Week 2
- Tessa Wishart
- Jul 28, 2021
- 7 min read
Updated: Jul 29, 2021
Ideas and Themes Headings
- Jewellery
- Undergarments
- Sustainability and Zero Waste
- Craft Techniques - Printwork and Metalwork
- Female form - Imagery and Mood
In this mindmap, I've identified the themes I'd like to focus on in a visual and thematic concept:
THE BODY: BEAUTY • CONFINEMENT • COMFORT
- The Body in Craft
- The Body in Nature
- The Body in History
This allows to express a specific mood in my collection, varying over several different contexts: Craft being textile, printing, making techniques in clothing and jewellery; Nature being ecology, natural materials and sustainability through process; and History though art and fashion historical images, influences, silhouettes and fashion context.
[Analyse Holly McQuillan Work in Zero Waste with Textile inputs to help me understand intentions for my own work] - How may I develop a low waste sustainability collection with themes of the feminine form, whilst using handcraft techniques to deliver low waste pattern drafting and construction solutions.
Early Inspiration - My past work exploring design interests and design identity; 2017-2018.
Visual Influences - Feminine Form
One of the things that I felt tripped me up slightly in my last collection was the lack of a visual subject matter which I had to guide me in designing my collection and take visual references from. Particularly as I wish to incorporate printing techniques; having an established visual base is important to me. The reason I've settled on the idea of the feminine form, using art history influences and primary research from my own artwork (created in 2019, and to be created more in the next few weeks), is that I felt a strong connection to both my background of eduction in art history and my enjoyment of life drawing classes in helping me develop a better connection and understanding of the relationship between body and clothing.
Relationship between Craft and Sustainability
Examine Holly McQuillan's PHD work book.
It's clear to me that I want to bridge a gap between sustainability and craft; so I've struggled to identify which contextual positioning I will primarily align with. Craft feels most familiar to me, as something I am confident to develop and execute extremely well. However, the level of innovation and exploration which an be explored within a sustainability framework is incredibly interesting and important to consider. At a first glance (and I should certainly hope to properly examine and analyse this work before I work much further), Holly McQuillan's PHD work follows a craft basis with heavy textile influence as an aid to her zero waste principles. This is something I'd really like to do - I want to find a balance between silhouette and form, sustainability patternmaking, and craft and detail in my final collection.
Even McQuillan's other works feature textile and craft elements to support the work: for example her Make/Use online database suggests using insertion stitch as an embroidery technique for flat joining to support sustainable patterns; offers a screen printing pattern to make with the patterns, as the screen printing ink aids in stopping fraying to allow for cutting fabric and using flat joins without fraying, for longevity; and using other textile techniques such as felting joins to put together a fabric seam using wool fibre for an interesting and beautiful seamless join.
Sustainable Making Techniques
Something I'd considered in my last project is the fact that some materials are low waste in their application format. Fabric has always been an element that generates the most waste in garment construction (approx. 15% of yield is wasted), whereas elements and techniques like the following can be almost entirely waste free, given that only what is needed is used:
Yarn for knit or crochet (handcraft)
Seamless knitting/flatbed through digital pattern
Ribbon Lace, Ribbons and Other Trims
Pre-made Binding
Elastics
Wool Fibre for Felting
Embroidery
Weaving - Pieces woven into shape on the loom
Other - Casting in metalwork, as excess can be remelted
These ideas give me options of handcrafts techniques which I could invariably incorporate into my own designs to bridge this gap of personal interest between craft and sustainability. My pattern for the Spiral Jacket in the last project did embody this idea somewhat given that it was mostly crafted from strips of the same width, but I do feel that I could push this idea even more.
Timo Rissanen
ZERO-WASTE FASHION DESIGN: a study at the intersection of cloth, fashion design and pattern cutting. file:///Users/tessawishart/Downloads/02whole.pdf
Expressing Sustainability in Craft Based Fashion Design
Approaches:
- Multifunctional Design for increased use
- Zero Waste Construction and Patterncutting
- Scrap/Waste Management - Patchwork, etc
- Natural Materials and processes (Eco-printing, etc)
- Slow design (Timeless design for longevity and trans-seasonality)
- Rare craftsmanship techniques - Extends the lifecycle of knowledge for traditional crafting.
- Quality Craftsmanship - For longevity and prolonged lifecycle
Also - Ecofriendly textile possibilities
This list of low waste craft techniques suggests options which I may apply to an overall sustainable collection, or methods to practice low waste design.
Ultimately, I've decided to continue to focus on a zero-waste based project, given how I based most of my last project on this theme and how it seemed to be successful.
Developing a slightly more relaxed working style, and taking a slightly greater interest in working from and adapting pre-existing low waste patterns from designers I admire may also aid in my time management and design development.
Other Considerations I'd like to continue from the last project:
Size Flexibility - There has been consideration that the models we will use this semester will sit closer to a women's size 8 now, to align better with our pattern blocks. However, I still really align with the idea of being able to wear my own clothing! As a way to better connect myself to the work. I think not having such a close, sculpted fit with the clothing I develop will help in allowing for better flowing forms, which may be more geometric for less offcut waste. Using different, more sustainable fastening techniques also does this: things like clasps, buckles, buttons and ties can be multi-sizing and more sustainable than other fastenings such as zips.
- On this note...
I'm quite inspired by Raf Simon's Skeletal Jewellery accessories from his AW21 collection - I think they bear a lot of similarity to the printwork pieces with metal that I was making for my experimental surfaces paper last semester, and I can see that introducing an accessory like this would help a lot with the above point of size flexibility - using more voluminous flowing garments and then interesting accessory pieces like this to manage fabric volume by constricting in some places would be a really beautiful effect. I also really like the idea of the multifuntionality of the metalwork I was making last semester - using it for textile printwork and then converting it into an accessory piece like this afterwards shows a really excellent progression of processes, and this would demonstrate really beautifully in a BTS video.
(Raf Simmons AW21 Accessories collection; my own past work print from etched metal which would convert really beautifully into a similar accessory with a multifunctionality factor.)
Undergarments
I particularly loved the concept of using my textile waste to make corresponding undergarments; as I just haven't seen this approach considered by any designers before, and especially wished to continue to develop my skills in making undergarments as an intergral part of my collection. I do however still have the questions of time contraints and material possibilities in limitations by the shapes of the material offcuts. For this reason, I may wish to somehow relax my design process: perhaps by focusing my main garment design on being inspired by patterns from other zero waste designers and developing my own iterations, or by approaching more of a relaxed, low waste approach, or similar. I could also consider the idea of working backwards, constructing undergarments and then using the waste for primary garments, or think of other approaches to incorporate undergarments.
Execution and Layout:
Eventually, my work should be displayed in a static exhibition, as well as being documented for my lookbook. Displaying the flat zero waste pattern for each garment as down in the YIELD exhibition was something that I didn't find the time to execute in my last collection, but should love to attempt in my upcoming collection.
As below, I also love the swing tags I developed last semester, as these display the pattern and intentions for the garments in the collection. They also featured envelopes containing the entirety of the waste created during the construction process. I think that this is an approach I'd love to take again, but could even consider the possibility of being slightly more relaxed in the amount of waste I generate so that my time and attention can be better focused on the entirety of the collection.
Timo Rissanen:
Timo Rissanen finds himself very interested in jeans; given how they tend to be a garment most prone to creating high levels of textile waste. Bringing denim back into my work is something I've been interested in given how much I enjoyed the sustainability, craft and design values in my Blue Blood project work. I'd love to develop denim garments such as a jacket/skirt/jean given how denim is a strongly historical material.
Some Denim Options available to me:
Miss Maude supplies a beautiful rich toned organic cotton denim, which I’ve worked with before in my blue blood project and know that it sits very well, as well as supporting a beautiful raw denim philosophy which I love to align with. I also have a great research basis for working with this type of material.
Alternatively, working with just natural materials means I have a wide range of styles and colour tones of cotton denim available to me; including in selvage denim. (And some at lower price points.
Using a non-organic natural denim also means that I may play with white/ivory denim, such as this herringbone denim from Miss Maude; which would hold a printwork piece such as cyanotype or van dyke really beautifully.
Zandra Rhodes (UK Designer)
A leader in the zero waste design field, Rhodes' Chinese Squares work was referenced in the YIELD: Making Fashion Without Making Waste zero waste fashion exhibition, curated by Timo Rissanen and Holly McQuillan.
This is such an excellent reference of a designer incorporating and working with craft techniques - the designs in question are made to be cut around the Chinese Squares textile pattern so as not to disrupt the print, resulting in a beautifully geometric interesting form. (Expressed here in several different styles).
I absolutely love this expression of relationship between zero waste sustainability and craft/printwork, as it suggests a brilliant approach to incorporate my own printwork as an important design feature. )
Rhodes's work also demonstrates how a design feature like this is copied into different iterations within a collection without creating too much extra work or though to difficult variations in design - this is important for my own work given the time constraints that I expect to find myself under.
All That Was Solid Melts - Room 8 Katie Paterson Fossil Necklace Overview
I'm not entirely sure how well this piece of work relates to the rest of my concept, but using The Body in Beauty as a theme does give me some sense of creative license. I just adore how this piece of jewellery references ecology and anthropology.
Links to use...
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