Liner Notes: September - Patti Smith/G-L-O-R-I-A

I've listened to this week's song a lot this week. Let's take another listen so you hear it too. 

This is "Gloria" (sometimes listed as "Gloria: In Excelsis Deo") from Patti Smith's debut album Horses. It was released in 1975 and cemented Smith's place as the "Godmother of Punk." She's one of my favorite musicians of all time and I'm so excited to get into September's Liner Notes. 

I recently finished her latest memoir, Bread of Angels, and can't recommend it enough. I've read many of her books, but I think this one is my favorite. I took inspiration for this month's piece from several items mentioned in the book (more on this shortly). It's definitely the one that's the closest to a pure memoir; a lot of her other books are memoirs but told in non-traditional ways. Bread of Angels dives into her childhood much more, and tells the story of Patti and Fred "Sonic" Smith way more than the other books. Maybe that's why I like this one so much. I've always loved their love story. 

Anyway, I decided to start this month with "Gloria," probably one of Patti Smith's most well known songs. Horses was released in 1975, and included two songs that blended Smith's poetry with other songs. "Gloria" is the first. The original song was a hit for Van Morrison and his band, Them, in 1964. The other song is called "Land/Land of a Thousand Dances". It combines Patti's poetry with the R&B classic "Land of a Thousand Dances," originally recorded by Chris Kenner in 1962. The Wilson Pickett version from 1966 is probably the version of this song we all know best. 

Both versions of "Gloria" are about attraction, lust, and desire. The difference? The person singing about it. The Patti Smith version subverts the idea of the male gaze in the song. Throughout the song, and her career, Smith has written songs and poetry that pushes against traditional expectations around gender and social roles. Personal freedom and autonomy are themes in her music. While she may have had some traditional events in her life (marrying Fred, having two children, caring for her siblings when she was younger), she's anything but traditional. 

Back in January, I talked about Tori Amos's album Strange Little Girls. She was doing the same thing as Patti Smith in reimagining these songs from a woman's perspective. "Gloria" and Strange Little Girls and all the other examples of women singing songs written by men for men all share a musical DNA. 

It's also fitting that I started this month with "Gloria." Originally, I thought I was starting with "Dancing Barefoot," but I was wrong. Gloria Steinem, another of my heroes, passed away this week at the age of 96. She, along with Patti Smith and many others, shaped my feminism and humanism. I wrote about her in 2014 on my other blog. I can't help but think of her when Patti sings, "G-L-O-R-I-A" with such passion and spirit. Gloria, you will be missed. 

What exactly is this month's Liner Notes going to be? Well, I was inspired by clothes. In Bread of Angels, Smith talks about two dresses she wore early in her musical career. One is a white liberty dress she got when she first moved to New York in the early 1970s. 

This is my copy of Bread of Angels. 

The photo on the cover of Bread of Angels was taken in 1979 by Robert Mapplethorpe. They met in 1967 and had a very intense relationship and a lifelong friendship. I would recommend reading Just Kids if you haven't for more about this part of Patti's life. Mapplethorpe photographed Patti for the Horses cover too. She talks about this particular dress a lot in the book. I think it's a really great example of her embracing more traditionally feminine and poetic imagery in how she dressed, but always with a little subversion thrown in for fun. 

The other dress she talks throughout the book is a black silk pleated dress she starting wearing in 1976-ish. JP Getty, Jr. gave the dress to her and she wore it in Paris when visiting Jim Morrison's grave. I found this fantastic Substack account called Leather Saints, and they have a post about the trip that includes a few photos of Patti in the dress. Patti was also wearing this dress the first time she met Fred "Sonic" Smith in Detroit. 

For this month's journal, I decided to base the design on these two dresses and a black blazer. I've seen Patti Smith in concert 4 times (3 in person, 1 online) and been to 4 of her book talks over the years, and every time I've seen her, she's wearing a black blazer. 

These photos are all from earlier this week. The Patti Smith Quartet played a show at The Atlantis on Tuesday. This was my first time going to The Atlantis and I'm so glad this was the show I saw. If you have a chance to see the band on this tour, do it. It's a great show and I'll share more about it as I work on this month's piece. 

The important part of these photos is the blazer. That's the same blazer I've seen her in every time I've seen her in person. So my idea is to use the stitch journal page for lyrics and quotes (songs and from Bread of Angels) and then create versions of the two dresses to layer on top of the lyrics and then finish it with a version of the blazer that will open to reveal everything else. 

That's the vision. I have no idea if I'll be able to pull this off or not. I haven't made clothes in a long time, so I'm curious to see what I come up with. I had the idea to use my Barbie doll clothes as patterns for the two dresses. I have a small box of toys from my childhood in the closet and I think the Barbie clothes could be good templates to at least get the shapes of the dresses down. For the blazer, I'm going to create a pattern of my own to get the shoulders and lapel shapes in the design. I want to add buttons and it looked like she had pins or buttons on one lapel so I may try to find something to add there as well. I also think it's funny to use Barbie dresses as a design tool for this particular piece. I like to think Patti Smith would find it amusing as well. 

This week and for most of next week, I'll be focusing on the lyrics and quotes. I'm going to try to make the patterns this weekend but that may not happen. My goal is to at least start on one of the dresses by mid-next week. 

Here's the first week of Patti Smith's Liner Notes. I really hope this works. 

This is from MLM's collection - an entire bag of Anchor black and white thread. There's more of both colors in one of the wooden boxes. I won't need this much for this month's Liner Notes, but it's nice to know I'm covered.

This is the fabric for the jacket - still trying to decide on the buttons. 

White for the liberty dress, black for the silk pleated dress. I can't believe I'm going to try to pleat fabric. I haven't pleated fabric since 2001. 

September 1 - The text - this is a mix of quotes from the book and song lyrics. 

September 2

September 3

September 4

September 5

The Sewing Cabinet and Other Small Joys

I've been making progress on the first panel, The Gardens, for the sewing cabinet project. Pattern transfer was a pain in the butt for this one. I may switch to using a window and sunlight when I do the transfer for the second panel. 

I also decided on the fabric for the interior of the cabinet. When I was picking purple fabric from my stash for last month's Liner Notes piece, I found this piece of fabric I got at Upcycle back in the spring that I thought was absolutely perfect for the inside. 

From Rashida Coleman-Hale's Ruby Star Society fabric line.

The piece I have is exactly the right size for one interior panel. I was able to find some more of the fabric online and now I have enough for both panels. I'm very excited about this. 

I may have some fabric left to use for some of the other spaces that are part of the interior, but I'm also thinking of using other fabrics in complementary colors for those parts of the project. I want to make one of the spaces into hoop storage, so I'm going to need a sturdier fabric for the front part of that space. I still need to find a trim for the exterior and decide what I'm going to use between the interior and exterior for structure. I could use fusible interfacing, but I think having something more like buckram is a better option. I see a trip to Fabric Basement in my future. I'm happy with where I'm at with this project and looking forward to spending some time stitching this weekend. 

I'm also officially the secretary for the MAR EGA board! One of my goals for this year was to get more involved in the EGA at the chapter level, and that led me to the MAR board. They had a vacancy and I volunteered to fill it. I'm excited to get more involved with the group and meet more stitchers. I have a lot to learn, and will be spending part of my weekend going through documents and emails to get more familiar with everything. 

Today is Bea's Gotcha Day! Can you believe it's been one whole year since this little lady showed up in my life? She's currently on patrol in my bedroom window. I told her she'd get some surprises today...she promptly ran into another room. Anyway, I have a Churu ready for her and a new spring toy. Bea enjoys hiding in random places, scaling door frames, running (so much running), and sleeping on my hand. She's an absolute menace and a joy to have in my life. 

Scenes from this week with Bea:

Scenes from Bea's first day at home, September 5, 2025: