Category: inspiration

treasures from sri

February 15, 2011
by annwood

Stephen Szczepanek of Sri Threads sent over another surprise package of magnificent things. Exquisite, inspiring things, thoughtfully chosen and gathered and kept for me that  just  magically appear on my doorstep.  Here are  a few  highlights.

japanese garment fragments

There are fragments of garments with wonderful surprise linings.
lining

sri garment 2

And beautiful wear and eccentric mending.
eccentric mending
I already have owls in progress and I’m thinking about using the blue silk bits below for spider bustles and some new flowers I’ll show you soon. Thanks you, thank you Mr. Szczepanek!

silkblue

velvet

January 26, 2011
by annwood

I like velvet and have been on the lookout for it lately. This antique jacket came with the bonus of owly eye buttons. Lots of them. There are 6 on the back as well. You can click the image for a better look.

velvet jacket

It looks like it has come for a visit – lounging on the couch. My BRAND NEW couch that I will go on and on about later, it’s been a saga ( you can see a bit more of it here). I like the lining fabric too –  there  is some wonderful mending I will preserve  however I use it.

mending

tatters

January 12, 2011
by annwood

tattered skirt

This wonderfully tattered and incredibly fragile antique dress arrived last week.  All the silk is shattered, but beautifully shattered – almost as though it’s transforming itself.

tattered antique lawn gown

lawn gown detail

fortuny

November 18, 2010
by annwood

spider

I visited the Fortuny showroom earlier this week to talk with Mickey Riad ( creative director) about creating some of my  creatures with Fortuny fabrics. I think it ‘s a fabulous idea and I’m looking forward to experimenting. We talked about bats and spiders and owls  and maybe some new things inspired by the exquisite patterns and colors as well as the history.

Like the fabrics, the  new showroom in the D and D building is almost overwhelmingly beautiful.  I took a couple photos but they don’t do it justice – you can see much more here and on the Fortuny blog.

fortuny2_sm

fortunymoth_sm

I’m excited about the possibilities and I’ll share progress photos with you when  I get started.

P.S. –  You’ll find the green bustled spider  crawling among the bolts of glorious fabric  in the first photo here.

a humpback whale and a starfish

November 1, 2010
by annwood

starfishwhale

I made halloween costumes for  a couple of my smaller friends this weekend, a humpback whale and a starfish. It was a sewing marathon,  seat of the pants sort of effort  – fast – no do-overs,  no obsessing ( a little obsessing ),  good spontaneous fun for my typically compulsive  and  too tightly  wound  self.

And the fabulous little fellows who wore them brought them to life in ways I could never  have imagine.

starfish

whale

( there is a video of the humpback whale on the move here)

ghostly ballgown

October 13, 2010
by annwood

ballgown

This edwardian ballgown arrived recently – it’s incredibly fragile and delicate – much of it disintegrates when I touch it but there is still tons of usable and inspiring stuff.  I spent the better part of a day photographing and examining it and then  taking it apart. I found a label in the sleeve that says  B. Altman & Co. NEW YORK; it is one of my  all time favorite garments and reminds me of the very first antique gown, or really pieces of a gown, that inspired my very first birds. I didn’t photograph the gown, I so wish I had, but I still have two of the birds and I’ll show them to you soon.

ballgown3 ballgown 4 ballgown 2 ballgown 5

I’m making a havisham spider from it today, if I finish it before the light goes I’ll post another picture.

havisham spider

sri and the spider system

June 24, 2010
by annwood

I had a lovely time this morning with coffee, chet atkins and a big box of Japanese textiles. Stephen Szczepanek of Sri sent over another  surprise box of wonderful things.

japanese textile fragments

When stuff like this shows up I can’t think fast enough or sew fast enough. Thank you Stephen!!

sri fragments 2

And the beginning of the new spider system .   Spiders take me forever to make and that’s mostly fine, I like making spiders, but it isn’t practical.   As I make more I get better at it  and  things begin occur to me that speed up the process;  having the wire cut to length for each part makes a big difference and next I need to make  jigs for forming the leg shapes . I’ll probably need help with that.

spider leg wire

I’ll show you more highlights from the Sri box  later and maybe some new things in progress – I’m finishing some things over the weekend that will be in the shop early next week – some spiders, an owl or two and some little birds, if you would like to be notified when the new things are available please check back here or join the mailing list at my shop.
*p.s. -I’ll also be spending some time this weekend getting caught up on email and if you’re waiting to hear back from me  thanks for your patience*

mudlarking

June 3, 2010
by annwood

Mudlarking – I like the word very much, I first encountered it here.  That’s me in the photo below, mudlarking my ass off at Dead Horse Beach.  I’ve been getting wonderful little bits and pieces found there from the bottle man at the park slope flea market for years, last Saturday I finally got out there myself with my friend Craig.  The history of the place is fascinating,  you can read more about it here and there is an article about the Barren Island fire of 1906 here.

photos by craig duff

ann wood at Dead Horse Beach looking for stuff

We were there when the tide was out revealing  a crazy  blanket of old  glass bottles  and all sorts of  other things  – everyday sorts of things – old timey trash.

deadhorse3

deadhorse4

I had a marvelous time.

dark things

April 19, 2010
by annwood

spiderhand

Thanks to everyone who turned up at last weeks shop update ( part 2 later this week) -things went quickly and if you were disappointed there will be more very soon, I’m already working on several new owls and spiders  and bats including another bad owl.

badowl3

He’s made from the backing of an antique crazy quilt I’ll show you later on and bits of several garments.
blackbodice5

I’ve gotten several  really old black garments lately.

blackbodice6

I think the lace  cuffs  are going to  be spiders.

mrs. brown’s skirt

March 23, 2010
by annwood

I love it when there’s a label.

mrs.brown tag

I’m curious about Mrs. F. C. Brown and what she was up to in 1917.  Her skirt is very sensible with pockets and a modest train.  The fabric is fabulous.

mrsbrownsskirt

* note on the photo- I’m not giant, the chair is mini – I got it at the flea market a couple weeks ago.

It was fun to try on and I was surprised by how good it felt, the way it moved, the  pleasant weight of it and  how the little train felt behind me, it isn’t in wearable condition though, and I probably shouldn’t add “wears period clothes” to what I already have going on anyway. I’m going to make a collection of things from it, the first is a mrs. brown spider.

mrsbspider