Petticoat-------------Done!

What better way to procrastinate from doing my taxes, than to make a petticoat!! I used a very inexpensive, (larger weave, or smaller thread count?) white muslin--about $1.80 a yard. This, for fabric is about as low as you can hope to go. I bought about two or three yards?---can't remember, but each ruffle of course called for longer and longer strips. The final ruffle which I folded was too thick to easily gather, so I pleated it.
Sewing this petticoat made me think of my mom--she made many square dancing skirts--wow! This petticoat was only about four or more yards around the final hem--hers would have been maybe eight or more yards?! (My sister, Martha Miller tells of our parent's dancing days when you click on square dancing skirts)
I was also taken back to my seamstress days of sewing costumes with my best friend--we sewed like the wind!---well...she did, I was always a bit slower. What I learned from those days, was to sew with an iron. We had the best set up--A powerful steam iron--with the cord on some kind of a spring hold from the ceiling. It was always on, to fold and iron any thing to save a basting step. I pieced, measured and steam folded the eight yards for the final ruffle, thinking about those by-gone days--missing my friend and that iron!

Working on a Petticoat with Do-Ho Suh in Mind

You've probably noticed that I like the way light shines through semi transparent material or paper. While working on my granddaughter's petticoat, it reminded me in a very small and very humble way of the art work of Do-Ho Suh. His fabric interiors are amazingly detailed, incredible creations of some of the spaces he has lived in. I've done a bit of sewing in my day, but was blown away when I first viewed these interiors. It is hard enough to sew with a pattern, but this? And with sheer fabric--difficult fabric to sew with! How did he do this? I was somewhat disappointed to know he had used the help of master seamstresses. I wanted to believe the impossible! But, however they're made--they are quite beautiful, I would love to see these in person--to walk inside those rooms!

Seoul Home 1999

348 West 22nd St. 2003

348 West 22nd St. Corridor 2003



Staircase, 2003

The Dancer

My granddaughter gave me the title for this collaboration. My parents used to square dance. The skirt and petticoat remind me of my mom's square dancing outfits. My sister Martha also wrote about my mom's square dancing skirts in her blog. Those square dancing skirts and those BIG petticoats certainly left their mark on us both!
Watercolor 7"x 7"
$120 matted / $160 matted & framed

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