Friday, March 17, 2006

Where did the good intention go?



































The intention was to hit the deck running and be sewing on a quilt by now- but it hasn't happened. First of all children are on school holidays and there has been various catch-up running around to do and then well inspiration seems to be in the bottom of my toes- certainly not in the souls of my feet.

So i thought I would show some details of two embroidered capes/dresses I bought. The cross-stitched red and colours on black is a Palestinian dress- I love the density of the stitching. The second is a cape from turkestan (i think...) i can't remember, i was too excited and in textile heaven where I bought these things- it is on indigo cloth and embroidered with button hole stitch and has the pleasing patina of having been worn. I always wanted to create a series of interactive capes- that someone would put on in the exhibition space ( i know yes they would get grubby) but I love the idea of somehow recording how the cape/cloak would make the person feel when worn- would a person wear it? and if so would it alter the way one felt? I know when I went to this textile shop in Damascus it took my breath away( and we went there nearly every day)- the colours were so rich and wonderful that i didn't know where to begin- had I been my cat I would have been purring and dribbling in bliss at the same time, but as i was human I just feasted on the colour, the lusciousness of the textile, the attention to detail, the rhythm and pattern of the stitches- the sheer utter joy of something so beautiful.

4 comments:

Digitalgran said...

Dijanne, I have always loved Palestinian dresses and I think you are so lucky to own one. I chose Palestinian dress as one of my C and G topics.

Anonymous said...

I would behave just the same in seeing such a wealth of beautiful hand embroidered textiles!! How wonderful to own some of them.

I have enjoyed your series of posts on your exhibition and travels - thanks for sharing!

Frances said...

welcome home Dijanne, thanks for sharing so much it has been an interesting virtual trip, the embroideries are beautiful, looking forward to seeing your next quilts, about the 'cape' idea when I was on an island off the west coast of Canada the museum had a 'Button Blanket' for people to try on to give visitors an understanding of wearing 'Button Blankets' it was not dirty or worn and each person that tried it treated it with respect, I do appreciate this was in a small community, there was an exhibition over here in the uk a few years ago with an Art Wedding dress to be worn, sorry I can't remember more and do not know how the dress looked at the end of the exhibition but it has been done,

Elle said...

I would've loved to have seen all of those gorgeous textiles in person! Palestinian dresses are so beautiful!