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Customer Showcase: Christine Williams Textile Artist - Organza Appliqués

Note about this page:

We like to post on our web site when people have creatively used our vintage Japanese kimono fabrics in their work. Christine Williams (USA) sent us some sample pictures of how she has used vintage kimono fabrics so we asked her to tell us about the pictures and anything about them she cared to share. Below are both her pictures and contextual information. Enjoy.
Yoko Lewis 

Christine Williams

Organza Appliqués

I call them Organza Appliqués (for lack of another term)..... they are not quilting as people often ask or assume. I use vintage and antique discarded Kimono and occasionally Obi pieces cut into shapes and strips that I weave and apply by appliqué method to silk organza.

I started doing this when I discovered my fascination with Japanese textiles their beauty and unique patterns and processes after buying a “bale” of kimono in San Francisco. Being a sewer since age 5 I thought to myself I could “paint” with fabric. The year was about 2000.

My work is about things I love or am passionate about such as geometry, flowers trees leaves, botany in general, my family, the world situation in general, 9/11 in particular.

Below are 4 examples of such:
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The Gift

Christine Williams, The Gift (peacock feathers)


20 years ago my father gave me 100 peacock feathers. I finally realized the only way to work with them was to cut them down. Here they are on a diagonal grid of many different black Obi. I have attached them with tiny gold ties in 2 or 3 places on each quill. They quiver and reflect their unique beauty. The organza base is a torn edge piece 58” x 83”. It is hung on a plexi glass rod with black grosgrain ribbon loop hangers.

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"Untitled"

Christine Williams, "Untitled"

Untitled. Imaginary wild flowers with falling leaves and gold thread embellishment on a black obi woven grid.

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From a series of 10 works called Suburban Nightmare

Christine Williams Suburban Nightmare (1)


The grid is woven kimono; some very old pieces of mostly men’s kimono. The houses are composed of children’s kimono and red juban kimono. The grid represents the “ground” of our lives and the houses represent the idea of the lives of average American people who had been thrown into mayhem or confusion after the event of September 11th. I think 9/11 was and still is a very seminal event for Americans just as other terrorist acts were around the world like Charlie Hebo in Paris.

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Suburban Nightmare

Christine Williams Suburban Nightmare(2)


 This is the latest of my series Suburban Nightmare. Here the houses are breaking apart and are empty engulfed by flames. In California fire is a huge danger and only made worse by global warming as our trees and landscape dry out due to lack of water. The Sonoma fire and the Paradise fire devastated thousands of lives and property. Between the grid are little pictures as symbols. The houses are black Obi and roofs are red various Kimono.

sincerely,

Christine Williams

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