Native Funk and Flas, An Emerging Folk Art, by Alexandra Jacopetti, photographs by Jerry Wainwright, Scrimshaw Press 1974, probably my most treasured book. Need I say more? Apparently I'm not alone. Just read the reviews. See what others have said and others have scanned, knitters, even. Not sure when or where I ever came across this book, 18-20 years ago in a used bookstore Seattle, I'd guess.
It tickled me to no end, one day at the Boulder Public Library in Colorado when we were living there, to come across not one, but TWO copies side by side on the shelf. Check your local used book store or library catalog, or check WorldCat.org (what an amazing resource that is!). Oh, and see here: the Missoula Art Museum, housed in the former Missoula Free Public Library building, opened it's doors in 1975 with the exhibit associated with this book. You gotta love the internet for some things.
As always, click for a closer look:
Hmmmm, haven't I seen french knots again somewhere lately?
That's not the Laurel Burch, the one who's dangly enameled cat earrings I wore in high school in the 80's, is it? Why, yes, apparently it is. Read more about her.
So much eye candy
and inspiration, it's difficult to decide what not to share.
This a good part of what's in there, at least my favorite parts.
"sunflower-patch-ecology", it doesn't really explain quite what they meant by that, but it sure sounds like something I'd like to subscribe to. There was a time long ago when I hoped to someday have girls so I could one day make a shirt like this out of scraps from their old dresses.
Somewhere in the back of my brain, it must have been images and stories like these, burned in my mind's eye, that inspired this tank, sewed, embroidered, and never blogged, last summer:
Ultimately, though, it was Amber's sleeved linen version here, and all her sweet and creative embroidery, that is directly responsible for my copy-cat version of the same Simplicity 4589 pattern. I like it best worn over a t-shirt.
The linen for this tank was some I bought at the Seattle IKEA for $6.00 a yard way back when they carried fabric. (Is it true they have fabric there again now?) I hoarded it for quite some time as it wasn't easy to find 100% natural linen back then, especially not at a price that low. Some of it was made into a jumper dress in the mid-to-late 1990's. Later, I cut the bodice off when it no longer fit and could no longer wear it while nursing, putting elastic into the lower part making it into a skirt. Even later, the skirt was turned into a pillow case, which is now nearly worn out.
