Brixton Flag Project.....

I was asked to work on a community project with other girls from my course, working for Brixton Printworks. We were asked to design flags with kite motifs which were to be used in a publicity stunt raising awareness and money for a development project in Brixton. I was also one of the main members of the team that printed the flags.

Carte Blanche....

One bright member of my course decided it would be interesting if we took the same garment and Upcycled them using our various skills as a collaborative project. We bought 13 identical dresses and applied the skills we use within our projects. Some people worked together in groups on the dress I chose to work on my own dress. I cut the sleeves, screen-printed the dress and smocked the back of the dress to gather it. I also made smocked rosettes to add to the collar. This culminated in an exhibition launch night and market stalls in Camden market where my dress sold.

Spiral Dress

I have smocked my last printed shirts and put them together into a long strip. This is an idea that I have been working on since I made my first smocked kilt. This is an idea that I will not not continue with, I will stick with the smocked layers skirt idea but it is too difficult to create a long skirt using this spiral technique and I want my final piece to be wearable. I have added buttons to this spiral dress which is something that I will take forward.

New prints...on shirts

Using the colours that I have selected from the photos I have taken of Canary wharf I chose some striped and plain grey mens work shirts. I then started printing onto them and layering my prints on top of each other. The first samples will be smocked and made into a layered frilled sample so I can start experimenting with layering techniques for my final piece. The second lot of sample will be layered and smocked then put together in another continuous length to make some sort of final outcome for my smocked spiral idea. I am now satisfied with this type of colour range and will continue to take photos of Canary Wharf to refine a final colour range for my final piece.

New prints...

I have been thinking about how to make my work more interesting as I plan to tone down my colours. I have always been fascinated with Mendhi Henna and so decided to look at this for my next print inspiration. I have also decided to reuse one of my earlier geometric prints as I really like the contrast between the intense swirly patterns of the henna and the hard edges of the geometric print. I plan to layer theses on top of each other and printed the patterns onto tracing paper to practice layering as in the example in the last photo. I plan to use different tones of grey with these prints and also include one or two bright colours.

Shirts Reconstructed: Skirt samplers

Since my previous post I have started to layer up and smock the printed and laser cut shirt front and backs. These samples are to test out the various methods I could use when I start to create my kilt smock skirts.  I will also be using the smocking sample ideas when I make my reversible waistcoats.

Back to sampling: Inspriration Navajo

Now I have confined the techniques and I am using to print, lasercutting and and smocking with some embroidery I need to try out this techniques in as many different ways as possible. These samples will hopefully give me my ideas for my final product and show. For these prints and lasercut samples I took inspiration from Navajo textiles. 

Shirts reconstructed: lasercut, smocked, printed kilt...

Once I had layered the prints and laser cut sections I stared to smock them again creating a kilt like skirt. I want to continue with this idea and hopefully develop it more so that it can be used from my final product for the show. After finishing this skirt I want to go back to making lots of smaller samples including many different techniques.

Shirts reconstructed: laser cutting

I want to experiment with laser cutting into the printed fabric and layering them, eventually to smock and put together in the form of a kilt like the example in my older post. I chose two patterns that I had printed and put them into Illustrator to create a pattern that could be laser cut. These patterns are slightly to complicated for the laser cutting to be completely successful my next laser cut patterns will be simpler. 

New prints...

I want to continue with my smocked skirt idea. I am planning to use these printed shirt front and backs to make long lengths of the smocking to create longer skirts. I plan to laser cut into these samples and layer them.