Our sewing circle at The Standard, East Village was a rich mixture of folk from a range of professions and diverse lives. Cathy Davidson, one of our first time sewers, has written the most beautiful essay about her time with us and created a fantastic example of Reverse Appliqué as metaphor: Reverse Appliqué @alabamachanin or How the Shallow Distracted and Lonely Pundits Miss the Beauty.

Here you can read just a snippet from her observations on the day:

“We sat quite quietly, talking, introducing ourselves, and, in my case and Ken’s, learning how to do things like:  thread a needle (you bring the needle to the thread, not the reverse), tie a knot, love the thread (to get out the kinks and align the polymers in the cotton plys).

Here’s the secret: when the world seems too connected, too overwhelming, too full of work, the hand-work of sewing slows it all down.

Here’s the other secret: all those tiresome handwringing pundits, who think that, because young people (and all the rest of us) spend a lot of time online, that means, ipso facto, that we’ve all become shallow, distracted, and lonely:  well, those pundits just need to spend more time–a lot more time–with some of the connected, wired people I know: we wired ones also love to make things. We connected learners also love DIY. Those are not contradictions, they are continuous parts of life. Why don’t the tiresome pundits realize this?  Why do they make us into stereotypes, automatons, not complex and multi-dimensional human beings, stitched together in all kinds of ways, by all kinds of circumstances.

Think about the possibilities for the handstitched, the handmade that the Web makes possible.  Outlets like Etsy allow handwork and handcraft to thrive by providing a vehicle, without intervention of an overseer or price-gauging middle-man, to reach the people who want it, an online bazaar (the original metaphor of the World Wide Web:  it’s not a cathedral–with flying buttresses and other stable architecture but a crowd-making, on-the-fly-suited-to-the-needs bazaar). Heath Pottery thrives now online. Alabama Chanin thrives online. And those of us who live so much of our lives online, also know the preciousness of, well, hand sewing, of reverse application, as metaphor and lifestyle.”

Be sure to read the entire essay here: Reverse Appliqué @alabamachanin or How the Shallow Distracted and Lonely Pundits Miss the Beauty and her brilliant new book, titled Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn.

Browse her website, look for all of her titles, and be inspired.

Thank you to Cathy and everyone who has added their voice to Makeshift 2012.

Join our growing conversation by contributing in the comments section below and by using your voice in your own community…
xoNatalie

(Reverse Applique as Metaphor originally posted on the Alabama Chanin Journal)

It’s a mouthful.  But then, people (especially Southerners) do have an undying love for the complexity of words, stories, and the beauty of textiles.

Last Tuesday night at The Standard, East Village, we were riveted by Jessamyn Hatcher’s stories of processing unwanted clothing in a clinic format.  Today in New York City, you have the rare and amazing opportunity to experience Human-Textile Wellness first-hand with a stellar team including Jessamyn, Professor, Global Liberal Studies, NYU; Hanna Astrom, Designer; Sarah Scaturro, Textile Conservator, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum (and incoming conservator at the Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art); Michelle Zahabian, artist and co-owner of JEM; and the fascinating Emily Spivack, Creator and Editor, Worn Stories (wornstories.com) and Sentimental Value (www.sentimental-value.com).

Run, don’t walk:

You are invited to attend a

HUMAN-TEXTILE WELLNESS POP-UP CLINIC

Sunday, May 20, drop-in from 11am-3pm

@ JEM Fabric Warehouse

 355 Broadway, between Franklin and Leonard

BRING A PIECE OF CLOTHING TO REPAIR, ALTER, OR TRANSFORM AND A WORN STORY TO SHARE

The Human-Textile Wellness Center is a research lab run by Jessamyn Hatcher that documents people’s relationships to their clothing, and a place where you can come to repair, alter, and transform your garments, and share stories about textiles that are meaningful to you.

Meridith McNeal, “Palm Portraits” (used with kind permission of the artist)

William “Billy” Reid grew up in Amite, Louisiana, just south of the Mississippi line, where his mother operated a women’s clothing boutique in his grandmother’s one-time home. Launched in 2004, Billy Reid is the designer’s brand of men’s, women’s, and accessories collections with standalone retail stores that embody the designer’s modern approach to American work wear and cultured Southern dandyism. GQ and the Council of Fashion Designers of America awarded Billy Reid the Best New Designer in America Award in February 2010; in November of that same year, Billy won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award, becoming the first ever designer to win both prestigious awards in the same year. A son of the South, Reid designs his collection in his flagship shop and studio in Florence, Alabama, and employs artisan factories in Europe and America.

billyreid.com