Hand weaving

Now that all the patterns are done and the fabrics have been chosen, I’m starting to make the actual clothing for the show.  Don’t take this as adequate timing for most clothing lines, I’m running really, really, really late.  But I procrastinated all through college and do my best work when under pressure, so why change that now?

My amazingly patient intern, Yaksitis, spent half the day yesterday cutting lengths of organic cotton twill tape. I’m hand weaving one of the styles and I started putting it together once she was done.  I have to do some dip dyeing on the tape tonight before I can weave it all together, so this will be multiple posts.  Keep an eye out as the garment is slowly finished.  What you see on the pics is the first row that I stitched together.  I don’t have a loom so I’m going to tape it to the table to do the weaving.  Maybe next season I’ll get myself an actual loom and weave all the fabrics, but that’s a little ambitious for right now.

I used old tees to do some dip dyeing tests at home, and they turned out well so I decided to cut them up and turn them into tanks.  I liked them so much I posted them in the shop.

QR code for The Square Project

The last time I was in Tokyo, I saw these images everywhere. On posters, store fronts, public transport shelters, etc… so I decided to ask someone about them. Turns out you can scan the image (like a barcode) with your phone, providing you have a camera phone, which I don’t, and it links to your personal info, website, blog, whatever you want!

And look how well it matches my logo!!!

Why do the Japanese always have these genius ideas before us!?

I’m playing with zippers today… note the pic.

I’m also prepping some of the fabrics for home dyeing.  I forgot my camera at the studio (sorry!).  Will post pics of they dye process tomorrow.

Music

A few days ago I went over to my friend Sonia’s house to work on the music for the show.  And by that I mean I sat and listened to what she had done, and I’m thrilled with the result!  Now I just have to figure out the length of the runway and how long it will take each model to walk it.  There may be some video footage of me trying to figure this out, so watch this space.

I couldn’t, however, figure out how to upload this clip to the blog, so instead you have to download it in order to listen.  Sorry.

Thank you, Sonia!

Beach reading

After a much needed regenerative day at the beach yesterday, I’m back at the studio with new energy and the motivation required to finish this project, woo hoo!

Last week I met with the very productive team at the KDU.  After explaining my project to them, they promptly handed me this book, written by Rem Koolhaas‘ lead engineer, Cecil Balmond.  And it’s all about the mystery behind the number 9.  A perfect read for this project.  Not only is it inspiring me to push the limits of what I’m doing, it’s also helping me see the finer details of the patterns I’ve been making.

Sorry for the obscurity of this post, I’m still a little hazy from all the sun yesterday.  I’ll have more concrete images for you tomorrow.