The Stitch Book: Week 29 (July 14-20)

Welcome to verse two of my series within a series! As I shared last week, I'll be spending the next five weeks (Weeks 29-32) embroidering the lyrics to the song "The Flesh Failures/Let the Sunshine In" from the musical Hair. Check out last week's post for what inspired this particular series. 

As we move into the second verse of the song, Claude has been drafted and is on his way to Vietnam. In many stagings of the musical, the Tribe appears behind Claude while he's singing these first two verses but their backs are turned to him. He's becoming invisible. That was his wish earlier in the show, but now it's reality.

If you've seen the 1979 film version of Hair, this sequence of events is a little different. The film adds more personal dynamics and dialogue. It's a really great film, so I would recommend watching it if you haven't seen it (I think it's on Prime). Anyway, in the film version, Berger (Treat Williams) switches places with Claude (John Savage) and ends up a basic training. That's where "Let the Sunshine In" begins in the film. The Tribe tries to bust Berger/Claude out of basic, but is too late and he's shipped off to war. It ends with them gathered at his grave in Arlington Cemetery.  

Both versions of the song and staging are incredibly powerful to watch. There's hope, but mostly the sadness of what's to come for Claude (or Berger/Claude in the film). We know what's going to happen to him. We know he'll be invisible in a very different way than what he meant when he originally said it. 

Next week the Tribe joins the song.

Here is this week's piece:

July 14

July 15

July 16

July 17

July 18

July 19

June 20

Week 29

Weeks 1-29

Week 30's color is document.

Verses 1 and 2

WIPs and Another Cicada Embroidery

I finally finished the cicada project I started over a month ago. It still needs to be ironed and framed, but it turned out great. The pattern is from Badass Cross Stitch. You can check out patterns here. This one may have been newsletter subscribers, but I can't remember.

I also finished the first piece in a series I'm making for a friend. It's all mushrooms and has a sort of 70s kitchen decor vibe. I'm using watercolors again, but on a different fabric than I'm used to. There was a little paint bleed on this one, but it looks good for the piece. I'm going to start the second one this weekend. I haven't tried placing this piece in the wood square yet. That's something else I'm going to try this weekend if I have time.