I made some great progress this week, feeling better about my project than ever before (which tells me I'm headed in the right direction). I've really started to dive into the textile installation idea, using fabric as a means of expressing collection. I was originally thinking of working with clothing - shirts, pants, the whole shebang - but now am thinking of working more with handkerchiefs and scarves. I really like the square format and the interesting forms that can be made from such a simple shape. The very feminine quality that little handkerchiefs have is also another reason I might work exclusively with them.
I had a few of my grandmother's handkerchiefs, so i loosely hand-stitched them together, but didn't want to take that too far...so I decided to being using scrap fabric and start sewing mock forms that way. I made a few tiny ones, but with squares that small you really didn't get much in the way of draping. I found that four or five inch squares worked great (easy of size, but still allowed for some movement, you can see this in the blue and red patterned form).
I'll continue to build upon these shapes, experimenting with different ways to fit the squares together. I also hope to assess my collection of handkerchiefs fairly soon, and possibly go searching for more if need be.
This week:
Tuesday - sewing...
Thursday - more sewing!
Courtney, I'm so glad that you've found this direction. It feels right to me too. I actually have a collection of handkerchiefs that I keep in a basket on my dresser. A long time ago I made some pieces by stitching together pieces of cloth and ribbon and lace and these are still very important to me. Now that you have landed on this, dive into exploring all the possibilities for what you can do with the cloth. I'd like to hear more about what's guiding the decisions you make. Are you interested in draping? or in a flat surface? or in 3D forms? We'll see...
ReplyDeleteJanie