Special Guest Blog Post! On Seamstress Erin's Blog...

I was quite fortunate to be asked recently to write a guest post (as an overeducated seamstress) on Seamstress Erin's blog, so I wrote about what I love most (besides the Roommate & Bella): travel & textiles!  

In honor of Erin's recent completion of her PhD, she's asked a bunch of other overeducated sewists to blog. My post is about textiles we collected in Ghana, Japan, Thailand & Ladakh.  

Congrats to Erin; thanks for the honor...and my apologies for being a bad sewing blogger right now.  The weather is amazing here (eternal spring!), and we have been spending a lot of time working on our yard (after 3 years of doing almost nothing).  We're building a rock wall now!  

Finally, if you liked my country music clothing posts (after a trip to Nashville), you might enjoy this article about a new photography exhibit in LA (Country Music Icons).  Of especial interest is a photo of Gram Parsons in his leather suit, along with Nudie Cohn, the tailor who designed many of the amazing outfits seen in these photos & in my older posts. 

You Ain't Woman Enough, or, Style Icon Loretta Lynn in Concert!

The Roommate & I were lucky enough to be in Charlottesville a few weeks ago & Loretta Lynn was performing!  Neither of us had ever seen her and the concert was outside (I've an aversion to further ruination of my eardrums), so of course we went.

She's 81 & I hope I'm half as with-it when I'm her age.  Her voice sounded great & she did many of her hits (certainly most of my faves), plus a medley of a few others. No surprise that her band is rockin', too.  
I found her audience quite interesting...in contrast to the Camper van Beethoven/Cracker concert from a few months ago, which was about 80% men aged 40-50s, her show was about 80% women, all older than me (early 50s). Lots of groups of women sans roommates waiting in line with us.  Which isn't really a surprise as she's been an outspoken proponent of women's rights and she really knows what she's talking about. (Ever heard "Mother at 15, grandmother at 29"?  That's her life.)  Here she is singing "One's On the Way" and "The Pill."  She didn't write either, but showed some courage singing them in the late 60s/early 70s.  Actually, 9 of her songs were banned by radio stations--something to be proud of!  

If she has an area of expertise, I'd say it's the double standards for women & men in the US...thank the gods things have changed quite a bit, and she can take a lot of credit for highlighting those inequalities--and bringing some change.  

At the concert she chastised her back up singer for having his sleeves rolled up & said she felt it's important to look like a star when she's on stage.  She's also tiny (5'2"), so I expect these glittery dresses, besides showing she's a star, also ensure she doesn't get lost on stage.  

I'm including some of our favorites, all videos, so you can see her excellent fashion sense, along with some great hair: 

1. You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)   
2. Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)  
3. Blue Kentucky Girl  
4. Portland, Oregon (with Jack White)

Country Music Clothing 4, or Make Your Own Kind of Music

I found these amazing "create your own country music outfit" coloring pages at the Country Music Hall of Fame. I like to give credit where credit is due, so I looked all over the website for attribution or links to these items, but no such luck. I've scanned these in, so print them off if you'd like to create your own country music outfit! While you're coloring, listen to what may be my all time favorite country song...Rocky Top by the Osborne Brothers.


I could turn them into PDFs & email them to you if you'd like...email me at bellaindustries 'at' gmail 'dot' com & I'll get back to you...

Country Music Clothing 3, or Silver Threads and Golden Needles

Miss Minnie Pearl

Well, there's really not a "best" in this series--all the stuff was amazing & a thrill to see in Nashville, but this is sort of the best: the women's outfits!  Not quite as flashy as the men's clothing, and some of them were really not at all photogenic; the lighting on the outfits was great for looking, not so great for photographing.  Anyway, you'll enjoy these, I'm sure, and the music to go along with it...

Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton

I couldn't get a good shot of the one Wanda Jackson dress at the Country Music Hall of Fame, but here's an amazing video of her singing Hard-Headed Woman, which was playing on a loop (with some other great dancing stuff--Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, etc.).  Look at her dress...and her dance moves really show off that fringe!  She's still performing, btw here she is w/ Jack White on Letterman a while back, singing Shakin' All Over, and still wearing fringe. Go Wanda!



If you need more music to get you thru this tour, here's Loretta Lynn singing another of my favorites, You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man).  I cannot resist that song.

Audrey Williams (Hank's wife) - you saw her
boots before

Dolly Parton

Tammy Wynette

Dotty West

Taylor Swift

Connie Smith

Kitty Wells

June Carter & Johnny Cash from the Ryman

Patsy Cline

Two of Loretta Lynn's outfits

Sam Bush

Porter Wagoner

Ernest Tubb's guitars always had this on the back!

Here's one of Ernest's hits, Drivin' Nails in My Coffin (Over You), a great example of Texas swing...find out more about Ernest, his record shops, the Midnite Jamboree shows, live from his record shops (there's an audio archive), or his 1970s tour bus at the Ernest Tubb Record Shops site.  

Country Music Clothing 2, or, Clothes Don't Make the Man

Nudie's Singer Sewing Machine

However, you'll see here that clothes DO make the country music star!

What could YOU make with this Singer sewing machine?  Well, Nudie, the Rodeo Tailor, made all sorts of costumes with it--all of them gorgeous.  His work is so important that his sewing machine is in the Country Music Hall of Fame!  Something to aspire to--having my machine displayed somewhere! Nudie's got his own website, so head on over there, pardner, if you want to see more of his creations or find out more about this artist...

Hank Williams

Hank Williams

The clothing at the Country Music Hall of Fame & the Ryman Auditorium was created by three artisans.  Nudie, Manuel (who is still working--Jack White or Merle Haggard ring a bell?) and Nathan Turk.  Follow the links to see more of their work.  And, as always, clicking on the photo will get you the full-size version.

First, a couple of Hank Williams' suits.  And you can listen to Cold, Cold Heart while you're looking...

If you look closely, you'll see that this suit on the right (with the musical notes on the sleeves) is the one he's wearing in the videos I posted previously: I Saw the Light and Hey, Good Lookin').

Gram shown wearing the suit, with the
Flying Burrito Brothers

Nudie designed this for Gram Parsons

I don't think I can convey how much fun it was to see these.  All I can do is recommend you head down to Nashville yourself; and don't forget to check out the Ryman Auditorium--there's a lot of great June Carter & Johnny Cash stuff there.

And the back of Gram Parsons'
leather outfit

Hank Thompson

Lefty Frizzell

Hank Snow, Nudie designed this one

Jim Reeves

Don Gibson

Faron Young

Ray Price

Merle Haggard

Red Foley's Sugar Foot suit

Porter Wagoner

Assorted Hank Williams, Jr. items

Country Music Clothing, or These Boots Are Made For Walkin'

The Roommate & I met my parents in Nashville, TN for the weekend.  It was great; there is so much to do, plenty of live music and sites to see.  3 days was good, 5 would have been better.  If we'd had more time, we'd spend more time on Broadway on Fri & Sat nites seeing live music.  It was great, though; we had a super time.  It was also nice to see the sun (and lots of it) as this past month has been g r e y here in the DC area.

A disclaimer about the photos--of course these treasures are behind glass and aren't that easy to photograph.  I appreciate your patience.


I had never thought about all the amazing stage clothing the performers wear. But you get in a museum where they're all together & you start thinking...Wow!  Let's get started with footwear...stay tuned for clothing.

First, at the top--Dale Evans' boots!  Roy Roger's are shown behind hers.

And some blue suede shoes--those would be Carl Perkins'.  Though I heard him talk about writing that song on Letterman once, and he said that he saw a guy at a dance get made at his very pretty girlfriend because she stepped on his blue suede shoes.  Perkins said it gave him a great idea for a song--but he would never have said anything to the girl--she was a very pretty lady.  So I suspect these were his, but were purchased after the song was a hit...

Jim Reeves' (my dad's favorite) shoes & gold cufflinks!  Here's Four Walls to give you an idea of his amazing voice...

The following 4 pairs are from the Williams family...Hank Williams, that is.  The first were Hank's himself.  Let's start off with Hey, Good Lookin' , is that my favorite?  I can't decide.  Considering Hank died in 1953, I was surprised to find any old TV clips on youtube.  And take a good look at that suit--it ws on display in the Country Music Hall of Fame (where most of these pics were taken), too and I got a pic.  I was thrilled to see him wearing it in this video.  Here's another great song, with June Carter singing backup & Roy Acuff taking a verse on I Saw the Light.

The next blue & white pair of boots are Hank Williams, Jr.'s when he was a little boy.  That kid started performing when he was 4!

This next pair belonged to Audrey, Hank's wife.  The amount of work that must have gone into any of these is amazing.

Finally, the last pair were Hank Williams, Jr.'s, too, but when he was grown up.  He's still performing, too (and he's not 4 anymore).  But who is?

Hope you enjoyed these.  I don't think of myself as needing great stage clothes to have good music, but at the museum, you really see how much a part of the culture these clothes are...and have been for a long long time.