.

    ~ threadsquare: you KNOW you can't put that out there without divulging. come on!!!
    (and crazy on her sleeve.... nice.)

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i thankya truly for taking the time to comment, i love a good conversation-- and hope you know my thanks are always implied, if not always written!