wearable art

March 20, 2017 By Sandra Liggett Leave a Comment

Working in Anticipation of Inspiration

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” I have taped this quote from Pablo Picasso to my FeltLOOM, my computer and my sewing machine. I feel like it should be tatooed on my wrist and welded into my brain for those times when I experience gaps in my creative energy. At the present moment, I find myself lacking the final vision for our spring line.

I love Pablo Picasso for his inventiveness, his comfort in the uniqueness of his own view of the world and for his voluminous artistic output. Unlike a lot of other artists I love, who were often quiet about how their art came about, Pablo Picasso spoke a lot about his art. Today these quotes give me assurance that I do NOT have to have the final drawings for my designs in my mind when I sit down to work.

“You have to have an idea of what you are going to do, but it needs to be a vague idea.””

“Why do two colors, put one next to the other sing? Can one really explain this? No, just as one can never learn how to paint.”

“To copy others is necessary, to copy oneself is pathetic.”

I have felted some unusual pieces of fabric, many of which came from my recently deceased mother-in-law’s inspiring scarf collection. They are spunky, like Maryanne, and full of color. They call for a different garment design. I have a few ideas. Off to work!

Til next time, Sandy

September 14, 2016 By Sandra Liggett Leave a Comment

The Fire Nymph: Glowing with Pride

Whispirit’s edgy orange collage jacket The Fire Nymph was selected by the jury at the Western Design Conference in Jackson, Wyoming last Friday as the Best Art in Wearable Art Design. We were awarded a blue ribbon and $1000 prize (thank you to the Bank of the West). We learned that The Fire Nymph was the unanimous choice of the six member jury. Several jury members told us that they loved the jacket design and that we also made our own fabric.

The Western Design Conference is a big event in the Western design fashion world. We are honored to have been juried into the last two years and were stunned to win in this very competitive category.

The Conference kicked off with a wonderful fashion show featuring 22 different designers and numerous volunteer models. Our own great pal Stella Evensen modeled a jacket we designed just for her. She and each of the models – Elizabeth Grey, Nancy Fauntleroy, Roni’Belle Eastman, Jill Gui – were fantastic. Our models walked to Joyce Cooling’s jazzy “This Girl’s Gotta Play.” Thanks to all the models and special thanks to Laura Fambro-Cook, her boundless energy and her great team.

The following three days brought lots of visitors to our booth. Old friendships renewed and new friendships begun. We particularly enjoy the connections this forum allows with artists across many creative mediums. The world of imagination and its artful expression is thrilling and inspiring.

A day of hiking in The Grand Tetons helped bring us back to earth. We are exhilarated and exhausted as we begin our long drive back to New Mexico, Lee driving and me writing this blog with great jazz playing in the background.

A huge thank you to Allison Merritt, and her very special team of Jim, Sosha, Molly, and others too numerous to name who pull this event off. It is a special gathering you create and we are honored to be part of it.

Off to New Mexico! Sandy

April 25, 2016 By Sandra Liggett Leave a Comment

Eco and Fashion Friendly

Last week’s Fashion Revolution Week highlighted a lot that is wrong with the fashion production industry, from overseas deplorable wages and working conditions, to the costs of fast fashion, and the clamor for eco-friendly fashions. I wanted to take a moment to describe why we at Whispirit have been working feverishly to produce our new form of fabric production, collage.

I blogged about the workshop I attended hosted by JoAnne Manzone in Ashland, Oregon with the talented textile maker Melissa Arnold. I chose this workshop to attend because I was wowed by what I saw Melissa making. It was, well, fashionable. Beautiful colors, creative and unusual abstract designs, it was like looking at a wearable Picasso.

I was also drawn to this form of felting because it utilizes bits and pieces of leftover fabric, string, selvages, yarns, weavings… things that would be discarded from the more typical fabric design world. The waste in the world of fashion is an enormous issue, both in the creation of fashion of all types and in the disposal of fashion items when they fall out of “cool.”

Since our inception, we at Whispirit have purchased interesting scarves and wraps from secondhand shops. I have also, since leaving the office world, begun to “repurpose” fabric from my old clothes and scarves. Here are a few photos of some of the items we made from repurposed fabrics. Alas, they are one of a kind; when gone, there is no reproducing even a “similar” of these fabrics.

But this collage technique moves recycling to a totally different level. It begins with a prefelted piece of alpaca/merino wool made with our fibers and our FeltLOOM. We lay colorful pieces of roving made by me, or bought from handcrafters, very lightly on top. Then the fun begins.

I begin by piling up my worktable with bits and pieces of fabric that I think would look interesting together. Cutting or tearing pieces, I lay them on the layer of the loose fibers, laying them out like a puzzle until I find the wave of the design. I run that through our FeltLOOM several times to fasten down the pieces. Overlaid with a soluble stabilizer like Solvy, I free motion-stitch all over the piece with matching or contrasting thread. After washing the stabilizer out, I then finish the felting with either traditional wet felting techniques that require very little water, or with a simple bounce around the drier.

It always ends by “whomping” the still wet fabric on the table for a little while. (Whomping is a term Lee claims comes from Nebraska.)

It is a nice simple workout, I get lots of steps on my FitBit and I end up with an eco and fashion friendly one of a kind fabric. “Whomping” is a great stress release, particularly when one works with one’s husband.