the dreaded tree

now, admittedly, i have a beautiful purse. i love it a lot. it’s made of tapestry and has beaded tassles hanging off. it’s very, very neat looking.

however, it’s also pretty annoying. when i’m walking it sometimes swings over to the front and gets repeatedly smacked by my thigh with each step. or when i lean over to get something, and it swings over and attacks my face. or when i want to dance but i can’t because of that PURSE, and i don’t want to set it down lest it’s stolen. i used to think the solution to these problems was the right purse, but it’s really not. all purses possess the same annoying traits.

the solution is a utility belt.

so i made this out of an old hat i had. a very nice heavy-duty hat that i was very fond of, but didn’t wear. i feel that its new life purpose is 20 times better than before, and i’m happy to be using it.

photos © alyx s

here’s the current state of the trousers.
the poor things. the original fabric is almost completely gone. and i love them!!!!

photos © alyx s

oh i just love crusties so much. look at these beauties.

that aside, i had the rare privilege of meeting a band of some very lovely gypsy folk a few weeks ago. based out of new orleans, the g-string orchestra are a crew of gypsy punks travelling in a huge, veggie-oil run house bus. every single one of them are wonderful, and their music is marvellous. the violin is hauntingly beautiful, the accordion is fantastic — they inspired me considerably. being an accordion player myself, i’ve found my music take a strong turn towards eastern european music in general. i’ve always been a fan of the hungarian composer béla bartók, but never could quite get the chords or the feel right on the accordion. but something clicked in my brain after meeting these people, and what i wasn’t able to do on the accordion before started making sense. i’m very grateful that they managed to inadvertently rekindle my love of hungarian music!

photos © alyx s

something i drew on with ink. would make a fairly nice tattoo though, yes ?

photos © alyx s

and some old ones…
look at how beautifully worn my leggings are becoming.

photos © alyx s

today i made a tea necklace and a new patch.

photos © alyx s

photos © alyx s

Knee socks always come in the best patterns, but they’re knee socks.
I don’t like knee socks.
They were just sitting in my closet, waiting for me to come up with some use for the material, when I went to put on some socks and saw they were the only clean ones left. So I finally came up with a solution.

I put on the socks, cut holes in the upper half and then stretched them over my shoes. Due to the gap in the sole, this worked out marvellously.

Sadly the utilisation thing isn’t going particularly well.
The melon rinds moulded, and keeping all bottles and tins is too much. I need a factory of my own doppelgängers or something. I’ve been keeping the bones, on the other hand, and that should be very nice. I don’t have to do anything with them immediately and they don’t take up a lot of room.

Er, I’ll update when I make something else.

photos © alyx s

These are my four favourite jackets. The oldest would be the first one, but only by a couple years. I got it at my favourite charity shop and started sewing and drawing on it — the “anti-myspace” part delights me especially. The second was made and given to me by a very good friend, and I’ve never seen anything quite like it. The third I found at a very colourful boutique in Paris (no doubt the most expensive of them all) and the fourth is just something I found at some store, cropped it up a bit and put patches on.

photos © alyx s

As I said I’d do, I’ve mended my favourite skirt and it’s BACK IN ACTION. Wheeeeeeeeee. I’ve missed you.

I’m very glad to be sewing again. It was terrible that I stopped. Not sure if you can tell, but what I’m wearing over the striped shirt is reconstructed overalls that were sewn last night, and are still a work in progress. I intend for it to be utility-belt-ish when it’s finished.

photos © alyx s