Rags to Stitches...an evolution

Several months ago, I met with Chip Brantley, the director of DISCO (Desert Island Supply Company: "a creative writing program for kids in Birmingham, Alabama. Our mission is to give students in the Birmingham area more opportunities to write") and (my dear) Kimberly at ArtPlay to discuss a possible art track for participants in DISCO's summer program. Chip told me the students would be between the ages of 14 and 17 and that he'd really like to see a program that allowed the students to create many different types of things with their hands. I immediately put together a plan for the students to make a community quilt - hand-sewn - and for them to also create individual process books that they could bind themselves and keep as memory books of their summer experience. We decided to call the art track, "Rags to Stitches" and I was very pleased with myself.


As with everything in life, if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. We are currently in the third week of a six week program and we've adjusted our focus many times over. In the first week, it became very clear that threading needles is not what children want to spend their summer doing. While each student gave a great effort in the first week, the idea of continuing to hand sew for another five weeks brought an almost mutiny in the last hours of the first week. So last week I introduced the sewing machine and wow, what an amazing amount of energy was put forth!


-Edmund wanted to make a hat with a bill and chose a turquoise, yellow and teal cotton duck fabric for prototype number 1. 
-Kelsey and Jamecia both made cotton duck shoulder bags.
-Keke made a cell phone holder with strap for her jeans and a fabric bracelet reminiscent of a cuff.
-Mariam has fallen in love with the machine and the needle and has made several things by hand and with the machine. She made a patch honoring Allah by hand and a star and crescent moon (both stuffed) using the machine.
-Mari, our oldest student and truly the ring leader and happily (for me) the one they all look up to, started cutting up a black and white zebra print fabric to create embellishments for a jacket. He made a tie and one long sleeve and wants to find a white jacket to complete the look.


Tomorrow we will go to the thrift store across from Woodrow Hall in Woodlawn (where we meet each day) to pick out items to up-cycle.


The summer program continues to evolve but one thing is for certain: when we have our showcase at the end of the camp, these kids will have a variety of amazing creations to show. And unlike a group quilt, they will be able to take their creations home and share them with their friends and family.

Adult quilting class in Woodlawn

Sharon's nine-patch quilt blocks laid out with sashing

I was extremely lucky to be able to participate in ArtReach, a program co-sponsored by ArtPlay and Woodlawn's YWCA this past spring. I was asked to run a six-month adult machine-quilting class and ended up with two extremely dedicated students. Joyce is in her sixties: a tall, elegant and soft-spoken woman with a smile that drops her age by several decades when it shines. She joined our group because she hadn't sewn since her middle school home-ec class and wanted to see what she remembered.

Sharon, a recent convert to Islam, spoke to me a great deal about muslim garments and her interest in learning to sew them for herself. She had never sat down at a sewing machine before and was quite nervous to run the machine for the first couple of sessions.

I met with these women for six weeks and by the end of our time together, both had enough nine-patch quilt blocks to make a small lap quilt. For Joyce, the machine was as easy to pick back up as a bicycle (though she'd prefer the machine to a bike ride) and she was able to make her nine-patch blocks with little to no direction from me. The rare time that the machine came un-threaded, she would ask me gently to re-thread it since she always forgot her reading glasses.

Sharon was the opposite of Joyce in many ways. She wasn't able to sew a straight line to save her life, but her determination was constant and she persisted with a graveness that I tried to lighten with jokes. She would ignore me most of the time and sit with her seam ripper, sighing heavily when she'd have to pick out the same seam for the third time. But she did it and she kept going and she made the blocks you see above, almost completing a quilt top in a few short sessions.

I enjoyed these sessions because often both women would fall into contemplative silences that were quite different from hand-sewing sessions that I have directed. Each woman, at her machine, composed her blocks and continued her work non-stop so that the brief 1.5 hr sessions were over before we realized it. I taught these women with great pride, having learned the techniques myself, only a handful of months beforehand. I really do love passing these skills on to others as quickly as possible, and both Sharon and Joyce would love to continue once a regular place can be found for us to work.

Our simple work station - a couple of yards of fabric acts as ironing board

Joyce ironing the seams of her nine-patch quilt blocks

Sharon and Joyce at their machines

Joyce's quilt blocks with a bit of red fabric to denote sashing. She composed these blocks with such care, it was really a joy to watch her piecing the colors from our donated fabric.

Joyce's blocks without sashing 

Ultimately, Joyce chose a colorful fabric as her sashing in our last class. She was looking forward to getting out her mother's old sewing machine to put the rest of the quilt together. Both Joyce and Sharon were interested in hand-quilting rather than machine-quilting.

Joyce sits proudly with her laid out quilt top

A celebration

On Saturday, May 19th, Tré Lilli officially celebrated its 2nd birthday. We've put on a few fashion shows since 2010, but the show during "Paris, Mais Oui" was certainly the best yet. We had a lot of help and inspiration: styling and prep and model acquisition thanks to Molly Green's fabulous summer interns Jackie and Mubina. A huge thank you to Brittany Hartwell for supplying clothes to accompany the Tré Lilli garments and for her support and her fabulous hair styling skills.

One of the best parts of the day was reconnecting with fans of Tré Lilli who have been along for the ride. This has been a journey of love, light, learning and always exploration and we're so incredibly lucky to have the support of members of the community. We're continuing to learn and grow. More photos from the day and the fashion shows will be available soon. For now, here's a taste of what the day offered...

A portion of the 20+ foot mural painted by Tres Taylor for Paris, Mais Oui

The magic behind the scenes

Waiting for the show to begin

Paris, Mais Oui was a group show of Tres
Taylor's paintings, Stephen Rostand's photography
and Lillis Taylor's fashion.

In the Studio: dyeing with fruit, vegetables and spices

Several months ago, Brittany and I went to a loft sale and purchased a giant tube of lemon-colored stretchy knit fabric. The tube is taller than either of us and flops and sags like a giant pale yellow noodle. To say the least, it isn't the most fashion-forward fabric, but it was very affordable and we were certain it would come in handy to Workroom designers.

The noodle has rested ominously against this wall and that in the Workroom for several months now, collecting dust and laughing at us behind its impossible shade of "jaundiced straw". What to do? During a recent brainstorm for Belle Époque, the noodle came in handy for some quick draping and then we thought, "Dye?"

Not certain that the fabric would hold color, I wasn't very optimistic at first, but then I remembered a craft project I'd re-pinned (thank you Pinterest for altering speech) months ago about dyeing buttons and I thought I might be able to kill two craft projects with one bucket of dye.

Brittany is about to take on the world of chemicals and in honor of her crusade, (and because I was plum out of RIT dye), I decided to use fruits, vegetables and spices for this project. Spoiler # 1: being dunked in a bucket of luke-warm vegetable juice for two minutes will not change the color of plastic buttons.

Into ever dye-job, some chemicals must fall - the blue effect was created using good ole  shellac-filled writing ink.

The bucket contained juice from two cans of sliced beets, water (approx 5 cups), baking soda (approx 4 shakes of an open box), balsamic vinegar (ginger dousing since I still remember how to make a volcano) and turmeric (several shakes of an open spice jar). I've read and heard that if you boil your dye, and the fabric along with it, you'll get a better result but I was impatient so I just dunked the fabric after carefully wrapping buttons with hair ties and I only dunked for two minutes or less. I think the turmeric would have been more successful if it had been boiled first and I think - duh - fresh beets are much richer in color than canned ones.

I'm happy with the results because it means that nasty noodle is transformable, which makes it seem more like a lingering caterpillar, avoiding metamorphosis. Noodle, caterpillar...either way, we're going to have some beautiful fabric to work with in the coming weeks.

Any color in small doses is delightful. But can you imagine yards and yards of that yellow?

The semi-translucent fabric could be great for curtains or lampshades.

A modern take on tie-dye

Covergirl

A big thank you to Allison Hubbard, Journalism and PR student at Samford University, for her lovely article on Tres and Lillis Taylor in this year's edition of Exodus Magazine, which is produced, cover-to-cover by Samford students. We were originally introduced to Allison through Molly Green during her internship for the boutique. Allison visited Tres' studio one afternoon and was mesmerized by the old Oddfellows' ballroom and memorabilia and her excitement set the tone for a touching article about father-daughter collaboration. Upon submission of her article and photos, the story was considered for the cover and a second photo shoot at the studio resulted in a great image of Lillis in one of her very favorite creations. Thanks to photo editor Staley McIlwain and art director Elizabeth Cassada. You can read the article here.

Beautiful photograph by Samford student, Staley McIlwain

Paris, Mais Oui!

On May 19th, photographer Steve Rostand will join my father and me in a celebration of all things Paris. We will put on a show of photography, art, fashion and installations that explores the streets of Paris and the delightful Joie de Vivre of that city of light.

I am especially excited about this show because it is the first time my father and I have collaborated on the theme for his paintings. Above is an image of the cornerstone painting of this show, "Lilli" on her bicycle, her scarf blowing in the breeze, baskets filled with bolts of fabric and fresh flowers. We have created a story about Lilli that will explain the origins of the company Tré Lilli in a semi-autobiographical, totally magic-realism manner and my father will illustrate this story. As you can see, I am inspired by this new work and look forward to sharing the full story of Lilli and working with all of the new imagery soon.

For more information about the show, contact info@trelilli.com

NOLA Jazz Fest

 It has been over a month since our last post! A lot has happened. Tré Lilli turned two years old this April and we participated in our first big-time art festival - the contemporary craft fair at Jazz Fest in New Orleans. While driving through the city, it became clear that NOLA could be a 2nd home for Tré Lilli...what with the colorful cottages and the laughter and lightness of the residents. It is beautiful to see a city that has witnessed so much difficulty thriving and enjoying itself. I know the road to recovery is a long one, but I was inspired by what I saw and the mood, while I'm sure many residents would say it can never be the same, seems uplifted and clearly very much alive. Y'all sure were hospitable, NOLA. We look forward to visiting again soon! And we also highly, highly recommend a ride to New Orleans on Amtrak's Crescent, which travels from the Big Apple to the Big Easy, by way of the Magic City, thank you very much!

Corner booth by the Gospel Tent - beautiful weather and great music kept our energy up all weekend long.

A sight for sore eyes: father and daughter sharing a tent at Jazz Fest!