Embellishment – Kayleigh Mace

New Market Trip

Kayleigh — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 18:34:41 +0000

To further my market research and gain more inspiration I visited London again to explore the latest collections and how they differed from my first visit. There was a particularly inspiring display on at Liberty's which focused on garments that were embroidered and embellished. There were a range of styles on show but the most used technique was digital embroidery. Seeing these garments gave me a good insight into how high-end designers are currently using digital embroidery in their designs and the varying approaches to style that are being explored. It was also good to see the scale and placement of the embroidery which I can use as inspiration for my design ideas when creating final samples.

New Design Ideas

Kayleigh — Sat, 15 Apr 2017 15:05:13 +0000

I had a few ideas that I wanted to test and get out of my system so I could see them with my development work. I wanted to explore manipulation on the surface through altering the materials. I started with creating a 3D surface with the tubular crin weaving it with another fabric. The technique created layers to the surface and could be developed to create a 3D sample.

I then had an idea to recreate a goldwork technique but with acetate folding a strip over a shape. The technique worked well to create layers but not on the base fabric as it distorted it due to its lightweight.

Continuing with the same idea I cut sequin strips and manipulated them on the surface of different fabrics. This created a few potential ideas that could work well in samples. The final one had the added feature of manipulating the fabric when it retreats. This idea means I can use embellishment to create a stretch like fabric from a non stretch fabric.

Finally I looked at using distress as a type of fringing to vary the techniques I was using for the idea. I have layered different fabrics and manipulated the edges by distressing them.

More 3D printing embellishments

Kayleigh — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 19:14:02 +0000

Following on from my original tests I spent more time in rhino learning what I could do on the program. I really wanted to create ideas and shapes that were unique and couldn't be replicated through techniques such as laser cutting which is something I've used a lot in the past. At first it was difficult to get my head around how to create the 3D shapes accurately but with lots of practice I managed to produce some shapes I was happy with.

I learnt how to create a 'wavy' shape from drawing a motif in the top view and then editing the points in the right view so that the lines were no longer flat. The result was a 3D leaf shape that has movement no longer sits flat in the surface like the previous shapes.

From researching I came across a tool called cage edit which allowed me to edit lots of point on a shape and change their height to create caved in shapes. I used this tool on the flat leaf shapes I had drawn to create a 3 D surface which I lend put holes into. I wanted to combine some of the shapes in my research I felt a simple shape would work best with a leaf.

After these I continued to create a variety of shapes that I could use which resulted in these. They were all inspired by shapes in my visual research and created using the skills I had developed in the program. I'm really pleased with my progress and what I've been able to create in a short time. I now feel I have to confidence to work on these skills and refine them in the future to use the software more in my designs. I came onto the MA degree wanted to be able to use 3D printing and now I can.

So from these I selected the most appropriate shapes and 3D printed them.

They came out really well although you can start to see how the clear resin is affecting the glowing qualities in some of them. When printing the finals this is something I will need to consider and place them accordingly or use it as a feature. What was surprising was that the spring shape does in fact spring so has movement which was exciting and the shape sizes were also exactly what I had hoped. Going forward I will be printing the tubes, medium and small size, and the swirls. I would also like to print the leaf with the holes however the technician would like to try making a mold and casting it as an alternative method.

3D printing tests

Kayleigh — Fri, 24 Mar 2017 19:51:03 +0000

After testing the glow in the dark resin and developing some simple shapes from my visual research in Rhino and Maya I finally got the chance to 3D print some ideas. We had decided to use 1 part glow pigment to 3 part resin so started with mixing the printing resin in a cup with the pigment. It took quite a bit of mixing to get the consistency smooth as the pigment made the resin mixture thicker. Once mixed it was added to an empty cartridge and put into the machine with an older tray. As this was a new test for the machine and university we were unsure how it was going to work or if it even would but thankfully it seems to have worked really well. I was particularly grateful that the university were kind enough to pay for half of the mixture to help with costs provided they could use some of it to print their own examples with it being new to the university. The tank has to have a certain amount of resin it in to print so it had to have more resin in it than will actually to be used. It unfortunately also means that some of it will potentially be wasted if it cant be used in another way.

We decided to print solid shapes to begin with including 3 straight lines of varying lengths and 1 curved line. In addition to these we also printed 2 leaf shapes and, a screw and bolt for the uni. The mixture does clearly need shaking to re mix it before use to make sure it doesn't clog up the cartridge and that the pigments don't sink to the bottom.

The print took 3 hours and once finished had to be removed from the plate and washed in an alcohol bath.

After this the components were placed in a UV machine to set for an hour. The machine changed up the UV pigments in the components making them glow really bright when they were removed. This also proved that the process had worked with all the components glowing strongly when the lights were turned off.

The pigment had spread fairly evenly within the pieces with only the thinner layers showing some slight inconsistency. They aren't too heavy in weight either although if a lot were used in one sample it would make it quite heavy. Due to the weight I have stitched them onto neoprene and they would need to be used on a base fabric that could support their weight.

The appearance is plastic and so this needs to be considered in their use and there is a slight rough texture but I was informed they were printed on the lowest quality setting. I can see how these pieces could be used in my work and i'm excited to produce a design with the components. Next we are testing the hollow grid shapes to see how the scaffolding affects the design and whether they could be printed on this machine.

Collection Development

Kayleigh — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 11:23:39 +0000

From producing the design ideas I have had I was noticing that some of them were not all working together and that there seemed to be some divides in my work. To get a better picture I decided to put all the samples together and then group them into smaller 'collections' to see if they worked better in smaller groups. I found that not only did this work but it created smaller stories that had a much clearer narrative to them then trying to force all the ideas onto one larger collection. From this I have decided that I will now work with this idea and create samples for each collection. I'm planning on coming up with a name for each collection and tag line to best describe its aesthetic. For now however they are simply numbered with key words to describe the aesthetic and techniques that I plan to use in each.

Collection 1

Collection 2

Collection 3

By doing this I can also see how much of each colour has been used to date so that I can get a better of idea of what more is needed in each collection and how to tie everything together.

Premiere Vision

Kayleigh — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 11:48:59 +0000

I have been fortunate enough to be able to visit Premiere Vision this year in Paris, a trade show that I have been wanting to attend for some time. It was everything i had expected and more and, I thoroughly enjoyed the visit. The show was much larger than I have expected with 6 halls filled with suppliers. I researched which companies were going to be attending prior to arriving and downloaded the app for the event. On this I could select the companies I wanted to see the stands of and it would bookmark them. I could then select to view where they were within the show and it would show on the map exactly where their stand was. There were so many different suppliers that I decided I had to be specific about who I was most interested in potentially seeing and for me this was textile studios and embroidery design suppliers. I am happy to say that I was able to speak to most of the companies I had wanted to meet and was also able to secure contacts to get in touch with regards to potential work opportunities in the future.

An area I wanted to look at was how the studios presented themselves and their work at a studio so that I could get a better idea of how I might present myself and my work. I was looking to see how they finished their samples which ranged from rolled hems to simply being cut which, caused a lot of fraying to the designs. I had also noticed some studios presented their samples on headed cards about A3 in size where as others created garment shapes. Speaking to one of the studios, I inquired as to whether they found this made any difference and they felt it would hinder their work as clients would struggle to see the design being used for anything other than that shape. Another studio that was producing exclusively embroidery and embellishment designs felt however that it was necessary to help buyers see how the design could be used. I could see shaping working for some designs, especially when they are created for the neckline so perhaps it is something I could consider for certain design ideas.

I got the chance to look up close at some of the designs as ask about what techniques they were using. I was surprised to hear that one of the studios was already using 3D printing which I was told is big in the China market. A lot of the embroidery was clearly machine stitched but there were some interesting hand embellished pieces where techniques had been pushed. There were also a range of styles on show, floral's were the most common designs on display but i did see some more abstract and conversational embellishment designs. One studio also provided designs in a few colourways for clients to see, I hadn't thought this was needed but i was informed that some buyers struggle to see past the colours the design is presented in at the show. Looking at these highlighted how studios had grouped their collections too with many creating stories containing 8-10 designs. Some were grouped based on colour and others on what their content was for example floral's or geometric designs. This is something I could consider in my work as I am starting to find that it looking a bit separated at times. Its also encouraging to see the use of new techniques with studios showing how they can push ideas to create something original.

Digital Embroidery Development

Kayleigh — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 16:30:14 +0000

The stitching in the light...

and in the dark...

I love how the colours glow up, there is clearly an underlying green which creates the glow but they do glow in their respective colours and work well to get the idea across. Going forward I will be looking at different scales for this idea to see how the design would differ.

Stitch development

Kayleigh — Fri, 13 Jan 2017 18:41:41 +0000

When I was in London I visited and bought some tubular crin, a material commonly used in millinery work. I had seen an image in instagram from lesage where it had been used within in embroidery and decided that I wanted to experiment with it in my work. It structures means you can easily create 3D surfaces which come out from the base fabric and with its shape it could easily have beads or threads run through it. I started out draping it over the mannequin looking at how many colours to use and the different directions it could go in. Mixing the colours and wrapping them around one another gives more depth to the surface and the large scale makes it appear to be flowing over the body.

From this I have started to stitch down some smaller ideas incorporating beads within it. Using on the wider blue and smaller yellow tubular crins I filled the blue and wrapped the yellow around it attaching both ends with a cluster of beads. Overall the sample is effective in creating a 3D surface to the fabric and the colours work well together. I need to create more on a larger scale to show how it could be used in a design.

I have also spent my time recently learning how to tambour. This traditional couture technique was something I really wanted to learn whilst on my MA and progress my skills in. As it is a staple technique used in couture embroidery I felt it was important to my project to have it within my work. As a first attempt I was really pleased, the stitches are mostly even in length and once I got going with it it was actually quicker to stitch than I thought it would be. I tried a simple chain stitch, attached seed beads and then bugle beads. The technique obviously works best with an open women fabric such as tulle which is something I will need to use for this. To progress the technique I will be doing work with the glowy and UV solar threads to give a modern twist to the idea.

First go on the digital embroidery machine

Kayleigh — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 19:26:00 +0000

Finally I have developed a few ideas to do on the digital embroidery machine, both fairly simple but with a few twists. The first is a large fringing idea working with various threads. As the machine can do the same design twice at the same time I took the opportunity to try it with multiple thread types. The first was created using glowy threads, these adsorb light and glow in the dark on organza. The second is a mix of matte, 40 and 30 thick embroidery thread and I did try a UV thread I had left over from previous work on cotton organdie. The first design worked really well, although there was a bit of pulling in the stitching it wasn't a problem as I would be cutting it underneath after. The second however had a few issues, the UV thread didn't take well on the fabric and started to create holes so it was replaced with the 30 thickness thread. Also a stabiliser wasn't used so when the top stitch was applied it missed some of the threads so we had to go back into the design and make it larger to re stitch it.

The overall results work well for both designs however to take forward I would use the organza and not the cotton organdie to not risk damaging the fabric. Also scale needs to be looked at to see if this is the best scale to work with.

The second design I stitched was sections of a design from my screen. Filled leaves were stitched with a titami pattern to create a flat layered surface and was stitched onto cotton and velvet. The velvet sample I intend to devore onto to create further layers, also the matte thread used on this is a nice contrast to the shiny velvet surface. The cotton sample did have some tension issues and the fabric has puckered. A shiny thread was used to contrast the matte surface and I intend to print over this with the thermochromic ink.

Molly Goddard

Kayleigh — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 22:26:57 +0000

What I like

The Molly Goddard exhibition at the NOW Gallery in London consisted of tulle dresses suspended from the ceiling for visitors to embroider. I really wanted to visit this exhibition to see what different people would embroider and how embroidery as a technique would be interpreted. On arriving i was given a large sewing needle and directed to use the embroidery thread on display to embroider any of the dresses. Instructions on the walls ave directions for different embroidery stitches and stated that visitors should use 1 meter of thread to embroider whatever they liked. A lot of the embroideries were political statements with visitors clearly using the opportunity to express their opinions on recent events. There were also a few illustrative portrait embroiders as well as classic floral motifs. The vast range of styles and designs was great to see and it gave me a new idea of what modern embroidery means to people. The styles may not generally fit into my project but it was certainly inspirational to see how embroidery is interpreted in so many ways.

Here are some examples of the stitch work on display.

And my little contribution...