wirewhathowandwhy

Another wonderful day at MEAL - as ever it has provided a space for deliberation and eventually a number of solutions to some of the issues that I've been battling with. Three bonnets, one with structure provided with miniature pleating, one with string held within the fabric - an exciting example of cording - the other with wire providing structure but also with some parts of it becoming an element of decoration.
This all connects with the structure of a corset I've seen at the costume museum in Norwich and demonstrates how to bring physical stiffness to the fabric experiments I've been working on so far. 
Adding structural internal 'scaffolding' is a whole area so I’ll have to really consider if this is a direction that the project should/could go.
Time and reflection whilst physically being with the objects in the collection enables links to flow - fixings and the leather work in both a leather corset and the gaiters today have highlighted the detective storytelling that I have engaged in - the 'what is this for' element of the looking.  
Attempting to work out what the objects do, how they work or which elements function in what ways has become an unexpected element of the project. Which in turn highlights how little one knows about the everyday of the past.

structureisall

A day of totally over the top pleating and gathering at the study centre with objects from the handling collection and dresses from the 1800s.  

I became fascinated by the hidden internal structures within pattern cutting that create shapes around and on the body which simultaneously present themselves on the surface of the garment as decoration.
CT3462 presented the idea of building structure within the material itself, creating a surface but more so a material that has a physicality that could be manipulated.
The crepe acts as a sort of shadow on the body, conceptually sucking in the light - blurring the form - creating a 'fuzzy' line on the body’s silhouette.
The garment that really encompassed a lot of the ideas I’m involved in was a 'handmade' dress with some huge box pleats that were attached to the main body of the dress in such a way that they hung in a way that celebrated their structure.

accessingbytouch

a day at The Textiles research centre - a session with actual objects that I have requested to view - difficult to convey how exciting it is to handle the objects that were earlier an ascension number and short description.
Where to start - after a long conversation with volunteers and archivists about the project, focusing on ways of accessing the collection, and cataloguing which led to ideas around blogging tags, crowd sourcing, turning ICOM into a diagram/family tree and translation from artists language to curator/archivist language I got to have boxes opened by the very wonderful and knowledgeable Lisa.
After spending time with the smocks which were the starting point of the project and obviously they are extraordinary objects. I was pleased that I had chosen 'the best' examples In the collection - the richness of the materials and structure were obvious. Highlights were - NWHCM : 1969.47 - dressmaking or tailoring samples which was in a box (CT1020) which contained examples of sewing and garment construction - much of it in parts, 'apprentice' pieces as part of courses or as examples to aid in the passing exams or to get work.
Sidelines that took over today were issues of wear and tear and ageing on the garments. How the garments had worn away told you much about the people who had worn them and the world they lived in, the very basic fixing that had taken place held many stories.