looking forward

Smocking has been focused this week.
Fabric tessellation of Canadian smocking is very simple yet effective, and it is constructive in a sense. I had an idea of ''stuffed smocking'' during my earlier stage of technical exploration, and it was natural to remake the sample in the material that I consider to use for my final collection.

Below are samples that I made earlier, and both are made with jersey medium weight gray fabric. One is stuffed with salad beans in each flower-like motif (you feel it only when you touch the sample), and the other is stuffed with wadding during and after smocking. Those were successful experiments as I made unusual smocking, but it lacked the visual impact and colour variations.

Left: Small smocking sample stuffed with beans     Right: Smocking sample stuffed with wadding 

I have been away from this idea because of the drawbacks I mentioned above, but decided to try again and overcome the problems with the new idea. The second challenge went better. Smocking with see-through fabric allowed me to express colour, and it is still at the slight level but I started seeing the connection between my sample and what I am looking forward to. 

Including the smocking idea,  my textile design is becoming more abstract in comparison with drawings that I got from term1.  However, I haven't been able to abandon the graphic patterns completely neither, and being irresolute. A decision has to be made, and it won't be far after, so what I need to do is more visualisation, until I get the certain direction towards my final collection.

Left: Hand rolled stuffing balls     Right: Smocking sample with see-through fabric

 Left: Visualisation     Right: Smocking sample inspired and colour-matched by one of my drawing

development samples

Having looked at visualisation, and I started sampling this week.

Compared to the technical exploration over the last few weeks, the second phase of sampling is more straightforward as I simply mix and match the techniques and designs. The two different aspects (technical and visual) of my project are finally married this time, and I am happy with it.

For the first development sample, I chose from my drawings instead of from developed designs. This is because I aimed to develop my samples in the same way that I developed my designs, also because I still doubt if it is necessary to transform the original drawing into 'textile patterns' that we usually see.

Unlike the technical samples, the new samples were produced in a systematic way in order to translate the drawing into embroidery as precisely as possible. Accordingly machine work was needed, and it was new to this project, new to myself too. I have been interested in laser cutting since I knew about it, and I have been curious about the collaboration of hand embroidery and innovation. The attempt turned out successful, although I do need to collect right materials for the final.

Left: Adobe illustrator drawing for laser cutting  Right: Stitching a part of the sample   

Left: Original drawing  Right: Stitched sample (approx.15x24cm, painted card board, straws, beads, snaps)

                  

Left: Photoshoped visualisation of the drawing  Right: Sample on a mannequin

In later this week, I created another sample in the same style but with the different material so that I can familiarise myself with varied materials that are potential for future sampling.
The plan for the next week is the development sampling of abstract patterns, that will be followed by sampling of repeat patterns.

Left: Cork sheet being vinyl cut  Right: painted and stitched sample (approx. 9x15cm)

visualisation

Visualisation is a challenging task for me at all time. As an embroiderer, I am often dominated by embroidery ideas throughout the project and used to make less effort at visualisation. To avoid this, I had to obtain another perspective as well as textiles, and in this project it is fashion.

digital collage—scaffolding and a man

Above is a digital collage which I combined my primary research photograph and a male model. Recently I recognised my technical samples are comparable to scaffolds at building sites, and this is an attempt to link the technical and contextual aspect of my project.

Below, there are 3 sets of photoshop visualisation.  The first is experimental collages. It focused on silhouettes rather than patterns but I am happy with it because I used to apply patterns into ready-made clothes and felt less personal about it. The second, patterns exploration, was not a plan at first, but some of repeat patterns turned in positive way as they looked fairly different to the original blocks. The bold, one-off pattern worked well but it didn't exceed my expectation, and overall I felt those patterns might be 'too safe' to achieve the aim of the project. The last is the combination of repeat patterns and abstract accessories that I drew inspiration from medical casting and splinting. It is the most potential visualisation as it included the elements of both drawings and technical samples.

silhouette exploration

patterns exploration

cast-inspired accessories

In next week I am going to continue visualisation, and hopefully start sampling some of those.

self-directed study—am I directing myself to the right way?

This week was one of difficult weeks in my design process.
I urged myself to 'produce' and neglected to 'think', and it prevented the progress of this project as a result.

The week started with continuing work of the technical exploration that was a only successful part in this week. The focus of the exploration was changed from the stitch itself to the overall appearance, so that I can imagine those embroidery samples as products. As you can see in a couple of samples below, forms of samples started being natural that fit to the body, and it let me look into fashion context rather than interior.

 

Although the samples are successful from the technical point of view, it was doubtful if they were relevant as a part of my project. I started wondering if my technical exploration is slightly going wrong direction, as I have recently relied upon my personal 'taste' specially for material selection. It must be okay to explore around the core idea but what I have been doing seemed to be out of theme, out of control. Accordingly I decided to visualise my design process (below) and it helped me to understand the current situation.

During my tutorial, it is emphasised to look at all my drawings in order that I can identify what is successful and what is not through the reflection. The target of a coule of weeks ahead is to bring the components together and get the right direction towards the final design.