There’s so much beautiful vintage linen to be used. After purchasing a few more choice pieces at a church rummage sale last Saturday, I was inspired to go home and unearth this bib that I had been holding on to.
The cotton fabric is so thin, it’s hard to believe any mother would actually try and use this bib to protect a baby’s clothing but the crocheted white rabbits and the repaired strings give it a tender charm.
Various lines of inquiry led to this piece:
I watched Paul Anderson’s “Phantom Thread” twice this past weekend. The movie offers a startling point of what is often thought of as a woman’s traditional nurturing role. Food plays a central role in this movie that I find mesmerizing and exhilarating in just the slightly twisted sort of way that gets me going.
Second, I am in the third month of a ten-month long training that is forcing me to explore topics I would not have chosen for myself. This month includes an exploration of the color white.
Third, I am reading Rozsika Parker’s Subversive Stitch, a rather serious academic study of embroidery and feminism. The book itself is slightly depressing. But it is certainly nudging a certain naughtiness in me.
No wonder that this week’s project, which started as a diligent white-on-white sampler, took a turn toward provocative: magenta corduroy, creative hand lettering, one word that says it all and a well-placed miniature fork.
95% of the material is recycled.
This week’s story is inspired by my grandmother who liked to explain that while my grandfather got a medal and gold watch after forty years working for the French electric company, she, in turn, never got such honors. She kept working and cooking until her eyes gave out.
I think she would have liked this piece.