Samples

Here are some of the samples I've been making - using sublimation printing and then patchwork and some laser cutting and smocking. I think the samples work best when layered up and/or with light shining through.

I tried to add hand stitching to the top sample - it was taken from a drawing I did of an old discarded dollie from a charity shop - but it got over complicated and fussy. The second sample shows smocking, and I like the fact I've done it only in certain areas, not all over. It seems like you can appreciate the pattern more when it is contrasted with plain areas. The third sample shows laser and patchwork, which was really tricky to work out the cut plan for, so the laser design lines up over the patched fabric. Unfortunately, I think it looks too fussy and I don't like the laser design I created. The repeating patchwork of the top sample works a lot better with the irregular and bright print than this irregular patchwork. Finally the bottom image is a couple of samples layered up to see how they work. I think they look really flat and they need movement and light to come alive.

Shine a light

I've been thinking about how a garment/textile could connect the wearer with people, by 'gifting pattern' onto others. As the material I've been using is transparent it looks good in layers and you can see the stitching detail more clearly when a light is shone though it. First you notice the colour and then other layers become visible in the light. I want to think of a way of using the sunlight, wind, rain, etc to reflect the locality onto the wearer and then project patterns onto other people and the environment. The idea is to make the garment a pleasure to wear and to get that connection with other people through the wearing. In quilting, the process is pleasurable because it is creative, individual and also social and the process is more important than the product. I want to take those important qualities and see if the wearing of the product can encourage them, so the wearing of the textile is more pleasurable than the acquisition of something new.

This made me think of a portrait of Isabella Blow that I saw in the National Portrait Gallery recently.The work was created in 2002 by Tim Noble and Sue Webster, it's made of stuffed animals (birds and rats etc) and looks very gothic, reflecting her character (authentic). The silhouette only become visible when a light is shone at the sculpture.

Quilting

I've read 'Quilting' by Marybeth Stalp (2007) which, although focused on contemporary American quilting, shows some similar sentiments to books about Amish quilts. The book made me think about carework/gifting, process/product, creative acts being good for well-being, time and layers of meaning.

As Elizabeth Safanda suggested in 'Amish Quilts', Stalp also believes one of the reasons women quilt is to give physical form to their 'carework':

'Other forms of attending to the emotional needs of others (e.g., cooking family meals, driving children to leisure activities) leave little evidence of women's regular carework for themselves and for others. Even other gendered leisure escapes for women, like reading romance novels and participating in book clubs, do not leave tangible evidence of their activities. Quilting instead leaves a finished product - a quilt which can link the maker with the recipient in sentimental ways. In addition to producing a tangible object and often gifting the finished product to a friend or family member, the creative process of quilting is personally fulfilling. The quilting process provides women the opportunity to engage in leisure, produce something tangible, and document physically and visually the carework that they engage in for others.' p.6

Stalp also believes that quilting is good for well-being:

'Quilting as a form of women's art- and craftwork provides physical and mental benefits (Anderson and Gold 1998). Delaney-Mech (2000 :6), a physician and a quilter, notes:
A simple sewing task, such as sewing together two patches, lowers your heart rate and blood pressure. It sends a wave of relaxation through your whole body.' p.63

'Quilting provides inner peace, creative outlets, and time for reflexive thinking. For some women, quilting is the relaxing equivalent of taking a bubble bath, having some alone time spent at their own choosing.
Quilting benefits women emotionally, leaving them with a calmness and focus not achieved through other requisite, everyday activities such as childcare, laundry, meal preparation, or housework.' p.63

'The repetitive motion, or flow, of quilting exhibits religious or trance-like properties. For some women quilting even had a spiritual nature.' p.64

Stalp positions herself as a quilter and writes that her book is focused on the quilters, i.e. process, not the finished product. She believes that quilters themselves are more focused on the process as demonstrated by the fact they often gift the finished quilt.

Stalp found in her 4 years of fieldwork with quilters:

'... women consistently talk about quilts in relation to their selves, as well as their personal and family connections, aspects heavily emphasized in women's traditional gender roles. Any overarching linear concepts, such as time (e.g., hours, days, weeks, months, years) and quantity (how many quilts a quilter has made), are secondary to the meaning-making processes women used to measure and discuss their quilting activities.' p.41

The author gives examples of quilters (we assume the norm) who don't place value on their quilts based on money or time, but on how they felt making them, if they like them and why. (p.68).

Contrastingly, Stalp comments that the majority of non-quilters when faced with a completed quilt will ask how long it took, and then how many quilts the quilter had made - this shows a completely different value system to the quilters.

'Quilts made within the framework of the traditional family, or those quilts gifted to family members, summon family-related memories. Through quilting, women make meaning in their own lives, preserve and transmit quilting heritage, a secure historical markers that represent them, their life events, and their families.' p.117

Stalp states that quilts can have personal meanings and significance to the quilter that may not be obvious to others, and gives an example of individually constructed meaning from an interview with a quilter:

'Heather continues to discuss the personal connection she has with quilts she has made after becoming interested in quilting from her grandmother: "That's what I want for my quilts - for there to be layers on layers on layers of information that you can access so that as you live with the quilt, it's like a person, you get to know it better and there is more to learn than just what's on the surface."' p.122

There are also instances where quilts have collectively constructed meaning, like the NAMES quilt for AIDS victims. Sometimes individually and collectively constructed meaning overlaps:

'As illustrated by these quilt stories, there is important hidden meaning in cultural objects. As a cultural product, a quilt has layers of meaning, which are understood and appreciated both at multiple levels and by multiple audiences.' p.125

Finally, Stalp believes that as well as the quilts having layers of meaning, so too does the process of quilting:

'Once they learn and enjoy quilting, women find deeper layers of meaning the longer they pursue it.' p.133

As Jonathon Chapman, in his book 'Emotionally Durable Design' believes that consumers need products t have multiple layers of meaning that are revealed over time to keep the user interested, the idea of layers of meaning embedded in quilts and quilting could be a really exciting one to pursue.

Sublimation Print and Patchwork

Here is an animation I made to show the process I used for printing my old grey curtains with a sheet from the sublimation printer. I designed a print with geometric shapes and then cut out the individual shapes and arranged them over the fabric. I used the heat press to transfer the dye onto the fabric. The printed sheets can be used to print over and over again (up to about 6 times) getting lighter with each print. So I kept rearranging and printing the shapes until all of the dye was exhausted. In this way I was able to print a larger area than by using the A3 sheet in the normal way (one single print) and utilise all the ink in a way that embraced the fact the colours get lighter each time. Also, the print is completely unique – I wouldn’t be able to get the shapes in the same places even if I tried. The print was inspired by diamonds, with overlapping colours.

After the printing I cut out diamond shapes for patchwork. Then I moved rearranged them until I was happy with the composition and stitched them together. See the previous post for the steps involved in the patchwork.

New sample

I'm pleased that I've finally got on with making some samples. The time it takes to stitch something can be frustrating when you don't feel like you have much time, but it also gives me time to think and reflect and to enjoy the making - why I wanted to be involved in textiles in the first place. Also, one of the reasons I believe Amish quilts are so enduring is the time, and therefore added value, that has gone into making them.

I've been reading 'The Designer's Atlas of Sustainability', by Ann Thorpe, and that has some interesting thoughts about time, she writes:

'We seek quicker and easier routes to well-being and expect our individual needs to be satisfied instantaneously or in the immediate future (next week at the latest).' p.118

Thorpe believes speed and short-termism are major themes in modern life, and unsustainable. Under the heading of 'Culture', she also writes about user involvement in design, giving examples and positive aspects to open-source design and praising more interactive media rather than turning the user into a passive watcher. I believe people get a lot of pleasure out of making things themselves. For these reasons I'm trying to show and explain more clearly what I'm doing and why. Here are some images showing how I've been working on this new textile piece (I'm not sure if this is really involving anyone else - maybe I need to think of some ideas that communicate more clearly and are more informative, not just technical). I forgot to take pictures to show how I built up the print, but I'll take pictures next time and then post them.




Screen grab of patchwork design in Ethos laser cutting sofware, before seam allowance has been added - you can see where I have outlined a few shapes in the bottom left corner with 4mm seam allowance. The shapes don't need to be laser cut but as the fabric is synthetic if it's laser cut it won't fray, saving the need for edge finshing and meaning I can have small hems, and the full fabric can be utilised by working out the best uses of material in the cutting plan.



Screen grab of diamond shapes in Ethos software, showing shape with seam allowance and notches. Some shapes needed to be cut individually to make best use of the printed fabric.



Screen grab of bottom and top shapes

Sublimation printed and laser cut shapes from my old grubby net curtains. I did lay all of the 64 pieces out first and arranged them how I wanted (unique and individual)




I laser cut notches 4mm from the edges going in 2mm so I could line up the shapes more easily




Pinned shapes




Stitching on my domestic machine



Sewn together!





Opened up




Next piece ready to be stitched




Row one stitched together







8 rows, each with 8 pieces, laid out ready to be stitched together

 

The piece stitched together. I'm not sure if it would have been better brighter and with larger shapes, and maybe I should have put similar colours nearer to each other - I like the parts where the shapes belong next to each other so the printer pattern looks distorted. Now I need to decide what to do around the edge - make a binding? And whether to add some stitching to add another layer of interest.





Rapt in Colour

Here are some beautiful and inspiring textiles from the book 'Rapt in Colour'. These pictures show how enduring good design can be. The colours and composition is amazing.



p.45 - Shaman's stole and long vest - silk - 19th century



p.72 - ramie -19th century



p.78 - linen and hemp - 18th century



p.98 - silk - 19th century

p.99 - silk - 19th century

p.103 - cotton - 19th century

Rejected highstreet to high fashion?

I found some of my old freelance work - I used to work for a lovely company producing embroidery designs. I learn a lot when I worked there, but now question if that way of producing, selling, buying and re-producing textiles for fashion is sustainable. I had to produce designs before I knew if they would sell or not (the norm in freelance textile and work and clothing production). I still have quite a few unsold designs (I wasn't as good as I would have liked!) and wondered if there is something I could do with them. So, far I've just done some sketching, to see if these rejected designs could inspire something that will be loved.

Drawing

Here are some of my drawings from plastic bottles, this time trying to be less 'rigid' and concentrating more on pattern. I've overlayed ideas for dresses over the top. I don't really like the drawings - maybe pen isn't the right medium. I was trying to draw more quickly because time always seems to be an issue for me, but they just look rushed and don't explore the object at all.

Diamonds and Bars - Amish research

When describing the qualities which make the Amish quilts so desirable, Ms Schlumberger (who has a collection of Amish quilts) says it’s:She also refers to the known and unknown, intrigue and mystery. This relates to something Laura Fisher writes in the same book:

‘...due to the imagination and originality that went into making them, their colors and the consummate craftsmanship...’ p.15.

'Though they used patterns in their quilts inspired by their surroundings and beliefs, ...none is pictorial or narrative, because that is forbidden.' p.17

This in turn brings us back to:

'Its quilts are rooted in an attitude which is perhaps best summed up in the ideas on art expressed as follows by Piet Mondrain, a Calvinist and Theosophist: 'If one does not represent things, scope is left for the divine.' (1922) p.6

I find the following quote really interesting as it gets to the heart of intention, and embedded values:

'When their quilts became of interest and marketable as artworks to outsiders (though not considered such to themselves), the Amish began copying old quilts to order. These may look Amish, but are felt to lack the spiritual beliefs and lifestyle that infused their predecessors.' p26

These more recent copies are probably made using synthetics as opposed to naturally dyed wool, but the major difference is not how the quilts look - although that was what first attracted people to them - but that they are not authentic or original, so the quilts don't mean the same. Intention is obviously important, so how can I express my intentions and values in my own textiles?

 

Emotionably Durable Design

I found this book, 'Emotionally Durable Design', by Jonathon Chapman very inspiring. Chapman believes that the current model of over consumption and waste is mostly because of products being made of hard-wearing, long-lasting materials (such as plastic that take centuries to degrade) but having very short use phases. He believes many products are thrown out before becoming worn-out or technically bettered because the design is 'out of fashion' or they are no longer appropriate to the user's changed circumstances.

Chapman points out problems with biodegradability (landfills are so overloaded they lack oxygen, light and water necessary for biodegradation to take place), recycling (it can ease consumer conscience, but consumption carries on as before), technology (if it's the selling point for the product it will soon be superseded), and newness (if the selling point of a product in newness and perfect surfaces, the consumer will be dissatisfied one the product is no longer new, and the surfaces are scratched and worn).

I believe recycling, recyclability and efficient use of materials, plus considered end of life are all really important and necessary for good design, but I don't want then to be the sole focus of my work. I think the reason for over consumption need to be addressed, and Chapman's answer for slowing down consumption is not to focus on technology and newness, but to design for emotional connection and empathy with our products.

This seems to be the opposite to Fromm's view in 'To have or to be', where he argues that we are so attached to out possessions that they have power over us.

Chapman believes that simply getting people to stop buying is not the answer (like Fromm, he believes that denial masks true desires and is not sustainable in the long term), instead people must be offered products that enrich their experiences.

In addition, it wouldn't be helpful if people just kept their clothes longer - if they don't wear them, then emotional attachment doesn't matter. The experience of wearing the clothes needs to be more pleasurable than the experience of acquisition.

Chapman writes that we desire new products because of a perceived lack (advertisers exploit this to promise us that their product will make our lives better), for self expression and because we aspire to be our perfect selves. He believes that products rarely live up to our expectations, so we become dissatisfied and consume more. He believes we are consuming meaning, not matter.

Chapman believes that as we have moved from an communal society to an individualistic one we have lost empathy with each other and look for it in designed objects. He thinks we are looking for human traits in objects. I wonder if it would be better to design products that help to connect us with our community and friends so our needs are meet that way, rather than design products than we feel empathy with?

There is a lot more that Jonathon Chapman says about how to embed objects with meaning, which I'll try to write about later.

More Amish research

This information is from 'Amish Quilts', by Robert Bishop and Elizabeth Safanda:

'When these pieced quilts are displayed for sale, the crowd is impressed by their simple yet powerful geometric designs, and by the juxtaposition of intense solid colors. ...A close observer will notice that these deceptively simple, pieced bedcovers are hand-quilted with elaborate motifs-roses and tulips, wreaths, feathers, stars, diamonds and "fish scale", all executed with tiny precise stitches.' p.7
 

- so, it sounds like there is initial interest grabbed by the colour and overall unique design and then further discovery of the stitched design on the surface (that feeling of 'oh, I didn't notice that at first, that's nice!’) This seems like a nice, although literal, way incorporating Chapman's idea of layers of discovery. 

'These old Amish quilts have a dual appeal-their visual impact and their superior craftsmanship.' p.7.

I think it is important that sustainable fashion also has these above qualities; beautiful and well made.

Safanda describes womens' position as submissive, and Amish society as patriarchal. She writes that women tend to have a fixed routine of housework - cooking, cleaning etc, which she suggests might be satisfying, but, there is little to show for the effort - it will all need doing again. She believes that one of the reasons women quilt is because it is a:

'...creative activity that has enduring value, whose outcome will be a tangible and lasting evidence of her achievement.'p.14

Safanda also suggests that quilting is good for well-being:

'...it is highly conceivable that not all the emotional needs of the Amish woman are satisfied in a community that stresses-even demands-spiritual and material conformity. One can look at Amish quilts, in part, as an unconscious expression of the need for individual achievement, for differentiation.' p.14.

It seems as though the process of quilting meets the higher needs in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, such as creativity, individualisation and belonging. While the actual quilt, as a finished product, meets the lower needs, such as protection from the cold. (It could be argued that the quilt also meets higher needs depending on how it is used and who by). If the process of creativity is so important, I need to think about whether I want to include the user in the design process, or help people too create their own clothes rather than make them myself.

Drawings of plastic

Here are some drawings of plastic bottles and plastic bags from my sketchbook, and a first experiment with stitching. I was trying to find beauty in things that are discarded, unwanted and environmentally damaging. I also wanted to communicate how something seemingly meaningless to one person can hold meaning for another - the red and green plastic bag came wrapped around homecooked food my boyfriend's mother had given him to bring to me. The bag reflects locality - local Midland's shop -- and also the sentiment of caring for someone else.

Another thing that did strike me was how the colours and patterns within plactic bottles change depending on what the bottle is placed on. I like this idea of garments looking different depending on how/where they are worn.

Appreciate and Re-value

I've been reading Designers, Visionaries and Other Stories – A collection of sustainable design essays, edited by Jonathon Chapman and Nick Gant (2007), and think some of the things Stuart Walker writes about in chapter 3, Design Redux, could be important to think about for my work...

Walker believes that not only do material possessions not bring happiness but also they are an impediment to happiness (p.58-59 and note 1). He believes we should appreciate what we already have and applauds designers who make use of existing products in new designs.

Walker believes by restoring or adapting old products:

 ‘…we show appreciation and demonstrate respect.’ p60.

Walker wants to find ways of appreciating products that still function but are no longer valued; that are old fashioned or slightly less technically advanced.

‘These products, which are perhaps 10-20 years old, have no deign cachet and therefore generally find their way into landfill.’ p.60.

Walker uses electronic/electrical goods as they become technically superseded quickly and cause a problem with disposal. The above statement could easily be applied to clothes (apart from the timeframe – which would be much less!) as I guess clothes are generally thrown out when they still function but are just 'out of fashion' – or faded etc. For this project I could reuse synthetic fabrics as they cause more problems at their end of life than natural fabrics, and so have a greater need to be reused.

SW has used a ‘frame’ to place his discarded objects in, in order to give them a new context and re-value them. He believes within this new frame ‘old’ or outdated qualities of the objects that may have been the reason they were initially discarded, actually become essential to the new whole. I think this is like worn vintage clothing, like a velvet jacket – if everything you wear looks old you might just look shabby, but if you wear an worn out jacket with a fresh bright dress it will be recontexualised and look ‘new’.

‘Products are associated with social standing and personal expression and so, as objects become old and shabby they are replaced. This re-presentation of objects within a specifically defined context offers one example of how older, perhaps deteriorated products, can be re-appreciated.’ p.67.

- I think this is like how like the quilts of Gee’s Bend were re-contextualised when they we displayed vertically in art galleries, rather than flat on beds. The ladies who made the quilts were also refered to as ‘artists’, whereas before they were a forgotten community.

Walker thinks it is better to design without the need to take the electrical products to pieces, as to do so would take time and resources (expensive) and would create waste. He explains that this relates to the first 2 (and what he terms the more important (p63)) of the 3 R’s – Reduce and Reuse.
 

- This makes sense, you can get most out of a product and create less waste by using it as it is – i.e. buying second hand clothes – this might work for fashion with vintage clothes which look unique and stylish. However, a lot of second hand clothes are not ‘fashionable’ or desirable and so need more attention and work to become desirable. Cutting up clothes to reuse the fabric - for patchwork, I think still falls under the heading of reuse, but obviously it takes more time and creates more waste than simply reusing the whole garment. It is possible to cut up the fabric and not create any waste – zero waste pattern cutting etc. If the fabric is mechanically or chemically recycled then it uses more energy, time and creates more waste than either reusing the whole product as it is, or reusing the materials of the product.

On the subject of (re)value, Walker states:

‘Walker and Chaplin (1997, pp165-166) have distinguishes several kinds of value that can be attributed to an artefact:

·         Artistic value – intrinsic excellence, aesthetic quality, significant content.

·         Use value – practical function irrespective of appearance and aesthetic attributes. (This can also include decorative, symbolic, memorial, ideological and political value.)

·         Sentimental value – private, biographical and emotional life of an individual.

·         Exchange value – monetary value is variable because of fluctuation in the market and the economy.’ p.69.

‘…ideological or even political value.’ p.70.

How can old discarded clothes achieve all 4 kinds of value? I wonder if clothes had more sentimental value in the first place, maybe that would out-weight the deterioration in appearance over time – maybe even the faded qualities would add value, showing the item is loved and used. I think artistic value relates to skill, time and craft rather than fashion – like Hader’s thoughts in her book about Amish quilts, 'Sunshine and Shadow', where she makes a distinction between ‘professionally’ (effeciently) ‘finely’ (carefully) worked stitches.

 SW explains that original value of the products he uses would have been usefullness and newness (fashion and innovation), as these attributes decrease over time the products lose their value. He claims he has restored value to the objects buy placing them in new compositions using his ‘frame’. He thinks that if the re-use of the product has sustainability at it’s core, it also gives it:  

Quilts, diamonds and inspiration

I'm very unhappy with my sketchbook at the moment, although obviously the point isn't to make a beautiful sketchbook, but to work towards beautiful textiles. I've been looking through some of my old sketchbooks though, and they seem to better record ideas and thoughts through drawing, they have less 'stuff' stuck in and more expressive drawing. I don't feel like my current sketchbook is working as either a scrapbook, journal or for drawing. Hopefully this blog will help me get my thought and ideas together better, and through reflecting on the sketchbook and my work I'll see what's working and what isn't. I think the other problem is that it's taking me a while to get back into reading, researching, drawing and making, because I haven't done it for so long, I guess the more I do, the better I'll get...

Anyway, here are a few more pages from my sketchbook and some images from the paper artist Peter Callesen:

Above: Pages showing similarities between precious gems and Amish quilts.

Above: Pages showing inspiration and things that remind me of diamonds - First page, top images by Richard Schur, bottom left is Louis Vuitton shop front, bottom right is Marta Marce. Bottom Page, left image is by Christopher Bucklow, I don't know who created the image on the right - sorry! I love the colours, and the way the colours are positioned together, and  the geometric shapes in the images.

Above: Some of my old freelance work, showing patchwork and pleating (I need to get better images!)

Above: Inspiration afor patchwork. Image on left is Chloe, with great areas of intense patching and pleating and contrasting plain areas, and on the right is Jil Sander, with gorgeous colour and delicate layers.

Above: Work from Gilbert and George featured in ES Magazine 7th Jan 2011. I like the repition of the images at the top of the page, making the postacrds look like patchwork, and I like the glowing colours in the lower images.

Above: Images of paper used to make 3d shapes. I like the paper alphabet, by Sonya Dyakova, because the light has to shine on it from a particular angle to see the words. Like diamonds, it would look different from different angles, and you can only read it in one place, otherwise it's a mystery.

The paper alphabet made me think of Peter Callesen's work. He's a great paper artist, and I like the way that the shape he cuts out of the paper to make the 3d shape from is as important as the created shape. He uses the whole of the material, and gets the most out of it, even the negative sections. Here are some images:




 

Total Beauty

I've been reading Edwin Datschefski's book 'The Total Beauty of Sustainable Products', Datschefski believes that it's not enough for products to look beautiful. He believes if products generate pollution or exploit people then they have a hidden ugliness. He believes if products are made in truly sustainable ways they have a 'total beauty'.

I like the way he thinks  about 'true beauty', not just surface appearances. However, in fashion, things still need to look good. Sustainable fashion can't be worthy and beautiful on the inside, but un-inspiring on the outside. But, equally in can't just look 'natural' but actually be made with unsustainable principles. I need to find ways of embedding meaning and sustainability within my textiles and also communicating that to people.

I think this quote puts our current consumption patterns into perspective:

'For example, over 30 tonnes of waste are produced for every one tonne of product that reaches the consumer. And then 98 per cent of those products are thrown away within six months. When you include these hidden impacts of manufacturing, we each consume our own body weight in materials every two days.' p.17.

I also thought this information was interesting in comparison to the information about gold from the Natural History Museum:

'Environmental damage from gold extraction is routine, for every ounce of gold extracted in Brazil, there are nine tonnes of waste, including silt and mercury run-off, which kills fish and other aquatic life downsteam.' p.18.

Finally, Datschefski writes that sustainability needs to be for everyone, not just a niche trend for well-off people. As embroidery can be time consuming to produce, and therefore expensive, this is something I need to think about. Do I want to produce a product or information?

Natural History Museum

I went to the Natural History Museum on the 9th January 2011 to investigate, through drawing, photographing, observing, and reading, the qualities of diamonds and precious stones. I thought if I could find out what makes these stones so eternally desirable then I could try and embed those qualities in my textiles to make them loved for longer.