I love to repurpose and use every little scrap of fabric that I can, and this time that love is turning into a patchwork dress! Some of the scraps I’m using here are random pieces of scraps from shirts I had, but most of these yarndye scraps are ones that I grabbed from bins at work or bought from a sample sale within work. At AEO, all mutilated garments (garments that are cut) are donated to a fabric recycling company in Brooklyn called FabScraps. I picked a few scraps from a bin and then bought two full shirts from a sample sale. I wanted to have some cohesion with this patchwork and have stuck to stripe and plaid yarndyes.

After cutting the paper pattern out, I began sorting and cutting pieces for clean edges to patchwork. I didn’t have an exact plan at all when I started piecing things together. I would sew one section of the pattern at a time, intentionally pairing fabrics together to waste as little fabric as possible. I could generally see where fabrics would match up by seems and overlay, and so it was just rough planning. As I patch-worked each section, I would then finish each seam with a zig-zag stitch. So this project took 1 1/2 months or so, and it was a good practice of working slow with an attention to detail. Some of my favorite details include: the back yoke of the red plaid showing a western style seam of its original shirt; buttons and button-holes from original shirts, 2 pockets from the original shirts; and the contrasting fold-over seam on the inside of the neck-line.

I bought a vintage set of sheets while shopping in Philadelphia for work a year or two ago. I looooved this floral print and its large scale, the chartreuse color, and the printed white and pink accents. I knew that I wanted to sew a dress from the fabric but didn’t exactly know what, and so of course I let the fabric sit for two years. I’m not a master sewer, so sometimes sewing is intimidating, or I just lose motivation to finish half-way through when I run into issues. I started sewing for the first time at the end of college, just sewing pencil bags. So I’m self-taught with sewing and patterns, even though my focus is in textiles. This pattern from Hubba Ding was appealing, as there weren’t any zippers, and I knew it would fit, since it’s just a slip-on smock style. Amazingly I finished this dress in 1 week!! A fun aspect of this dress was that when I was posting process pics on Instagram, I asked for people’s opinion on the hem length, and over 50 people voted! (felt so random, because I really only interact with a handfull of people on social media. LOL) 97% of people voted for a short hem, and I also already leaning that way.

“Kantha is an example of a strange contradiction. For here is an object created at an endeavor at thrift— by transforming worn out textiles that would normally be thrown away— into objects of rare beauty and which have, in the course of time, become legendary.”

-Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay

This is my first quilt that I’ve sewn, and specifically my first kantha quilt! I first learned about kantha quilts in my “History of Textiles” class back in college, and I really fell in love with this textile when I was able to buy my own quilt 5 years ago. Kantha quilts originate from and are made in India, in the Bengal and Bangladesh regions. Women would salvage and repurpose scraps of saris, layer them and sew together with a running stitch to create a kantha quilt. As someone who works in the fashion industry, I save ALL of my fabric scraps to not contribute more to textile waste and pollution. I layered up and patchworked scraps of fabric from 1-15 years old that I’ve owned to give new life to these textiles!!

My kantha quilt has 3-4 layers of scrap fabric on the inside, and the exterior patchwork includes scraps from: a torn PBTeen gingham sheet that I used since I was 13, scraps of sewing scraps from embroidery projects in college, pieces of an Old Navy shirt I wore all through college, scraps of a fabric I bought in Paris in college, and a hem of a dress. I began using running stitches with embroidery floss, but it took foreverrrrr. (Should’ve used different thread/stretched the fabric/sharper needles?) So when I picked up the project again this winter, I decided to make this a hybrid of a kantha and modern quilt by using my sewing machine. I started this project in winter of 2020 and slowly worked on this for 3 winters. There are more quilting projects I’d like to do in the future!!

Sources:
https://www.shopdignify.com/pages/what-is-kantha

https://www.vintagekanthaquilt.com/story-behind-kantha-quilts/

https://www.atlantamagazine.com/homeandgarden/7-things-know-kantha-quilts/

I am not a fashion designer, but I have taught myself how to sew from patterns! I made this blouse and pleated pants with an elastic waist and belt from four yards of vintage fabric!

This collection was inspired upon research of geodes and their properties of impurities shown through banding and discoloration. While looking at all of the various types of crystals and geodes, I wanted to show the reflective and translucent qualities with layering of watercolors and sketches transformed digitally. I specifically looked at opal for its color with painting watercolor swatches, dolomite and chalcedony to look at for sketching, and the compositional directions of stalagtites. With there being no way of knowing what a geode is until opening it up, I sought to balance the geometric, directional growth of the structures along with the organic, surprising nature of the geodes.

I originally created these designs in a class in Fall 2016 for a Digital Printing class, printing these designs onto poly satin and a silk charmeuse. I further developed the collection to submit to the student competition for SURTEX in 2017. I used my own watercolor textures and wall rubbings to scan in and overlay throughout my designs along with sketches that I made with graphite and then digitally manipulated.

Designs created digitally, digitally printed onto silk charmeuse and cotton twill; digitally printed poly satin heat transferred onto poly chiffon; I took all of my pieces of fabric and lasercut several designs and hand-sewed five layers together for each side; size is similar to a grocery bag, 10"x14"

With learning how to screen print textiles, I had many yards and samples of color tests piling up that I didn't want to let go to waste. I bought my first sewing machine, sewed 11 lined pencil bags and sold them all at an Illustration Expo in a few hours. I continued sewing pencil bags and makeup bags until I ran out and sell them in my Etsy store.

The pencil bags are sewn from 10.5" x 5" pieces: 2 for the exterior, 2 for the lining, and 2 pieces of interfacing in between, sewn together with a 9" nylon zipper.

The make-up bags have a thicker interfacing and a 9" bronze zipper.

There are four tote bags sewn from 20"W x 22"H thick cotton canvas with a print on one side and plain on the back piece. The tote is boxed out with 5" deep and sturdy nylon tape.

Two colorways of yardage with two screens on cotton shirting; 54" x 144" each

The inspiration for this repeat pattern comes from learning to let the nuances of nature and the process of creating to show through in a design. I created mono-prints by rolling ink onto various sprigs and leaves and pressing them to paper, and on set stood out with the organic yet defined shapes. I then scanned in the image, inverted and filled the color and began rearranging the spring to showcase the natural beauty of the mono-print that would not have been reached solely by drawing. The assignment for my screen-printing class was to utilize only two colors for the design, so I also played around with stretching the values and dimension with a half-tone effect of two different sizes for both a shadow and lattice-work structural grid.

This screen-printed textile was published along with my bio and description on the cover of Showtime ITMA Market's December 2016 Member Directory, widely given out at their market show.

I created this screen-printed design based around the context of the chair that I chose to recover for an assignment in Spring 2016. The chair that I bought from an antique store is an 1890 English oak, so thinking of the Arts & Crafts movement of the same era, I wanted to take inspiration from the father of screen-printing. I referenced William Morris' use of mirroring and inclusion of flora and fauna. A bluebird symbolizes modesty, confidence, and transformation; freesia is spirited; hyacinth is sincerity.

I used four screen separations to make this design on cotton shirting and then reupholstered the old chair, reinforcing the bottom support and padding and finishing it off with trim.

I took a design that I had previously created in 2014 and reduced it down to two screen-separations that would include an overlay to create three colors total. I used drafting film and ink to create the screens with the use of photo emulsion and a UV light.

Three colorways on cotton broadcloth; 54" x 144" each

These are three samples of hard-felting fine merino wool. I carded several colors of merino wool and hard-felted samples, cut them up, collaged, and hard-felted the final pieces.

I created this entire collection in 1 week during Fall quarter 2015 for an assignment for Kohl's in an application for an internship. I chose to focus on the Home department for a Fall collection. I sought to create a collection that could be gender neutral and could be used in the home even after the specific season or holiday.

Every pattern was sketched out in pencil, then inked with a nib pen and colored with watercolor, compiled in Photoshop.