SettDesign: Collection Work & Statement

My very first idea for this piece was to create a collection of miniature costumes inspired by either different time periods within one culture or one time period across several cultures. I wanted to portray them as accurately as possible within the limitations of my materials and my sewing skills. This original idea transformed slowly into the idea of creating detailed swatches that each represented a small sample area or a composite of elements from typical folk costumes and cultural fashions across several cultures. I liked the idea of being able to see them all at once, but because I wanted to display them alongside an image of the full costume, and because I want to grow the collection later on to include some of the more intricate costumes that would be difficult to make within the time frame of a summer semester and with the materials at my disposal, I decided that displaying them on a wall might not be the best option. Instead I decided to create a book, similar to a swatch book or even a lookbook, that would contain all the swatches but showcase each one at a time. This also allowed the piece to become more tactile; if they were on a wall, I think there would still be some question about whether or not they should be approached or touched. Since they are in a book, an object you have to touch and interact with in order to properly view the piece, it becomes less prohibited to explore their textures. The whole experience in general is also more intimate this way, which I feel is appropriate considering the level of detail in each one and the size of them. This intimacy is also reflective of my process for making them, as each one was handled and manipulated and in some cases handsewn, and is the result of intense visual scrutiny of my research and both visual and tactile scrutiny of the resemblant materials I quested after for weeks in order to make them. Instead of displaying the original images from which I worked, I drew fashion-industry style renderings of the outfits to accompany each swatch. I decided to draw them because I did very broad research, meaning the images off of which I worked were not very uniform. Drawing them in a stylised way allowed me to establish an aesthetic across the collection and a sense of uniformity. The book is a handsewn collection of handcut pages, with fabric covers. Because some of the swatches are made from several layers of fabric and have textural details such as ruffles, pleats, or beading, the pages do not lie flat, and as a result of this and of the challenges I face when sizing the spine of any book I make (something I really have yet to overcome), the book does not close. I think this is to the piece's advantage, however. I feel that because the book is perpetually open, at least to the point at which the covers do not lie flat, it is a constant invitation to open it all the way and explore the collection.
This piece, as of right now, is not yet complete. The plan for the future is to add decorative and informational hand-lettered titles and notes to each spread, and to continue to expand the collection. The next swatches I want to make are for Albanian, Moroccan, Mongolian (I was so close, but those rich Mongolian fabric motifs are so elusive!), Kazakh, Venetian, Norwegian, Lisu (a Thai tribe), Bali, Miao (a Chinese subculture), Fijian, Aztec, Macedonian, Turkish Cyprus, and Cambodian cultural fashions, and those are just the ones I've researched so far. (You can find the complete image research collection on my Pinterest board "Costumes."