one of two skirts that I reconstructed/ transformed this week: adding new fabric to a favourite-but-waaaayyyy-too-short miniskirt!
Dearest Needlework Community
...and the second of these two skirts
This week my work has been inundated with new influence, with new inspiration and with new materials. Just as well that I did a massive clean-up of my work space (and all the other spaces around the house that are involved actively in my creative process!) - there are at least 5 new large sacks of clothing that I am sorting through, handwashing, pinning out in the fresh air to dry, and sorting into piles for potential new magical clothes...
evening-out the previous hem of the skirts; they were kind of double-sided, multiple-adjustable garments - just a tad on the revealing side!
It is very moving, working with some of the donations I've received lately. In this part of Italy, there isn't an efficient system (it could be argued that there is no system at all) for gifting clothing - no charity pick-ups or council recycle bin or donations centre. Like with the famous 50c stall, which is also illustrative of the little interest here for vintage and old garments, the fact of there being no obvious place to give away clothes, is a great boon for myself as a re-maker of clothing.
because of their great flexibility of width, the skirts had very long hems and joining seams!
Part of accepting new garments is the sorting and washing. As you may know already, I do not have a mains electrical current at my home, so my washing machine is no longer functional. This means that each and every garment must be passed through a bucket or basin - or the bath - and soaked, scrubbed, shoogled around a bit and then rinsed and wrung out, before being pegged onto the washing lines in front of my balconies. It is a humbling process; no room for impatience or ego, forcing or hurrying: this is simply The Good Work, and it has to be done, before the fun can be had of making new things.
I never had a washing machine until my thirties: I lived nomadically and freely, often barefoot and sometimes without a conventional house - I didn't own enough clothing to merit a machine, to start with. It didn't fit with having to move home each time on public transport: why have a big appliance that one would have to leave, when one is moving regularly? And now having exchanged the benefit of mains electric, for the immense freedom of peace of mind, time, money and resources that I'd ratehr not have syphoned off to the great corporations... I can settle back into the natural rhythms of how things are meant to be, rather than how the system tells us they 'should'.
the finished - refurbished - skirts... very pleased with these...
This allows me to listen and feel, respond in right timing, feel aligned and in synchrony with things around me. Particularly during the activities that previously I would've classes as 'chores', 'tasks' or at best 'not my favourite job'. Now I relish the moments spent with hands in water, scrubbing gently, getting to know the garments. Because of using natural light rather than (harsh!) electric bulbs, I am happily rising with the dawn and the birds singing in joy at a new day. I am up and about when most other folks are still sound asleep, pottering around and getting a lot done - when previously I might well have been in bed another 2 or more hours, and been rushing to get ready for busying about the day - feeling like half the day was gone already (it was!)... Now I feel industrious in a non-mechanical way: like I'm getting a lot done, feeling fitter, being more in tune with my biorhythms and the cosmic waves...
Washing before working on things might not even be necessary: often garments come to me prewashed, but are loaded with perfumes and other folks' vibes. It takes a certain level of rinsing, airing and changing the energy of a piece of clothing, before it can be brought into the creative cycle. Similar to making a home our own, making clothing our own is essential, before any real transformation can be made - before the things can be released from who they belonged to, how they were worn, and where they travelled to and from. Bringing them into my haven, they have to be cleansed first, and I have to get to know and trust them even, so that I can be connected with them before I work.
I've been slowly and methodically cleaning two sets of garments in particular this past month, from friends who have passed away. This is a huge, moving, poewrful meditation. I pray for the friends' peace, for their release, for their riches being passed on to family and friends, for their inheritance coming to fruition in every sense. I give thanks for the gifts that I may be honoured to use creatively. I let go of emotions and fears, superstition and neuroses, around touching 'dead peoples' clothes'. And I allow the fabrics to transmit what they need to and want to. Our second skin is a vitally-charged membrane, and it should be treated with the utmost respect and attention.
ONE of the many piles, waiting to be handwashed
my trusty eco washing liquid
I have many feelings around both friends' garments, as well as around other fabrics that I have been sewing with recently from deceased close-ones. So much of someone passing over is - if not fully taboo - simply not discussed, at least if we don't have a closeknit family, a spouse, a spiritual brother or sister - or if we don't have a habit or practise of talking out our felt world. My worklife has been a lot about expressing the subtle world; communicating between realms and dimensions, vibrations and realities. This felt hard to do for decades, but now it feels more natural and timely to speak openly about what is transmitted from the world - through my sentient aliveness - into expression. Even if there are very few people talking openly about the subtle realities underlying the (harsh!!) surface one, these are times in which we are starting to reveal more and to occult less.
One of the strongest senses I get from the clothing of people that I knew (before they passed), is of presence, care, love: a person's care not just of their own superficial 'appearance', but a more multi-levelled awareness of the immense beauty of how they flow in the world. A sense of their being wholesome and powerfully unique, and their clothing being a kind of celebration of their spirit-in-body. (A whole sense of something is so much more than a rationalised sense, and has to be expressed through the inimitable voice of one who is experiencing.) We all have a sense of this when a person is alive - but we may not ever see their clothes again once they are no longer inside of them; so where does all that force of identity, the meaningfulness of their care and attention, go?
Of course it dissipates, I know. It is 'lost' and cannot be regained by someone else wearing the clothing. But I feel that the essence of a person's creative expression can be co-created with, interwoven anew, and brought forward just as surely as the food left in their house can be used, or their finances can be resolved. My work in remaking clothing is very much about how this essence is rewoven: how the subtle inheritance can be harvested rather than diffused, and stitched into something beautiful and even great.
This aspect of Living In Gift - the way everything and everyone is interconnected - is dawning on me differently these days, as I wash dear Karen's colourful dresses, pile up dear Sergio's fine jackets, and play with a glorious purple-grey-green tartan of dearest Margaret's. Some of these people's left clothing might meet and 'copulate' and bring forth new pieces, with myself as the conductor. We are all connected: anything that brings us back to awareness about this, is a potent medicine.
The process itself is a cathartic one: not for me myself, as much as it is for myself in the fabric of all things: I am sewing the cosmos back together, one treasured/ treasurable item at a time. My lifework is a celebration of all of our colourful vitality, intimate choices, and unexpressed potential - mixing and collaborating and playing in joy. I love this work all the more than I loved painting for 35+ years!
The softness of everything, the pliability of the fibres and seams, the play-full-ness of it all, the interconnectivity - it thrills and inspires me with the immense possibility - reminding me that a major aspect of life is to play, to experiment, to connect and to celebrate.
LoVe!
www.claregaiasophia.com
mhhhmmm wonderful! just the intentional and patient handwashing-meditation you described is an infusion of your energy and it's just such a thrill to witness people doing things like this consciously with so much intention and self-awareness. it is a difference when someone does realize he is a cosmic conductor, i would go so far as to say the clothes can somehow sense it and fall into your good hands on purpose.
if i were an old forgotten skirt i would certainly cut in line for that, ahahahhaa.
you do seem to go miles further though, the creative process you describe is the definition of labor of love. i am quite frankly a little stunned ahaha.
the shamans come in many forms and i take this as an opportunity to finally reconsider the clothing i am wearing. i feel what you are hinting at here i will only 'get' years down the line, but i can see it on the horizon now.
most of the clothes i wear are gifts by people dear to me. never been a conscious decision or out of principle but rather they are pieces i somehow liked when they were offered. maybe because of the same vibe in the tribe, not sure. i do notice how seldomly i find anything in a store i want to wear, even at psy festivals where there is huge potential to find something good but in the end: i rarely do.
probably because all that intention and infusion is missing, it's just a pretty shell but nothing 'direct' or 'alive' inside.
anyways... ahahahha. you got me thinking about clothing now more tham i have in years i guess, what a way to start the day.
came here initially to say:
hi clare!
it is a pleasure to have you show up in my reality in this most charming manner, and if it's not intrusive to you i would love to join 'my' lady for a voice message to you. we are really looking forward to meet you and to see what the universe does with it all. i sense it does have a plan here - maybe even a gift - and it's a blast to unwrap that box and see what is inside. especially after this long last stretch of our journey.
have a fabulous and productive day in your creative sanctum, and many blessings from across the waters!
Awwww, how super-wonderful to find this glorious, deeply-felt and wise response to my post dear friend, @paradigmprospect - and YES! - if we can find suitably efficient symbiotic internet time, let's meet up absolutely for a beautiful organic chat about future-visioning, co-creating, spiralling upwards and interweaving our paths into a sturdy, colourful fabric - and it is so good to be talking with @anafae - so looking forward to talking more online and in real time-space 🤗🌟🥳💛🌞🥂
;)
It's lovely to have the range of colours and fabrics to play with!
Scarf bins are always a good source of finds in charity shops here.
I like handwashing from time to time, it's very soothing, and drying is easier in the summer time.
🤗
I love hearing that others love handwashing! And yes: how I adore the scarf stalls at the market - long lengths of fabrics and wool are divine to work with for borders of skirts or coats: yum ♥️
That’s some great creativity there. I like how you played with different fabrics of different colours and designs.
The result is really beautiful.
I very much appreciate your good words, dear @abenad - happy day to you! 🤗
You do have some beautiful line of fabrics there and mixing the miniskirt with something similar to make it longer is a brilliant idea. So sorry about your washing machine that you have to do the rigorous task of washing with bucket that is a lot of work that I can relate with.
Well done dear.
Thank you for these lovely words and camaradery dear @monica-ene 🤩 It's great to receive compliments from others whose work I respect and admire: spiralling upwards together 🥰🤲🌟
I love this post so much! The Good Work is fitting to all that you're doing here. It isn't so much of a chore, though it does fit that term as well, but more of a spiritual attunment. The skirts are beautiful and will carry your energy with them no matter the wearer!
Yes! I love that you get this, dear @tamaralovelace - the quiet magic of domestic transformation, eh... The deep fulfilment of being present and slowly making everything harmonious. I love the idea of all of our attention, care, love interweaving through time and space and making our fabric of reality much more beautiful... sacred, women's work 🌹
Good morning Clara, happy Monday to you, what a poetic way to see the transformation of things and the cycles they go through. How nice that you can take advantage of what used to be part of someone's essence to turn it into something new and let it take its course, like everything in life. A lot of imagination put into that, but also love. Well done 💕.
Aah, thank you for your deeply felt message here lovely friend @lauramica - I so love your responses always, and your writing gives me a sense of calm achievement. So glad to have your support 🙏💪💫🌞🥰🤲
Wow!
Love all of this.
✨These tubs with sets of clothing, soaking/ready for hand washing make me smile.
It sounds like everything is coming together for you, creatively, while you do your magical recycling/upcycling.
Thanks for this enthusiasm dearest Vincent! Yes: the more we follow the small signs and correct our course, the more it all seems to flow magically and abundantly - like your Great Cabbage Adventure yesterday!
😍🤗🤲
Right.
(The) Great Cabbage Adventure
sounds like a cool title for a book/movie ;<)
✨
🤗
I love your thoughtfulness about this. Sad that there are few avenues for fabric reuse, but glad that you easily can receive a bounty.
With no electric, do you have a solar panel for things like your sewing machine? Or is it manual? You can't even find manual machines here really. Mine is vintage - I think it's older than I am - but it's still electric.
I was looking at your bookshelf because I immediately went, "Hey, I have that book" (Healing With Whole Foods). :) I think that's one that I got from when I used to work at a health food store that closed. They gave me a bunch of the reference books they had for free. :)
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