oh, this is BIG!

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Rhea Belle apparel's "stitched atop plum goodness" made it to the front page of Etsy!

and sew it goes.

i made this shirt/dress sunday afternoon and it's what i'm wearing to work tomorrow. it's pretty radical- especially for the "work place". but sew what! i'll most likely wear it with the tank top underneath it (sunday i wore it without and that was fun). it will be available in the Rhea Belle apparel store very soon. within days even.

a side thought. i have a pretty thick note pad that i use for jotting down ideas, sketches, orders, list of "ta do's" and don'ts and what not- it's one of those with the blue grid lines. anyway, today i was going through it while on the train home from work. i have a pretty big order to place for supplies and i took a break from making the list and began going through the earlier worn and scribbled pages. on one of the pages i found the following words: all in caps because that's how i printed it...

                                               HEALING

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF A ^ CONSCIENCE 

FROM WOMAN TO SURVIVOR TO PINK CULT TO AMAZON WARRIOR TO WOMAN

photos by gcs 

lines. and when life imitates art.

when i was house sitting and dog loving for my friends gregg and marisol last winter i started a series of drawings; meandering lines guided in part by play and in part by the obstacles created by their own design. i haven't visited the note book in a while though. last night i had an urgent moment of inspiration and out of the blue i envisioned a solution for a blouse that was given to me by my beyond cool friend tina. instinctively she knew i'd like it and would find a way to make it my own- you know, allow it to take on the life of draping my asymmetrical body. being a central-button-down the front blouse and with beautiful embroidery i didn't want to perform a complete renovation with a lot of cutting and sewing so this blouse has been around a while waiting patiently to serve.

without any procrastination, analysing, or second thoughts i retrieved the blouse from the "waiting" drawer, switched the singer on and began to "draw". i didn't even bother to change the thread that was already in the machine... the white seemed so perfect.

i have several friends who consistently tell me that my art doesn't have to hang on gallery walls to be valid- that my clothing has become my canvas. well, by all accounts i finally, FINALLY am convinced. (geez, i know! it took me long enough.)

(click on the images for larger views. and more drawings here.)

FEEL THE LOVE.

technically, there are so many things wrong with this dress. it displays some pretty wicked sewing after i cut up and re-arranged a standard button-down-the-front dress. but after the renovation i must say, conceptually, socially and architecturally... it's perfect. i've finally completed my asymmetrical shirt-dress prototype. it's been cut and pinned for over a year. i have a seamstress/pattern maker whom i'm meeting with. if she "gets it" and she shows me some quality stuff that she's made i'm set. i plan to have several asymmetrical blouses and dresses made by fall. and quite possibly i'll have them available in the 'rhea belle apparel' store. the beat does go on.

a newly discovered voice.

Please, oh please, go discover what goodness awaits you "Under the Stinkwood Tree".

a pause from anger.

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i'm reading this. and liking it very very much.

i'm outta here...

I'm on vacation indefinitely. In other words... "GONE SWIMMIN".