politics, crafting, inspirations, and a big fat vinyl bag!

i've been thinking a lot lately about how un-political my artwork and crafting has become. when i was younger and in school, this was really different. i find myself now creating for specific projects or deadlines, making a skirt because i need a skirt, or a collage piece for a swap deadline, and i never create simply for the act of creating. i think that's a big part of the non-political slant my stuff has taken.

i purchased a couple of zines from radicalrags.etsy.com, hoop-la 1 and hoop-la 2 and they were quite inspiring, much along the lines of this amazing embroidery and cross stitch artist http://www.beelisty.com/. in addition, the winner of the craftster.org summer needlework challenge was this amazing piece, titled "Self Acceptance". the creator, zombiekilla, graciously provided the pattern, and i'm dying to stitch it.

and then the Richmond Art Gallery had a call out for submissions for their 3rd annual ATC exhibition. the themes were Life as Art, Correspondence, Gender Roles, Home and Domestic Life, Community, and Friendship Across Distance and Difference. i started thinking about ways to express gender in atcs as more than just binary, of showing femme and trans and genderqueer genders through collage and needlework on 2.5" x 3.5" scale... i got really excited, but due to the the "big secret project", i totally didn't have time to enter.

so i've been thinking a lot about needlework and politics, and reading the most recent issue of fiberarts, which despite an annoying writing style that celebrates "master artisans" as opposed to all artisans, is really blowing me away if i just concentrate on the artwork!

i've also been thinking for months about sewing a line of clothes for fat folks that are actually fun and not cheesy, but of course that's never happened, since i can't even keep my current etsy shop stocked! but fat fashion is still close to my heart, and i regularly follow the livejournal community fatshionista. at one point i did do more fat oriented crafting, like the stuff i made for the fat swap a few years ago, and even longer ago than that, my fat femme paper doll magnets and all the subsequent pieces i did with that image (though she was really more of an inbetweenie i guess!).

and then last week i hauled my butt in vancouver to buy the most recent issue of craft (after searching aimlessly in my city and it's closest neighbour, and even calling craft itself, but they didn't bother to return my call) at mayfair news and walked out with craft, the new burda world of fashion, the most recent canadian dimension, west coast line issue 55: cedar table - art and anti-colonialism, the current briarpatch, and the summer issue of Our Times. after much reading (i'm terrified to eat anything at the moment, thanks to canadian dimension - god, why did i not know how TERRIBLE soy is for the environment?), i started thinking about how i never relate my politics into my work. sure, i PLAN out labour inspired pieces... but do i ever get around to making them? nope! i need to stop crafting for others, and start making stuff for myself, obviously!

so on that note, combining politics and crafting and needlework, i started thinking about crafting something more political than usual. the amazing and inspirational pam at faster kittykill works at Portland Women's Crisis line, who are putting on their annual Safety In Numbers gala and auction to end domestic and sexual violence, and i was determined to make something more than my typical cool but un-inspirational stuff to donate. i really wanted to make something specific to the crisis line, but all the ideas i had were distinctly canadian (like the cfs no means no campaign, or a memorial of December 6th, 1989 Montreal Massacre). since people in portland probably didn't grow up with the distinctive purple and black stickers (no means no campaign), or with 14 red roses on december 6th (memorial of the 14 women murdered), they probably wouldn't know what the hell the piece was about! so i decided to go with a more general issue that affects so many folks, body image and fat positivity.

and now that i've rambled for sooooo long, i'll actually show you what i made!

unfortunately, it photographed TERRIBLY. i ask myself regularly "amy, why do you work so much with a material that absolutely refuses to photograph nicely?" and then i think "because it's vinyl, and i adore my vinyl-y goodness, and that's really all the answer i need!"

so i will show you the blurriest picture first, because it actually shows the image the best!


the bag is made of vintage deadstock vinyl that's textured (hence the worse pictures than usual!), with an image of a fat woman reclining in a bikini freehand machine embroidered on the front in this awesome variegated thread that my friend linda sent me. the backside has the word "gorgeous" embroidered the same way as the image on the front. the bag has 21" straps, so that anyone can carry it (i hope! it's still MUCH better than purchased totes that don't fit around your arm!), and is lined with teal blue cotton fabric. the inside has two pockets, both made of vinyl. the larger one is zippered (vintage deadstock metal zipper) with the word "fat" embroidered on it. the second zipper is smaller, sewn to hold pens. one portion of the pocket is larger, perhaps to hold a sharpie for "commenting" on ads? (hint!)

front




inside



side


back



detail
all the topstitching was done with the same variegated thread used for the embroidery




i love it. it was sad to mail it away!


ADDENDUM!
i posted this on craftster, and some stuff came up that i wanted to talk about, so i did another post about it here - http://craftydame.blogspot.com/2008/09/addendum-to-fat-girl-vinyl-bag.html just FYI!

august/07 - wedding totes!

mr and mrs sweets4ever's wedding was such a mod-family project!

jean was looking for gifts to give people in her wedding party, and it had to be something interesting and hopefully useable, and totes came up. once i started thinking about it, i couldn't stop the ideas from coming!

(click to see the full pics, blogger cuts them off)



i made 5 total. 4 full sized totes for the maid of honour, both the moms, and for her sister in law, and 1 little tote for the flower girl.



they're made of shot taffeta, so they range from red to black depending on the light. the taffeta was interfaced with heavy weight interfacing, and i ironed a layer of that iron on batting stuff onto the black cotton lining.



the appliques are black vinyl, and took forever both to cut out and to sew! each bag has the recipient's name sewn onto the back, but we wanted it to be subtle, so i matched the thread shade to the fabric really closely.




each bag has a zippered pocket (using old-new stock red zippers) and an iron on message from mr and mrs sweets4ever. (i used the dark iron ons for th first time and they worked pretty well. the white didn't turn out quite as crisp as i'd hoped though)




the straps aren't interfaced (the thought of turning interfaced tubes terrified me!), but they have strapping threaded through them to add strength and to keep them from folding or anything.







they have so many special little details, and that's why they were so time consuming, but it makes them so special. the wedding colours were wine and black, and the maid of honour's dress is of the same basic material. the cherry blossom theme/naturey theme is throughout the wedding, the applique is based on one of the images they used for the invitations and decorations and stuff. the inner tag is an iron on transfer, and the photo is one jean took of the wedding site last year, and then she altered it to remove some colour and add the message thanking them for their part in the special day. the coloured part is all roses.



(credit for the pictures goes to sweets4ever, she took way better ones than i did!)

may/07 - purse, pasties and fascinator

purse to go with the prev skirt.


i love the shape of this purse, i see many more in my future!


matching cocktail hat and pasties for a swap.

may/07 - purse and skirt

purse for jamie







i'm really happy with it, it's a new pattern i made up. the fabric is super lovely, it's pink and purple woven together and it's slightly textured. the inside pocket has an invisible zipper, cause that's what i had that matched, but i really like it, i might use invisible zippers on pockets more often now! the lining is pink and purple cotton. there were a few little glitches (see the little gather in the centre of the lining? oops!), but i really like it anyway. the flower is a pin, cause i thought it needed something..

and a skirt for a jamie -



the fabric's a stretch twill, so it's nice weight for a skirt. the design is perfect, with the pink and the hearts.

October/06 - vinyl for the craft fair

i made these totebags.. i REALLY like them, though the purple is a prototype, and i'm not planning on selling it. (i screwed it up a bit) so i'm going to make more. a couple in navy and white with an anchor, and a couple in gold and silver with a big diamond. and probably a couple in black with a anatomical heart. i'd like to do another crow design on orange and yellow too.

provided i have time! anyway, they'll probably be about $35, cause they took bloody forever.


(fairly accurate colour, though the red is a deeper shade)

easier to see the appliques here i think.

and i've been making these pillows. they're fulled sweaters recycled into pillows with the vinyl applique on them.

anatomical heart and the cranky crow (the heart has some stitching on it to show the lines inside it better, but i don't think you can see them in the pic)


people silhouettes. i really think these look better in person, but i quite like them.


and a swallow. i don't like this one as much, but i think that's just cause that sweater irritated me.

the pillows are probably going to be about $20.

September/06 - red vinyl purse, white film strip purse

this pic shows the shape fairly well, but the colour's off.

this pic shows the colour more accurately, even though the shape isn't as clear, cause it was hanging wonky.

just a little pocket there, with a divider, so really, two pockets. and a snap, if you felt the need to close it. i don't know why i love the lining fabric so much, but i really do. i've been saving that fabric for ages.

April/05 - Black grommet bag

there's red fabric under the grommets. i like the contrast. the lining is red too, with two black pockets. one square one for random stuff and one that's sewn to fit three pens. but i couldn't get a decent picture of the inside.

June/05 - Vinyl tree bag

cute huh? i'm totally amazed that i actually made something out of my woodgrain vinyl that DIDN'T end up looking trashy. though i'd be more likely to actually wear trashy. good thing i gave it away.

February/05 - pink doily purse

the black is really cool, an fairly heavy velvet. it's super fuzzy, and i totally remembered to make sure that nap was the same on all the pieces, which made me very happy.
i dyed the doily pink, and machine sewed and hand sewed it onto the front flap. i grabbed the cold dye by accident at dressew, so it didn't dye completely evenly.
so i picked a pink lining that was kinda mottled, to match the doily.
i wrapped the doily over the top of the flap as well.
and i made a neat little cell pocket. it's pleated at the bottom, so that it's wider than the side. and it's elastic at the top, so that it holds the cell phone in snugly. i was gonna do a zippered pocket in the lining, but it wasn't working, so i decided to veto it.(the lining actually looks better now, i went in and hand tacked the top seam to the body of the purse, so that it lies flatter)