Feminist Crafts Rock My World

Yesterday I ran across this post about a brilliant feminist project in the US, sending knit vaginas to Congressmen to support women's reproductive rights and control over our own bodies.  In the era of Republican/Conservative misogynistic attacks on women's rights it seems powerful to use humour and style to celebrate women's anatomy, and autonomy.

http://www.happyplace.com/14939/male-congressmen-now-being-inundated-with-knit-and-crocheted-vaginas

This crafty approach to feminist politics makes me laugh and my heart sing with joy.

But I don't knit.  So, I wondered about cross stitching a vagina ...

I mashed that idea up with an interest I have had in trying some 'blackwork,' the cross stitch technique of using stitch patterns other than solid x's to create texture.  Traditionally done in black thread, but I've seen it done with other colours.

Et voila!

A little arty, a little elegant, a little funny and a little sexy. 

A lot political.

Be vigilant, be unapologetic, stand up for women's rights and reproductive freedom.

Resistance is Futile

Next up in Swapland for me was the Anything Goes Needlework Swap.  I was given my partner's questionaire, with a variety of her interests, likes and dislikes, and pinterest link.

One thing she said she liked was mystical creatures, wizards and dragons and that sort of thing.  I love dragons so made that my first theme.  I had a serious, even scary looking, dragon in mind but some google image searches (which I never tire of) yielded a simple cartoon dragon drawing that I was really taken with.  I reached into my bag of vintage fabric samples and pulled out this striped and flowers piece.  I almost chickened out on the fabric, not sure if it would just look too goofy or busy, but in the end just went for it.

I modified the dragon to make him holding a flower and tried to make it similar to one from the fabric.

In the end I am in love with this piece and it was hard to let go of it.  The fabric rocks and the flower is adorable, if I do say so myself.

Definitely encouraging me to do more embroidery.

For a second piece I went back and forth on a few ideas.  I almost did a felted hoop of an iguana but in the end couldn't resist a geeky Star Trek cross stitch.  My partner said she loves the borg, and I thought a borg cross stitch could be just the thing.  I worked off a picture of Picard as Locutus.  My developing style is not to do completely solid coverage, and I didn't have two different grays so I decided to not stitch the skin but rather add a little bit of paint.

It was a good experiement and I think the paint works well.  The end result is cool but I feel like there's something magical missing, maybe the overall piece needed to be darker. Still, you will be assimilated. :)

My partner says she loves them both and agrees that geeky is the way to go with hooplas.

Cinema Swap

The month of swaps is in full swing! 

Did I mention that after I completed my first official craft swap through www.craftster.com I was instantly addicted and signed up for four consecutive swaps?  Well, true story.

First up, the "Golden Age of Cinema Swap."  My swap partner listed a few of her favourite movies and stars and I picked two for inspiration.

Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's is beautiful and iconic. 

I designed and stitched this hoop, mixing some embroidery and cross stitch techniques.  I like the simple elegrant graphic look of it (with just a dash of cute).

Next I decided I wanted to do a print of some kind, and was inspired by the gorgeous Vertigo poster for Hitchcock's classic film.

For a twist I thought the female figure should come to the fore in my version.
I made a linocut for the background, printed it in red, and then cut a stencil for the figure and painted it in black.

Here's the original poster to show my inspiration.

 

The whole package has arrived in Australia and I am anxiously awaiting my partner's creations.

My part of this swap was definitely fun and challenging.  I like that the swap structure pushes me to create things I would not normally think of or choose.

Now on to the next one!