Extra-Curricular: getting back into costuming.

I had a crazy idea recently. Despite being a vegan, I've always had a love for the look of leather clothing - I just couldn't buy or wear the real stuff myself. As previously discussed, I also love all things Victorian, particularly the clothing (and within that, particularly the puffy sleeves of the 1890s). So when I decided life was too short not to have a crazy leather-ish jacket, I went out and bought some of the plastic imitation stuff, and set to work on an 1894 fashion plate. What follows is the result.

Having never made a jacket before, and having only limited experience of adapting old patterns, I'm very pleased with how this turned out. Ludicrous, probably. But a great deal of fun. The best part was edge-stitching the collar, and turning it the right way out to make sure it laid flat. It did, and the collar's roll line, which was the part that needed the most modification from the original, sat perfectly.

Being very thick fabric, it was difficult to hand-stitch anywhere, which made for some very creative machine work, especially when the shoulder pleating was pinned into place. Naturally, it being a leather jacket, I needed to add some studs, and several rows of alternating 10 and 15mm spikes did the job nicely, their backs being covered by a wide cuff lining. It remains unlined, albeit with a large hem turn up and reverse panels up to the dart of the jacket front, also in the black faux leather. As yet I need to make a finished belt for it from my leftover fabric, and add belt loops. But it's great to know that my crazy jacket modification will fit, and despite it's weight, be wearable without slipping off the shoulders!

Completing this project, silly as it is, has helped to reinvigorate my enthusiasm for all things costume. If I can somehow bring together costuming and textile art, I think I might have a pretty good final project on my hands.

Stage 4: Developing Design Ideas into Weaving.

For this exercise, I was asked to choose a sketch, image, or idea, and develop it into a piece of woven cloth. Thus far, in this section, this was my second favourite thing to do, after the lace squares. I had seen a tutorial a while ago online for circular weaving, and without more than a few seconds thought, decided to do this. The idea is a kind of rose window - I was originally going to weave quite a simple shape, and then embroider (in a soumak style) some black wool 'lead' over the top, possibly in the traditional diamond shape. However, I felt that (as usual) this would give me too much of a certain framework, and I would become frustrated at not being able to make all 6 sections match exactly, when I was supposed to be experimental and spontaneous. There was also the trouble of the shape itself - obviously, all warp strands cross in the centre of the board, and are therefore very closely grouped in the centre, tapering off towards the edges, and spacing out. I soon realised that if I was to embroider over these unevenly spaced threads, the shape would be likely to pucker up. So I went out shopping, and found a crochet cotton weight yarn, roughly the same as the black edging. It had a nice colour change in it, and I thought it would be fine to replicate stained glass, as seen from a distance. I was pleased with this project - I felt quite fulfilled. I think that's because it looked like a finished product, rather than a sample, though of course, that's what it was. One problem that became apparent once I cut it from the 'loom', though, was that it almost immediately lost it's shape - this was due to the threads being so loosely packed at the edges of the board. It might be a good idea to insert some small "v" shaped warps in at some point, anchoring them around one or two of the weft threads in previous rows. A future experiment, perhaps.

Experimenting with different materials, large sampler.

I've been writing, recently, in one of my research/inspiration books, about the strange appeal of metallic elements in clothing. It's certainly something that appeals to me, anyway - and for this exercise about using unusual materials I thought I'd go all out. It was important to use a very rigid structure as a warp, and - for fear of it sliding out - decided to make a frame for it that wouldn't have to be removed, in much the same way as I did for the lace sampler project a few posts back. This time I used some quite thick wooden dowels. I began by weaving with thick wire used for gardening, then built up with some jewellery chains from eBay, some metallic yarn, and strings of beads or buttons.

My idea for this was partially with the final project in mind - I wondered whether it would be possible to make a 'suit of armour' that, with the right wire/chain/metal to thread ratio could be semi-viable as an actual suit! I had a vision in my head of being able to weave panels of the right shape, then remove the wooden frame, and 'sew' the panels together with wire. I imagined I could lay them out as a finished shape, embellish, and lift. This thought was inspired by a piece of cloth from the Metropolitan museum of Art, NY. Here's a picture:

Source

I've seen a few historical documents that show this was the way such jackets were constructed, and I must say that from the little experience of embroidery I've had, having a well-stretched surface to stitch has been a vital element. It makes sense to keep it a regular shape for as long as possible.
It's been an interesting project, if one that's very hard on the hands. I've not been entirely won over to the idea of working intuitively yet, but it's true that until you do something, you are never sure what you will learn. Being given more ideas for the final project is always a good thing, too.