Tibetan Bolero, Finished — Sorta

I have finished beading the binding on the bolero, and at this point consider the piece done. I may, at some point, go back and add beads to the little prayer flags, but for now, I want to move on to something else. So here is the finished garment. I like the way it turned out, and I think I've said somewhere else (or maybe here) that I will do more of these little guys. They are fun, easy to make, comfy to wear, and make great mini-canvases to play around with.

Note on beading: I started out using heavy button/craft thread, but it was so thick it took an act of God to get it through the beading needle. After ten minutes of struggling with it I gave up, and used regular sewing thread doubled.  Next time I will find some quilting thread in the correct color and use that, probably doubled as well. The small beads won't fit over a bigger needle, so that option is out. And bigger beads would look a bit clunky, at least on this piece. I'm still experimenting, which is part of the fun.

Not why this photo came out so dark...ah well. 

Tibetan Bolero — 3

I have added prayer flags to the front (using a free-form feather stitch, combined with a blanket stitch,  to resemble Tibetan script), and sewn the side/sleeve seams. I added the binding with feather stitch, which took me awhile to get the rhythm of, which is why the sleeve binding looks more even that the stitching on the binding around the neck and front. But when I was done, I kinda decided this would be my "signature" binding stitch, the way the Cretan stitch is for Rice, over at the Voodoo Cafe.

I am now in the process of adding little gold beads to the binding, and will probably add some to the prayer flags.

Bolero back

Bolero front.
I stuck a piece of cardboard inside to hide the messy machine embroidery backing. Had I to do this piece over again, or if I get another T-shirt with a large machine embroidered design on the back, I will make the back of the bolero two layers. The outside layer will have all the decoration on it, and the inside layer will hide all the messy bits.

Here is the beading I have just started.

 

 

And here is why I put the cardboard inside to take the pictures, and why I will make the next bolero sporting a machine embroidered design in two layers. This is just WAY too messy looking to leave uncovered. Well, to me anyway.

I really like the color combination in this bolero. The green was just something I had on hand...one of my husband's old work T-shirts. Also, I enjoy working on these little guys because I don't have to get into any complicated patterns, piecing, futzing, etc., like I do with a lot of the costuming stuff I make. These boleros, and the AC T-shirts and tank tops are simple patterns to sew together so I can spend more time playing with embellishments. That's the really fun part.

Medal For Kay Nielsen Shirt

Per a request by Rice over at the Voodoo Cafe as part of her discussion on SoulWear, I am posting pictures of this work shirt I did back in the early 70s. The title comes from the one I came up with off-the-cuff, to be used in the Art Clothing show it appeared in at the Riverside Art Center and Museum (Riverside, CA). It refers to the image on the back of the shirt, which was my interpretation of one of Kay Nielsen's illustrations for East of the Sun, West of the Moon, and the front of the shirt made to look like I had a chest full of military medals. The woman putting the show together saw me wearing this shirt to an art class, and asked me if I would put it in the show. Gosh, lemme think...of course I would! Not thinking, I whipped it off my back and handed it to her (I had a T-shirt on under it). Much to my later embarrassment, when I went to the show, I discovered my shirt had been washed and...gasp...ironed! A few days later, this shirt appeared in our local paper as part of the advertizing for the show. I still have that article...somewhere.

By the time this shirt was made, all of us art students were into the embroidery, embellishment thing. I started this shirt around 1972, in conjunction with finding and buying the book Native Funk and Flash, which, alas, was destroyed by water two decades later. 

So here it is, pulled from a drawer, not ironed...gasp...and laid out on my work table in the garage.

The front of the shirt is decorated with clothing labels cut from other garments I either Goodwilled or gave away, along with bells, keys(one now missing), and metal star studs. The dragon, now looking a little ragged around the edges, was one of my first attempts at decorating with embroidery, after I dorked around with the little roses on the collar points, and the fake ribbons on the "medals". The little pins were gifted to me by various people over the years, and once on the shirt, never left.

The back of the shirt is a combination of embroidery, applique, beading, and painting (the dark clouds). The horse's breast collar is some kind of washer, and a small bell. Everything on this shirt was drawn, sewn, painted, embroidered or beaded by me.

 

This old guy has held up pretty well over the decades. All the appliques and beading were done using just regular sewing thread. I haven't added anything to it since the 80s, as the shirt fabric is just too thin to hold up. But I still love and wear this shirt. He's an old friend who brings back a lot of memories of a young woman taking her first real art classes (with nude models!),  hanging out with other artists, sharing our ideas, showing our works in the yearly member's show (and feeling so, so important), and all of us overflowing with enthusiasm for what we were doing, and what we hoped to do in the future.

Red Bolero...Completed

I have decided that this is as far as I am going to go with this bolero. I added gold metallic thread around the binding, and down the stem of the stencil design, and I added red beads to the dots on the pattern. I was going to add more stencil to the back, but decided I'd rather move on. I have two ideas I want to try on the next bolero, or maybe, since it is already getting cooler here, a long-sleeved T-shirt. In the meantime, I have a riding costume to finish, and about fifteen archery targets to draw for a mounted archery competition coming up Oct. 5-7.

So, here are the last shots of The Red Bolero.

The red beads on the stencil dots are kinda hard to see, but show up okay outside in better light. These were just the color I happened to have on hand. You can also see the gold metallic thread, which shows up nicely, and really looks sharp outside. I love the way it looks, so will use more metallic thread in the future.

The back.

Me, posing out on the deck, the day I wore the bolero into town. Got many compliments, and when I told folks it was made out of recycled T-shirts, they were amazed. I love that.

 

The back view. And yeah, the design is a bit off center, but since it's on the back where I can't see it when I wear the bolero, I don't care. LOL Doncha just love my bright deck chairs?

Ta dahhh.... Now to move on to the next project.