I have been so busy completing various projects in the latter part of this year, that my blog site has been a tad neglected.   I've got to sort that, before this year flips over!
It is going to flow from the wonderful CdG S/S 2004 collection 'Abstract Excellence.'  As Sarah Mower stated regard this collection, "Technically speaking there was only one garment in Rei Kawakubo's collection: a skirt."

So, this blog is me, skirting around!

RK's 'Abstract Excellence' skirts were designed from shapeless, abstract forms.  A non-woven polyester black trim used on some of the skirts contributed to a stiff sculptural effect, which I found  inspirational.

As I have mentioned in a previous blog, Rei Kawakubo/ Comme des Garcons 'Art of the In-Between' is featuring at The Met.  'Abstract Excellence' is one of the exhibits, which is proof that RK considers it is one of her strong design collections. (She is very discerning regard her work.)

The link below takes you to an interesting site, Transparent Drawing.  TD encourages people to record deeper observations when drawing. To draw transparently is to show all sides of the object being drawn, not just the ones seen by the human eye.
This particular link relates to a visit to RK's Met exhibition and TD's observation of one of the Abstract Excellence skirts.  It is such a cool sketch.  I can see it being created in white and black organza.
http://www.transparentdrawing.com/tag/rei-kawakubo/

My own interpretation of a skirt from the collection.  Flower printed pinwale corduroy.

Skirts, such versatile, wonderful garments in a wardrobe.
They have been worn since the time humans gathered animal skins about their bodies.

Seek out a definition of skirt and you get something like this..."a woman's outer garment, fastened around the waist and hanging down around the legs."  But, truth be known, skirts have been a garment for both sexes, and in many parts of the world still are.  It tends to be the modern west, who seem to have a problem with men in skirts

Ancient Egyptian men wore skirts made of linen created from the flax that grew along the Nile River.

Alexander the Great conquered his known world in a skirt

Roman soldiers helped create an empire wearing skirts

Fiery Maori Warriors wear piu piu skirts with pride.

Men In Skirts, an exhibition curated by Andrew Bolton, was held at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2002.  It addressed the issue of how men wearing skirts are perceived in western society.

This site shows the skirts presented in the exhibition, and you can read the blurb concerning each one, which adds to the interest.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/theotherplacetobe/

The V&A offered Fashion in Motion sessions on Friday nights.  Watch a video of the session associated with the Men In Skirts exhibition via this site.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/videos/m/video-men-in-skirts/

I attended a study day that The Costume Society held in connection with the exhibition. It was great and covered topics like Cutting a Tudor Jerkin, Liturgical Skirts, History of the Kilt and Cutting a gentleman's coat skirts.  Right up my street!

                           

A couple of guys attending the study were wearing skirts. I think one of them was involved with the business Utilikilts.  He looked pretty cool in his modern take on a kilt, as I remember.  21st Century Kilts also offers a modern take on the garment.

http://www.utilikilts.com/

http://21stcenturykilts.com/

My nephew Jamie and his groomsmen wore formal tartan kilts for his wedding attire.  They looked wonderfully smart.

Rei Kawakubo loves tartan.  The CdG SS2017 collection featured this amazing take on a tartan kilt.

 My own take on it as a skirt.

Another definition for skirt is, "go round or past the edge of."  Here's a neat kilted image of that meaning from World of Interiors.

I've also come across this other site concerning men and skirts. The author covers a bit of history and provides a long list of interesting skirt names.  It is his section 'The Religious Thing' that sparked my notice, due to the image of the Tunic or Alb.  It relates to one of the projects I referred to at the beginning of this blog.

http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/hiking/sections/gear/clothing/meninskirts.htm

I have just completed this project, which has been mulling around in my head for years!  I've called it 'Clothed in Christ' and I have tried to express pertinent aspects of  the history of Christianity through outer garments.  The image of the Alb/Tunic was part of my research for the garment I constructed to represent Jesus.

If you want to see the whole project, go to this link
https://sites.google.com/site/wwwsewroundcom/projects-people-participants/the-history-of-christianity-expressed-in-garment-form-2017

Interesting history is tied up with skirts.
Like this drawing of a girl's skirt made of wool yarn that was found in a Bronze age tomb in Denmark (Bronze Age spanned from approx. 2500-800 BC)

and a piece of fabric thought to have been part of a skirt belonging to Queen Elizabeth 1.

Read about it in this article. A fascinating investigation into the authenticity of the fabric.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/07/queen-elizabeth-long-lost-skirt-found-church-altar-herefordshire/

How about 'Mad Men Explains the History of the Pencil Skirt.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B2qFmWbaKg

Inspire you to make your own pencil skirt?
Try out the techniques offered in this video.  It is American, so measurements are imperial.  You need to convert yards to metres and inches to centimetres.  Also need a bit of prior knowledge (eg princess seam) and pattern drafting/draping equipment, like a dress form.  I would love to have a dress form like the one used in this video.
https://redesignyourclothes.com/2017/08/08/how-to-drape-a-high-waist-pencil-skirt/

Even skirt hemlines have a history! (Apparently the term "hemline" is relatively recent, as prior to 1930s a hemline was known as a skirt length.)

In 1926 economist George Taylor presented the hemline index theory.  He was suggesting that hemlines rise along with stock rises.  In good economies the hemlines get higher e.g. 1920s & 1960s.  In poorer times the skirt length drops.
When I went looking for where hemlines are at for 2017, I came across this article from The Times.  Hemlines for summer 2017 are "wonky".  What does that say for where the present world economy is at?  Anything to do with Trump? (Mind you, I like asymmetry)

I carry out various skirt projects at school.
My Yr.12 girls learn to draft a straight skirt block, then they design a skirt for a particular need.  Their designed skirt must have at least 2 adaptations to the straight skirt block.  Here is Evelyn's evidence of testing the fit and success of her straight skirt pattern.

Once the girls are satisfied with their straight block, they begin the design process work for their own designed skirt.
Evelyn looked at skirts she liked and analysed the appealing design features

then she prepared her design ideas.

 

When she finalised her concept, Evelyn produced a small scale mock-up.

Eventually the skirt product is presented.  Well done Evelyn, great work with those eyelets.

Chantelle undertook her skirt project in a similar way.

First she researched constellations and rhumb lines, as she was inspired to include these in some way through applied design

Drawing up her own designs.  All sorts of ideas are explored

The final one has been developed

                                                     

and constructed.  Good job Chantelle, very effectively stitched decoration.

My Yr. 9s can make a skirt for their project. One of the specifications is that it must be decorated in some way.  Here are 2 students making a grand effort with their applied decoration.  Love that painted night sky scene.

 

This one was a beauty.  The student just loved drawing.  It was fabulous when it was fully completed.

I tried to get a skirt project going with the staff.  A couple of them expressed keen interest, but school life seemed to get so busy and it didn't eventuate...maybe next year.

I'm always making a new skirt! 

Love the juxtaposition of wool and cotton gingham in this one, plus the fabric manipulation within the pleating.

Another favourite one, which also works with fabric manipulation, this time around the hem.  A very versatile garment.

Sometimes I need to readjust a skirt for one reason or another.  Like this one...

became this one.

Match the same shirt with a different skirt, wear to work or out to dinner celebrating a birthday.

Take 2 metres of rayon and without cutting a thing, sew up a cool summer skirt.

Just finished making my latest skirt.  I was given a piece of appealing vintage lace and as you can see, it is rather transparent.

I thought it would make a good overskirt, which I can wear on top of some skirts I already have in the wardrobe.  It will revitalize a long black skirt, a short black skirt, maybe even white shorts.

We took a trip to Melbourne during the year. This sculpture stands atop their Arts & Culture Centre.  It is inspired by a dancer's skirt, the tutu.

Thought this to be a relevant question from NZ Listener's 10 Quick Questions for this week.  

Final image for my last blog for 2017, goes to a special tree wearing a 'bow skirt' in celebration of Christmas.

Happy festive time to you all.

SLTSLTBsigning off for 2017, which has been a special year.

For this blog, it's about past feeling...
FELT!
Felt is such a wonderful fabric.

I'm starting with this image, because a few weeks ago I went over to Melbourne to view 'Van Gogh And The Seasons', and Vincent is still on my mind.

'Self-Portrait in Dark Felt Hat'

Felt is strong, soft, rigid, and sculptural,
It is one of the oldest known textiles and is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibres together. Originally made from 100% wool, today's felt it is often created using synthetic fibres, or a blend of natural and synthetic.

CdG's brilliant collection which used felt, A/W 2012 RTW

Felt can be used in 

• Arts & Craft
• Art & Design
• Fashion 

and in

• Home Construction, such as a Yurt.  

The traditional Yurt is a portable circular tent-like dwelling covered with felt.

The felt came from the wool off the sheep that accompanied the pastoral nomads, who lived in the Yurts. A Yurt is designed to be dismantled, in 30 to 60 minutes, and the various parts carried on camels or yaks to be rebuilt on another site.

These following images display what felt making on a big scale may have involved. 

When E & I were making our way back to NZ, via the Trans Siberian Railway, we visited a Mongolian couple who lived in a traditional Ger, as the Mongolians call them. (Yurt is the Turkish name.) 

It was amazingly warm & toasty, plus spacious.  These folk were not living a consumerist cluttered lifestyle.

Sitting around the stove, smoking a pipe after a day working outside in cold conditions, must be relaxing. He might even be wearing felt boots.
I remember E feeling sorry for the dog because it wasn't allowed inside the Ger.

This link will show you a group of Mongolian people making felt for their Ger. It's a wonderful team effort.

 thttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ0uojUHYdA

My little textile memento of the Mongolian Ger,

and a wonderful Mongolian felt drawstring pouch bag, which pulls shut with a knuckle bone.

Initially I thought it was for a game of knuckle bones, and I'm sure it could be, but the four knuckle bones are actually for fortune telling - 'Complicated Fortune Telling'- it's all in the way the knuckle bones fall. 

What else for 'felt and home construction'? 

Armchairs, couches and stools, all made from wonderful felt

Felt seating resembling river stones...

what fun!

Tanya Aguiniga, an L.A. based artist, created these fabulous felted soft rocks. I like their strong sense of things made by hand. They remind me of work Sheila Hicks has done. Check out my Blog # 12, and the section re Hicks 'treasures and secrets'.

 Aguiniga also works felt into more traditional chair works.

                                                                                   

  Felted raw wool on Eames Wire Chair                                                        Eames DCM hand-felted

Hand-felted chairs

One more item concerning felt and construction....a bookcase. I like this, as it reminds me of Claus Oldenburg's Soft Sculpture work...design feature as opposed to design function.

Making felt is not that difficult, it just takes some time, some raw wool and a soap solution.

This wiki-how site shows how to go about it via some straight forward illustrations. Look through the various steps, they help to explain it really well if you are new to the felting process. 

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Felt

Now, check this video, you can watch it on mute 'cos there are written explanations running underneath the visuals. Play your own music as you take it in! It is a good demonstration of how you go about creating felt in your own kitchen. Have a go!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gtcRDK4f9E


Margaret Cooter, a fibre artist friend of mine who lives in London, took me through a bit of felt making one weekend. It was a very satisfying activity, the tactile aspect, working with lovely soft wool...so nice, (check out Margaret's website http://www.margaretcooter.co.uk/ )

               

and it's cool how you can create images/shapes within a piece.

Mine isn't a patch on this work though.

I found this at school, no idea who did it, but I'm impressed with their effort. It measures 74cm x 121cm.

When it is rolled up, it is very reminiscent of animal hair, which in itself, I find rather appealing.

• Felt in Arts & Craft

Felt is a wonderful fabric to work with when it comes to Arts & Craft.
One of the best specification is, 'you don't have to finish the edges because they don't fray.' That's what I tell my Yr. 7, 8 & 9 classes.

Gaia is sorting her 'DANCE' applique in felt.

Josephine is prepping her passions in felt, which she will stitch on the outside pockets on her bag.

Ayssa is making a fab job of her happy felt feature.

Chloe's is also looking effective

Talia is going to be stitching these felt shapes on her skirt for her applied decoration.

Alison is making an interesting rose & thorns decoration on her shorts

Expressions in felt by a Year 7 class from a couple of years ago.

This is a neat site about some cool crafts to make using felt.
http://www.coolcrafts.com/felt-craft-projects/
I like the crown project. Make one and it could become an accessory head piece, like this CdG one, which is worn with a jacket that, I think, came out of CdG's S/S 2014 collection 'Not Making Clothing'.

                                   

Another well known image of that felt crown from 'Six', early days RK/CdG.

• Felt in Arts & Design

Joseph Beuys, German artist (b.1921- d.1986)  frequently used felt in his work. He associated felt with the production of warmth.

Beuys said he joined the German Luftwaffe in 1941. In March 1944 his plane was supposedly shot down over the Crimean Front in the Ukraine. Beuys was rescued by a nomadic tribe of Tartars, who saved his life by greasing his battered body with animal fat before wrapping him in felt.

Animal fat and felt are considered ancient healing aids, as they enrich and sustain, consequentially they came to play highly relevant roles in Beuys art work.

It is said that fact and fiction did play a major role in Beuys art.

Beuys believed "every fully thinking and feeling person is, by definition, an artist."

One of  Joseph Beuys' most famous works took place in 1974, 'I Like America and America Likes Me'. It involved his spending 3 days in a room with a coyote. He flew into New York, was swathed in felt, loaded into an ambulance and taken to an art gallery to perform his work. Beuy's explanation was "I wanted to isolate myself, insulate myself, see nothing of America other than the coyote." To Beuys the coyote was a symbol of  the ecological and ethnic damage caused by the arrival of the European in America.
These two photos, taken by Caroline Tisdall, record aspects of the event.

In 1970 Beuys presented 'Felt Suit'.

A 2 piece suit constructed from coarse grey felt. Beuys commonly wore clothing made from felt. This particular piece was number 77 of 100 identical felt suits made by Beuys.
Watch this interesting short video about a  Beuys 'Felt Suit', and what became of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCOOHzENIfY

One last felt work of Beuys I want to include is, 'Homogenous Infilitration for Piano', created 1966

The felt encasement has trapped the sound of the piano. The human connection is in the red cross. If we remain silent, what happens?
See a film relating to Beuys "I Like America and America Likes Me' performance. There is some talking, which explains a little more about the artist. I found the coyote quite appealing.
https://vimeo.com/5904032

Heather Belcher is a contemporary artist who explores the hand made felting process in her art work. She is interested in the 'materiality' of felt and its reference to the human figure in early body coverings. Belcher explores issues of concealment and identity in many of the felted images. She also likes the aspect that the end result of the real clothes is to be worn and washed to destruction, whereas she starts with that actual process in order to create her works.

A wonderful felt wearable creation from Kei Ito

leading nicely into...

• Felt in Fashion

The best place to start this section is the wonderful CdG A/W 2012 Collection 'The future's in two dimensions'. Many of the flat oversized shapes are expertly delivered in felt. 

                                                        

My own take on the garment above. I found some good quality felt at Spotlight, cut out daisy type shapes, and stitched them together. It's great to wear.

This image shows how the seams were sewn. It is from 'The Cutting Class' website. You can read the whole feature in the link below. They discuss many interesting pattern making aspects of the 2012 A/W collection, which was hailed as outstandingly innovative in the field of clothing design.

http://www.thecuttingclass.com/2nd-dimenion-at-comme-des-garcons/

CdG's 1994 A/W collection 'Metamorphosis' worked with fabric similar to felt, but it is actually shrunken boiled wool. RK made the most of it in lumpen rolls of boiled wool protuberances,which foreshadowed the infamous AW 1997 'Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body'.

 I have always loved Cindy Sherman's artistic interpretation of one of the garments from this collection. 

So, what is boiled wool?

Boiled wool is woven wool fabric (it can also be made from knitted wool fabric) that has been shrunk and thickened using water and agitation, which interlocks the fibres into a tighter felt-like mass.

The AW 1997 collection included aprons that had a strong work-wear feel.

I think this garment may have come out of this collection

It's inspired me to construct a garment I can wear for work. 

Using some left over wool fabric, I gave it a boiled treatment in my washing machine, with agitation in hot water and suds. 

In this case it only slightly changed the fabric. I'll still work with it though.

Done, a working apron garment!

                                             

CdG 1997 S/S  'New Essentials' collection also appears to have worked with boiled wool/felt like garments.

Laser cut unfinished clean edges.

A couple of my CdG inspired garments made from felt, a cape/collar and a holster type style. Fun.

This wonderfully warm looking garment comes from a Shaun Samson F/W 2012 collection and it demonstrates a joining together of traditions, styles and fabrics in an extremely cool felted way.

 

It actually is a Men's collection...

and Samson perfected a technical needle punch felting technique, which enabled him to combine several dissimilar fabrics into a almost seamless gradation of materials.
This link enables you to learn a lot more about Samson's collection and his cool needle punch technique.
http://stylesalvage.blogspot.co.nz/2011/09/unpicking-seams-shaun-samson-aw11.html

Want to see  needle punching in a more domestic form, take in the link below. It might help to make some sense about this form of felting.

http://betzwhite.com/2006/08/needle-felting-new-tool.html#.WZfiD_gjHcc

A cool handbag which has 2 different fabric types blended very creatively, needle punched no doubt.

Felt capes....I like felt capes.
Look at these amazing ones, they are serious about keeping a human being, who works in cold climes, warm!
They are called Kepenek and are traditional Turkish shepherd felt capes.

And this cape, composed of thick felt, so thick it can almost stand on its own.

This style of felt cape belongs to the Yi people, of Sichuan province, southwest China. Composed of felted yak, sheep and human hair, it provides an excellent protection from the harsh elements of that part of the world. Remember Joseph Beuys' association with felt as a production of warmth.

                       

What about this cool CdG felt cape. A very interesting cut and construction.

It inspired me to make this one. The fabric I used is not felt, but it has a similar look and warm property.

What about capelets, they are also fun to wear.
Three capelets I constructed out of felt.

  

Take these capelets and add some "chapeaugraphy"(hat writing).  Make a felt ring and twist it to take on the appearance of various shapes of head gear.

 

I think it is sort of avant-garde 'Handmaids Tale'!

                        

And here is lovely Lucy, kindly modelling pill box hats and handbags made with felt. Thank you Lucy.

                            

That same pink felt is now making an "over the shoulder boulder holder" outer garment, for those who dare!

   

One last felt creation, an effective pin cushion made by one of my Yr. 13 students, Claire, when she was in Yr.10. I think she could still be using this pin cushion when she is 50, and I think that is very cool!

                                                   

The last words are going to VvG in his dark felt hat.

SLTSLTBsigning off from 'Felt'

P.S.

During reflection last week (Languages Week), this was shared. There's a connection.