sew weekly sunday: got a black magic woman

on my sewing list:

one (1) maxi dress, wedding guest style, for a best friend who is shortly packing up and leaving town

one (1) jungle gym "roof" with ten (10) grommets measuring six by five (6x5!!!) feet for another friend's child

one (1) invisibility cloak to throw on when peeps ask me to sew for them

i was really excited about the current sew weekly challenge: finding inspiration in album art.  album art, like music videos, used to be the BOMB, y'all.  i would sort through my parents' collection in a mixture of fear and amazement.  (ahem, that is, when i reached the age of understanding and appreciation.  apparently, before that, brother beast and i used the two-record set of "the white album" as carpet ice skates.  in our defense, the album cover was white.  just white.)

it's a mystery to me why i would want to put this on my blog.  this cover scared the bejesus out of me.  it's reminiscent of blue meanies... ehhhh, those things REALLY scare me.  i just googled them to jog my memory.  i'm not putting them up on le blog.  no, my brotha, you must go google your own.

ah, that's better.  a little phoebe snow.  she is a warm summer night with a gin and tonic.  i loved this one because of her freckles and curls.

but my favorite was santana's abraxas.  you'll excuse the naked women and the strategically placed dove.

i loved the blue tattoos on the red angel, and her fantastic wings-- i mean, she's riding a STRIPED CONGA DRUM (although daughter fish tells me it is a congo. i am sure she is correct).  all that pattern and print and cloth kept me fascinated every time.  telling?

weirdly, my stash full of prints didn't have anything near enough wild for this.  i had to find and then wrestle this yardage away from a small woman.  

in the garment district, stores will often have a large cardboard box filled with remnants at awesome prices. usually, several customers elbow each other over one stuffed box.  my favorite remnant store has two such boxes, which is handy.  on this particular occasion, Small Woman pawed through one.  i could see treasures at her fingertips, but i decided to take the other box.  how civilized.   

but the minute i began to sift, she dumped her finds and walked over to my box.  she didn't dig through it, nooo, she just waited for me to find something good and then grabbed it.  and forcefully pulled.  while inching ever closer to me.  in disbelief, i asserted my rights:  excuse me, but you're way too close right now. silence, and continued pawing.

i stepped forcefully into her side and shoved my hands into fabric, coming up victorious with 6 yards of silk chiffon.  her greedy mitts were on it immediately.  i got loud.  HONEY?  THAT'S MINE.  the small woman cared little.  can i see, can i see.  not a question so much as a statement.  you can SEE...  knowing she did not infer my meaning to be:  but you cannot HAVE,  i kept a firm grip on my prize as she pored over it.  i gave her three seconds to "see", then pulled it out of her hands and walked away.  surely there were more treasures in the box, but i didn't want my prize ripped in half.  when the proprietress paused in checking me out to help another customer, Small Woman actually picked it up AGAIN and began to walk away with it. at this point i just rolled my eyes and watched as the owner wrestled it away, in a weird emotionless silent dance.

that's abraxas in silk chiffon, yo!

i was going to make a simple summer halter dress, but when i draped it over my shoulder it told me it was too hard won to be an everyday something.  it wanted to be an evening gown.  for like, a gala.  i hope that it will be.

i just need to get on that invisibility cloak.