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I can hear my grandmother’s voice from the grave, “that’s no sign of a properly made garment.”

As I studied further my “ta-ta” forms this afternoon, I recalled my mother once telling me that, when her mother was teaching her to sew, her mother (a professional seamstress) made her rip out a seam in a skirt 10 times until she got it “perfect.” So, after studying the forms I’m quite confident of their durability, but they really aren’t very pretty. Certainly the outside of the forms will be covered by the sculpture of the cacti, but the inside…well I simply can’t leave them unfinished. After all, that’s no sign of a properly made garment:)

I was asked recently by a quilter how I approached a new project. She explained that she lays out the images in pieces on a 2-dimensional surface, but how did I approach a sewing sculpture? I replied that I simply cut-away everything that doesn’t look like the form of the object I wish to create. Of course cutting away all the areas that don’t look like the object in question also requires a lot of mending to rejoin the remaining areas.

Although I do have a fair amount of experience in sewing garments, I’ve decided that this was the best method in which to approach the Bizarre Bra. The skeletal form of my barrel cactus “ta-tas” have been completed, and you’ll notice the muslin forms are not very pretty.  In fact, even though I have no doubt that they will endure 20+ costume changes and intense choreography, the hand stitching is horrendous if this were intended to be a fine quality garment.

But, my primary concern is the sculpture. So I stitch, tuck and tack everything necessary to get the barrel shape I’m looking for…then I’ll concern myself with the attachment to a human model and its final transformation into a “fine garment.”