Today I will shop for food and do some prep
work in advance of cooking for four guests—none of whom have ben here before.
Two are a lovely couple I have met in my building. (They have a heavenly dog,
Frank.) Also coming is my long-time friend and incredible actor, Jillian and
her man, Mike.
I am happy and relieved not to be sewing. I
have done nothing but, for a full week of 10 – 12 hour days of it.
I am not walking. Neither have I been cooking,
and it is all due to my having so many things to do for Trudeau, the Felons & Me. I have head forms to make of the two
actors once they are cast, and their wigs have to be built. And I have to build
the costume for Vivcean’s partner, Basil Follycraft-Proud.
Plus, Vivicean has a parasol as part of her
costume and I need to make a shawl for her for her second scene. (Each time she
has a scene she must change visually.) For Basil, I must build a paper cane and
paper medals, and of top of all that, two re-writes of the script.
My house has become a studio. I have dumped
my rug to make cleaning simpler and I can re-arrange everything easily to
create lots of space. In my living room, I can work in the sunlight and there
is plenty of space to walk around the dress forms.
I have learned so much about sewing: I now
value the right needles, the right thread, using paper clips and clamps instead
of pins, thimbles, waxing the thread, etcetera. But more than skills, I have
found unparalleled joy in sewing. I may never stop making paper costumes. And
it is very nice to be a writer—capable of concocting narrative to support
extravagant paper costumes.
I sew on my feet, working on the draped
fabric. That is fabulous. And I sit for the “routine” tasks such as gathering
fabric onto twill tape or sewing both sides of a meter of ribbon in tiny
stiches on thin, thin seams. I LOVE the mindless tasks because at the end you
have something beautiful.
“Oh my God. Why haven’t I been doing this
all my life?” I asked myself that today,
and immediately remembered cutting up mothers clothing after she moved out of
our home when I was in my mid-teens. I repurposed them; I converted all her
furs into hats for friends who skied. And I made some of my own clothes in
grade seven—that impressed the boys. Not. So this love of making things is not
new; it is a reborn passion.