Introducing "The Favorite Nightgown"
In collaboration with Emily Miller
A passion project coming to life and getting released into the world is cause for celebration… and a newsletter devoted to the making of it! Emily Miller and I have been working on this project for quite some time, and now that it has made its debut, I am excited to expand on the process for you readers. And to let you know that it is now up for pre-order on Emily’s website at the link below!
If you have been reading my little dispatches for long enough then maybe you remember that Emily was the subject of my second people’s pick/Q&A newsletter in February of 2023… were we already working on this project by that time? I think so actually, wow this has been a long time coming! She chose the movie Wings of Desire (you can read that letter here), and I love her for introducing me to it. There is an extremely tender moment in this film that I love and Emily mentioned it in the interview, speaking to it in such a beautiful way that stayed with me—
I just want to create art that grounds you or makes you pay attention to what's already in front of you. Like Peter Falk (A Former Angel) says in the movie, “To smoke, and have coffee--and if you do it together, it’s fantastic. To draw, and when your hands are cold you rub them together ... “ The list of things to love in life is long.
To me, this is Emily’s gift, her art is a love letter to what is around her, as is her way of moving through the world. And this sentiment is so present in this project as well, and I feel lucky to have gotten to be swept up into the romance of it.
Working off of lists of our favorite things, Emily hand drew each special memento (or animal or food!) and arranged them into a print. In a single color, it evokes the timelessness of red work quilts. This fabric is a treasure trove! It tricks the eye into thinking that not a single one repeats, new details and discoveries emerge with each look. It charms me so thoroughly, and I cannot get enough of it!
Together, with the help of my husband (bless you Shane, screen printer extraordinare), we screen printed the yardage of plain cotton lawn with Emily’s art. This new venture may have been the hardest part, but we are beyond the trouble shooting now, and to see the print emerge, be rendered physical, was singularly rewarding.
For my part and the making of the dress you can see some iterations I was working through on my sketch pad. I settled on the far right, it is a classic square yoke nightgown. It floats, it flows, it’s a dream to wear. Patterned, cut and sewn in my home workshop, and adorned with a hand tied bow. To see them worn… ah!!!!
So there you have it, the story of these nightgowns from my vantage point. I hope we share some favorites and that you can spot yours, and don them all if you so choose— as a nightgown, as a boxer short, as a bandana, as a scrunchie…
I am so pleased to share this with you, and so pleased to have had a hand this project, much more to come I hope.
And if you are here for a movie rec, may I suggest Eric Rohmer’s Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (our photoshoot reference), or perhaps Wing’s of Desire once more… or The Sound of Music if only for “These Are a Few of My Favorite Things” ;) .
So beautiful and many of my favorite things, too.