kimono…bird coat kind of woman

hooded sweatshirts…what kind of woman is that?    an invisible woman, a camoflage of sorts.  something that says    Do not see me.

mostly the heavy duty zip up hoodies work for the life i have here.  they can "take it".  whatever it the day requires.  but there is this other thing at work now.    Don't know much about it yet, but its definately operational.

this shirt…which is really big for me, flax.  well, you can see:

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this is how i have appeared in my home for 3 days now.   i switched to levis, hoodie and t shirt when i went to work monday,  and to the laundromat yesterday, but otherwise, this is the NEW me.  the shirt is a totally wonderful man's size 3XL rayon, very soft, very used.  thrift shop again.  what's going on here?????  and i have worn these day and night.  i took the shirt with me to the laundromat and while i waited, cut off and stitched up the collar rim.   

in my other life, the one before this last uh, we'll say, 16 years,  i used to wear all kinds of interesting clothes.  and in reference to an unfinished conversation with Cindy at Handstories, they were "feminine".  eccentricly feminine, but yes.      then there has been this last Chapter.  but a new mood is coming on.  kiMOODie.   looking at the kimonobirdcoat,  a lizardcoat woman is MAYBE rising up.

this shirt is beautifully made.

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the pockets are fine, attached seperately inside…not sewn on to the face of the shirt.  and deep.

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and……………there is an inside breast pocket

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wandering around in this, i was thinking of stitching it from the INSIDE out.  lining, or creating an inside of probably the various pieces of cloth i have dyed in the last year.  in parts where real warmth would be needed, like the center back, parts of the sleeves,  i would use the raw silk noile.  other parts that i need to be lighter can be the muslin.   i would not take it apart, but cut pieces and stitch them in.  piece it together.  After that,  see what marks that made on the outside and  that would be where the lizard, the raven probably might appear…..    and now,  a hood.  what to think??????

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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49 responses to “a change coming on…………”

  1. jude Avatar

    eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! great!

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  2. jude Avatar

    and since the bird coat is reversible, i will surprise you with what just happened on the other side real soon.

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  3. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    oh, MORE eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…………WAITING………..

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  4. jude Avatar

    that is a great shirt, what a find….

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  5. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    it IS! and it has big sleeves, as in wide. and also, on
    me, long. can roll them up. nice. and NO CUFFS.
    i would also put some of the noile down the front but
    “in sympathy” with the beautiful way they faced it…really wide…eee, let me go measure…like 8″ wide.

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  6. Suzanna Avatar

    What you and Jude are doing is so terrific. It’s got me thinking about how to alter shoulders maybe with kantha stitch…I think about it so much and now I must go to the thrift shore for a huge shirt to try it on. I want to see if it’s possible to get a little bit of puffiness without tearing out seams.

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  7. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    i think you CAN.
    and i also realized that the above might be a little confusing…
    the 3XL man’s size rayon i was referring to is the beautiful
    chinese red with fern shirt that i’m wearing under the kimoodie
    shirt. kimoodie shirt IS a woman’s shirt …nance tells me that
    FLAX is quite popular women’s clothing design….it’s the one
    with the added lable that says “i love my body. i love all of
    myself” maybe for me, it would be “all of my selves”. ? .
    OH! please report!!!!!!
    love to you

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  8. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    comment below to you, of course

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  9. Jeannie Avatar
    Jeannie

    Oh Grace, I love that shirt. I am inspired to go haunt the thrift store, but one never finds those things when looking for them. It is the serendipity of the hunt. Like you, I have my winter outfits. A hoodie and Henleys, silk longjohns. When it is really cold a ancient wool boulce(?) sweater with an ancient cashmere sweater. All sized XXL. I am tiny, 5’4″ (I stretch to achieve this). I look like the kid in the Christmas Story with all my layers, but I am toasty. You and Jude have inspired me to take some of my spring favorite overshirts and create a bird kimono of my own. Thanks!

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  10. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    well, not so tiny….me, 5’2. my daughter’s friend
    referred to me as a pocket size mother. frown.
    yes. i like BIG clothes. don’t like feeling constricted.
    and in New Mex, layers are the thing.
    we all need to keep each other posted on progress.
    thanks for adding to the Energy!!! xoxo

    Like

  11. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Well–isn’t this a charming new development (Jude is such an inspiration, the sort of virus one wants to catch!)–I would be reporting on my newest shirt project, but there will not be one till I finish the feather patches (hopefully with the time and quiet of of my Massachusetts 10 day retreat fast approaching)–and, I won’t need to look anywhere but my own closet, where all kinds of possibilities from the past are still lurking, just waiting for usefulness or discard (to the local thrifts)–I am a hoarder, very neat, but a hoarder none the less. What was in that closet, seldom opened, five years ago, is still there. One part laziness (it takes time to dig in there, sort and cart away)-one part the hoarding gene that enjoys even wasted abundance-and one part unwilling to dismantle the past so long as it’s neatly tucked away. I have another closet where, what I can wear is readily available. Still, I seem to wear the same few currently comfortable things over and over again. I’m no Spring Chicken, so, if death happens to take my by surprise, I don’t envy the poor soul faced with cleaning out the apartment (I didn’t even mention the boxes of books also in that closet). All my past lives are still visible here in some trinket or shirt, book or photograph. Sometimes it weighs on me, and sometimes, I just get busy and forget.

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  12. margaret johnson Avatar
    margaret johnson

    Love the fabric in your shirt, love the pic of you in your stockined feet. And Yes what a fabulous idea, to turn an oversize shirt into a jacket. Think you and Jude will have started a trend hear amongst us stitchers. I am 5′ 2″ as well !!! oxox

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  13. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    I forgot to mention how intriguing the inside eye, how pretty your image in the mirror, and how wonderful to think about ravens and lizards to come!

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  14. Nancy Avatar

    Ahhh…Michelle, you have described me. And my sister. And my mother. YIKES it is a gene! But not just clothes – everything with meaning. But I am working on it. As I wade & slog through my mom’s stuff…I don’t want my kids to have to do the same! 🙂

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  15. Nancy Avatar

    Grace- This is so awesome…what a great find!!! I can’t wait to see what you do.
    And I am around 5’2″ also!

    Like

  16. Sally jo Avatar
    Sally jo

    just love your blue shirt, grace, reminds me of a smock and looks so comfortable. i think your patch is perfect and the whole idea you ace for your jacket is awesome. tried on more than one instance to join your blog, but i failed – hopeless i’m afraid.

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  17. nance Avatar

    i know what you mean… there is so much stuff in this little house that it literally scares me! i see my mother… not the good side either!

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  18. Nancy Avatar

    Nance…go to my blog and see what other kind of fun I’m having! lol

    Like

  19. Linda Avatar

    yeah grace..
    coming over to the kimono side.
    i am loving stitching on mine. it is so fun to think of wearing it around and adding more stitches when i want. i think it will continue to have little things stitched on as things happen.. a story coat.
    i am behind posting but will catch up.

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  20. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    LINDA, i almost almost was late…but
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!
    was lying there in bed and suddenly thought..
    it’s Wednesday….YIKES
    so i am wishing you the very very best year…
    love to you!

    Like

  21. Tricia Avatar

    love your ‘new’ style… this reminds me of something I started a while ago now… must dig it out…
    I’ll watch your progress with interest…:)

    Like

  22. deb Avatar

    sometimes I wish I had stopped here…
    http://likehotcakes.blogspot.com/2011/08/picking-up-thread.html
    …but then I put it on and the weight of the layers warms and comforts me. I wish I could bring myself to operate on the collar the way you have but sometimes I like to turn it up and lurk.

    Like

  23. Doris Avatar
    Doris

    “Sometimes it weighs on me, and sometimes, I just get busy and forget.” Michelle I have decided to forget. Years ago I read some books about simplify your life and I threw away a lot of things. There have been 12 self knitted pullovers I decided to give away because I thought I would never wear them again. I knew that was a fault half an hour later but too late. I never will do this again. As I cleaned out the house of my mother in law I threw away nearly hundred stockings and thousands of other things. I decided that it would be the destiny of my children to do the same. You can survive this… 😉

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  24. Doris Avatar
    Doris

    Grace you give me ideas! I have 4 – 5 linen shirt left which a too big now because I have lost some weight. They are the same style as yours. I´m curious about what you will do with it …

    Like

  25. Drucilla Pettibone Avatar

    oh my. i just got an oversized flax shirt when thrifting about a month ago. it’s a deep, subtle plaid. i’d like to kimoodie-along with you two!

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  26. velma Avatar

    grace, ok, are you holding on? about 15 years ago i went to the flax yearly barn sale. i spent almost 300 bucks. i brought home 20 garments including dresses, jackets, pants, shirts…and everyone of them is still functioning and in my closet. flax originated in ithaca, and was all about comfort, texture, linen (mostly). flax wasa started by the amazing jean engleheart.

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  27. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    this is what moving is good for. when i left Michigan,
    i left a whole house FULL. just told friends to come by
    and take anything they wanted.
    and it’s gone on from there…just a couple months ago
    i took over half of my books to the library for their
    book sale or their shelves.. and one of these days i’ll
    have to take a pic of what happened to my bedroom last
    summer. that’s the most amazing of all.
    it was weighing on me.

    Like

  28. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    Nancy and nance….ohhhhh, sigh, yes. and Nancy, i did
    go look and you have quite a honorable Work ahead of
    you. i would be crushed under it’s weight.

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  29. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    Doris..i always like your way of seeing things…and
    yes. this is good too.

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  30. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    little is good. lots of options with little.
    well, this is going to be SLOW trending on my part. i
    want to get back to my Diaries cloth….

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  31. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    thank you for all those thoughts…

    Like

  32. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    i know…that happens to me with other people’s too.
    but then all of a sudden it works..????
    so every time i visit somewhere, i just try. hmmmm.

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  33. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    yes!!! dig it out and TELL!!!!!!!

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  34. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    oh, the collar was EASY. i have a thing against collars.
    also, it’s amazing how much useable fabric is in a
    chopped off collar……
    yes, sigh, it’s hard to know what to do…i want everything
    to be so ALL PURPOSE…it’s going to be interesting to
    see how much i add to this and where…

    Like

  35. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    woo hoo!, you are READY!!!! YES, it will be interesting
    to me too….
    Daughter is here till probably Sat so i am on Pause

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  36. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    so, LETS GO!…but, as i said, for me, slow, i am
    looking longingly at the Diaries cloth……my first love
    of the moment. wish i could be like Jude and work on
    so much. Alas…..

    Like

  37. Nancy Avatar

    When my daughter was little she had a little yellow t-shirt the said “small is beautiful”…perfect! 🙂

    Like

  38. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    so you had a LUCK OUT of a Lifetime, i’m thinking. it is
    such a very FINE shirt…everything about it. so
    perfectly designed. dresses. i can’t imagine dresses
    they might make…..
    and the flax is interesting…it’s so FLUID, but such
    unreal comfort. this is a BIG size for me but is so
    incredibly perfect. and it’s WARM, surprisingly so.
    as is.
    so…yes…luck out of a lifetime.
    AND
    i have watched Marcel i don’t know how many times already.
    LOVE.
    when kids were little, we had a hermit crab who had a
    life like Marcel. appearing here and there around the
    house.
    soon as my daughter arrives home tonight i am going to
    make her watch.

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  39. Nancy Avatar

    Well this makes me curious Grace!

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  40. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    it might be considered
    bizarre.
    even.

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  41. Nancy Avatar

    This job has been all consuming. Escaping to blogs and a hot shower.

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  42. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    just left you a comment on pomegranate

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  43. Deb G Avatar

    Beautiful shirts… It’s time to start sewing/altering clothing again I think! Flax is one of my favorite fabrics to wear, that and wool of course. Love rayon too, but I won’t buy it new since it’s not the best environmental choice.

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  44. handstories Avatar

    this is full of possibilities. love your inside out approach & the surprise of what will be on the outside when you’re done. and imagining the paths, landscapes, worlds that may appear for lizard and raven to wander through. still contemplating feminine…can’t get away from the memory of a stupid conversation w/the now (thank god)-ex-ass….-of-a-brother-in-law.

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  45. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Grace I am back for the third time–45 comments! WOW–but you are so fine, it is understandable. While all of you are kamoodling, I will be off in the woods staring at nature, maybe sewing on my feather patch. Meanwhile Grace–I have been saving this for you–hope you enjoy it–
    Chamelian
    http://youtu.be/FNolRgH7AIU

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  46. velma Avatar

    if you google the flax site, you can find out when/where each year’s barn sale will be. i never went back. i love love love the clothes, though. especially one dress. and marcel fascinated the hooligans last week. whether they liked it or not. back to flax clothing…when they wear out (i have two that are) they will be pulped and made into paper.

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  47. grace Forrest Maestas Avatar

    in the actually one and a half days daytime hours my
    daughter and had together, i made her watch both episodes
    of Marcel 3 times.
    you know, i look diligently at all your work on your blog
    but am really still very ignorant about paper making as
    you do, as Art and Tradition. the thought of pulping
    a piece of clothing is totally magical to me. who’dve
    imagined. it’s just such an amazing thought.

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  48. Drucilla Pettibone Avatar

    oh yes, it’ll be a very long term project for me.. i don’t seem to be quick about any of it!

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