THE RECYCLE CHALLENGE:
As members of the Network of Wearable Art based in Napa, Ca, we were challenged to make a garment using only fabrics that were recyled from the past. I used Yvonne Porcella's jacket pattern. The cropped pants were jeans I'd had for a while and I just cut them off.
The denim portions of the jacket were made from an old pair of overalls of my husband, Ted's. Because he had painted and worked on other messy projects wearing them, I had to do a lot of cutting around to use only the 'clean' sections. The leg became the sleeves, with the double seams down the center sleeves. My daughter, Heather, had had a pair of jeans with an interesting front closure and pockets that I had kept so I used them as side pieces and the front belt. I had made a dress for my first born daughter, Shenna, (since I'm doing the typing I'll add my own comment - I made this dress for myself and was astonished when Mom went and cut it up!!!..Shenna) using the wonderful print. Heather and Reaka (our youngest) both wore the dress as they grew into it, but when it came time to pass it on to someone else, I couldn't give up the wonderful print fabric, so I kept it for many years, knowing 'someday I'll use it again'. The bindings were cut from a tye-dyed tie my husband had worn and enjoyed but discarded in my care. I trimmed the pants with the print and added a pocket cuff to the side of each leg. The remarkable shoes were discovered by my husband when I was wearing this outfit and we were shopping in a shoe store. He's a wonderful guy, always looking out for my best interest.
LET'S HAVE A LITTLE YELLOW:
In 198? Lois Smith, a wonderful prize winning quilter was speaking at the Folsom Quilt Guild. She said so many people (including myself) stay away from, using yellow in their work. Lois spoke of what yellow could do for your project, how it addes light and sunshine. I thought I would try it and it is true. I use yellow in almost all my work now. To me it adds a cheerful quality.
When I was a young girl, I had a friend who wore yellow a lot, she had a wonderful bubbly personality. I had never worn yellow much because I was very fair complexioned and very blond so I thought it wouldn't work. Well I thought maybe if I wore yellow I would have this bubbly personbality like my friend, so I tried several times to put some yellow in my wardrobe, but you know yellow or not I remained by own personality (not that that was all that bad). Anyway, I didn't wear or use yellow much during my whole life until I heard Lois Smmith speak about it's merits. Now I use a lot of yellow combined with other colors, both in my wardrobe and my home. There is a happy, cheerful felling when we use yellow.
Shenna Mealey
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