First research The first task was to research lace and create a PowerPoint presentation. I researched lace throughout history and also where other associations can be found. Especially architecture and nature were very inspiring.
The Poem/The idea This project has started on the base of the poem “The panther” by Rainer Maria Rilke. By reading this poem for the first time, I instantly realised this was my inspiration for this project. It’s about a panther that vegetates in imprisonment, which has no zest for life anymore. It’s actually a sad poem with no happy ending. Personally, I also understand the words of this poem as a metaphor for a human mind that is trapped in itself and who doesn’t’ seem to get a way out of misery. Nobody likes sad endings, so why not change it if possible! Therefore I felt like I had to extend this story, make it come to live again and give it a happy ending with this project. To visualize this idea of freeing a soul I deliberated to start the collection of with tight garments that lock up the body, which then evolve to liberated designs. Finally this whole sequence can be seen in the line up.
The panther,Figure 1
The colour Having the choice to select one out of three colours (white, grey or black), I chose grey. One of the reasons for this choice is the correlation to the poem as the panther’s sight is blurred and his world is grey. The other reason is that I wanted to challenge myself as I personally think, that by using only one colour grey is quite a hard colour to work with. The advantage on the other hand is that grey comes in a big variety of shades.
Shades of grey, Figure 2
The V&A In mid January a visit of the V&A took place to gain inspiration. I was particularly looking for items that reminded me of lace. There were a lot of things that could be associated with lace. Especially the Middle Eastern and Asian part was very inspiring. What caught my eye the most was the section with walls. I was always fascinated by historical architecture, as it is mesmerizing to imagine how the architecture was built.
V&A, Figure 3
The Wallace Collection Not having visited the Wallace collection yet I wasn’t sure what to expect. Once in, I realised it was amazing. Seeing that there is put so much detail in every room was fascinating. To tell the truth, for this project, I found it more inspiring than the visit at the V&A. What caught my eye especially, weren’t the displayed paintings or furniture, it was the tassels on the curtains as they were very delicate and every room had individual ones.
Tassels Wallace Collection, Figure 4
Westminster Abbey/Palace of Westminster Having walked along the themse so many times with visitors, one place has always taken my breath away: The Westminster area. The buildings are simply amazing, standing in front of them looking at the architecture, the size, imagining how this was built in all its details and especially when it was built, its overwhelming. Westminster Abbey and Palace of Westminster came instantly to my mind when I was researching my project, as the architecture have a feel of a cage but within the bars so dainty detailed.
Westminster Abbey, Figure 4
NeSpoon NeSpoon is a polish street artist who came across my research. In her unique way of street art, which she calls “Public jewellery”, she translates lace patterns into ceramics, stencils, paintings and webbing and installs them in public spaces. Even more interesting about this is that she creates those installations in abandoned and unadorned spaces and so by doing this, she brings them to life.
Figure 5
Figure 6
Elodie Antoine
Figure 9 Figure 7 Elodie Antoine’s art is very inspiring as it in a way expresses my vision for my collection. This Belgian artist creates contemporary artwork by using lace-making techniques. With these techniques she produces structural industrial imagery but in contrast, the end of each piece is left loose so the strands flow freely.
Embellishment Looking at lace related garments, haute couture apparel always crossed my ways. It is intriguing to see how much effort and delicacy the artisans put in those garments. The thing that caught my eye for this project was the carefully hand-sewn sequin, beads, stones and pearls. It made me think to integrate this craft also into my collection. At John Lewis I found some beautiful beads, but soon had to realize that this idea might not be realizable due to time reasons.
Elie Saab,Figure 8
Sampling with paper Sampling with paper was my starting point in developing garments. As in my research stated, lace reminds me of paper cuts so I started to create different shapes out of paper. While looking at the paper cut, which comes in one piece, my attention was drawn to the cut out pieces. I started playing around with them and stuck them together. Figure 11 Whilst, I realized interesting pieces can be created with the leftovers. Through that I thought why not cutting out individual pieces, which outline lace. With several pieces I built a floating construct that proceeds from the neck to the bottom line. (Fig.12) Figure 12
Sampling with fabrics The next step was recreating the paper samples in different fabrics and sizes. For the first try I used calico. Knowing that it wasn’t a fabric that wouldn’t hold the structure, I still tried it, as there might be some unexpected outcome. First I folded the calico about four times and then drew on a similar pattern, which I’ve used for my first paper sample (fig.1). This sample was also about three times the size of the one I did in paper.
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Once the pattern was cut out, I laid the four identical as well as symmetrical fabric pieces onto each other and sewn them in in the middle together. This resulted in a construction that was too big and though it was able to hold its structure a little, a little wasn’t enough. The next task was to find out how to make this sample in a way that it would stand up straight. I gave it another try with net. The unfortunate thing about the net was that it was hard to cut out as it would slip everywhere and since its net, the pinning was more complicated as well. For sure I wouldn’t use net but since this is just a sample, it serves it purpose. So the same process again like with the calico piece went on and the result was much better this time. The sample would hold its structure more or less and Figure 17
still bend a little bit.
Figure 16
Figure 18
Out of curiosity I still wanted to make a much more structured model of the same. Looking for available fabric swatches I found a piece of calico that was much harder than the first one I used. To give it extra hardness, this time I used interlining as well. (fig.20) This third try was absolutely worth it as the outcome was as I had imagined it from the beginning. It stood straight and no sticking together. When looking around I saw the left over pieces from the sample and realized they Figure 19 Figure 20 looked very interesting, so I started playing around with them and tired to construct them in a way that they would take on an undulating shape. Sewing the pieces onto each other individually on shifted places created this. (Fig.19) After that I put the sample on various parts of the body to create different detailing ideas and inspiration. To take the previous made sample further, I tried to produce it oversized. For this the net fabric was used again as gives it more softness and movement. (fig.21) Playing with the finished samples on the stand:
Figure 21 Figure 22
Figure 93
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For the next sample I started to think about the silhouette and how to create it. Since I wanted my silhouette to be tight and flowing into looseness I simply used a square piece of net and sewn two rows of elastic band into it.
The elastic band allowed me to play around with the sample in many different ways. It created two layers, which are floating into each other.
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Figure 26
Fabric shopping A visit to Shepherds bush was due to get some fabrics for this project. Luckily, I quickly found what I was looking for. Two soft shiny fabrics in two different grey tones and a grey plastic fabric that had velvet feel to it on the outside.
Sampling with the bought fabrics
After getting some hard and soft fabrics to sample with I started of with concentrating on the shoulder and the fullness of the upper body. This shoulder piece is simply a pleated rectangle piece and on the top and smoothens into its length.
Figure 27 Cutting out several half mood shaped pieces and sewing them together on the edges made this sample, which still concentrates on the shoulder.
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Figure 29
This was really good to work with as the shape allows a lot of different movements and creates interesting shapes. For time saving reasons I started to cut out the half mood shapes in paper as well as it would move the same way the fabric did. The previous small sample went very well, so I choose to take it to the bigger size in paper.
Same process: Cutting out half moon shapes, sticking them together and playing around on the mannequin. But this time I made two pieces of the same shape and put them together on the mannequin.
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Figure 31
To get a fresh start I went through my research again and strived to make something that represents captivation. The bars and bonds inspired me for this sample.
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Figure 32
For this plaited piece, a grey structured fabric is used for the vertical lengths a lining fabric for the horizontal lines. Behind the plaiting lining fabric is used as well to give it a soft feel when worn. The structured grey fabric has a velvet feel on its outside which lets it hide its hardness and is left with raw edges while the grey lining fabric are stripes that are sewn together and turned around.
Sampling on the stand:
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Fabric shopping two Having decided that the grey structured fabric would definitively be great to use for my project I went to Shepherds bush again to buy more but unfortunately it was a disappointing visit as there was no more availability. I spent hours of looking around for other possibilities but left unsuccessful.
Walthamstow Market After visiting all kinds of fabric shops in Central London, Tooting and Brixton and still being unsuccessful to find the right fabrics I decided to visit Walthamstow Market. I have never been there before and was amazed by the amount and prices of fabrics they offer there. Being totally determined to find the right fabrics on that day the search begun. At the end of the day I Walthamstow market, Figure 38 left Walthamstow with two meters of a grey jersey which only cost me one pound per metre, but not with what I was primary looking for. The market and high streets have available a lot of traditional and simple fabrics but almost nothing contemporary. Being confused after another failed attempt to get fabrics I decided to do some more design development and give it a little break.
Decision/Finding fabric After some time has passed by, I decided on my final collection. collection will consist of three outfits and in total six garments.
The
Also I finally found the four fabrics which are going be used for my collection. In Sheperd’s Bush I’ve found a grey jersey, which costs £7 a metre. The three other fabrics, I was able to find in Walthamstow. A light grey thin jersey for £1 a metre, grey wool for £15 a metre and a stretchable lace fabric, which has not the traditional lace pattern but a lot of colour spots on it, for this fabric they also only charged £2.25 a metre. Excited to have finally found the fabrics I couldn’t wait for beginning the making.
Playing with the fabrics
Figure 39
Knowing that the fabrics will suit the main silhouettes I was trying out if they will be able to create the detailing. By creating tubes of fabrics first and then weaving them together the sample was achieved. But after giving it a proper press it wouldn’t stay as flat as it should. Remembering that I had bought some grey binding I tired it with this and it came out exactly as wished. Since it worked out I went to a shop in Walthamstow and was
able to buy 10 metres for £2.
Figure 40
The making Outfit ONE: After everything was sorted, the making process could take place. I started with outfit one, which consisted of a formfitting dress and a cape. The most time-consuming part on this outfit was the collar of the dress, as it had to be made to fit exactly perfect, but it was also a lot
While sewing collar onto dress, Figure 43
Layer outfit one, Figure 41
Both layers on outfit one, Figure 42
Collar in the make, Figure 44 of fun to do it. For the dress I used a size eight dress block and attached a top piece onto it. The two pieces are sewn together like a lining to make it look neat and easier to put on. To get into the dress a hidden zip is integrated between the two layers of the dress. The cape is kept very simple, on the outer shell grey wool is used and as a lining light grey jersey. There were some thoughts about putting on details, but in the end I decided it should just stay like it is to not overwork it. A slit on each side provides more movement for the arms. For this pattern I traced the front, neck and shoulder bit from a blouse block and then extended the hemline and sides to a circle.
OUTFIT TWO: Outfit two consisted of a trouser and a top. I used a high-waisted size eight trouser block but narrowed each leg by 16cm from the bottom. To give the simple kept trousers a more extreme look I decided to make them from the lace fabric. As this fabric is see through and very soft I used the light grey jersey underneath. To get into the trousers a hidden zip is used on the left side. The top ended up being a big challenge, as it has no opening, which means it must be stretchy enough as well as it needs to be fitted to the body. Top, half front, Figure 45
Top, half back, Figure 46
For the body I used a swimsuit size eight block, as I knew this would be really fitted and adjusted it to a top. On my toile I created the pattern for the sleeves of the top, which are actually like little shoulder capes. In the centre front of the top another weave-detailing piece has been sewn in which with movements hides and shows. In the end I had some trouble, as it was too tight, so I thought about putting in a zip, but realised it wouldn’t flatter the top, so sewing in another grey jersey piece, which would make it a little bigger, solved the problem.
Outfit three, Figure 47
OUTFIT THREE: A skirt and a long sleeved top compose the last outfit. For the skirt, which is made in a grey jersey fabric, a size eight block is used that has been adjusted in the length and width to make it very form-fitted. The second garment for this outfit is a loose, triple layered, freely swinging top, which is slightly shorter at the back. For this I used a size 8 blouse block and adjusted the hemline, the sides and as well the centre front and centre back, so it would flow all around and not only on the sides. As a base the grey jersey fabric is used. In the front this base has two overlaying layers and by the lace, whereas in the back there is only one layer. For the sleeves the matching size eight sleeve block has been used as a base but the sleeve width has been doubled.
Top with sleeves, toile, Figure 48
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