Textiles

                                                                                     

H I S T O R Y

  The first image displays a few of my sketches after researching fashion and textiles through the ages, from 1830 onwards. I looked at how the development of women's fashion in the nineteenth century exemplified the male view of the ideal figure.

The dress on the left hand side was based on the Pre-Raphaelite period.The top half of my dress was made using several different strips of fabric. Firstly I cut up several strips and then drip dyed them using similar pink and blue tones. Following this I used hand stitching to create the rougher theme that I had designed and sewed each strip together. After making each side separately I added a braid to define either side of the bust in a darker shade. I made the two parts of the skirt separately. The bottom part was easily dyed in a lilac tone and the top part was drip dyed and also crinkled using twists in the fabric and heat. 

   The second dress on the right hand side was based on a masquerade theme and was made for a dress up event. I used peacock feathers to influence my colour choices. The top half of the bodice was made using boning to hold it upright and I also used interfacing to strengthen it. As the outer side of the bodice was made using satin the feather decoration had to be hand sewn very delicately. The bottom half of the dress was made using chiffon and I cut up several lengths and strips of white. I then drip dyed them the appropriate colour variations and stitched them to the waistband.