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I’m stitching to support the Sewing Rebellion
With the downturn in the global economy it has become necessary for me to join the forty-three percent of tailors and hand sewers who are self-employed. (This is according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). We hand sewers and seamstresses, provide an invaluable service to consumers who value their clothing. I have found a nitch market, manufacturing garments for artists. I am fortunate my skills and craftsmanship are appreciated. I earn approximately $12.11 per hour, and hope to earn $25,200 to continuing supporting the Sewing Rebellion.
My first stitching project was a collection of garments created for CamLab a LA based artist collaborative. I generated the following garments (see below), which were used in a performance at MOCA, as part of the engagement party series. http://www.moca.org/party/camlab/
I’m open for other stitching jobs, so place your custom orders today!
Inclusive Fashion Practices remote presentation
This morning, I participated via Skype in an Integrated Design Program at Parsons in NYC, I shared my continued attempts to compete with China, through commemorative actions, situations of collaboration, facilitating honorably paid garment work in Haiti, and generosity and skill sharing.
Here are is the PDF of images. Parsons 10 minute talk compressed During the visual presentation I played the music of Bev Grant, vintage songs of the American labor movement.
INCLUSIVE FASHION PRACTICES
|
HOW CAN FASHION SPARK INSPIRATION FOR SYSTEMS OF PRODUCTION AND
CONSUMPTION THAT ARE INCLUSIVE, PARTICIPATORY,
ABUNDANT, PLURAL, AND DEDICATED TO MUTUAL GROWTH AND LEARNING ? The event ‘Inclusive Fashion Practices’ hosted by the Fashion track of Inclusive Fashion Practices will bring together an exceptional group of The event aims to spark discussion and insight about our current models Join us on November 13th, from 11-6, in the Theresa Lang Community and participating practitioners a.o.: Painted (Saskia van Drimmelen and Margreet Sweerts), Hosted by the students and the faculty of the Fashion Area of Study in |
Useful work vs. Useless Toil
Sept 8 and 9 I facilitated work and reflection on William Morris essay, Useful work vs. Useless toil. I asked the following questions of myself and participants:
Useful work vs. useless toil
What is useful work?
What is useless work?
Is Mending and altering jeans worthy work?
Is replicating my hand crank sewing machine in velvet useless?
Here are some selections from the Essay.
Useful Work v. Useless Toil
William Morris
What is the nature of the hope which, when it is present in work, makes it worth doing?
It is threefold, I think-hope of rest, hope of product, hope of pleasure in the work itself; and hope of these also in some abundance and of good quality; rest enough and good enough to be worth having; product worth having by one who is neither a fool nor an ascetic; pleasure enough for all of us to be conscious of it while we are at work; not a mere habit, the loss of which we shall feel as fidgety man feels the los of the bit of string he fidgets with. Pg 2
To sum up, then, concerning the manner of work in the civilized States, these States are composed of three classes – a class which does not even pretend to work, a class which pretends to work but which produces nothing and a class which works, but is compelled by the other two classes to do work which is often unproductive. Pg 9
The first step to be taken then is to abolish a class of men privileged to shirk their duties as men, thus forcing others to do the work, which they refuse to do. All must working according to their ability, and so produce what they consume – that is, each man should work as well as he can for his own livelihood, and his livelihood should be assured to him; that is to say, all the advantages which society would provide for each and all of it’s members. Pg 12
When the revolution has made it ‘easy to live’, when all are working harmoniously together and there is no one to rob the worker of his time, that is to say, his life; in those coming days there will be no compulsion on us to go on producing things we do not want, no compulsion on use to labour for nothing; we shall be able to calmly and thoughtfully consider what we shall do with our wealth of labour-power. Pg 14
Motivational posters for your use.
And here is a visual narrative, possibly providing an answer to the questions?
On a beautiful Maine day, I take a moment, to wonder and consider the topic outside of the workshop.
In America even the flag is made in China.
Frau Fiber comments on the impact of globalization on American patriotism.
More than 200 years ago, the Philadelphia seamstress Betsy Ross, helped to create the first American flag. Legend says she impressed Gen. George Washington by fashioning a five-pointed star with a single snip of her scissors. Today’s American flag has thirteen stripes, 50 stars, and a tiny, often unnoticed, Made in China label.
Today the American flag, like most products Americans consume, has gone global. And as Americans wave their flags today, let’s consider some statics about the origins of these flags.
- America has imported $10.9 million worth of American flags in the past year.
- The 53-star flags baffle consumers. Joyce Doody, director of membership services at the National Flag Foundation, a patriotic education association in Pittsburgh states “we presume that they were made in another country.”
- China has exported $5 million worth of flags
- Taiwan and Korea have also made hundreds of thousands in recent years, according to data from the US Department of Commerce, the US Treasury, and the US International Trade Commission.
- Shanghai Flag & Tent Works exported about $1 million worth of American flags.
- American companies also produce more than 100 million flags of all types each year.
- Probably less than 5 percent of American flags sold are made overseas.
- Chinese-made American flags account for about 20 percent of American flags sold at the United States Flag Store.
Concluding this research, I am lead to believe the Chinese do a better job with small flags, while the small flags you will see in parades around the country today are made in America tend to fall apart.
Frau Fiber launches…..
WHITE COLLAR MEND KIT, supplying instructions and tools to mend your wool work suits. The mend kit will be presented @
Exhibition in Motion: Objects Performed, a performance that provides a stage for artists and dancer/performers to explore how objects are made to function, and the imagination and improvisation activated in one’s pursuit to use. Curated by Stefano Catalani, Venetia Dale, and Tia Kramer in collaboration with choreographer Amelia Reeber.
Hosted by the Bellevue Arts Museum for FLUX the 2011 Society for North American Goldsmith’s (SNAG) Conference in Seattle, WA.
Saturday, May 28th, 2011 6-8pm.
Only 450 advance tickets available.
Contact Tia Kramer tiakramer@gmail.com
Arbeitskleidung – work clothing
Laslo Moholy-Nagy – work suit,
Bauhaus Master,
founder of the New Bauhaus in Chicago,
and a sharp dresser –
I am inspired by his fashioning of work during the 1920’s.
As a young woman, I spent many days studying the collection at the Bauhaus Museum in Weimar Germany. Weimar is a 20 KM bike ride through the countryside from my home in Apoloda. By train I have also visited Dessau and Berlin. Getting to know the concepts of art and manufacture through the museums.
I ask why did Moholy choose to wear this uniform?
Is he wearing the uniform as a method of creating an identity integrating art and manufacture?
In the garment factory I wore a uniform; it was functional, and protected me from the oil, dirt and grime of the factory.
I connect with the history of the Bauhaus and my history as a garment worker by wearing a uniform, in my new life, as a textile activist.
The work wear must commemorate my comrades of the weaving mills, shoe and garment factories
The work wear must be functional for wearing at my sewing machine / or when organizing demonstrations and synchronized sewing.
The work trouser, my first work wear attempt after arriving to Chicago in August of 2006 – I Followed my beloved Bauhaus, weavers and architectures.
I set up shop, and produced my Work Trousers – Hand dyed indigo, woven on a 8 harness loom, copied from US military trousers and Irish work wear pockets, sewn on a singer industrial machine and machine embroidered.
with my first “logo” TEXTILE WORKER. I found the trousers uncomfortable, hot, and heavy. The dresses I worn in the factory were more comfortable.
The Princess line dress work wear – reminiscent of dresses worn during the former times, it is ideal for sitting at a sewing machine 8- 12 hours a day, moving on a factory floor, the skirt provides a freedom in movement, and with the addition of pockets the dress is very functional, and flattering for those moments when I pause from my work for a photograph.
I continued using the princess line dress, when I travel to Haiti to instigate Made in Haiti.
I saved discarded shirtsleeves from the landfill, used “slow piece work“ productions methods, this dress required 8 hours a production time, and was reminiscent of crazy quilts.
The work wear I produced, allowed me to embody Made in Haiti, which attempts to create sustainable, honorably paid, garment and textile production in Haiti. Made in Haiti, employees, Jonas La Baze, Tailor and three, Port Au Prince artist Junior and Claudel Casseus and Londel Ynnocent. We use Pepe (second hand clothing imported into Haiti from the United States) as a natural textile resource, repurposing it, and transforming the garments into fantastically, shabby couture apparel, and accessories.
The Revolution textiles work wear – commemorates young women mill workers in Greensboro NC, These independent 1920’s women, the long skirt and long sleeves, which would get caught in the machines were eliminated, and replaced with bloomers, and short sleeves, for comfort and safety.
During my time in NC I had the honor to toured Cone mills, the leading supplier of denim to Levis Strauss, designer jeans. During the tour I met Millie a textile commerade, who has been a loom fixer at Cone for over 50 years. Millie told me she has stayed at work so love, because she loves to weave!
Frau Fiber provides at statement to the Denver Press
statement given by Carole Frances Lung
Carole Frances Lung biographer of Frau Fiber states “Frau Fiber is currently unavailable for interviews, so she asked me to speak for her.”
Reporter: Your work is rooted in the history of undervalued women workers, specifically textile workers. What inspired you to explore this subject?
FF RESPONSE as spoken by CFL: This work is inspired by her experience working in the apparel industry in Apolda Germany – in a knit wear factory. Apolda germany during the communist times, was the leader in knit wear garment production - When the Berlin wall fell, Frau Fiber became like many factory workers one of the lost Generation – of unified Germans who found themselves unemployed. She pieced together a life of mending, altering, and teaching at the local schools. IN 2006, she met me Carole Frances Lung, and we became fast friends. We have a similar background, I too worked in the apparel industry and lost my job, do to a down turn in sales after Sept. 11. I invited FF to come to the US, and take up organizing and gifting her skills.
Reporter: What is your objective?
FF RESPONSE as spoken by CFL: Frau Fiber’s objective is multi layered: first Sewing Rebellion teaching people how to mend, remake and alter their garments – increasing the life of the garment, so it doesn’t end up in the land fills so quickly, and I also see this as a way to respect the labor of the original garment.
Secondly – in her work like the KO Enterprise – performance’s of labor, it’s about making the labor behind the label transparent, so people have some idea how, where and under what conditions garments are made.
Finally, with the Made in Haiti Project – it’s about creating garment jobs, where they have been displaced by shifts in garment manufacturing, or because of the surplus of used American goods. Frau Fiber has stepped back from Made in Haiti, and handed off to CF Bazile, a social entrepeneur who has stronger capitalistic skills. Although she is still involved as advisor.
REPORTER: As I understand it, your presentation at MCA will have something to do with the politics of mending. Is that accurate, and where will you go with that?
FF RESPONSE as spoken by CFL: Yes the politics of mending – or rather mending as a political act – similar to choosing to ride a bike, take public transportation so as not to use fossil fuels – if you mend your garments – this is inspired by HDT – Walden – chapter on Economy – No man ever stood the lower in my estimation for having a patch in his clothes; yet I am sure that there is greater anxiety, commonly, to have fashionable, or at least clean and unpatched clothes, than to have a sound conscience. Frau Fiber promote – making the mends decorative –so they stand out and are embellished. It’s no about hiding the work
REPORTER: What is the significant in bringing a group of women together to mend?
FF RESPONSE as spoken by CFL: this is in the tradition of quilting circles, and during the DDR times, Frau Fiber held sewing circles in her home, and this was a time to talk politics, and to the Stazi, it looked like it was just a group of women getting together to sew.
Typically there are men involved – and even though this is a feminist event, feminism as I understand is broader than the female gender
REPORTER: What do you hope participants will gain from this workshop?
FF RESPONSE as spoken by CFL: FF hopes they will find pleasure in mending, so they continue to do it. This is not your grandmothers sewing circle, FF hopes you will find ways to subvert the meanings of garments through mending.
REPORTER: Do you think the current DIY/crafting trend is a response to some of the issues you bring up? Is it a good thing? Will it last?
FF RESPONSE as stated by CFL: First off – how do you define DIY / Crafting. FF understanding is that DIY/Craft culture has become another nich commodity. Yes it’s made in USA, locally, by hand or with the help of machines, but truly it is small-scale manufacturing for profit. It doesn’t do anything to change the value of garment and textile production, actually participate in it, with the purchasing of fabrics, and notions. FF is interested in acts of generosity, skills sharing, community building, and honoring garment workers with out a participating economical exchange. There will always be people who make – sew, weld, build, whether it’s a trend or not. In a utopic world, it would be wonderful if people would spend more of their leisure time making, and doing for themselves, and less time in the mall. Frau Fiber doens’t see that happening in the near future, but she perseveres.
see article http://blogs.westword.com/showandtell/2011/04/frau_fiber_feminsim_co.php
