Desert Hearts
Welcome to a new series for E-Pastiche— The Casino Series. I realized a lot of my favorite movies have casinos as apart of their setting, and I’m smitten on playing card motifs. I’ve got at least 5 flicks in mind, and for each one I will pick a card (any card) to represent the movie and make something inspired by both. Broadening my horizons from garments, that something is still going to be a sewn good, but more in the vein of decor/art/accessory.
Rolling out the first one today in celebration of Pride month— The Two of Hearts + Desert Hearts.
Desert Hearts is an iconic love story, an early film portrayal of love between two women, and the first to give a happy ending. Set in 1959 Reno, opposites attract in a beautiful and heartfelt way. We have Vivian, a professor who comes to Reno to file for divorce— she seems restrained and in the midst of an uncomfortable transition of self; going from doing what is expected of her to doing what feels right and truthful. Counter to her we have Cay, to whom following the inner compass is a practiced art, she is spirited and expressive. In a new season of life, and a new western landscape, Vivian is able to reconnect to the parts of herself she lost on the path she was set on by dominant culture. Watching them fall in love, and take risks for their personal happiness gives me butterflies!
Many LGBTQ+ period dramas top my list for favorite romantic movies. I think they offer something really special, a tenderness, a slow pace, deep meaning in the smallest glance. They make an audience discover love anew and offer a counter-narrative to written history that usually leaves these stories out.
In my workshop this week I was doing some cleaning up, and a point of contention to getting my space as tidy as I would like is my pile of scrap materials sitting under my ironing board. As I sew the pile continues to grow, and I prefer to hang onto it with hopes of giving it a purpose, trying to keep my studio as low waste as possible. One way I use up the smallest and least usable of these pieces is by stuffing pillows. It makes for quite a heavy pillow, but it’s perfect to get through scraps and add a decorative touch.
In the style of the two of hearts I made my design. Starting with the rectangular shape of a playing card in cream cotton canvas and adding red denim piping… the piping was another scrap-buster, and came from remnants from one of my first ever projects (some of my scraps get held on to for soo long!). I drew my design right onto the cover to have a line to guide my stitching. Going slow the first pass gave me a darker line to follow, I then tried to go faster to be intentionally loose, stitch outside the lines and make it more doodle-like. Two hearts, with a symbol in each (cactus and crescent moon), taken from the movie poster, and representative of the two lovers.
HAPPY PRIDE! This is an important month, and it feels heightened here in the South, with the continuous legislative push back on LGBTQ+ rights. I’d like to voice support for SONG, Southerners on New Ground, an organization for intersectional social movement and LGBTQ liberation in the South. You can donate here, and if you do, send me a screenshot! For the first four readers who donate $25+, I will make you a two of hearts pillow!!! I can fill the hearts with any simple symbol of your choosing to represent you and a loved one. Local Nashville pick up or just cover shipping costs :)
Great idea!