Pleating and Pfaffing

Fabric manipulation using the read pleater is a technique that caught my interest and I thought would work well for my project. It is quite a simple process but by feeding through different fabrics and layering them, you can get some really interesting effects.

I like the density that can be created from quite a thin fabric, it gives a lovely sumptuous quality. I used copper wire in the sample on the right, it means the piece can hold a shape but also adds a soft, warm colour.

(run down beach huts with lovely worn paintwork)

What I found particularly affective was dying the pleated fabric (simply with some silk paints) and then flattening it out again. The marks made were lovely and gave an interesting surface to work on with a real depth. The random nature of the marks left also gives the impression of a worn surface reflecting some of the deterioration in my research. 

We were also introduced to the Pfaff embroidery machine this week.  I like the detail and precision of it and experimented with layering different stitch designs. I think it works well combined with the read pleating as the more traditional and heavy embroidery technique juxtaposes the contemporary, structural pleats.

I have loved using these ombre threads as they add really nice subtle detail, the blue particularly fits my colour palette.

This is the back of a sample, i think it has a really interesting quality; perhaps my samples could be double sided? Next I would like to explore creating my own sequences with the pfaff machine to achieve designs more unique to my project.