Far Out, Man!

Ok kiddies, climb aboard the Magic Bus 'cause we're about to head down the old hippie highway. Oh yeah. All this retrospective is due to my latest project/wasting art time as I have a dear friend who is turning 65 and as she's an old hippie - that's the theme of her party. So I've been making myself some 'hippie pants'. And that, just like poop follows birds flying overhead, lead me into digging out my actually really honest own 'hippie jeans' that I wore when I was 18 years old. 1971. 41 years ago. And, yes, I've carted them around with me throughout all the lifestyle changes......which is either certifiable or just anal......ok here they are:

They are admittedly showing their age. And since we had no electricity up at the commune (oh yeah, I was the whole package, baby) those are all hand stitched on. These pants have a 'touching' history to them too as they originally belonged to a young man that I was terribly in love with. He died at the young age of 24 in a fishing boat accident and I remember his funeral as being the worst one I have ever been through. Blessings upon your memory, Peter.
Anysmallfragilelifeway, I was a denizen for a while on a commune up in Northern B.C. and lived in a 3 room tree house my boyfriend of the day with friends built. It was pretty damn magical, I must say. Those pants used to have a pair of suspenders but time has disappeared them into the vault of memory only.
Okey doke, on to hippie pants # 2.

I made these in the early 1980s. Can't remember why, but I did have access to a sewing machine which made the whole project a lot easier! I do remember I also got access to a lot of fabric pieces which, if memory serves, I took out of a discarded fabric sample book a friend gave me. Those were some hot duds to wear but they were heavy! And more temperature hot, if you catch my drift.
And now, this era's offering:

I took the photo before I completely finished the stitching on the leather bum patch - oh boy my hands are sore and I bent the needle all to heck doing that.......eesh. Do we see a pattern here? Yeah, like patches, huh? Also the rear end has, um, expanded through the years. Sigh. I was going to make a pair of moccasins but after my experience with just a bum patch am re figuring that creative spurt, instead I'm remaking an old suede jacket into a fringed vest....!
Ah huh. THAT should be easier.......

The opening image is an old poster from @ 1967 or 68 by Bob Masse from Vancouver who was super famous for those type of iconic 'hippie' posters. I loved his work and did many many copies of them. I'm sure he was a huge influence on me.
Peace, man.