The Labyrinth Project

Everyone who knows me knows that I am entranced by Bowie — have been ever since I heard “Starman.” In junior high my two favorite pop stars were John Denver (one could not escape John Denver in Colorado in the ’70s) and Bowie. I saw Labyrinth on the big screen, on opening day, because in my nerd world there was never going to be a better combination than Henson, Froud, and Bowie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI66hcu9fIs

I don’t generally do New Year’s resolutions, but this year I thought I’d challenge myself to a craft project — which is to Labyrinth a pair of jeans.

Some background — once upon a time, a long time ago, I took grand champion for my age division at the Colorado State Fair 4-H competition, for… erm… a unicorn with butterfly and rainbow. No, you can’t see a picture of it. Nope. I totally blame Peter S. Beagle for that one.

I’ve also done the back of a denim vest, and my most recent project was a mushroom panel, that will one day be a cushion. So, I’ve had some experience in this craft, but let me tell you — toss a corgi into the mix and the whole process becomes….

Chaotic.

The first thing I did was find my reference images. This is the fancy way of saying I spent two weeks looking at pictures of Bowie, Froud concept art, watched the documentary on the making of, and spent way too much time generally swooning. It then took me another couple of weeks to tweak my images back into a line drawing, which I then printed over multiple pages until I got the right proportions. (Note — I had an image that I’d pulled off the web years ago, which is the basis. I deeply regret that I did not keep the link, and thus I cannot credit the artist. I suck, and if anyone knows the artist let me know, and I will amend.)

After that, I taped everything together, and transferred, using fabric transfer carbon paper, the basics to the jeans. Then my dog Rupert Giles ate my reference drawings, so I had to reprint, recut, and re-tape Bowie back together.

THEN THE LITTLE SHIT ATE BOWIE AGAIN.

Yeah.

I’m using fabric paint for the shirt, pants, face, and hands. Note: Hands are a bitch. They are tricky as hell to draw, and I am dreading when I have to actually deal with them. Hands suck. If you can avoid hands, do so.

The majority of the embroidery will take place in the cape — at least for Jareth. I’m also planning on doing the caterpillar on a back pocket, and the white owl on the opposite thigh. Since I’m digging the mixed media concept, I might do the owl as an iron-on transfer with embroidery details, but who the hell knows — I’m going to be doing outline stitch swirls on the cape for the next bit of forever.

Things I’ve learned thus far:

• Make sure your fabric has been pre-shrunk.  If working with denim — look for the highest cotton percentage possible — you cannot embroider stretch fabric and ever wash again.  Trust me, I’ve tried.  It’s sad and depressing how fucked up shit gets.
• Make at least three copies of your reference pattern.  One copy will be destroyed during the tracing process, using transfer paper.  One copy will be eaten by a corgi.
• Ditto with pin cushions.  You will need multiple if you have a corgi.  Mine pulls the pins and needles carefully out of the cushion, then eats the pin cushion.  Rupert Giles has done this twice.
• Working on the leg of a pair of jeans is a pain in the ass.  You will end up going through multiple layers, when you only want to pierce one.  Then you will have to painstakingly unstitch and start over.
• There will be lots of stabbing of self if you are working with denim.  Or are a klutz, or have a corgi trying to help you.  I do not recommend sewing with a corgi present for at least a mile radius.  Corgi free, my friends, is the only way to go.

I’m open to suggestions for shows to watch while I embroider.  So far, I’ve gotten through Season 2 of You (liked Season 1 better than the books, liked the book better than Season 2).  I’m also fond of embroidering to Outlander, of which I am still on Season 1.  Basically, it has to be a show that doesn’t require my attention too much.

So, while I’m busy stabbing myself repeatedly working on the cape swirls (outline stitch eternity), here’s a refresh of one of the most beautiful costume parades ever.  And yes, I know this is a cheesy Bowie song, in a cheesy ’80s fantasy, but… This. Works.