Week 4 (Body)

          I want to create a dress out of knitted and crocheted material for my representation of the body. The bust of the dress will be a sweater, preferably a turtleneck, and the lower half of the dress will be made out of crocheted and knitted blankets, such as Afghans blankets. I will fabric cast my own body for the bust of the dress and the rest of the dress will be draping and free-form. I will make a cast of my body, I plan on using duct tape for this, and will soak a sweater in a solution of glue and water to put on the duct tape cast of myself. After the sweater dries, I will release it from the duct tape cast and the sweater will maintain the shape of my body. The dress will be very long and presented with the skirt of the dress spread out around it. I plan on suspending the form from the ceiling by attaching fishing line to the ceiling and to an armature I will make for the dress, as to support the cast of the shoulders, bust, waist, and hips.

            Last semester I collected hand-embroidered textiles I found at thrift stores and would embroider on top of them. There is something very sad about finding handmade textiles abandoned at thrift stores and I want to reclaim them and use it in my own work. For this project, I will collect handmade knitted and crocheted blankets and use them to make the skirt of the dress. The dress will be an obvious representation of my own body, but also a representation of all the individuals that took part in making the dress by making the blankets. Additionally, I am really interested in juxtaposing an elegant form of a gown with the bulky and heavy material of knitted and crocheted textiles.