Adventures in Stitchery: A Prelude

Karen Savage, Doll Dress #6, 2009

As you may have gathered, I picked up a new hobby or two recently. I asked for a sewing machine for Christmas. I had expended ridiculous amounts of energy for years thinking about how badly I wanted to learn to sew. Finally, I realized how silly I was and wondered what was stopping me. The answer ... absolutely nothing! Hopefully this will be a place where I can document my fits and starts, successes and failures.

You might wonder - why sewing?

For a visual person as I am, shopping for clothes has been an exercise in frustration. I usually have a very clear idea of what I am looking for, a very clear idea of what suits me, and a very clear (read: miniscule) budget. None of which tends to match up. Ever. And this somehow led to the moment at the laundromat when I realized I had loaded up one of the super-size machines with nearly all black clothes. It's depressing when you realize that in your wardrobe, grey or navy count as pops of color!

             Karen Savage, Party Dress #2, 2005

So I fantasize about a custom wardrobe, which is now ever-so-slightly within reach. Not that I'm going to be making tailored garments within the month (or even the year). But you have to start somewhere, right?

Finally, there is the matter of me having my head buried in books all day long. Which is a treat, really, but an exhausting one. Having a strictly unintellectual problem to wrap  my head around, being able to glide my fingers over sumptuous fabrics while feasting my eyes on color and pattern - well, it sounds like a dip in the pool (in August, not frigid February!).

Karen Savage, Party Dress # 3, 2007

All amazing photograms by Karen Savage, via Packer Schopf Gallery. I fell in love with her work years ago while interning at my college art museum; we purchased one of her works and spent countless hours fawning over it. See also here.