Lowell

A couple of weeks ago we took advantage of some school vacation days and rented a car for a little trip to Massachusetts to do something I've been wanting to do for a long time: we visited the old textile mill town of Lowell. Have you heard of it?

Lowell was the first planned industrial town in the U.S. Its planners found a perfect location for a mill town (the river drops 13 feet, and a series of old logging canals lent themselves perfectly to powering the mills), traveled to England to learn the secrets of the mills there, and then returned to the U.S. and proceeded to build a mill city of their own.

Lowell is important to the history of our country on many levels: from the perspective of the industrial revolution, our economic development (and a demonstration of economic cycles) as a country, and in relation to the history of the cotton trade. Among others.

Now it's a National Park. And a great one.

The canals and the restored architecture are incredibly scenic.

The Boott Cotton Mill has been restored and turned into an amazing museum.

When you first enter you punch in at the time clock--just like the workers did:



The ground floor houses the looms themselves, and the noise on the floor when just a few of the looms are in operation would be deafening if it weren't for the earplugs provided. I can't even imagine what it would have been like for the workers (who worked without earplugs and lost their hearing, no doubt).

Upstairs you'll find a wonderful exhibit that demonstrates all the parts of a vertical mill (a vertical mill does everything from making the yarns from the raw cotton to finishing the fabric). I loved this exhibit, and the ranger on duty was a wealth of information and enthusiasm (which was great because I was nearly bouncing up and down, I was so excited about this. Fellow textile geeks unite!). S loved working a table loom (my apologies to the museum--we completely filled the warp and you'll need to prepare another loom for the rest of the people who come to visit), and I flipped out over the giant carding machine and all the other fantastic equipment and exhibits.

vertical mill model:


giant carding machine:

examples of the textiles produced at the mill over the years:


Right next door to the mill you can also explore one of the boarding houses to experience life as a mill girl. S was rather intrigued by this part since her beloved American Girl doll, Samantha, had a friend who worked in a textile mill.

When the mills first opened, the owners were trying to create a Utopian work environment, and they hired local farm girls to work in the mills. The girls were very well cared for and were given many opportunities for self-improvement, but the mills were so successful that competition surged. This, of course, put pressure on the mills to drop prices and pay and to increase the number of hours that the girls were required to work. Eventually the girls went on strike because the working conditions were very bad. Immigrants were later hired to replace the mill girls, and the working conditions soon resembled the conditions in England that the planners had hoped to avoid when they opened the mills. See? It's fascinating stuff--or it will be if you visit, at least.

We took a trolley tour of the canals, which included tons of fascinating information about the history of the town, the development of the canals, and lots of beautiful views:

I really want to go back again, I loved this town and the museum so much. I'd also like the visit the Slater Mill Museum someday, too.

We took a little side trip to Boston on Saturday and visited some friends... (does anyone in this photo look familiar?)


as well as some feathered friends. Do you recognize this scene?


here's a hint:

Yup. Make Way For Ducklings, complete with ducklings.

S wanted a self-portrait of herself with the mama. This pose garnered a lot of chuckles from other visitors:

It's a funny photo from the perspective of the iPod, too.

grumpy

We really try, at our house, to make a point of not working on weekends. When your work is a family business it's easy to let personal and business blend together to where the business side completely takes over. I struggle with it a lot and still find myself mentioning phone conversations over dinner or suddenly remembering some great idea late in the evening. You know. It's hard to shut it off sometimes. So on weekends we try to take business completely out of the picture and focus on family and personal.

But with all the rain we had recently, we were having trouble finding a sunny workday to photograph the fall patterns, and we finally resorted to working on a sunny Saturday afternoon to get the job done. None of us wanted to be at the studio that day, so I had to laugh when S handed me this note as we were setting up:



Todd wasn't the only one feeling grumpy. My least favorite job is pressing the samples and styling them for the photographs. The mannequin shots are much simpler than the flat shots because it's such a challenge to eliminate all the folds and get the clothes styles lying flat nicely . It all takes much longer than I want it to (I've got plenty of other things I'd rather be doing), and although I've learned a few styling tricks I still get frustrated after a while of fiddling with that one fold that refuses to go away, or the underarm that doesn't lay flat. (Shooting women's clothing flat is the worst--all those curves!)

photo by S

But S wan't grumpy at all. She managed to keep herself busy while we were working, starting out by styling a mannequin with her all-time favorite dress (the Jump Rope, complete with accessories from her dress-up box) and then moved on to positioning and re-positioning her dolls and toys, shooting photos all the while.

photo by S

After that she sat down with the iPad, and I wasn't paying much attention beyond a general awareness that she was making faces for the camera. When I picked it up later I was surprised to fine over 100 photos saved. Here are some of my favorite creative (and disturbing) self-portraits taken by the kiddo.

photos by S

Next time maybe I'll ask her to be the stylist when we shoot. She clearly has more patience for fiddling than I. But she'll need to learn to iron.

By the way, if anyone need to borrow a two-headed 6-year old, or a cyclops 6-year-old with a very pointy head, I think we may have one around here somewhere. She's quite charming!

spotted

There's a wonderful story in the Juillet/Aout (err, July/August) issue of Marie Claire Idees that features some of Denyse Schmidt's fabrics. Here are a few photos:

Don't they look great? I especially like the bottle carrier.

textile jewelry

Last winter S and I were messing around with various fibers and made ourselves some jewelry. I finally remembered to photograph it so I can show you.

S went on a mad finger-knitting binge and swore she would make a scarf for everyone (19!) in her class as well as a lengthy list of additional friends who needed them (according to her--and I'm sure all our corporate-world friends would, indeed, have been very appreciative). Fortunately, she got distracted around necklace number eleven before I ran out of yarn, but I got to pick out the yarn for my own and specified that I wanted a necklace instead of a scarf. So my commission resulted in this fabulous piece made with an Amy Butler yarn. I combined her little masterpiece (yes, I really do wear it) with a scrap of Nani Iro double gauze sewn into a tube, stuffed with a little cotton, and tied with embroidery floss every so often to define the "beads" in the necklace. Someone showed how to do this in a blog a while ago and I can't remember who--can anyone refer us?




I also bought some of this crazy knit collage yarn at Purl and strung it with felted beads to make this necklace. S has a similar one with handmade felt beads (it takes about 15 minutes to make each bead, and I only had time to make enough beads for one necklace before I ended up buying the rest. Someday when I have more time...). As we strung the beads (you'll need a tapestry needle, strong fingers, and a lot of patience), I looped the yarn around my neck and arranged the beads and yarn lengths to my liking. Then I tied all the loops together at the back to hold them in place. It's easy to wear since I just slip it over my head (made sure it's long enough!) and it's lightweight.

Here it is on Pedal at the studio. It's a bit long on her, but I've had enough with modelling for a while.

We've got ideas for a few more textile necklaces when we have time. The felt beads are fun to play with, but S is very busy with play dates before school starts again, and she doesn't have time for crafting at present.

red and white

I had the great pleasure of walking the Red and White quilts exhibit with Denyse Schmidt the other day. Denyse knows a tremendous amount about quilts (of course), so it was great fun to just listen and look.





I love the way the quilts were displayed. The show really took advantage of the space inside the Armory, and the cardboard tubes used to hang the quilts were and ingenious solution to hanging such a large quantity of quilts for a short amount of time.

I could say more about the show, but there's already been lots written, so I'll just leave it at that.

Many more photos here. Excuse the blurry ones--the lighting was a bit tricky, and I was busy looking instead of concentrating on the photos.

hexagon obsession

If you've been reading this little blog for a while, you might recall my mild obsession with hexagon piecing. It started as a dabbling, but the dabbling had such great appeal, I keep returning to it when I get a chance.

hexagon tile floor at the Museum at Eldridge Street

When I teach sewing, I'm always surprised at the number of students who recoil at the idea of hand basting or hand finishing. To me, hand sewing is half the joy of sewing! I rarely get much time to do any sewing for pleasure anymore, so I relish vacations and the chance to make something entirely by hand. I like that that these little hexagon projects are portable and easy to pick up when I have a few minutes. Although, in truth, I have trouble putting them down once I begin.

We took some vacation time between Christmas and New Years, so I finally finished this little doll quilt. I hadn't really intended to finish all the edges like that, but it was a fun challenge once I got going.


I still had vacation time on my hands, so I started this one:


I thought it might be fun to make a quilt using a scrap from every Oliver + S fabric I design for Moda, adding to the quilt with each collection. This is the first two collections (our second collection ships in April, so it isn't in stores yet). I like how they work together.

I'm pleased that I can keep working on this same quilt for a while. We've got enough doll quilts around here to keep a princess with a pea sleeping peacefully, so it's time for a larger project. One that I can work on periodically, whenever I have time.

(This is the technique I use, if you're interested in trying hexagon piecing for yourself.)

in miniature

When Todd is doing preparation for a tour for the Whitney Museum he soaks up all sorts of details and lets the information marinate for a while. Occasionally a few juicy bits spill out, which inevitably makes me curious to see the show and to hear what he'll say about it. In the end, the most incredible tours usually emerge from the oven that is his brain.


This time, however, Todd couldn't wait to share the show. He knew Tsia and I would love it, and I think you will, too. (Unfortunately, the Whitney doesn't allow photography in the galleries, so I'll just have to tell you about it and show you some photos from the website. But you need to know up front that photos don't do this work justice.

Charles LeDray makes tiny things. I'm not going to attempt a proper art review because other people are much better at it and more erudite than I will ever be. But I can tell you that, from the perspective of someone who sews and who knows garment construction and pattern making really well, his work is incredible.

LeDray makes miniature clothing. Perfectly. And apparently he doesn't really talk about it. Todd recounted the curator walk-through he attended last week, and apparently when the curator asked the artist about his work the only real answer she got was "What do you think?" For example, the curator asked whether a tiny drawer in a tiny cobbler bench opens. The artist's reply: "What do you think?" Curator: "Are the laundry bags [I'll explain shortly] filled with clothing or just stuffing?" LeDray: "What do you think?"

This has, of course, become a running joke at our house. Here is a typical morning conversation:

Me: Tsia, did you brush your teeth?
Tsia: Hmmm, what do you think?
Todd: Tsia, where are your shoes?
Tsia: Hmmm, what do you think?

You get the picture.

So I really can't tell you much about the artist's process. Nor, I imagine, can many people. But I'm guessing that LeDray procures clothing and then takes it apart, paying particular attention to the construction of the garment. Then he probably makes a pattern from the disassembled garment, reduces the scale considerably (he says each item is "exactly the size it needs to be," and the pieces are each a different size but all seem to be smaller than 50% of the original garment), recuts the pattern, and assembles the garment exactly as the original was constructed. No kidding. I closely examined a miniature trench coat hanging from a miniature coat rack and could see that the edges of the inside facings were finished with Hong Kong binding, and the free-hanging lining was hemmed to exactly the right length.

Each piece also appears to be worn. I've got no idea how he does this. It's possible to "age" clothing artificially, like putting "whiskers" on bluejeans--you know, the white lines that result from wearing a pair of jeans for a long time? The aging on LeDray's miniature clothing is much more subtle and gives the appearance that a body actually occupied the garment and gave it a shape that contours the body.

Some of the miniature garments even have miniature garments attached to them. My favorite is a small wooden hanger with pants, shirt, jacket and tie. From each garment holes have been cut. If you look closely, you can see the hole in the front of the shirt that is a perfect extra-miniature shirt sleeve. An even smaller pants, shirt, jacket and tie, have been constructed from the missing pieces, and this extra-miniature clothing hangs from the first miniature. Both are impeccably detailed.

But the most mind-boggling part of the show is the last gallery, where he has constructed miniature scenes. Little clothing racks filled with shirts or jackets, tables stacked with old T-shirts or neckties on display, laundry bags and baskets overflowing (with perfectly made laundry, or did he give himself a break and stuff the bags with bunches of fabric? Please, Mr. LeDray, tell me it's just fabric or I'll faint from sheer exhaustion for you!). Each item was made by LeDray: the racks themselves, the stacks of clothing, the aged linoleum tiles, even the dropped ceilings with fluorescent lighting and the dust that lightly covers each item. Once you've seen the attention given to just one of these garments in the preceding galleries, the effect of all this together is simply overwhelming.

LeDray does all the work himself, and he is prolific. Not only does he meticulously construct all those tiny garments. He also makes hundreds of tiny ceramics and constructs miniature furniture out of human bones. I'll admit, the ceramics and the use of human bones left me a bit cold, but the garments more than made up for it. And the detail on the non-textile work is just as meticulous as the textile work, so the overall effect of the show is sublime. I don't use that word lightly.

Really. If you get a chance to see it, please do. I'm guessing you'll be stunned.


P.S. I was noting to Todd, as I was finishing this post, that most of LeDray's work features men's wear:

Todd: The men's clothing conceals smaller dresses and women's clothing.
Me: Is there a message in that?
Todd: What do you think?

And so it goes.

inspiration: other designers

I always love to see other people's sources for creative inspiration. It's interesting how each of us finds inspiration from different places and things.


New York magazine asked 100 fashion designers to share their inspiration for their spring 2010 collections. You'll find a huge variety of sources, from abstract concepts and ideas to very concrete objects and things. I love the beetle above, and this little dress detail.



I talked about my inspiration for City Weekend, our first fabric collection, over on the Oliver + S blog today. The fabrics are now shipping and will be available for purchase soon.

we especially need the ice part right now

Every summer Tsia picks out a new pair of Salt Water Sandals. In years past we've gone for yellow, but this year it's all about pink. Oh, is it ever about pink. In fact, her new pink sandals sparked a trend at school, and at least three classmates bought the exact same shoes before the end of school. (The flood of pink sandals caused some confusion, too, and on at least one occasion sandals were accidentally swapped and little girls went home wearing the wrong size.)


Anyway, Tsia also recently outgrew nearly all her clothes, and I had promised a dress from Heather Ross's unicorn fabric so the newly empty wardrobe happened to coincide with her beloved pink sandals and Heather's orange unicorn fabric. I knew I wanted to make an Ice Cream Dress from the fabric but was struggling with my color options: If I coordinated a solid color trim to the unicorn print I would need to use brown or yellow, and they both felt too 1970's with the orange. The dress also wouldn't have matched the sandals very well. And if it wasn't pink it might not get worn, unicorns or not. So we left the fabric's color palette entirely and chose a solid pink cotton that matches the sandals precisely. I love how it looks.


I finished the dress over the weekend, and it's overdue for a washing after having been worn many days in a row. Which seems to mean that the dress is a success.

All these hot colors felt right with our recent record-breaking hot weather, too, but thankfully it's starting to cool off a bit.

By the way, there's an Ice Cream Social being held over at Badskirt and one flew over later this month, if you're inclined to join in. I can hardly wait to see what everyone makes!