Slice Me Up Some of that Papoose Gold

I really need a denim papoose. Tao's F/W 2010 rtw totally vibing my new aesthetic, 80's-mid 90's Southwestern Earth Mother with PIZAZZ. I'd add some gold on there, maybe some turqouis beads? Add a patchwork sweater under there and some hiking boots, now we're talkin'.

Collecting old denim pants for DIY papoose starts........now.

Anais Mitchell's Hadestown + Alicia J. Rose , and me!

Awhile back I posted some teaser pics of promo shots for Anais Mitchell's upcoming album Hadestown. Time's come to release these beauts into the universe. I worked with pro photographer/amazing gal Ms. Alicia J. Rose yet again. This time I dabbled in a bit of everything: hair, make-up, wardrobe, styling, set design. I'm very pleased with our little collaboration. (big sigh...I sure do miss Portland)

Giving Birth to Myself

I love Halloween! I usually have my costume picked out a year in advance and spend a insane amount of time on making it. This year is a big year> a very big year and next year is going to be even more epic. I can't think of a better way to celebrate a new phase in life than to give birth to myself. Can you?

(thanks to my beloved Darrin for shaving his head and donating his hair for pubes. also big thanks to my green lady midwife, Rachel for being there for me in time of need.)



Malice is helping my mom birth me on the bar room floor of East End. Classy.

Here's some more doozies of me, Ash and Rachel getting ready to go out. (note: I kept my wallet, cell phone and a bottle of wine in vajay. mom's a lush)

It takes a village, thanks Sadie.

Check out Meryl Smith's art and props to the originator of the original costume idea.

Armour-all Tatas

My super good friend Rachel (above with me) came to me with this dress idea a few weeks ago. First, she wants in in leather which I neither have the equipment (yet) or practice doing. She's got a leather guy and just needs to work out the pattern. For practice and the pure challenge of the idea, I agreed. It's very interesting to sit with someone and hammer out and idea, get supplies and notions and make it happen. We started with a few sketches and I jumped in working on the components.

This is a more defined picture with lines and ideas pounded out a little better.


Here is a picture of the prototype in muslin. You can see the lines and structure. Theres lots of boning and an underwire here. Watch out! Lady's got dangerous curves.




Then just so that we'd have a wearable piece, Rachel is following my pattern and making an identical copy in the most amazing fabric.

Very Thierry Mugler, no?


The woman at The Mill End fabric said another woman came in got just as excited as we did about it. Rolling down the fabric aisles laughing our butts off at the absurdity. How funny if Rachel wears out this little number and catches a whiff of a lady in a matching dress! Instant cat fight...or....spontaneous dance partners?

When we're done with this dress, I'll hand over the prototype and the pattern to the leather construction man. It's funny to think I'm making a blueprint in fabric to be followed by silky green leather. Here's to making this work!

Rachel and I worked on a Native American princess pin-up shoot together in September. I'm really hoping to get my hands on some finished photos by the wonderful Marne Lucas. Until then, here's our little monkey faces together again.

Zombie in a Tuxedo

Here's my look today. custom designed high-waisted pleated skirt by me, DIY'd tuxedo Zombie shirt. [Going to watch America's Next Top Model tonight. I'm ready for the bloodshed.] (Gucci's not pictured). Also, new hair: bleach/blacked beehive.

Beloved Jumper Re-Animated

This blue canvas jumper has been a staple the past hmmmmm... four summers. It's light, short, cotton and cool. I usually paired it with a white crocheted undershirt and tall boots. Alas, this jumper has run its course. It was handmade to begin with--maybe from the 70's and most likely for a 12-15 year old girl. (As my measurements are actually that of a 13 year old size size 12 fit model with a larger chest, aka I'm short/petite with some curves as they say). But the jumper rode up in the crotch and had a sun bleached left hand side, having been stored for years in direct sunlight. I let out the chest a 1/4 inch but still felt bound a al Yentel. The buckles are purely cosmetic and the straps not nearly long enough.

Ever since I bought the jumper in 2005/6? at Goodwill, I assumed I'd take it apart and make a new one. Time has come to do just so. I deconstructed it and made modifications to the pieces. Next up, I think I'll cut the pattern out of paper. In our insane basement full of scraps upon scraps of material, I found a nice piece of light weight denim. Dare I? Denim on a home sewing machine? Let's see...

Fat Fancy Love

I'm a huge supporter of Fat Fancy, a plus size fashion forward boutique located right here in Portland. In fact, it's a couple blocks from my house in deliciously rehabbed basement (much like the set of Desperate Living) There is so much love and support going into this place. I align myself as ally by donating clothes. So far, I've been able to be their make up artist for two photo shoots. This one for Just Out (I know you can't see their makeup, trust me, it was RAD)

And this one for a Fat Fancy makeover contest winner for Portland Mercury MOD blog.





Help these fine ladies get a permanent store space by voting for them to receive a grant. Follow the link and register to vote.


SATURDAY, March, 28th
SUNDAY, March, 29th

12-5 pm
834 NE Emerson
(1 block S. of Killingsworth. 2.5 blocks East of MLK)

I Killed a Zombie/I Love a Nude Suit

I had an unbelievable day at the Goodwill bins this weekend. I'm talking a hundred pounds of goodness. Here are the highlights with alterations.

First: an XL men's zombie prom shirt I changed into 3/4 sleeve, fitted woman's shirt. Here paired with leather shorts. Ahem, you have some red on you.


Here is a major surprise and my new love: the nude bodysuit. I'm assuming it's for theatrical purposes but, hey. I'm thinking I'll wear this under some scandalicousness. Including this leopard leotard I found. Here's some ideas:

Meowrowr! Channeling Jamie Lee Curtis:

Working out overdoing animal print (as usual):

Safe distance, there's a tiger underneath. I made this skirt today, beware:

The lady will have two tickets to the gun show.

Margiela Spats on 50 Cent Boots

You may recall a boot project I had going last week. These guys right here:

I finished the spats today. What do you think?



Yes, nude bodysuit and all:

These are the first spats/boot alterations I've ever done. I want to do more soon.

Final Saga of the White T-Shirt

Here's the XL plain white men's T-shirt from the Gap I rehashed to look like Obesity and Speed. I can't buy the real deal online yet so I made my own in the mean time. This is also a story about how radically you can alter a $2.99 t-shirt from Goodwill.

1. Sagged, tugged and ran knit to the shredded state.
2. Sewed side seems to make silhouette long and narrow.
3. Dyed with Rit dye, black. Took it out early to get splotchy grey.

Damn, I need to straighten my book shelf.

Keeping Busy to Stave My Mind

Keeping busy with projects today.
1. Continuing saga of the plain white t-shirt.

I sewed it to make it long and skinny, then dyed it with Black Rit dye. Most like Obesity and Speed's black shredded T:


2. New project: imitating the look of Margiela's sagging/folded leather boot with spats. I found the boots on the right at the Goodwill bins ($1). They are comfortable but I really don't like the aesthetic of narrow ankles.

I'm building ruffled leather spats to fasten on top of them. Here's the process in action, using a favorite (toxic!) product: Shoe Goo with a close second: clothes pins.

Using scraps of leather from roomie Sadie's leather skirt and a damaged leather coat.
Get back to you on the end result.

Whole Hogg

I'm feeling Pam Hogg, musician, writer, director, and designer. She's a total rebel, relentless and fearless. She creates every piece by herself, with no financial backing other than friends/fans. She's left and come back. Love it. DIY QUEEN.

I can see the bodysuits worn as under-pieces with an angular black dress with cutouts over top. Who's got that kind of body to pull off a solo bodysuit, day-um.

Anyone who knows me, knows I'd wear the shit out of this:

The Only Reason I Wish It was Winter

I'd wear the hell out of this instead of a scarf. From Yokoo's store on Etsy. I say make this out of cotton/linen and batting in a smaller scale for summer. Project?