wearable art exploration

whether made for myself or for gifting others, i find personal creative challenges the mother of invention!

you may ask, did i really need to make full-size, 3D model of my cerise pink logo crown?

YES. yes indeed. (and i think, it turned out rather fabulous!)

below is a retrospective, click the title for the page link, of just a handful of wearable art garments i’ve thoroughly enjoyed creating for myself or others these past ten years.

darling dearie logo crown : i challenged myself to make a 3D actual-sized wearable model of my crown cipher in boiled wool.

fountain hills tourist skirt: i wanted to recreate a fountain hills-themed version of the popular “tourist skirts” from mexico and elsewhere, prominent during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

make it with wool - az 2021 : gifted with a pendleton wool remnant and using wools from my grandma’s stash, i devised and designed my dilly dress (capturing 3rd place!).

make it with wool - az 2022 : wanting to “think outside the box” i plotted to create entry outfits utilizing second-hand wool scarves and my remaining crown cipher boiled wool. (spoiler, i garnered 2nd & 1st place, respectively, within my selected categories.)

mishmash dresses : to use up smaller pieces of waste fabric and be as minimal-to-zero-waste as possible, i fashioned larger pieces of fabric for truly one-of-a-kind dress construction, and then gifted them to women i admired.

idioms jacket - a men’s wool gaberdine suit jacket upcycled into an EPIC piece of wearable art. a total of 13 idioms (one is a two-fer!) were designed and constructed using leftover fabrics including ultra-suede remnants and embellished with metallic embroidery floss, sequins, pearls and more. a project that began three years ago, it was set aside for eight months in 2025 while i jumped into the wedding cape project with both feet. a full list of idioms is at the end of the photo gallery. how many can you guess without peeking at the photo caption?!

upcycling & reinvention : whether its a set of sale cloth napkins in a vintage floral, a gifted vintage embroidered tablecloth, someone’s beloved sheet set or a duvet comforter cover, upcycling and reinventing wearable art garments has become a passion for me.