Showing posts with label One Year One Outfit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label One Year One Outfit. Show all posts

Thursday 16 March 2017

One Year One Outfit 2016


I haven't talked much about the totally local outfit I made during the whole of 2016, but I have been beavering away and it is finally finished!


Now I have to admit here, that 'totally local' is not exactly an accurate description for this outfit. The challenge was to create an outfit that was completely sourced from naturally-occurring materials within a 500km radius of my location. As discussed last year, there are not a lot of dressmaking materials available around Perth, Western Australia except wool. I stuck to the rules last year, but rebelled this year and used a couple of imported products. I decided that having a wearable* almost-totally-local outfit made more sense than a totally local outfit that sat, unworn, in the cupboard. 

*I use the term 'wearable' somewhat loosely here!


This year's outfit includes a dress, a bag and some shoes. The bag and shoes are felted from Merino and Corriedale wool from West Australian sheep and are 100% locally sourced apart from the soles of the shoes, which I made from jute string imported from China. 


The dress is nuno felted with silk hankies and wool on silk. I had really wanted to try nuno felting and had intended to use local wool and imported silk and dye it with local plants. However, it turned out that locally sourced and dyed materials were going to make life as a newbie nuno felter too complicated, so I bought everything from Treetops Colour Harmonies. Treetops is the most glorious shop and all their silk and wool is carefully hand dyed in colours inspired by West Australian bushland and beaches. If you're going to deviate from totally local, this is the place to do it!


My supplies were silk hankies, silk georgette fabric and superfine Merino wool tops in the colours 'Chinchilla'. I had never worked with silk hankies before and was quite surprised to find that they were not the nose-blowing variety, but squares of fine silk fibres, each stretched from a single silkworm cocoon. It felt very special to work with these little wonders of nature.


The dress was made during a three day nuno felting workshop with Nancy Ballesteros at the Feltwest studio. The course was absolutely brilliant and I learnt so many new techniques. Nuno felting a fitted garment with silk hankies is a long and involved process. It begins as a pattern that would fit a giant and is worked and washed and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed until finally it fits a real person. Despite having three full days to make this, in the last hour or so I was actually running back and forth from the sink to the table to the rubbing boards in a manner reminiscent of Project Runway or Masterchef!


My design for all three of my items was based on an abstract flower design I saw in the book '500 Felt Objects' by Nathalie Mornu, which was kindly lent to me by Carolyn of Handmade by Carolyn. I used the colours of the wool and silk hankies to vary the colours of the flowers and to highlight the edges and centres against the background. The flowers were placed close together at the neckline and bodice, for strength and modesty, and further apart towards the hemline. I am wearing a flesh-coloured slip under the dress.






The front and back of the dress were made separately and fitted during the felting process. Areas of the dress, such as the armholes, were shrunk with further felting so they were fitted and not gaping.




The dress was then sewn together with silk strips to create a decorative seam. The hem was hand rolled and stitched.



The bag is completely felted from local wool in white and brown and incorporates the same abstract flower design as the dress. I made the bag at another fabulous Feltwest course run by Sue Eslick. I attended the course with Sue from Fadanista, who is always great fun and has made a breathtaking totally local dress and accessories that you must see.



The bag was made in the round as one piece with a plastic 'resist' in the middle to stop the front and back felting together. You can see here that I went to considerable effort to dye some of my wool with locally sourced indigo. This is a bit of a sore point as the indigo nearly all washed out during the felting process!


An inordinate amount of rubbing and shaping followed before the bags were sufficiently felted and strong. Here Sue was laughing as my indigo dye ran out all over my shoes. Little did she know that my bag was watching her every move!


Encouraged by my newfound resist felting expertise (!), I attempted the shoes on my own! To make the template, I drew around my foot and measured the width at the widest point. This measurement, 9.6cm, was divided by three giving 3.2cm. I then added 3.2cm all around the foot drawing to allow for the wool shrinkage and foot shape. The left and right templates were made from thin packaging foam sheets covered with duct tape.


Rub a dub dub...


Once the felting was done, I cut a foothole in the top. I thought I'd made it in the right place, but I ended up having to patch the heel as it was too low.




The sole was made with a plaited strip of jute string that I placed on a template of my foot, sewed together and stitched to the shoe with local wool.




So there we are!


I have an outfit that is only partly local. However, every inch of it was planned and designed and made lovingly agonisingly by hand in a process that was exhilarating and difficult and immensely satisfying.


So, the big question now is will I wear it? Well, I can happily report that I have already done so! I wore the dress to a wonderful get together of the Perth Sewcialists late last year. The Sewcialists, as always, were very kind and complimentary of the dress and much patting of the fabric took place. I call that a win for One Year One Outfit!


Huge thanks must go to Nicki of This is Moonlight for conceiving this idea of nature and sustainability and facilitating the meeting of wonderful, like-minded people. She will be doing a round up of the participants soon and has made an exquisite hand woven coatigan. Thank you also to Carolyn, for the fun get togethers, for encouraging me to keep creating my outfit and for her (very kind) enthusiasm about my shoes! Her outfit is the most beautiful knitted dress and hat, dyed with local plants. You must see it. Thank you also to Sue for the laughs, the inspiration and being my partner in crime at the workshops. If you didn't click on her gorgeous doily dress earlier in the post, do it now. My outfit from last year can be found here.

Thursday 29 October 2015

One Year One Outfit - THE BIG REVEAL!


OK, here it is. The outfit I've been working on all year that is 100% sourced from my local corner of Western Australia.

Also known as 'Pocahontas goes on a winter holiday'.

The only part that is not locally sourced is the boots and the, er, underwear.


This challenge was dreamt up by the quirky and creative Nicki. We had one year to create an outfit that had been 100% sourced from our local area. People from around the world have taken part including a small and enthusiastic group from Perth, Western Australia (WA), consisting of me, Carolyn, Sue and Nicki. I have to say, I could not have completed this project without the help and support of these lovely ladies. Together we have investigated local sources of fibres and textiles, experimented and learned new techniques, played with natural dyes, hand stretched silk cocoons and endlessly discussed our outfits over cups of tea and coffee. It has been stimulating, cathartic, exhausting at times (try rubbing and rolling huge pieces of felt by hand!) and always incredibly good fun.


At the beginning of the challenge we made a list of the fibres, textiles and other things, like zips, buttons etc. available in south west WA. Here is the list:

1. Wool

We did discuss harvesting roadkill, but abandoned the idea fairly quickly. We were going to have to get creative with Eucalyptus leaves or resort to using wool from sheep or alpacas. Fortunately wool is pretty fantastic and can be used in many ways. I used knitting and felting for the majority of my outfit and incorporated the natural colours of the wool into the design.

Let's start with the cardigan.


I began with a Nikki Gabriel pattern for a jumper made of knitted triangles that were sewn together. I am not a knitter, so thought triangles would be do-able. I used three colours of wool from Corriedale sheep. I knitted a few triangles and was pleased. I knitted some more and was bored. I forced myself to knit even more. I knitted throughout a tropical Singapore holiday, on the plane, in the hotel, even at Universal Studios. By this point I was about halfway through the triangles and decided that if I had to knit another one I would go stark raving mad. Then I suddenly had the brainwave to fill in the gaps with felted triangles. Felting! So much quicker than knitting...until you decide to blanket stitch all the edges before sewing the triangles together. At least it was a change from the interminable knitting. I gradually pieced the triangles together in a random mixture of colour, knitted and felted and it evolved into this cardigan. 


I finished the edges with a felted strip of mid-brown wool and black splotches of Truffle (dog) fur. 


The cardi is rustic to say the least. I think it is a bit much worn with the rest of the outfit, but I do quite like it and it might look ok with jeans or something else less, well, woolen. The different textures are kind of cool and some of the felt looks almost like leather.




So, what else do we have. Oh, more felt! OK, I was perhaps not as creative as I could have been with my treatment of the wool. It's all knitted, felted or stitched. The other parts of the outfit consist of a felted top, skirt and hat.


I've mentioned before about the ombre felted skirt. Sue was a huge help with the felting and, after the first session, she discovered that her car polisher sped up the soapy water rubbing process no end. I used Sue's polisher to felt my skirt into a tube shape.


Truffle inspected the dog fur splotches in the skirt and gave them a woof of approval.


Sue also helped me knit a waistband for the skirt on her knitting machine. I say 'helped' when what I really mean is 'did it for me while I drank tea'. Sue is a legend!




The top is a piece of white felt that I cut to shape using a pattern and I now can't remember which one. I didn't have quite enough for the sides, so I sewed on some felted circles that I had originally intended as embellishment. 


The neckline and armholes are blanket stitched for stability. The darts and shoulder seams are dry felted together with a felting needle.


I'm quite pleased with the top and skirt. I'm not sure if I'll actually wear them, but they do feel light and cosy.



The final part of the outfit is the accessories. I made the hat using the Madeline hat pattern. It is sewn together with wool using the Alabama Chanin hand sewing technique.


I finished it off with two little felt flowers.


But wait, the necklace is not wool! It is made from Neptune Balls, which are balls of WA seaweed, Posidonia oceanica, that I collected from a beach south of Perth and strung together with wool.


I also made a little felt dog for Truff to thank him for donating his fur to the project.


So there we are. One Year One Outfit. Locally sourced and the height of fashion.

OK, the latter claim is pushing it, but I am still very proud of my outfit. After all, it's not just an outfit, it's the culmination of a whole process of researching, gathering materials, experimenting, learning and creating. It's also a reminder to look at what is on your doorstep, unleash its potential and consider the environment and the mass production factories in the process.

I loved this year. Thank you to my OYOO friends for all the fun, help and inspiration, to the sheep and the wool spinners and to Truff and my lovely family for their support and fur donations.


Gosh, I look hilarious!

To see the other stunning outfits of our merry Perth band, have a look here for Carolyn's and here for Sue's. You won't regret it. Nicki's is coming soon, so keep checking her blog.

Saturday 12 September 2015

Japanese natural dyeing workshop with Kitta from Okinawa


Naturally dyed fabrics in Trudi Pollard's studio


At the end of August, the Perth 'One Year One Outfit' crew and a few other interested dye-hards (!) travelled to the studio of textile artist Trudi Pollard in the Perth hills. We were there for a unique and rare workshop, 'The Colour of Wonder' with Kitta (Yuko Sawano), a Japanese natural dye artist, her husband and some colleagues. We had the whole day for the workshop. It was a gorgeous, sunny, late winter's day and Trudi's studio was rustic, comfortable and filled with things of beauty.

You may remember that 'One Year One Outfit' is a worldwide challenge to make an entire outfit by hand from locally sourced materials. I've already done some felting and knitting with Western Australian wool and was keen to learn more about dyeing with plants. The challenge has been incredibly inspirational and creative. I've made new friends, learned unusual techniques and become increasingly aware of sustainable fashion and our local environment.


This workshop was another fascinating component in our quest for the creation of a beautiful and sustainable outfit. We hoped to gain knowledge of dyeing to apply to our locally sourced textiles.

Following a welcome, cups of tea and homemade goodies, we chose a two metre piece of Japanese linen to use for our dyeing. The linen had been prepared beforehand and was either washed and pre-wetted in water for the blue indigo dye or soaked in soybean juice and dried for red madder dyeing. We had to choose which dye we wanted to try and select our linen accordingly. I chose some wet linen for indigo dyeing.


The Indian madder root was already boiling in water over a fire. We went outside to strain it through cloth, add more water and put it back to boil for a while longer.




Strained madder root, which can be reused

That's Kitta in the centre (below), wearing her gorgeous, naturally dyed clothes, and her husband on the left. Nicki (right) came up with the whole 'One Year One Outfit' idea and organised this workshop. Yay Nicki!


If I remember correctly, Kitta and her family, being passionate about the environment and interested in Japanese history, purchased an indigo factory in Okinawa, Japan. They revived the traditional techniques of growing the Ryukyu Indigo plants, harvesting them by hand with simple tools and extracting the dye from the leaves using vats dug into the ground. We were shown a video of the process while Kitta's husband played soporific and beautiful guitar music.


Kitta had brought some of her Indigo dye with her and it was growing and fermenting in a large tub in the studio. I'm not quite sure how she got it past the strict Australian customs! The bacteria must be carefully tended and kept alive throughout the dyeing process and beyond so the dye can be used over and over again. The temperature and pH must be checked and adjusted daily and only a certain amount of fabric can be dyed on any one day so as not to 'exhaust' the bacteria. That was why only half of us could use the indigo dye. This aspect of the process was fascinating to me and reminded me of growing bacteria and parasites during my scientist days! Biology and dyeing fabrics, what could be better!?


One by one we dipped our linen into the warm indigo tub, massaging the liquid into the cloth. We had to keep the linen below the surface and try not to introduce bubbles of air. After a few minutes, we brought the fabric out and waved it in the air to oxidise the dye, which quickly changed from greenish to blue. That's Trudi below right.



Some people got right into the experience and used their bare hands. I used gloves to preserve my natural skin colour!


Trudi had some Australian native indigo, Indigofera Australis, growing in her garden, amongst other natural dye plants. Apparently the crushed leaves of this species were used by aborigines to stun fish and eels in water.

Native Australian indigo
Eucalyptus coreopsis (below) is another sought-after plant to create reddish dye.



We left our linen to dry and later gave it another dip in the indigo to deepen the colour.


After a full morning of dyeing we were ready for lunch. The Japanese bento boxes had been prepared by Kitta's friend and were delicious.


After lunch we watched another video about the beautiful clothes Kitta creates from her naturally dyed fabrics. It was a whirl of delicious colour and more gentle guitar music. Sue had a nana-nap and I was struggling to stay awake myself!


Fortified by lunch and sleep, we again ventured into the garden for the madder root dyeing. The madder plant produces the deepest red of any natural dye. It can also be used medicinally for blood flow and menstrual problems. Our strained madder root was boiling away nicely.


Those with the soybean-treated linen took turns stirring their fabric in the madder dye for ten minutes. Bubble, bubble toil and trouble...


Oops, I think Carolyn just splashed hot madder over Sue's shoes!



The linen was then removed from the madder pot and placed in an alum mordant solution for 20 minutes to set the dye. It could then be dyed again and rinsed in water.



I was able to do some madder dyeing myself using some Cambodian silk purchased from Trudi.

My madder turned out vibrant orange and my indigo a deep, gentle blue.


We had a magical day learning ancient and fascinating techniques. This experience has certainly whetted my appetite for natural dyeing and I can't wait to experiment more. It's very special to harvest parts of plants and produce beautiful colours.

Here are some pictures from around Trudi's studio:

A mosaic wall featuring little ceramic ducks and chickens.


The outdoor area.


Beautiful knitted cushions.


An impressive array of solar plant dyes.


And some of Trudi's lovely work.




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