outofthebasement

Saturday I went to the One of a Kind Show at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. This is a high end arts/craft fair. Besides prints, glass, pottery, and jewelry, it was full of fiber arts/wearable art stuff, fascinating for anyone who is interested in that. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures, so I have to try to remember and describe. There were scarves of every description: painted silk, felted, hand-woven, textured silk, knit. One of the most interesting techniques, which was new to me, was scarves made by felting hand dyed merino wool and silk together so that one side was wool and one silk, and very interesting textures and blends of color developed. I coveted these, but $175 was a bit out of my price range even though they should be very durable and warm, really rather practical. The other new technique was scarves made, I think, by sewing together fabric scraps and bits of fiber on a water soluable stabilizer, so that when the stabilizer was removed there was an open, net-like effect of color and texture. Beautiful, but rather fragile.

There were clothes of all types, hand woven jackets, silk jackets, patchwork looking jackets. Felted sweaters were used for patchwork vests, purses, and jackets. There were hats of all types: fleece, wool, felt, knit. These were very popular because Chicago is of course one place where a hat is almost a necessity. Also I remember from my craft days that women seem unable to resist trying on hats, all the while they say "I'm not a hat person," or "I look so stupid in hats." So I don't know if the hats were really selling--but I bought one! I guess I'm a hat person--