The "Who Me?" Dress
The following article was printed in the Oyster Bay Guardian newspaper, New York. There are some corrections in the post below this article.
Corrections:
1. The school involved was the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women 283 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Click on their name and you can visit their website.
2. To explain further about The School for Domestic Arts: Upon retiring from Walsworth Publishing Company I created The School for Domestic Arts as a crafts program under the auspices of the Oyster Bay Historical Society. I enlisted the assistance of several very talented artists: quilter Michele Miroff; paper artist Diane Kovacs; potter Mia Karlberg-Levin; and folk artist Michael Denaro. There will be more about our endeavors on other pages. The school no longer is operation.
1. The school involved was the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women 283 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Click on their name and you can visit their website.
2. To explain further about The School for Domestic Arts: Upon retiring from Walsworth Publishing Company I created The School for Domestic Arts as a crafts program under the auspices of the Oyster Bay Historical Society. I enlisted the assistance of several very talented artists: quilter Michele Miroff; paper artist Diane Kovacs; potter Mia Karlberg-Levin; and folk artist Michael Denaro. There will be more about our endeavors on other pages. The school no longer is operation.
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Tools & Materials Glue, staples, tape Black leather belt Embellishments: feathers, satin cord Printed biographies on paperbacked cloth Heavy twine Hula hoop Scissors Sewing machine Dressmaker’s dummy Top: Black cotton tank Design was modified from “Making Headlines” by Pattie Donham Wilkinson, courtesy of iLove ToCreate, a Duncan Enterprises Company. iLoveToCreate.com The sixth-grade classes from the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women were instructed to create visual autobiographies using photos, words, objects and color. Their adviser, Betsey Katz, then printed their work on 8 ½ X 11 paper-backed fabric. First, a black leather belt with grommets every two inches was fastened to a dressmaker dummy. Then 45-inch pieces of cord were tied to the belt through each of the grommets. Next these strings were tied to a 36” hula hoop creating a sort of skirt-shaped cage. Under this are sheets of newsprint pushed through the belt and taped around the hula hoop. It was important that the string ribs were still on top and accessible. All of the autobiographies were folded into fans and affixed to the ribs with glue and staples. The first row went around the bottom covering the hula hoop. The vertical bios were layered as far up the ribs as I had pieces. Then some of the horizontal bios were cut into half and layered around the skirt. The last layer is four bios with the paper backing removed and sewed to the ribs just below the belt. The hobo bag was made from three bios. I removed the paper backing and sewed them together horizontally. This piece was layered with batting and a backing and machine quilted in a freeform pattern. Buttonholes were sewn at the side for the drawstring, and then I sewed the bottom and side seams together. The ends of the drawstring were knotted together. The top was a cotton tank purchased from Target. I used fabric glue and glitter to embellish the top, and added the belt made from the same cord as the drawstring on the bag, and other “found” embellishments. Two fabric roses were made from the last two bios. The difficult part was trying to get it into my car to transport to Brooklyn. But we made it. 
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