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Stitching witchery

14:42 / 08.02.05

Hello chaps,

I have recently become interested in (some might say ever so slightly too interested in) knitting, weaving, sewing, etc. But not crochet. Yet.

I've come across the idea of the kitchen witch before; and I am certainly familiar with the idea of magic being stitched into cloth (see numerous examples in the books of Diana Wynne Jones: Sophie stitching spells into her hats, and subsequently into Howl's suit; Tanaqui weaving spells into robes in The Spellcoats; I think maybbe Aunt Maria knitted?); and also with the idea of clothes being poweful objects for the wearer (again with DWJ: Chrestomanci's dressing-gowns [rather fancy making myself a Chrestomanci dressing-gown]; Maree's awful Aunt in Deep Secret).

Has anyone done anything similar to this? I mean - not taking a garment and putting things into it, but doing the working as the garment is made?

I'd be interested in any comments or experiences people have had with such workings undertaken in a domestic context; it might also be interesting to look at such workings in relation to gender (have they had an association with one gender over another, if so why, how is this changing, and so forth)...

Thanks in advance!

15:07 / 08.02.05

There's a tradition in hoodoo called "the sewn-up pocket" which is where you sew up various items (roots, herbs, found objects) into the pocket of an item of clothing. It's the same principle as a gris gris/charm/mojo bag, but in the form of an item of clothing, with the properties of the sewn-up gear empowering the clothes for the wearer. This is an area of magic that I'm actually really interested in, given my mod-like proclivities and love of tailoring.

This thread: http://www.barbelith.com/topic/20001 had some stuff about magical clothes.

I talked a bit about my hoodoo tailoring ideas there: Hoodoo tailoring. Designing a suit with a magical purpose and getting it made to measure for you. A magical suit made to fit you, nobody else can wear it, it won't look right on anyone but you. Every aspect of it, the colour, the fabric, the stitching, placement of pockets and buttons, can be chosen with a specific intent in mind. Not a single stitch out of place. Everything about the suit should perfectly express the magical intent behind it. The money you spend on tailoring and the hours worked to earn that money is your sacrifice. Everything has a price. If you are "a person of power" you should have the power to get a suit made for you. The power to conjure tailors, cloth golems and threadneedle spirits that will work for you and make your will manifest with three buttons, side vents and a thin lapel.

If you can find a tailor who is open to magical ideas, ask them to say a prayer over the cloth while they are stitching it for you, get them to sew secret items, roots, powders, symbols, into the lining of the jacket. Sewn-up pockets full of mysteries. The suit functions like a gris-gris bag that you wear. Putting on the suit is like putting on a spell or a glamour or stepping into a specific role. Wear it whenever you practice magic, and wear it whenever you want to function as a magician in the world.

rising and revolving

15:09 / 08.02.05

Gypsy, did you ever end up getting that done?

15:15 / 08.02.05

Thanks Gypsy - I remembered your post about hoodoo tailoring, actually; but your first example sounds more like what I was thinking of, as it's the kind of thing that the practitioner would do him or herself, at home probably...

More thorts to come

15:26 / 08.02.05

Yes and no. I have a half-tailored suit, done by a man in Peckham who called himself "The Supreme Commander", which is fantastic, but urgently needs the shoulders fixed before I can wear it. The thing is, I randomly met this Druid geezer at the top of Primrose Hill on the Summer Solstice, who also turned out to be a tailor. I became convinced that this is the person I needed to enlist to finish my magical suit, but his shop is located in Notting Hill, and I just havent had a chance to go there and attend to business, but it's all long overdue. This one is not the magical suit though, which I was shown in a dream last year and I will at some stage have to get made with no expense spared. I'm not quite ready to wear that yet though. I think of them a bit like grades. I think I've earned the right to wear the one in progress now, which is why it's imperative I embark on the quest to Notting Hill forthwith.

15:28 / 08.02.05

Aye, but the principles of hoodoo tailoring can be applied to stuff you might make at home, hats, scarves, gloves, jumpers, etc... are all fair game and it's just a case of thinking about each element of their design and all of the materials in terms of magic.

16:12 / 08.02.05

This may be a romantic conceit, but it has been my understanding that some of the patterns knitted into traditional Aran wool sweaters were magical designs, meant to help protect the wearers while fishing in the choppy waters off the west coast of Ireland. It's possible they just tell you that in the shops to make you want the sweaters, but it's a thought. A good knitter can produce almost any design, I think. I'd like to see someone make a sigil-sweater.

rising and revolving

16:46 / 08.02.05

I've heard the same about the sweaters, but I thought the important thing was the intent that went in while the knitting was done ... I've definately done knot magic in the past, and I could easily see how this could be extended to knitting magic.

Basically, if I was looking to knit intent into an item, I'd treat it almost like a rosary - a little mantra repeated with each stitch to bind the intent in there, accompanied by a magical atmosphere, a little ritual before the beginning of each knitting session and another at the end, and a visualisation of the energies flowing in and being bound in the stitches as they happen.

That's pretty much how I do my knot magic (in essence), except I generally use a piece of rope the same length as the person in question, head to toe.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

18:55 / 08.02.05

I was looking into the folklore surrounding embroidery a little while ago, partly as fodder for my cross-stitch obsession and partly to help me make my pet servitor, and I dug up this site: Forgotten Lore. There's a short list of embroidery stitch correspondances (e.g. blanket stitch = binding). You have to use the drop-down menu to get to it, though, I can't seem to link directly. Also, there are no references so I don't know where the site owner got hir information.

07:57 / 09.02.05

This may be a romantic conceit, but it has been my understanding that some of the patterns knitted into traditional Aran wool sweaters were magical designs, meant to help protect the wearers while fishing

The version of this I heard was that the patterns in aran sweaters were used to help identify the bodies of fishermen who died at sea and whose corpses were washed up unrecognisable to their families, apart from the knitting pattern of their jumpers... Slightly less romantic, I suppose... but interesting...

Less searchable M0rd4nt

18:41 / 04.09.05

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I'm currently investigating the possibilities presented by the manufacture and use of one's own yarns.

The main element I'm working on at the moment is the spindle itself. I'm trying to create a glass spindle whorl to enchance the hypnotic effect of the handspinning process.

However, this has lead on to another avenue of research, namely the magical properties of dyestuffs and related materials. I'm now thinking about dyeing my own wool, whilst also including various magically significant herbs in the mix. Fortunately there's a big crossover between "magic herbs" and "stuff that makes your wool go a pretty colour."

(What would kick arse would be if I could actually create the raw fibres from the plants themselves, but most plants aren't suitable for this.)

The plan now is to get hold of some fleece or other spinnable fibre, infuse it with power from various herbs and additives, spin it into yarn using my magic spindle, then weave it into magical cloth. I can think of one or two ways I'd use this: obviously items of apparel, but also soft furnishings. Cusions of protection. Tapestries of money attraction. Embroidered wall-hangings of DOOM.

Any thoughts?

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

20:31 / 04.09.05

I think if you imbue too many spells into clothing you're going to be dreadfully hot in the summer time, lol.

I'm just re-reading this thread for the first time in a while.

I think that starting from the get go (before its even spun into yarn) is probably one of the best stages to start the magicking at. Different spells for different levels of the process, yeah? Seems to make sense.

This has nothing to do with clothing, but being a chef I've theorized a similar sort of working done with plants. Spells at the planting, the picking, the cutting, and the final preperation. Which really is probably something some religions do already, and for some reason something I feel dreadfully embarrased about even considering.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

20:45 / 04.09.05

I was thinking more along the lines of a bag or other accessory. Clothing seems sort of... presumptuous at this point.

I think your magical cookery sounds like a plan! Magical gardens, herbs growing in sigil-shaped squiggles; consecrated gardening equiptment, runes to be chanted over the chopping board... you should totally do it.

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

22:18 / 04.09.05

If I were a gardener, perhaps. I know nothing of plants. Well, not knowing. But pretty close to.

And its not even the herbs I'm thinking of. Vegetables and fruit, really. Herbs would be easy, and easy to put into things, but once again my knowledge there is quite limited.

The problem is that, like all rituals, I'm really not sure what the purpose would be. It'd have to be something general, or very, very specific in the future because vegetables take at least a year or two to produce anything substantial.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

22:38 / 04.09.05

This is an interesting tack, but I think we've strayed too far into Offtopica. Maybe a new thread for food/garden magic...?

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

01:02 / 05.09.05

Actually, I've been avoiding starting one because Tenix PMed me about starting a thread, so I think ze has something to say on that. Gonna wait for them to start it.

But you're right...we have straight rather far off topic here.

To get back on a bit, I've been considering what to do with my new tophat. Now, its a key prop for some LARPing, as well as a magical tool of mine, so I don't want to muss it up too much. But I've been considering what I can do with it to magic it up a bit more.

Got my little "fetish" bundle, which, looking at my Enyclopedia of the Occult, seems to be more of a mojo/gris-gris sort've dealie. I really need a proper name for it. That bag's got quite a history, including the fifty pence piece dipped in the waters of Aquae Suilis at Bath (I'd have dunked the whole bag but its gotten wet once before in a rain storm and it was a bitch to dry off...and the herbs inside made it smell real funky as it dried...not pleasent). ANyway, I'm wondering if something similar would work with the hat. Maybe stitch things into the inside of the hat band?

Unconditional Love

11:29 / 05.09.05

Theres alot of magic tied into the notion of weaving, pretty much within nearly every mythological system, could be useful to look at.

12:20 / 05.09.05

I was looking into the folklore surrounding embroidery a little while ago, partly as fodder for my cross-stitch obsession and partly to help me make my pet servitor, and I dug up this site: Forgotten Lore. There's a short list of embroidery stitch correspondances (e.g. blanket stitch = binding). You have to use the drop-down menu to get to it, though, I can't seem to link directly. Also, there are no references so I don't know where the site owner got hir information.

I have to admit I read though this thread ages ago before I joined Barbelith and I haven't been able to find any sources for this info, I have also asked a mate who's into sewing and lore to do with it, but she hasn't heard of it either. Although admittly I haven't contacted the site's owner to ask them.

But as ideas go it's worth a think and sorting out your own correspondenses for stitches or using the meanings given on the site.

nyarlathotep's shoe horn

22:21 / 06.09.05

quick aside, I started a hearth magic thread.

i've started (far too recently, unfortunately) to collect pockets from old shorts, pants/trousers/slacks, shirts, et al, in hopes of sewing them into an appropriate garment: cloak, cape, suit&tie. I've had the idea for a "cloak of a thousand pockets" for some time, then read Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins, in which an artist creates a cloak with a hundred secret pockets, and in each one is a note. Each note is written in a unique code, and each note bears the same message. an expression of love.

not quite what I had in mind, but I like the idea. I get the impression that were such a think to exist, the weight of the extra fabric and contents (if any) would make the garment burdensome. then again, 1000 pockets is a bit ambitious. I have under a dozen in my collection as it stands.

I've also been collecting broken umbrellas in hopes of getting the wherewithall together to make bat wings from them. Any suggestions are welcome -

ta
tenix

Less searchable M0rd4nt

23:49 / 06.09.05

Depends on the pocket fabric, the size of the garment, and the size of the pocket-piece. A couple of square metres of lining fabric could give you a thousand tiny pockets easy, with the loving sentiments written on some lightweight stuff that would fold up small. If you used a very light gauzy fabric, you could cut the weight right down.

You'd be surprised at the surface area of the average garment, you really would.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

23:56 / 06.09.05

And I don't know how you make batwings but I really really love that you are seeking to do so.

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

16:36 / 07.09.05

Well, in theory if you took apart the ribs of the umbrella, you could form connect them to the shaft, probably with wire or ribbon or something, and then restitch the fabric of the umbella along them.

...and then you could probably start asking for art grants, becuase that's the sort of stuff that ends up in galleries.

Sounds incredibly nifty, really!