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.