awayuq

awesome!

I've been going over my gauze samples and photos intensely over the past few days and remembering why I love them so. I mean, how cool is this?? How often in the weaving world do you get to make real *circles*?!

feast

Yesterday I went to the Museum of Fine Arts to see the Draped in Dragons exhibit. It is a small show, about eight robes, but worth seeing if you like Chinese art or can be stupefied by ultra-fine tapestry. Many of the stunning designs are executed in embroidery, but some are done in silk tapestry at a sett so fine you’d think from the surface it was muslin. Chinese art is not among my favorites, but as a textile lover I could appreciate the immense labor and skill that went into these robes.

Since I was there, I stopped by the recently opened Art Deco exhibit to see if they had tickets available, and they did, so I indulged in an unanticipated stroll through history. I think this exhibit is well done. I enjoy seeing pieces of life that are not just pictures: tea sets, dressing tables, rugs and elevator grilles. Ordinarily I don’t think of Art Deco as extending into the late 30’s, but I suppose it does. Seeing all the objects together, and the furniture grouped as it might be in a living room, brought another perspective to my perennial enjoyment of England-between-the-wars mystery novels. I can imagine Bertie Wooster in this environment too.

There are six or seven dresses, all evening wear, examples of haute couture. (No Erte, I was sad to note). A Chanel though, with elaborate beading, and a pink bias-cut sheath with fluttery sleeves… seeing the way those fabrics cling, I understand why girdles would be important. The most astounding dress was a pink floor-length gown, with drapery on the bodice and a draped panel on the skirt. Moving closer to it, you could see that it was entirely encrusted with beads, top to bottom. All sewn on by hand, no doubt. You have to be quite close before you realize that the drapery isn’t drapery, it’s trompe l’oeil pleats done entirely by shifting the angles of the beads! Accurate down to the hemline, which is cut in a squiggled edge, as pleats would appear.

It turned out to be a great day for clothing inspiration. What’s the sound you make when you find a resource that speaks eloquently to one of your favorite subjects? A squeal, a gasp, a jump of incredulity and pure excitement… insert two here. Last time I was at the museum (far too long ago) I saw a book which appealed to me, and for months now I’ve been planning to buy it next time I saw it. It is Historical Fashion in Detail and it’s a gold mine for anyone who loves clothing construction. Not only are there line drawings of the jackets and dresses, showing all the seams, but the full-color photos are gorgeous. The chapters are arranged by topics such as “Cuffs”, “Shoes and Gloves”, “Lace and Openwork”. This is the kind of book that makes you realize that a button is not just a button, braid is much more than a long strip of stuff, and “dress” doesn’t really begin to address the variety of shaping that’s possible. I was very happy to buy it yesterday, doubly happy when I found that I got the last copy on the shelf.

But it gets better. While locating that book, I found this one: Dress in Detail from Around the World.. The layout is similar to the one above, but this volume has garments from all over the globe! India, Africa, Korea, China, Japan, Eastern Europe, Palestine… Some are old, some are new. Many might be called “ethnic”, but they should not be overlooked on that account. The details and construction are amazing. There’s even a Japanese jacket in gauze weave! Again I confess to a great weakness for the line drawings—all the seamlines are shown, so that you can tell where the gussets go, how the sleeves were pieced together, how the collar was cut, where the pockets are. There’s no better inspiration for making clothing from narrow widths than looking at these garments and seeing how other cultures have addressed the same problem. Darts and curved armsyces are not the only solutions to fitting the human form. You can clearly see too how often just one small touch can elevate a feature from ordinary to intriguing: a gathered skirt is just a gathered skirt. But a skirt set into cartridge pleats where it joins the bodice, with perhaps one row of featherstitching in a contrasting color… beautiful.

I’m thrilled to add this to my library. I expect it will be inspirational for many many years to come.

Further good news: China Leaves is done! Washed and waiting. I like it. Unfortunately I only have two yards of it, 19” wide. I wonder where I could find ideas about what to do with that?