I Sew, I Sew... It's Off To Work I Go

I have a plan for the wedding dress —I think it is going to be bloodstained.

When my (birth) mother founded her theatre company, she made a brave decision that, in hindsight, was insightful. She commissioned a play about “womanhood;” she wanted a play about everywoman that focused on the major themes of a woman’s life. This was in the 1950s.

She played the menopausal woman and she did her scene in a wedding dress as blood dripped down on her.

I may use her story, modify it or change it altogether, but the wedding dress is going to be bloody simply because I like how it will fit in the show. It will be graphically striking — the white and red. And it changes a dress I have used on stage before dramatically and that really pleases me.

I am going to use tissue paper for the blood, though, I think. I like the idea better than using paint or ink or stage blood. Again, it is the graphic nature of the end result that is so appealing to my eye. I have some old costumes on which to practice.

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The cheerleader crest is rather crude. It lacks the evenness that only industrial or skilled artisanal work yields. But as I have been writing here often, my work always winds up being “good enough” for me. It’s executed well enough to “pass;” when I looked at it this morning, I teared up because it is “good enough.” I am so happy to be able to do it and so happy to be able to be pleased with my own work.

The colours and the shapes come from my deep in my memory and experience. I look at the crest and I see so much that no one else will ever see. Still, I know it will work for viewers because God is in the details.

It’s like I have obsessive/compulsive disorder and I channel it into these endless routine tasks. I know of no other kind of activity that gives me such pleasure. And my work “passes” because its precisely that detailed work that impresses viewers. The crude nature of my work is elevated by the obsessive/compulsive detail work that is part of every one.

People see in my detail work, something that they would never do. Yes, I have talent, but it is modest like the viewers, so my work makes creativity more accessible to them. That’s another plus about what I do and how I do it.