topography of my body

i'm in the process of making a sloper/block to fit my silhouette, and i'm fascinated by the idiosyncrasies of my own body. the extreme curves of my breasts, the squareness of my shoulders, the smallness of my waist, and it's small gradation to my straight-ish hips. i'm looking at it with a fresh perspective. my body is odd, it's extreme, yes, but it is me. just as you are you. viva la difference. the fascination with my own uniqueness extends to thoughts about genetics and the infinite variation of humanity...how amazing and different we are, within the boundaries of our species, and yet, how similar. these discoveries about my own form are merely the discoveries i have encountered in the making of the my bodice and skirt...i'm sure a similar rediscovery of my thighs and calves and arms will commence once i draft my sleeve sloper and redraft my pants sloper.

it's intriguing to see how one's own curves and lines translate to and from the the language of mathematics. i've taken a new, relatively objective look at myself, and have seen how i translate to and from two dimensions to three, and then back again, fashioning a two dimentional bits into a that than somehow conforms to my specific, three dimentional topography. amazing.

i've been putting this off for so long. now i'm thinking about the possibilities for custom clothing for myself. i'm eager to keep plugging along in this process of discovery, to keep pushing, learning, trying...and end up with things i can wear that conform to my exact figure.

i feel like i've been let in on some secret, and the secret is actually rather simple. it takes some effort and some spacial sense, but it's not rocket science.

it's a gift i wish i could give everyone, especially those who are hard to clothe, like myself, due to the extreme uniqueness of their bodies (which is, HELLO, just about everyone). if only i had the time and resources...

i suppose my parsons eduction was not for naught, no ma'am. lately, i had wondered... :D

fashion scrapbook

i scanned in some interesting pages from my most recent fashion scrapbook, pages i love and find inspiring. i pilfer american, british, and japanese fashion, interior design, and art magazines, and i glue in things that strike my fancy. sometimes it's something i love unequivocally, sometimes i fancy something about the design, like the cut, color, texture: how someone uses their materials in an innovative way. sometimes it's about styling: a neat way someone put clothes together, that's particularly interesting. it can and is anything that makes my eyes smile and tickles my fashion bone.

clearly: i favor the colorful, the quirky, the twee.

i clip and paste in clever street fashion shots whenever i find them. of course, japanese mags are great for this, but street fashion spreads, i have found, can also be spotted in titles like "teen vogue", "WWD Fast" and "nylon", for starters.

i also paste in DIY articles, when i find them, and information about new and upcoming designers, artists, etc.

i try to completely fill a page, if at all possible.

i've been keeping collages/sketchbooks full of clippings like this since high school, so hmmm, that's about 16+ years.

a closeup of the amazing knitwear on the previous page. LOVE that gold and silver thing on the left:

yes i am a tad obsessed.

keepin' (sorta) busy

doodles:

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restyled this dress yesterday: i found this fabulous vintage mexican dress at the flea market on ave A & 11th street on saturday, when peter and i were bumming around the city and long island with our friends aaron and nicole. cost me $10. it was floor length, and anything that long looks awful on me, so i chopped out a 1 foot section toward the bottom 1/3 of the dress, and then reattached the hem, and then put in about 5 rows of decorative topstitching toward the top of the reattached hem. i used the scrap fabric to make a belt. the belt buckle is from britex fabrics in san francisco. i bought it when we were out there last month, and had no idea what i would use it for....so it's nice that i've found a use for it.

i really love how the dress turned out, actually...it's a cute length for me now, and the cinching belt is really necessary for my particular topography + i think it gives the dress a cute 50s sort of feel. this mexican dress is different than many i've seen: it's made of thicker, nicer fabric, and the embroidery looks really intricate. the sleeves are even joined with crochet! very neat. i even think it would look quite nice in the winter with thick woolen tights, a soft cashmere turtleneck, and vintage boots, like this favorite pair of mine, thrifted this past winter:

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i was randomly bopping around on the web yesterday, and i came across a description of a mac and cheese dog casserole in 's food blog, and it sounded good, so pete and i made it for dinner yesterday: http://cook-bake-eat.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-dinner-last-night-mac-cheese-dog.html afterwards, we watched the fireworks on the roof of our building.

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i've been kind of feeling lost lately. i am looking forward to moving and getting on with things and getting a job and finding some meaning in my life... there's not a whole lot going on of late and i feel rather aimless and depressed.

i've come around to the idea of living in san francisco. mostly.

i have a deep desire to get the move over already, and this has been exacerbated by the news of at least two recent robberies and hold-ups in front or in our building in the past week. local residents have nicknamed our neighborhood the "ghetto ATM" (lots of rich college-age kids living here, on the edge of the projects are ripe for the picking (off) by locals in "need"). this rash of recent robberies isn't helped by the fact that our stupid neighbors in the building prop the locked security doors open on every floor, as well as the front door(s). thanks for putting us all at risk, ya dipsh*ts.

add to that all the trash and crap in the hallways and on the streets near our place, and crappy graffiti everywhere in the building and on it (see the bit about leaving those doors open, above), and yeah, i'm increasingly looking forward to leaving...

*sigh* i have to say, it's not NYC, really, it's just my goddamn neighborhood/building. bushwick is getting better but it's got a LONG way to go. if we weren't moving to SF, we'd definitely be looking elsewhere in the city. the living in bushwick is wearing me down...

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my plan for the rest of the day includes:

-FINALLY working on my sloper. yes, yes, i've been saying that for a dog's age. today i'll finally DO it.

my plans for the rest of the week:

-sign up for that sweater design class at downtown yarns i want to take, and pick up more addi turbos. mmm, addi turbos. the best knitting needles ever.

-continue frogging some thrifted sweaters i picked up last week. recycled yarn! one's cotton and the other is cotton/linen, both are white-ish. i want to knit new sweaters from them and then hand-dye, maybe even tie-dye(!!!) them. i have idea-rs brewing. this is the first time i've ever done this yarn recycling, and i quite like it.

-knit more on the damn sweater dress.

-do more drawing...work out ideas for sweaters, and some dresses and skirts and blouses for myself.

-perhaps work on my fashion scrapbook. i have a clippings pile that is a mile-high and needs attention. perhaps i'll scan some of my favorites to show you.