SUSAN HENSEL PROJECTS: BODIES OF WORK, WORKS OF THE BODY
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A reluctant decision

7/25/2014

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I'll get to the decision later...
I am trying to figure out how to get more text into the dresses, beyond the lovely collars.  I planned to make text emblems that wound be sewn on the bias panels. In the first photo you see several techniques.  I have embroidered an emblem on some crisp silk organza  using both rayon and polyester thread, indigo dyed it, sewed it to some scrap Osnaberg that had had one trip to the Indigo vat.  I embroidered directly on the Osnaberg with rayon thread ( un successfully...the stabilizer chosen was not enough.)  I applied a water base gutta resist.  Dipped the whole thing in Indigo again.  There were issues with the dye take up of the rayon due to lingering starch from the stabilizer in both instances of embroidery.  The silk got way too dark in relation to the cotton.   The resist was interesting.  My goal is to apply text without seriously affecting the flow of the bias skirt panels.

Picture
In the second photo you see 2 kinds of silk used to make emblems: a soft organza on the left and a crisp organza on the right.  I was careful to embroider them with rayon backgrounds and polyester text over 2 layers of water soluble stabilizer. I embroidered directly on the cotton.  I assembled, being careful to sew with cotton thread. I dipped once in the Indigo vat.  Dried the test, applied gutta again, dried it again and then wet it again for a final trip to the Indigo vat.  I am not entirely happy with what I learned.  The crisp organza takes the dye much more intensely.  The soft organza also shows a color shift and some messiness.  The direct embroidery is the best by far.  It, too, has some issues, though.  In all of these tests I used water soluble Vilene stabilizer.  It is rather hard to get all of it washed out of the stitching.  The remaining starch acts as a partial resist, giving a mottled appearance to the swirl.  Well, dang!
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THE RELUCTANT DECISION:
I will embroider directly on the garment ( or garment piece before assembly), risking snarls and loss rates ( up to 50% loss rate!), using tear away stabilizer, risking affecting the flow of the skirt...all before dipping in the Indigo. BYW I bought another bolt of cloth so I can live with the loss rate if I have to.

A DECISION YET TO BE MADE:
Whether or not to activate the skirt with the resist.  I will NOT do text with the resist...it is much too loose compared to the embroidery.  But maybe squiggles and swirls.  WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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    WEARING MY AGE

    I have received a grant from the Jerome Foundation to work on a project that I have called "Wearing My Age."

    The premises that I am working with are that our clothes communicate and they communicate somewhat differently depending on age and gender. You might think of it as "fashion as self-publishing."

    The key area I am curious about surrounds the uniforms that women wear in the work place. Indeed, I will be making a uniform body of work, comprised of near identical 3 piece work outfits comprised of: a jacket, a dress, a petticoat.

    Each piece represents of body of language/meaning which I will make manifest with digitized machine embroidery typography and design.

    The Jacket represents the public self: what you are trying to say, how you wish to be identified, how you want to feel in the market place.

    The Dress represents a more personal statement: this is closer to the real me, Within the constraints of the market place I can be creative here, This is the part of me I am generally willing to reveal

    The Petticoat represents the secret self: Here lies the true language of self, these are the secrets I do not share, This is what I really think about myself, This is how I feel deep down.

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