Fempunk Jacket

I found a tote bag in artist Stephanie Buscema's etsy shop nearly 3 years ago, and contacted her about whether or not she thought it could be used as a patch on a jacket. She didn't know why not so I got it, and started looking for the right jacket to put it on. Naturally, when you're in thrift shops looking for something specific, you look forever to find it...

About a year later, I did find a jacket I liked, faux leather sleeves and an asymmetrical moto-style zip front, but the body was a woven material that looked like it would be easy to sew. The tote and the jacket sat in the basement while I collected ideas in my head and on Pinterest, with no particular urgency to get it completed.

Then the 2016 election cycle occurred.

The misogyny that had been festering in this country boiled over, and Cheeto Nero is president (at least until he's impeached) and then there's a whole line of misogynists waiting to take his place when he is.

I made 32 hats in a single day for the Women's March on Washington, and sent them off with gratitude for local women who were attending the march. I was unable to go to that, or any of the sister marches because of commitments I couldn't hand off to someone else. But even with my crowd-terror, I wanted to be there, so badly.

I had my inspiration for my jacket.

I'd been re-making pins using old pins (AKA buttons, pinbacks) that I'd collected from high school and working in the bookstore years ago. I found this awesome blog post with a great tutorial that walks you through revamping those old buttons, so I already had a start on that, and I had a gift certificate that I'd spent on studs and spikes (for winning a contest for my female action figures), I just had to make a few of the iron-on patches, and get everything sewn on, and studded.

This is not a work-in-progress post. This is a 99% complete post (I have a few more pins to make and a wrecking ball to finish). That said, I can tell you how I did what...

Large center patch ("The Vixens!") is Stephanie Buscema's deconstructed tote bag.
Pins are text of the 1st and 4th Amendments and a reminder that you don't have
to give police your phone to search without a warrant.

Top: English WWII propaganda poster, Photoshopped with new wording by me.
Iron-on inkjet paper, on muslin, fused to another piece of muslin.
Center: Embroidery on floral cotton. Fused with interfacing.

Center: American WWII propaganda poster, Photoshopped with new wording by me.
Done the same way as the one above.
Bottom: Painted floral cotton. Used letter stickers as a mask for the words. Fused with interfacing.

Top: Soviet WWII propaganda poster, Photoshopped with new wording by me.
Done the same way as the two above.
Bottom: Center: Embroidery on floral cotton. Fused with interfacing.

Side view. Spikes on the sleeve are 1/2" long. The shoulders have a
combination of pink flat cone studs and red acrylic rhinestones.
The collar also has rhinestones.

Inspired by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro's Bitch Planet, the "nc" is
#non-compliant, embroidery on floral cotton, fused with interfacing.
Hard to see because of some glare, but the left button is Kris Anka's "angry" Dazzler with the words
"current mood" (clipped from old books), the right one are the heroines from 9 to 5, with the words
"are you a woman or a wouse?"

Nellie Bly; and the Human Rights Campaign equals sign, with my added text;
paint on cotton, fused with interfacing.

More buttons, from Angela Davis, to the Notorious RBG, to Malala Yousafzai.

The placket opens to reveal a surprise...

I'm really not a huge fan of pink, but I think in this application, as with
the Pussyhat Campaign, it's a little subversive, plus it goes with
Buscema's patch. The contrast with the black is awesome.
That line is from "One Girl Revolution," by Saving Jane.

With the collar folded back, and the jacket worn open,
"REVOLUTION" is still visible.

Intersectional Rosies, Glow Shark, Vagenda of Manocide,
Gloria Steinem and Julia Child... along with "delicate flower" (Datura)

I still have several pins to complete (and another ink cartridge to buy) and there's empty space for them, so the placement here is probably not final. I also have a wrecking ball that I am making from a small plastic xmas ornament that will read SMASH THE PATRIARCHY! and hang from one shoulder when finished.

The pins I've made are a combination of Photoshop wizardry and fancy paper from my stash, plus a cache of old stripped books I've had for years (back when I used to work at the bookstore).

Also in the works, a similar sort of thing but nerdier. As I started making pins, and sorting the ones I already had, I realized that I had two very different "themes" in front of me that weren't cohesive. This jacket is unapologetically angry. Because I am angry. But I also recognize that it's not healthy to be angry every waking moment (or this year will kill me), so I need to have a little fun, and make another "punk" jacket or vest on the lighter side, for the geek stuff. So now I have to find another jacket... hopefully it won't take a year+ to do so...

Vive la résistance!