FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Modern Muse
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
Entry inspired by Calliope, in Homer's The Odyssey. This is the first garment I ever made.
It has been a while since I constructed my book dress, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately, as I began making forays into sewing during lockdown. This dress began as an assignment to make a garment out of non-traditional materials. I have loved books as long as I can remember, so much so that I was happy to wrap myself up in them.
When I look at this dress, the phrase "Once Upon a Time" certainly comes to mind. The character honoured, in this case, is Literature; though, thankfully, Literature has been personifying herself since ancient times. The first words of the Odyssey ring out, "Sing in me, Muse," addressing Calliope, the muse of epic poetry.
This dress, decorated with the title pages of some of my favorite works of Literature, is an ode to both this Muse and the singing she has done.
Outline the construction…
To create the skirt of this dress, I began with a muslin base and a "big 4" pattern. I sewed the base of the dress by machine, and lined the inside with a collage of papers stiffened with masking tape. This tape held strong as I used a zig-zag pattern to tack the sheet of pages in place.
For the outside of the skirt, I carefully burned the edges of each page to give a ruffled, lacy effect, and hand sewed them into place. There was an extra Deathly Hallows book at my house (Side note: read critically, enjoy, and support your trans friends!) a copy of Lord of the Flies that was falling apart, and War and Peace, which I am working on reading now, but had no plans to read at the time. These three books were the main sacrifice made for this dress; although, I pillaged many a title page and cool illustration from other books I had lying around.
The base for the bodice involved going into my (thankfully secluded) backyard and essentially covering my torso in paper mache. I then cut the covers of some old abandoned textbooks into geometric shapes, which I fit all over this paper base. I stabbed these with an awl, and used thick, waxed thread to sew all of the pieces in place. The "eyelets" in the back were created by drilling through a particularly stiff cover.
Paired with a newer crown and leather shoes I've made.
This is amazing! It must have been a lot of hard work to put this together; I’m astounded at the effort. The final effect is gorgeous and evocative of the wild nature of creativity and Greek mythology. I love it!
I love it!
So cool!! Love it!
Wow! “Fahrenheit 451” meets “The Faerie Queene.” I completely and utterly love this.
Such an inventive idea, well done!
Such a good idea! And very well executed !!
Well conceived, beautifully executed, and so striking!
Wearing books, can I have an amen! Well done.
So nice! Love the use of unconventional materials.
I am extremely impressed with the amount of patience it must have taken to piece together that bodice, not to mention hand sewing all those pages on the outside of the skirt! Congratulations on an very impression project!
The amount of work that obviously went into this, wow! Well Done!
Wow, very interesting! I love using unconventional materials!
Such a brilliant concept and executed fantastically!
Well…dang! The really is an awesome entry! I love your imagination! Thank you!
Amazing! It sings to my book-loving heart.
I love the creativity that went into this, the colours, the lacy effect of the paper skirt, and the way you’ve sewn together the bodice with those big chunky stitches, it looks almost like chainmail! Well done, it’s an amazing outfit and a true celebration of literature!
This is wonderful for Muse! It seems like A LOT of work, but really worth it!
Beautiful! I love the mixed media and use of the different parts of the books.