Garments for Sacred Passages
Garments for Sacred Passages is a practice of using collaborative clothing making as a tool to support, accompany and honor the body as it moves through change.
Alongside my training in interdisciplinary art and fashion design, I have spent the last 3 years studying and practicing end of life care. This has looked like volunteering at a hospice, training as a death doula, studying Buddhist spiritual care, learning somatic techniques for moving and soothing grief, as well as supporting folks in planning funerals for their loved ones.
Garments for Sacred Passages originated in 2023, when I spent the summer making myself an outfit to hold my body at the time of my death. Incorporating elements from both my fields of practice, I found the specific framework of using slow clothing making as a container for deep personal reflection to be transformative. As a medium so intimately connected to the body, I was able to reflect on how I would most like my body to be tended to in life and in death. I considered how I would like to feel, how I would like to be supported, and how I would most like my life to be honored – and I had the slow time and space to work all of these reflections into material form. This culminated in a set of silk pajamas to physically embody my wishes.
I have since opened up this practice to others who are navigating their end-of-life journey, as well as folks moving through other kinds of life transitions. A loss, a celebration, changing roles or responsibilities, changing bodies or abilities, the opening of a new chapter or the closing of one. Beginnings and endings of all kinds.
I have come to understand that when navigating grief, change and the unimaginable, it can be immensely helpful to have a slow, steady, tactile and embodied task to work on. To give our hands something meaningful to do. At the same time, this process allows us to step into a very long lineage of humans using clothing and textiles to make meaning, mark passages and express their creativity.
As a one-on-one practice, we meet regularly for approximately 2 months and work together to design, plan and construct a garment to meaningfully accompany your passage. I am trained in a range of clothing and textile techniques, including natural dyeing, textile painting and printing, embroidery, quilting, and upcycling, any of which can be incorporated into the making of your garment. This process might look like dyeing or infusing your garment with your favorite plants, upcycling clothing from other chapters of your life, or it could look like inviting your loved ones to collectively stitch their care into the seams of your new shirt. This is an open container, and we can choose a process that feels most meaningful and resonant to you.
No sewing experience is required. This process can be tailored to support folks of all abilities, at all walks of life. For more information, please reach out at nelliegossen[at]gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
Alongside my training in interdisciplinary art and fashion design, I have spent the last 3 years studying and practicing end of life care. This has looked like volunteering at a hospice, training as a death doula, studying Buddhist spiritual care, learning somatic techniques for moving and soothing grief, as well as supporting folks in planning funerals for their loved ones.
Garments for Sacred Passages originated in 2023, when I spent the summer making myself an outfit to hold my body at the time of my death. Incorporating elements from both my fields of practice, I found the specific framework of using slow clothing making as a container for deep personal reflection to be transformative. As a medium so intimately connected to the body, I was able to reflect on how I would most like my body to be tended to in life and in death. I considered how I would like to feel, how I would like to be supported, and how I would most like my life to be honored – and I had the slow time and space to work all of these reflections into material form. This culminated in a set of silk pajamas to physically embody my wishes.
I have since opened up this practice to others who are navigating their end-of-life journey, as well as folks moving through other kinds of life transitions. A loss, a celebration, changing roles or responsibilities, changing bodies or abilities, the opening of a new chapter or the closing of one. Beginnings and endings of all kinds.
I have come to understand that when navigating grief, change and the unimaginable, it can be immensely helpful to have a slow, steady, tactile and embodied task to work on. To give our hands something meaningful to do. At the same time, this process allows us to step into a very long lineage of humans using clothing and textiles to make meaning, mark passages and express their creativity.
As a one-on-one practice, we meet regularly for approximately 2 months and work together to design, plan and construct a garment to meaningfully accompany your passage. I am trained in a range of clothing and textile techniques, including natural dyeing, textile painting and printing, embroidery, quilting, and upcycling, any of which can be incorporated into the making of your garment. This process might look like dyeing or infusing your garment with your favorite plants, upcycling clothing from other chapters of your life, or it could look like inviting your loved ones to collectively stitch their care into the seams of your new shirt. This is an open container, and we can choose a process that feels most meaningful and resonant to you.
No sewing experience is required. This process can be tailored to support folks of all abilities, at all walks of life. For more information, please reach out at nelliegossen[at]gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
