Let's watch "Wild Wild Country," Rob said. MEH, I said.
I need my TV to take me away from real life, if you know what I mean-- alien races, superheros, out of this world circumstances for ordinary people. A cult in a dusty, faded, early 80s Oregon? Not so much. But I like to pepper my penchant for escapism with something a little more meaty for the Robster, so I resigned myself to an evening of mind-sewing whilst snuggled up on the couch. I can have a lot of fun mind-sewing. Escapism at its finest!
I need my TV to take me away from real life, if you know what I mean-- alien races, superheros, out of this world circumstances for ordinary people. A cult in a dusty, faded, early 80s Oregon? Not so much. But I like to pepper my penchant for escapism with something a little more meaty for the Robster, so I resigned myself to an evening of mind-sewing whilst snuggled up on the couch. I can have a lot of fun mind-sewing. Escapism at its finest!
To be fair, I'm stitching in my noggin' no matter what's on the screen-- a seamline catches my eye, and my head is off to the races. This time, I began with a totally off-topic dress, already in progress. But about halfway into episode one of this seemingly drab documentary, the haze lifted, and I realized a trend was happening on the screen in front of me...I was seeing a lot of pink...a little orange...and EVERY SHADE THAT HAD A SPECK OF RED IN IT. I rewound in my brain and realized those warm delicious tones, floating in blurry old footage, were the colors of the cult in question. From that moment on, I was ALL IN.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't want to start a Hell's Kitchen chapter of Rajneeshees, and I'm not going to get into the finer points of the documentary, per se. Nooooooo, my friends, this is not that heady. I JUST LIKE PINK AND RED. And when video footage of the ACTUAL CULT BOUTIQUE was revealed? FORGET ABOUT IT!! My brain went on a merry trip to the land where I was the owner of said boutique, and I began to mind-sew garment after garment for those sunset colored racks. On this journey, the boutique was the main reason for the cult's existence. Not the other way around. Facts! PFFT! Who has the time to pay attention to the TV when there's SEWING TO BE PONDERED?!
(Rob has to hit pause quite a bit on our nightly small screen adventures, dontcha know. Hey babe pause it I need to see that peasant blouse. Hey babe pause it why is the FBI in this scene. HEY BABE PAUSE IT WHY ARE THERE EXPLOSIONS HAPPENING. Et cetera, et cetera.)
So, maybe I was wearing rose colored glasses, ahem, please forgive the cherry-picked inspiration (see what I did there?), but when it came time to think up a garment for episode 3 of Re:Fashion, I decided I needed to make my cult dress a reality. My brilliant friend & colleague, Lainie, dubbed it The Culture Dress ;).
The actual fashion inspiration, though fabulously hued, was FAR too plain for my tastes. (You can imagine, fashion not being the main priority of the real-life jam.) That's where this beast of a maxi dress came in--she started off floor length, and quite plainly in solid red (that's plain in my book). I got obsessed with some pom trim, some blingy mesh, some embroidery, and went nuts. Along the way, I severely botched it (this happens on just about everything I make) but I think I figured out a save! We show you what I did (and redid) all in the episode.
HI MOLLY! This is Molly. She had about six titles on our shoot...set decorator, stylist, and wardrobe supervisor are the three that come to mind. But again, I'm usually thinking about sewing and missing pertinent facts, so don't quote me on that. I CAN tell you, without a doubt, she's awesome. This was halfway through our fashion shoot day, and it was about 300 degrees outside with no shade, hence the shawl. I have no reason storywise for including this shot, other than it makes me happy!
Hope you're feeling happy, and rocking your colors. I like to think we're all members in the cult of Sewing, where our obsession makes the world a more beautiful place, individual garment by individual garment. I guess the "individual" bit defies the definition of a cult? Facts! PFFT!
Re:Fashion launched on NBC U's bluprint last July, and for the month of August (my birthday month!) I'll be highlighting each episode with a little behind-the-seams. You can see episode 3: The Culture Dress here on Bluprint!
I watched the whole thing on blueprint, and I'm so amazed by how you made this really pretty dress starting with a fairly drab garment. You are such an inspiration!
ReplyDeleteI am blushing! Thank you so much!! When I saw it on the rack, I just couldn't get over the color.
DeleteSuch an amazing dress! It’s gorgeous. I’ve been listening to The Clothes Making Mavens podcast today and loved your interview. You made me smile all the way through. But, although I follow you on Instagram, how did I not know you had a blog?! At least I’ve found it now and can binge read! :D
ReplyDeleteOh I gotta holler about that! I'm so glad you enjoyed my babbling. Half the time I'm really not sure what's gonna come out of my yapper. Which is true on the blog too 😂
DeleteI'm glad I'm not the only one who was completely diverted from the horrors of that cult by the footage of all the clothes in every shade of red! There is something really beautiful in seeing hundreds of people wearing magenta and vermilion. Although I expect that is in the artist's eye; in the eye of someone who has been poisoned by them, it's not quite so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThat lace border is amazing, and I admired your perseverance on this dress! For me, once something is "botched" (which in your case was lovely, even if it wasn't quite what you wanted), I tend to put it in timeout for a year or two. Then when I finally pick it up again, it doesn't fit me anymore.:D
Really, right?! I"m glad you were distracted too...I felt pretty shallow for missing pretty much the whole point of the documentary!
DeleteI think my perseverance is about 90% "stubborn as a mule." It works out sometimes ;)
Totally GORG!!!
ReplyDeleteGlorious dress!!
ReplyDeleteThankya, hot stuff!!
DeleteI loved what you did here. I spent a half hour at Jo-Ann's Fabs staring at the racks of bobble trim as I was trying to figure out a similar tweak for a chambray dress I got that is too short...In the end I couldn't commit to a bobble but there's time. There's always time for bobbles.
ReplyDeleteHoly shit. I just watched the first episode...there is an amazing woman I work with and....like... you're her if she liked sewing and it makes me like you so much more!!!!
ReplyDelete