Flea Market Finds

Slightly belated... but here nonetheless!  This posting is actually showing some flea market finds from a month or so ago, and one of my BEST flea market finds, to be honest.  On top of the usual doilies or embroidered linens I snag I found a stack of little girls' dresses, from the 50s or so.  The man who was selling them had gotten them in various local auctions.

I rummaged through, and picked out 7 that I thought were the best.  And when I say "the best", by that I mean the ones that made me feel the most.  Sounds like weird things to say, I know - vintage toddler dresses were my best find (I don't have children, so it wasn't a practical thing) or my favourites were ones that made me feel.  But here's the thing - I'm a very emotive person.  If I have to make a decision I'll think it all through, but then I try and sit to figure out how I feel about it, or how each option will make me feel in the end.  My creative work & process is no different, when working on something I squint at it, and try to feel what my gut or heart is feeling, and go from there, after making the intellectual decisions to get me to that place.  It really is all about emotion for me - that's why I make work, to get my feelings out, to figure out how I feel about things, and to make the viewer feel. 

I work with textiles because not only do I love them, but they transcend all social barriers (as well as building them up sometimes) like class and ethnicity.  Whether you're concious of it or not, everyone can identify with fabric: we spend our first moments in the world being wrapped in a comforting swaddling cloth, we cling to our mother's blouses and hide behind our father's pants as toddlers, and at night as children we hide from monsters and aliens under our blankets (whether they're a family quilt, fuzzy sheets, or rags).  As we grow so too do our experiences with cloth:  we fall in with others, or set ourselves apart in highschool and clearly state who we think we are with our clothes, we spend ages picking out the right outfit for a first date, or shopping with friends (but not buying!).  Throughout life, this relationship is ongoing and ever changing.  We have funeral clothes, interview attire, surgical gowns, work uniforms, souvenier t-shirts, old gardening clothes, safety gear, and sleepwear.  The list goes on, right down to our shrouds and the final outfit we're laid to rest in.  These things all hold a place in our memories, and hold connections to be made.

This is why I love textiles, and this is why I swooned for these dresses.  There's a story in them, waiting to be told, waiting to be shared, waiting to be reflected on.  Which story?  I'm not sure yet, but I know they hold magical images of innocence, and simple times, of playing in the parlours and dressing up for church, patty-cake & community halls.  Granted, these may well be from the 80s (I'm pretty sure I had dresses like these as a baby) or 70s, I don't REALLY know, but I love the handmade details, the fact that they're no where near mass-produced.  Real love went into making these, and making them special because not everything is or should be disposable.  Why not 2 or 3 handmade dresses that are special, and washed carefully after being worn rather than 20 cheap pieces that can be thrown in the wash but fall apart anyway after a short time, to be dumped in a landfill and replaced with more cheap stuff?  It's a different set of values, a handmade life is and it's a beautiful thing.