Dressing a doll can be a good place to gather ideas about garments. The blue batik ‘shirt’, here, works off of the garment-as-a-series-of-rectangles idea (recently explored in Jude Hill‘s Boro class). I learned that just by folding the ‘sleeve’ rectangle base in as a triangle, you achieve a class sleeve outline… simple, I know, but it is different to read, study, than to tuck, finger press, and stitch! (That’s Athena by the way, and I think I will give her a weapon or two).
This dreamer wears a fun assortment of charms, including a pewter, retro airplane. I love that plane. But, really? It’s her pigtails that make me smile. They are tied up with plastic-coated telephone wire. Remember hunting for remnants of that as a kid and making bracelets and rings?! If she had arms, I’d give her a typewriter, just to keep the retro business going. The blue floral linen was a dress, probably from the 60’s.
Here the garment idea is the basic triangle-shawl. It is hard to get more simple than that! This pristine doily came out of my vintage linens drawer.
Now the next doll is naked.
Every once in awhile, batik offers its swirls to the imagination in a very particular way. Years ago, I saw a penis in the swirls of a yellow batik, and gave a two fiber-collaged primitive-styled men well endowed figures (here’s one below – not a great picture, but you get the idea).
On the new green female, however, the swirls suggested breasts… and as I wrapped red thread around the waist, it wanted to go up and circle one of the breasts, which turned into a meditation on mastectomy, which a good friend of mine’s sister had had just days prior (did you know that this is a seven hour operation?!!)
This started as the idea that playing with dolls can help one learn about garment construction, and turned into something quite else.
