The Big Hoodie

To the many people I have met, of all the wearable things I have made, my "Huge Neck Party" glass necklace is the most memorable piece. Second place goes to the big hoodie. People may never remember my name or my face, but never forget the necklace or the hoodie. I started occasionally wearing this in 1998, and I began to decorate it in 2002.

This picture was taken in 2002 at Valhalla, our warehouse in Providence.

This picture was taken at the Maker Faire in Austin, Texas in October of 2008. I was photographed by Joaquin Trujillo and Brian Paumier for this article.

Laura Maguire photographed the piece on a mannequin. It evolved a lot over time, and is now more hole than shirt. I wear clothing hard. You may notice here that a sleeve and the zipper have been replaced. On the mannequin is a second generation rufflebeard that I made around 2004.

This is a detail of lampworked- glass form studies, worn as a brooch. To the left are glimpses of Japanese- inspired applique and embroidery. To the right is part of an embellished patch of leafcutter ants by the Beehive Collective. Above are transit tokens from San Francisco, New York City, and a Japanese 5- yen coin.

The back of the sleeve is covered in hand- cut felt leaves, and 2 densely embroidered patches are prominently displayed on the arm. The bird on the top patch was hand- embroidered by Liz Harris, and I embroidered over the Providence Critical Mass patch that was drawn and screenprinted by Jean Cozzens. This side of the hood is covered in individually placed heat- set studs and a few prong- set cone spikes.

This is a detail of bead and thread embroidery I did on the small of the back. The light blue text across the bottom reads, "CRAFTCORE". The larger pink beads are Japanese miracle beads. They're highly reflective and they make me more visible to drivers when I'm biking at night.

The patch inside the hood was drawn by Sunny from Chicago. I embroidered over his words. The back patch is a stencil made by Friedel from Gainesville.