The Art of Dying...Lingerie

My mother was my crafting inspiration, and I find myself channeling her ideas in many ways. About 1959, she tired of her nylon undies, gowns & slips that had grown dingy, as they do.

To surprise my father, she laid out a wonderful array of colorful new lingerie on their bed: aquas, emeralds, corals, turquoise. Had she been on a un-budgeted for shopping spree, we kids wondered?

She had been dying lingeries all day, she explained. I was amazed at how nice and new everything looked!

And so I continue her legacy, dying slips and dresses, but to my own reconstruction purposes.

I take vintage lace, ribbons, lingerie edgings, nylon tricot, eyelet trim & a slip,  and plop them in my pre-mixed custom colors dye bath.

The way the different fabric contents take the dye, or how long I leave it in the bath, gives me a unique color "look" that I combine into my One-of-a-Kind hand dyed, hand reconstructed, handmade slip dresses.

I never know what it will look like, but all the combos have come out beautiful.

Not content to just dye a slip -- anyone can, as my mother showed us in 1958 -- I choose complementary or contrasting shimmery thread to add serging contrast. 

There is no formula -- each slip tells me what to do, and sometimes changes its mind mid-creation!

I'm particularly happy when I can find plus--size slips, like this 48. I want curvy girls to feel as beautiful as skinny ones!

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Sometimes I just already have fabric that perfectly matches a hand-dyed nightie, as in this olive combination

The final result is beautiful to look at

-- and just as beautiful on!

Come see me work this Saturday, March 17, as part of Art Detour 24 in Phoenix

New Year's Day -- and a very different year, we hope!

Ahhh -- such a Christmas Zander and I have had this year. It's been really beautiful in many ways -- just marred by that Christmas cold I came down with on the 26th! All that stress, you know? So I've been moving very slowly since then, due to all the sniffles and head pains and general muscle aches. Today's New Year's Day, tho, and I need to say something for the new year! The history of how things came to be is in my earlier blogs about my Etsy angels

We went grocery shopping the day after Christmas -- found day-old donuts and fresh turkeys on sale for $0.69/pound -- $7.00 got us a whole turkey!!!





















And then a day later a package came in the mail for Zander from Santa!

 Thanks, catiahades !
 He read the return address, and really ripped into the box to see what it was. Usually he's very methodical about opening gifts -- but this one was too special. Maybe he thought the drum set was in it? (no, he's NOT getting one. ever!)


It had a letter from Santa, too, which he could read, with a little help on 2 or 3 words.
































He got chocolate candy (always welcome), a locking CD case (really needed!) and a new Nintendo wallet. It was such a pleasure to see his excitement at that package from Santa. That's what happens when you believe --- it comes true

And Santa even remembered something for me -- wonderful bath stuff for relaxing in. Zander made sure I saw all the stuff for me, first, even though I knew he wanted to rip into the rest!!

I'm getting it together and making the stuffing for my turkey this afternoon...although the antihistamines have me all spacey! That little turkey will cook pretty fast, fortunately...and just the right size for two! He just saw the turkey sitting on the counter, and pointed out that BOTH legs belong to him!! He's a leg man, for sure.

New Store! SafetyThird on Etsy

It had to happen -- the shirts just overwhelmed my dresses and skirts. I agonized long about opening another shop, since I had no idea what I would call it. Well, sometimes things are just too obvious that one doesn't think of them. Once I had the name, everything flowed, and I even got two sales in the first few days!

My logo is the basis for a whole new series of shirts I'm working on. Is it obvious that I'm RunzwithScissors??!!

SafetyThird will offer shirts and onesies with Subject matter for Geeks and Goths alike, and their spawn -- with dangerous themes, and slight dismissals of the warnings from those who would tiptoe carefully throught the world.

Hope you like them!!

Doubleknits -- the So Right, So Wrong, and Right Now

Did you know that the doubleknit technology began with woolens, which had its bloom in the early 1960's? Dresses and suits of wool doubleknit kept their shape, and hung in a very clean line, not wrinkling like some woven knits would. Wool doubleknit became a staple of many couture dresses, like LilliAnn of San Francisco.

LilliAnn Dress and Jacket
LilliAnn Dress and Jacket back

incorporating a wealth of details in the buttons, bound buttonholes, and doubleknit piping and binding.



or in high end department stores, like Butte Knit.



Butte Knit double breasted jacket collar



and never trickled down to the cheap dresses sold at chains such as Sears, or Wards. That, and the lack of moth-proofing, are the reasons we rarely find such clothing in thrift stores.

In the 1960's, a substantial proportion of high fashion dresses, even summer sleeveless, jacketless styles, where constructed from wool doubleknit. So the discriminating shopper looked kindly on the pure polyester doubleknits when they showed up, in such stores as Saks Fith Avenue

It was only in the 1970's that polyester doubleknit was marketed to the masses, who loved its dirt-resistance and no-iron features. And the fabric mills churned out the most improbable fabrics, which excited the minions of the suburbs, and they snatched them up to make their elastic waist pull-on pants.

Much to the disdain of those who wore the woolen double knits. They were aghast at the ugliness that had invaded the chain stores, and were showing up on their mothers and country cousins.

I began this fascination with the ugliness of polyester doubleknit back then. I always wondered "what ARE they thinking?"...yet people actually bought the stuff. And I still can't look away -- like a John Waters movie -- I have this creepy fascination with the visual and social improbability of Polyester Doubleknit, the fabrics that were the staple of the Leisure Suits of the 1970's.

My eyes just want to FIX something so ugly...and I think I've actually managed to do that! The doubleknit stretchiness, so beloved by the burgeoning booties of the boring 'burbs, serves well for skirts. And so now I have a love affair with that vintage polyester doubleknit, and even some of the single needle knits. I add modern lyrca or cotton knit waistbands, and soft flirty modern ruffles, or just plain serged edges. And, sandwiched between those two features, a new vision is born. Suddenly, the UGLY becomes BEAUTIFUL.

Below are some of the textures and contrasts you will find in my line of NBS -- Never Been Sewed -- SKIRTS of vintage virgin polyester.





and I think I've succeeded in banishing the Ugliness of Polyester Doubleknit.

It turns out, all along, they were just Ugly Ducklings!

Virgin Vintage Polyester

Never Been Sewed.

Back in the day, these fabrics looked gawd-awful to me, and no self-respecting Fashionista would be caught dead even in the COMPANY of anyone wearing garments from these embarassments. Of course, we made exceptions for our mothers and favorite aunts, all the while trying to steer them in another direction.

Thirty years later, they have become a novelty. Their riot of absurd patterns and colors tickle my silly fancy. I love finding the craziest knit or weave, and combining it with another.

My new line of skirts is nothing like your granny might have worn -- the colors, combinations and serging create a unique look -- the appearance of a reconstruction, but totally built from scratch.



This one features cheerleaders and drum major heads -- I think -- in a fantastic double-knit in black & gray. It looks so retro geek -- like Pong or some ancient ASCII image!



Other popular patterns seem to be houndstooths (houndsteeth?) and argyles...It appears the designers were inspired by menswear fabric patterns. And TEXTURE! So much texture in the knits. Many of these are also black-light positive, so I wand them with my UV just for fun! I've collected some intense fabrics, and my eyes are always open for more!