textile art Follow

Thanks to the Knitty community I heard about the revival of Clothkits, an '70s iconic clothing company, and, being a) really rubbish at sewing (my last decent sewing effort was an ill-advised dress when I was 17 that made me look like a dental nurse. I wore it to the Proms. I'm still ashamed to this day) and b) having just been given an old sewing machine that had no instructions, I decided that the best thing to do would be to spend a load of money on a fantastic work of textile art and buy a clothkits 'Rob Ryan' skirt to make. Rob Ryan is a rather fantastic artist whose speciality is 'cutting out' (his words)- I believe he was in the Observer's '50 coolest people' list recently, much to his embarrassment. Anyway, the skirt kit sat there for a while, along with a number of other bits of material bought to 'make' skirts (haha). Luckily Glittr came to stay, and took me in hand, cuffed me around the ears a bit and as a result of some fantastic experiential learning we have... a beautifully fitting, fully lined 'Dirty Birdy' skirt, so called by me because the design gives you something Glittr and I have termed a 'fanny bell'. This doesn't put me off it in the slightest- I think it is a feature to be proud of. No need for a sporran, just point yourself in the direction of whichever young man or woman (depending on your preference) you like and they'll get the message soon enough. Goes nicely with red, I think, and just so you have some sort of perspective, this was made to a proper UK Size 12 (not your 'modern day' size 12 which is really a size 18, or whatever it is some shops (M&S) do these days). My next project will be another Clothkits collaboration with 'People Will Always Need Plates' in eau de nil and VW orange. It's not the kits themselves, but the fantastic prints that you won't be able to get anywhere else that draw me. That's me in skirts for the foreseeable future then.