Crazy Quilt -- Cotton African Wax Print

Here's another NYC creation. I drafted the sewing pattern from an Afghani tunic that Bina [correction: Wendy] gave me in 1971. Another garment I never felt all that comfortable wearing. Maybe it was too bold.

Haha. "Too bold." I was being a little disingenuous there.

What I DO find interesting is that I have only one patch on the quilt with both the green/yellow/cream motif and the pin dotted brown background. So even while placing patches on the quilt, there was something about the print that made me uncomfortable. File it under "nice to view, not to wear." I have a few textiles that fall into that category.

I got this fabric (along with the qiana in the previous post) at Jerry Brown's, 54 West 57th Street [closed --thank you Aline and Cindy for researching and finding this emporium from our past!]. Not sure if it is authentic African wax print or a stateside interpretation. Here's a link about wax print, a textile with an interesting provenance.

On to the original tunic -- another garment that I wore to shreds.

my senior photo from my 74 yearbook -- no formal portraits for us 70s gals!

I found my "pattern" for it when I was retrieving the quilt.

if you click on these images, you can see/print them bigger

Discoveries like this justify my pack rat tendencies, imho. That and living in a house big enough to hold lots of stuff.

Thus concludes my pages of the Crazy Quilt Dossier, 70's Edition. I'll post a video tomorrow of the entire book along with information about the Art House Sketchbook 2013 tour, which starts in Brooklyn this Friday, 3/1/13, 6-10pm.

I'm a little sad these posts are over, but never fear -- next up is my 79-82 Maps of Providence sketchbook. Maybe SpyGirl with weasel her way into that book too! It's due 5/15. I WILL start working on it SOON. I've had it with my last minute nonsense.

Live Sketching the #OSCARS

Here they are -- the gowns I captured while watching the OSCAR telecast on ABC --
both from the red carpet and from the stage of the Dolby Theater. [Extra long post with lots of images]
First, an overview:

Jessica Chastain in Armani

Robin Roberts in Marc Bouwer

Amy Adams in Oscar de la Renta

Amanda Seyfried in Alexander McQueen

Naomi Watts in Armani

Jennifer Aniston in Valentino

Kristin Chenoweth in Tony Ward

Anne Hathaway in Prada

Quvenzhane Wallis in Armani Junior

Nicole Kidman in L'Wren Scott

Halle Berry in Versace

Octavia Spencer in Tadashi Shoji

Jennifer Hudson

Jane Fonda in Versace

Charlize Theron in Dior

Jennifer Lawrence in Dior

Shirley Bassey

Field Notes:
• My grey marker ran out of juice about 1/2 way through the telecast, so Shirley has no color yet.
• I didn't see the bottom of Jennifer Lawrence's gown until the very end when she got her award, and I was a bit confused on the design details, so her back skirt ended up on the front. Oops! 
• I was unable to find the designers of the performance gowns of Jennifer Hudson and Shirley Bassey -- please leave me a comment if you know!

I'm thinking of offering prints of these for sale on Society 6 -- $15 for an 8x6" sound good?

Did you have a favorite gown from the OSCARS?

Crazy Quilt - Leopard Print Qiana

CREATED/ PURLOINED/ PURCHASED

Aline discovered the millinery supply places in midtown Manhattan and we both went a little hat crazy. I sold six of these leopard numbers to Fiorucci. They were even displayed in the windows!

WHY didn't I take a photo of that accomplishment? WHY????

I really did swan around the upper east side in retro suits wearing cocktail hats and uncomfortable high heels -- for a few months anyway. Illustrated above is one I swiped from my mom -- a suit from Best & Co that SHE wore when she lived in Manhattan before I was born. I'm sure I wore it when I went to my first designer cattle call with Mauricio, the accessories buyer for Fiorucci. (I remember getting overheated due to my nerves + the wool). I sold him the above mentioned hats and "Reality In a Box" pins (to be discussed at a later date).

Are you too young to know about Fiorucci? Well!
Here's a good overview with some videos.
Then, here's a NY Times article with some history.

HEY!...Hello there!...
Are you back from partying with Klaus?
Are you now proficient at zombie 1978 dance moves?
Are you seriously wishing for a way-back machine?

My Fiorucci tee
I had red sunglasses like this and could be all matchy matchy with my shirt

Finally, here's some intel on Qiana:
 "Qiana is a silky nylon fiber developed in 1962 at the DuPont Experimental Station by Stanley Brooke Speck. The fiber was christened Qiana when introduced by DuPont in 1968" [wikipedia] [oh good grief. NOW I discover I misspelled Qiana in the sketchbook, as you can see up at the top. DOH!]


I am still searching for the slides of me in my hat collection...
I will persevere and find them, I promise.
They are not in the slide box labeled "hats". Most unhelpful.