Indigo

This past weekend I visited the Vintage Clothing and Textile Show at the Pickwick Gardens in Burbank. There are about 100 vendors - mostly vintage clothing, bags and shoes.
Beautiful lingerie from the twenties, simple cotton shifts from the sixties and loads of Gucci bags from the eighties. I can't be bothered with all of this vintage garb - although I secretly wish I was someone who could pick out fabulous second hand clothes and make them look contemporary. I was looking for the unusual scrap to inspire me - something that no one else was looking for. I found a couple of very old pieces from my friend Angel - she loves old cloth as much as I do - indienne prints, vichy, and ticking...
but all of this I have seen before - I was looking for that one little bit of color or design that would convince me that there was always something hidden at these shows. As I was leaving I saw this small stack of early Japanese indigo scraps - probably salvaged from kimonos and norens. "Noren" relates to the craft, Somemono, the process of dyeing textiles such as silk and cotton with natural dyes such as indigo. I didn't ask the price of the lot - I simply admired it from afar and thought about all the beautiful indigo scraps I have and how I should start patching them together and make a simple wall hanging - ikats, indigos and denim could all sit nicely next to each other in a patch banner.