Your Peacock...Your Peacock!

Let me see your peacock!

I couldn't resist.

Unfortunately I've heard the song.  I have another post for another day regarding my affection for Katy Perry, but not today.

Let's just say, since I don't really know what I'm doing before I go into a project like this, unfortunately I'm not able to write a DIY type of blog post.  That would be cool, but to be honest, I really DKHTDIM (Don't Know How To Do It Myself) except for winging it...All I know is, recently in a few books and when I heard a person speak, the questions were posed:

• What makes you feel alive?  
• What memory from your childhood do you have of yourself being really happy while doing something you enjoyed?  
• What do you LOVE to do?

At first I wasn't in a place where I even knew or remembered how to answer the questions.  I LOVE to be with my family.  I LOVE to be with my friends.  I LOVE to be alone.

Oxygen makes me feel alive...

All great answers, but not exclusively "me"...but when I'm in my basement, tearing things apart and re-creating, well, that's when I see glimpses of what makes me feel alive...

Creating.  Art.  Designing.  Making it up as I go.  

And doing it on a dime.  It's fun for me!

I'm not bragging.  I'm just so excited I've found something I love to do, something that gives me inspiration and energy to face the laundry and piles of dishes.

Here's how it's going so far.

First we cut strips of tan ultra-suede we had left over from Em's Sacajawea costume,  celery green ovals from some upholstery, kelly green ovals from a Baja Expedition t-shirt, and royal blue spots from an oversized man shirt Jason got from a work softball game.  We added tassels from upholstery cording my mom had given me years ago that was sitting in a box that. whole. time.

These are for the feathers that will make up a bustle type thingamajigger on Em's tushy.

Em had a navy blue t-shirt she wasn't wearing so we used it as the base for the bodice.  I sewed royal blue feathers for the chest out of more of the oversized man t-shirt.

Remember "Caboodles?"  Yep.  That's my Caboodle from Junior High which once housed my electric blue mascara, now posing as my sewing box.  And that lavender tulle is going to be a bolero.  I had to have my mom come over and tell me how to work with elastic.  There are some things I can totally wing.  But elastic stumps me every time...I don't know why, but my brain freezes and I'm not sure how to use it...it's weird.  Maybe I got flicked by too many flying rubber bands in elementary school???

And this is my favorite part because it's entirely Emily's design and creation.  We got the peacock feather with a few others attached in the floral dept of Wally World, but she did all the rest, complete with gold embossed feathers and all the bling.  The kid's got an eye for this stuff!

As the "feathers" for the actual skirt were starting to come together, Em said, "Mom, this is actually going to be cool!  I had no idea you had something like this in mind..."

Thanks, kid.  Apparently she hasn't been that impressed with my other impromptu costumes.  Smack.

And since the creative juices are flowing in the basement, Em's gotten out her sketch book and started designing gowns and other fancy numbers.  It's fun to see her put her dreams on paper...one day she and I will put her paper dreams into material.