MFAM Week 7: Out of Africa

Well I'm late. Again. Four out of seven weeks have been on time, so that's not too bad, right? (Wrong.)

Anyway, this week's project was inspired by a variety of pieces from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's collection of African art. This collection presented a unique challenge. Unlike previous week's that focused on a particular country, empire, or art movement, this week we're working with the art belonging to an entire continent, and very large continent at that. Because of this, I decided to focus on pattern, as you can see in the photos of the Kuba peoples' textile panels below.

I was lucky enough to have scored two skirts with great patterns for $1 each a while back, so I pulled them out of my stash and got to work. The colorful skirt is a very soft rayon blend and the brown and black skirt feels like linen, but didn't have a tag.

Large skirt + small skirt = ???

The brown and black skirt was way too tiny (If you can't tell by the photo, it has a waist of about 23-24 inches. Yeah... Not happening.) so I decided to replace the original waistband with 3 inch wide elastic. To do this, I followed this tutorial.

Poofy pocket on the far right.

Since the weather's been getting chillier lately, I decided to turn the more vibrant skirt into another infinity scarf. (Because why not?) To do that I cut off the elastic waistband and followed the same steps I used of the Egyptian scarf.

The cat was as helpful as ever.

Once the two skirts had been refashioned I paired them with a trusty black t-shirt, black shoes, and a black belt. (What can't that color tie together?)

MFAM Week 7: African Art

Don’t forget to tune in next week for the next MFAM installment - which may or may not be posted on time - and remember, please don’t touch the art.

- Elizabeth
aka The Hungry Octopus

Now blogging at www.TheHungryOctopus.com!