Because August means Back-To-School

To infer that we haven’t been working on this project for a long time would be a lie. I first started discussing the concept in February and made it official in March. I would start shooting in mid-April, finish by mid-May, then have the project done by the first of June.

Yeah, right.

The idea sounded easy enough. We had a bunch of clothes that needed to go away and weren’t appropriate, for various reasons, for donation. I was going to cut the clothes down and make some form of swim/leisurewear from them. I would use fabric glue and rivets since I don’t sew. Old swimsuits would serve as patterns since I couldn’t find any at local stores. What could go wrong?

Everything. The glue didn’t stick to the fabrics. The rivets tore the fabric. The designs were too small, too large, or didn’t want to stay up. When the top of Liz’s suit popped on the first shoot, that should have told me that nothing was going to go smoothly. The software I planned to use wouldn’t work with the volume of pictures. Driving to Terre Haute to shoot Robin, the weather decided we needed rain. While shooting Keyona, a doe (properly credited in the video) decides to stroll across the river behind her, and then a couple of ladies passing nearby decided to stop and cheer her on. Shannon’s video disappeared. No trace of it ever existing. One model became ill while shooting. My car acted as though it would blow up (still isn’t behaving right). The entire month of April was cold.

Yet, despite all the delays and challenges, we made it. An awesome group of young women made themselves available, went hiking in the woods, and changed clothes behind a tree to give us the best shots possible. When something fell apart, we found ways to put it back together (or did without). When a deadline slipped, no one screamed at me and Kat constantly reminded me that this was my project, I couldn’t be fired for being late.

The video below is the result. I’ve learned a lot in the past few weeks. I’ve pulled at my hair more than a few times. The cats did their best to help even when assistance was not needed. Is everything perfect? Nope. There are a couple of glitches that probably have reasonable solutions but I wasn’t able to find them. I decided that I’m going to be okay with imperfection. This time.

This is a milestone. Don’t expect to see a lot of people dressed in anything between now and the end of the year, and definitely not anything I’ve designed. I won’t be assembling a large group nor creating anything spectacular. This is the last big event.

My thanks to Liz, Taylor, Rev. Skyy, Shannon, MissLeighanne, Emily, Robin, Keyona, and Syd K. Innovaria for their participation. Thanks to Kat for the inspiration and patience as there were times when fabric scraps threatened to take over the living room. Thanks to Big Gabe for keeping an eye on his step-siblings when schedules became difficult. And thanks to that doe for making everything feel perfect.

Here’s the video. Enjoy.