I began a new passion project - an autumn 1860s dress! This will be a "nicer" day dress of a striped, reproduction cotton with shirred coat sleeves and velvet trim on the bodice. The goal is to have it wearable by GCV's domestic symposium if I can attend, and finished for Thanksgiving. Not sure if either will happen, but here's to hoping...today's progress included assembling the skirt and preparing the hem facing for hand stitching.
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| Materials: (top) dress fabric, (bottom) hem facing, (right) gold velvet trim. |
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| Inspiration for bodice trim. CDV of a young woman, c.1860s (Image via: Pinterest, sold on Ebay) |
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| Shirred sleeves (Image via: Pinterest) |
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| Another example of gathering on the sleeve. CDV of Isa Vanfossen from Wellsville, OH, c.1860s (Image via: Pinterest, sold on Etsy) |
Tuesday, October 29th
Spent the day, 10 am - 8pm, in the textile studio. In my dimensional class, we began our basketry samples. Simultaneously wrapping, coiling, and stitching proved a challenge...I can see why basketry is an art!
Afterwards, I worked for my studio hours on an overshot sample. Currently, I'm testing colors for my next, much larger project. I dyed a four-step green gradient (ProChem's WF golden yellow + WF brilliant blue) last Friday for the pattern weft, which is crown colony 2-ply wool yarn. The structural tabby weft is another gradient of 10/2 cottons, over a 5/2 cotton warp. That's three separate color systems to consider - it's looking a lot like Fall on my loom!
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| Weft color systems: Hand-dyed 4-step gradient of 2-ply wool for pattern picks, (5 colors) 10/2 cottons for tabby picks |
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| Progress on the loom. |
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| It's almost impossible to tell, but there is a color transition from light yellow to lime green in the structural or tabby pick. In the next sample, I will probably make sure the color change is more dramatic. |
Wednesday, October 30th
I wrapped, coiled and stitched a thing! It took forever and my hands will probably hurt for the rest of the week from keeping the tension...Thank goodness for Amazon Prime though - I watched all six episodes of the BBC series Aristocrats (1999), re-watched The Fabulous Life Of Elisabeth Vigee Labrun (2018), and listened to more musical playlists than I'd care to admit. I also really, really want to sew all the 18th century things now.
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| Basket in progress - here you can see I am wrapping a rope core with light tan wool, and alternating color blocks of brown and puce-colored cotton yarns. |
Here's the finished basketry sample:
Not too bad for a first attempt, but I'm not sure I'm ready to be a basket-maker. Bring on the circular and diamond netting next!
Happy Halloween - wishing everyone a spooktacular day!
Today's #OOTD or outfit of the day featured my glow-in-the-dark spooky skirt, paired with a black and white striped shirt, clocked stockings, and pointy-toed flats. I intended to write a blog post just on the spooky skirt (and a matching witch hat that I neglected to bring to college), but that will have to wait...so here's a preview picture or two:
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| Spooky Hat (Materials: cheap velvet, wire, gauze, thread, plastic skulls, hot glue) |
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| Spooky Skirt (Materials: glow-in-the-dark fabric, interfacing, thread, metal skirt closure) |
As for other class news, the critique of our basketry samples went well, and now we're moving onto netting. Oh, and I began a figure skating class, which means of course I'm watching Olympic reruns and dreaming up skating costumes now. Like I need more projects...
Friday, November 1st
Fridays are my textile studio days! Not only do I have the graduate/advanced studio seminar (a meeting time for critique and discussing our weekly readings with Professor Janice Lessman-Moss), but every first Friday of the month, there's a visiting artist lecture at noon. This week featured Wayne Gonzales, visiting artist in drawing and painting.
Afterwards, I spend the rest of the day working...sometimes I don't leave the building until 2 am, which makes for a long (16-hour!?! 10am - 2am) day. I often do all of my dyeing on Friday nights (since I'm usually guaranteed to have the dye lab all to myself haha), but today I continued to work on sampling. Here are the two pieces I finished this afternoon:
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| Sample #5 Hand-dyed 2-ply wool and 10/2 cotton weft; 5/2 cotton warp. |
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| Sample #6 Same hand-dyed 2-ply wool and 10/2 cotton weft and 5/2 cotton warp as above. |
The plan is to finish sampling this week, and critique at the seminar on Friday. Then, I'll be planning and prepping for the final project.
Tonight, I also had the chance to attend two MFA thesis show receptions! I've had the privilege of getting to know both Nate (MFA in glass) and Erica (MFA in jewelry/metals) through a few textile courses, and it has been an honor to weave side-by-side with such talented artists. I will miss them both, and wish them all the best in their careers and continuing artistic practices!
Nate's glass weavings are incredible! These few pictures of my favorites from the show do not do them justice. To see more of his work, please visit his website here: Nate Avery Glass
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| Glass weaving by Nate Avery, MFA. |
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| Glass weaving by Nate Avery, MFA. |
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| Glass weaving by Nate Avery, MFA. |
Erica's multimedia body suits are equally inspiring and just fantastical! Her woven pieces often feature an array of found materials, and her transformation of "trash" or plastic bags in this costume is beyond words. On a more personal note, the textiles studio will definitely not be the same without her - she's been so kind and supportive of my own work, in class and late nights at the loom, I will really miss her. Luckily, you'll find her and be able to follow her work over on Instagram @eurrrca
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| "Chaosmomalia" body suit by Erica Hoosic, MFA. |
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| "Chaosmomalia" body suit by Erica Hoosic, MFA. All of that weaving! 😍 |
All in all, a wonderful way to end the week. See you in the next weekly writings!
I remember enjoying making those yarn baskets in school. I was thinking about them over the summer. You may have just nudged me to make another.
ReplyDeleteThe glass weaving is amazing. I would love to see that in person. It makes me want more ribbons. (I know, odd.)
My fellow classmates seemed to really enjoy the yarn baskets, and I bet it would make a great summer camp/class art project...makes me miss teaching GCV summer camps haha.
DeleteNate was saying that each square took him 3 hours, which at 25 per per piece and 5 total compositions...it was breathtaking exhibit! I totally see plaid ribbon designs - one can never have too much ribbon!
Yes, please do keep up the posts, journal format and otherwise. You do such beautiful,fascinating work. I love reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Lauren Kate! I'm happy you like the journal format - I'm trying to get back into the habit of blogging, and it's helpful to track what happens in the school week.
DeleteI like this format. Seems like a manageable way to keep blogging when you're really busy. It's so nice to see your latest projects!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kaela! That's just what I'm looking for - a manageable way to keep blogging because so much goes undocumented. Anyways, I miss our sewing-get-togethers. Hopefully over winter break we can plan another.
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