Making things Wednesday - the first moon time dress

As I discussed in my post yesterday, I am really inspired by all the amazing work of native artists that the internet allows me to access.  I have been trying to pull these inspirations into the first moon time dress I am making for Sophie (this is the dress for after her seclusion period). She has been helping me make design choices and we are trying to pull from the traditional designs but also work with what we have.

I have finished the fronts with some leather medallions and fringe.  There is something very special about working with the leather and these were pieces we recycled from an old coat.   I like how the circle of the front has a sun feeling.   With just the couple of rows of lazy stich beading I am amazed about how much weight this has added.  The cats also seem to love it and have pulled the stiches out in a couple of places.   The gravitas of a whole top done this way would be amazing.

The second picture is the sleeve detail.  I have painted a mandala using fabric paint. The fabric paint is gratifying as compared to the beading as it is so quick.  I really love the colours that the paint comes in and the metallic options.  This is the sacred circle.  I am going to do the other side in the same colours and shape but trying not to worry too much about matching it up exactly.

Last weekend we worked on the back.  Sophie wanted the metis infinity symbol and she painted a cog in gold to reflect her tech side.  I included some metis style flowers and strawberries for the colour and the symbolism of the strawberry for girls in their first moon times.

I am enjoying the chance to bring all these inspirations together and to work on something with Sophie.  I hope that this will be something special for her to keep.  I hope like those Kookums who sat together and told stories about their beading triumphs that Sophie and I will be able to look back on this work together with good memories of time shared making something beautiful, making something connected to our pasts, making something for our futures.