Material Explorations

My style of work is informed by a playful approach, calculate and thought about, yes, but I try to incorporate materials that are not necessarily the norm. Generally, in the contexts when I do this the fabrics do not need to be completely commercially viable however, I have continued to push myself to still experiment with materials and weave when I am designing for a specific purpose. From plastic yarns to leather to fancy yarns that might not quite work, I've tried and tested them all and created some very interesting samples in look, texture and weight.

With weave specifically there is the generally consensus that yarn should be exactly that, however, that does not remove the possibility and need to try materials that are not the 'standard set'. I introduced the leather into my one of my projects specifically about colour and it wasn't until towards the end of the project that I found a really need for it within my collection. I went hunting for any and every variety of leather and suede and I began by experimenting with strips of leather that linked to inspiration images I had gathered. Instead of putting a cotton or polyester through the weft I put leather strips through that when beat quite hard began to bunch up and change the naturally form of the weave. From this I then experimented with laser cutting the leather to create washers (a link that developed during the course of my project). After much problem solving I found a way to actually get the washers inside the woven cloth so I threaded a series of washers onto a needle with some embroidery thread and the put that through the shed. I then put all the shafts down and handpicked each washer from in between the warp threads so they remained on the surface (see right image below and banner image at the top of this page). Extremely time consuming but a worthwhile couple of hours that added a new element of life to an otherwise quite non experimental fashion collection at that time.