I have been wanting, for awhile, to create a dress, a jumper really, that would be my “signature” dress in the Weaving Shop.

I love dresses so this makes sense. I’ve worn dresses since I was a little girl, even though for most of my life they have not been the fashion.

But I am a bit old-fashionedy.

I knew I wanted to create in the Saori style of making clothing, which, as in Saori weaving, draws in the magical sacred of listening to the cloth.

On the practical level this means you use 100% of what you weave to make the clothing. You also make as few cuts as possible to your handwoven fabric (makes sense since you have spent so much time carefully weaving!). And lastly, you do not “follow” a pattern or cut with a pattern. Instead, you might use a loose visual (not precut) pattern as a jumping off point.

But, all the time, you listen.

That’s how the Moon Dress made itself. 😉

Of course that can’t be exactly true, since I did my fair share of work! But I had no idea what it would exactly look like when I started. I could not have known where the fringe would end up, or which part would be the bottom and which the top. And I certainly did not know there would be a moon.

The moon came as a natural, spontaneous piece when I trimmed the neck. The other part of the cut from the neck is the pocket.

You can have a Moon Dress, too! I am taking orders for custom Moon Dresses in my shop. Check it out here.

The beauty of this kind of creation is deeply sacred to me. I have some experience making clothes for myself–going back to my junior high years. And that desire to make original clothing came because I was–and am–not your ordinary dress-er.

While other kids were in sweatpants and jeans, I looked something like I do now. But however different I may have been from other kids, I felt resoundingly like myself in my own creations.

Fringe on the armpit? Yes! Why not!

I didn’t know, way back as an eighth grader, without Instagram and social media, that there are others like me.

Now I know! And I love that I have community with other creative, colorful, playful dress-ers.

The truth is, when you wear what you love, what makes you happy, it DOES SOMETHING.

And that’s pretty magical.

Want a moon dress? Order it up in your favorite colors and be delighted by what you get!