Sunday, September 7, 2008

Why the Happy Dance?

A friend recently asked me what it was I liked so much about working with "found" fabrics. Why these finds would make me do little happy dances in thrift shops. What it was that made them my favorite things to work with.

The best answer I can come up with is that I see the life in inanimate objects. I see old run down buildings or homes that you know were once beautiful. I imagine what it once looked like, what the people who used it once upon a time looked like, what sort of things went on in it, and compare it to the neglect it is facing now. I love the history it holds, the stories of the people and events that once took place there, and value the life it once held in its walls. I can sort of sense the sadness of it now. Not the sadness of the situation, but of the building itself.

Yes, I know. A little crazy. But that is me!

I feel the same way about textiles. That they, especially the vintage things I find, hold a story. About the people who wore them. About the person who bought yards of fabric intended for something that was never made. About the person who spent hours lovingly hand stitching table linens.

I love to take those things, those forgotten things that once meant something to someone, and make them new again.

That's what brings out the happy dance in me!

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