Research
Textile
Manipulation.
The collection began at the table rather than the sketchbook. Before any silhouette was drafted, fabric was worked by hand — folded, pinched, stitched, unpicked and worked again — until it held a structure of its own.
Seven studies formed the research. Some are additive: pintucks sewn in close vertical lines until the cloth embosses itself, smocking drawn tight to gather volume, petals cut, distorted and rejoined into one larger form. Others are constructive: four upcycled fabrics cut into strips and rewoven through warp and weft, colour tested against colour until the balance held. Double-sided velvet and double-sided upholstery were used where the reverse mattered as much as the face, so a single manipulation could carry two surfaces at once.
None of it is decorative addition. Each technique decided something — where a jacket gained weight, how a skirt took volume, why a bodice needed no seam to hold its shape. What follows are the swatches as they were made, at the scale they were made in.
Seven studies · Hand-worked · 2022 – 2023