Some thoughts in Pictures

I don't normally make these sort of posts, but I'm here on fast internet, and I have a 500+ image inspiration folder, so I thought I'd give a little insight to what I'm looking at. Don't ask me what or where this is all coming from, I can never recall. And yes, it's heavy on thick fabrics and texture because that's what I like~












Ok ok, one more, maybe it'll help

My apologies, I drank a cup of coffee and a cup of tea, and now I'm on a manic streak, so enjoy one night, two posts, rather than two months, no posts.

Here's my final piece for projects. Probably the piece I am happiest with yet. Terrible, awful photos, since I just stole it back from my closed-up studio and took some quick shots. I promise once the under-shirt is done (I'm working on it now!) I'll do some better pictures with a proper model.

First, a few in-progress.

Sketching out the shape. Not actually having any classes on draping/patternmaking, I saw the people on Project Runway use tape on their mannequins in a similar way. One day I'll know how to make clothing the real way.

This one presented a challenge because it was made of a Dutch Army officer's jacket (two, in fact) and the pieces I could get from it were quite narrow--so I would tape up the manny, test the pieces, re-tape, ect.

In progress--Don't have any pictures between.

Close up on the texture and some explanation. The technique I used is based off of traditional Italian quilting and cording. I carefully hand-sewed 'channels' in the two layers of wool, and inserted a stiff cotton cord into it, to create a dimensional effect. I added the cord as I was going (each feather is a separate piece of cord)so there was no need to cut slits to get it through, and the piece is reversable, which will be important later.

Finished awful pictures:

The cording gave it good stiffness and structure--like the boning in a corset.


The back hook is a little junked up--I think I need to add a second or move it down a bit.

And now the inside-Like the bag, working with the idea of color as something hidden and personal.



All hand-done crewel embroidery. I had to work very carefully to keep it all on the surface of the inside (that is, to not penetrate through to the outside) Feather stitch and chain stitch.

phew. Okay. Next one will play some catch up to this summer. Not that I've done that much, but there's a bit.

At this point...

I'm just going to pretend that I haven't neglected this blog for as long as I have. While I'm not excusing myself, I will say working on Wireless Philadelphia when I can catch it is difficult at best.

Here, have some pants. They were my second-to last project for Advanced Fibers last Semester.

Originally, I tried to completely this character's (Teoh, 'The Thief') outfit, but this project was a great lesson in what is possible within the amount of time I'm given for an assignment. It also marked (along with the bag posted previously) a movement into pieces very specifically made for certain characters in a specific narrative. More on this later--I'm really making an effort to do more writing/drawing/thinking about video to go with these pieces.

These pants were made from 1 pair of French army pants, a white shetland wool sweater, and a lot of recycled crewel wool. The fit got a little mucked up, I pulled in a little too-much fabric, though I haven't actually tried it on a guy yet--maybe lack of hips/butt will make them sit a little bit better.

Sweater panels are joined to pant with herringbone stitch in wool. I like the integration of the knit and wool pants--I think I'm going to work with that idea agian on another character.


I also really like working embroidery into the cable patterns of the felted sweater. I'd like to push this further later.

Laid work and pieces of the cables from the sweater on the belt.

Other pieces from the Thief that didn't make it--I don't think I'll finish most of these, I ended up rushing, and I'm not happy with how they look.




Bonus picture: Multi-Corn Island, our collaborative Advanced fibers piece from the end of the year. For reference, the tallest ones are about 6 feet tall. It's wire frames covered in mylar film that's been heat-gunned. Many braincells were lost in the production of this piece.