Wednesday, March 6, 2013

piece of cloth part: from black and white to technicolour



A piece of cloth exhibition is hosted by Gleaners inc and curated by Liz Jones as part of L’oreal Fashion Week.

Over thirty artists/crafters/designers were given this little swatch of 70’s fabric in orange, green and brown to respond to in any way they liked - colour, pattern, feeling - whatever.
Initially, my reaction was to go into complete denial about the 70’s (yes I’m sure there are others out there who are in denial about the '70's too..) and bleach the hues away in my head...

And I made this. The poncho is 100% recycled material(even the sewing thread was vintage and from an op shop). The base is a felted cream blanket and the lines are from jumpers recycled into felt rope/yarn and hand dyed black. 

Yes. A bit drab isn't it? But then, like Dorothy going to Oz my world burst into technicolour! I embraced the Seventies. I revelled in the colour scheme.
 
 I tried all the groovy seventies crafts...

like macrame, crochet, wooden beading, latch hooking and tassels....

and then I added pineapples. Because wasn't that what you did in the Seventies? Just added pineapples to everything?



It doesn't look Seventies - which is what I wanted. I wanted it to look modern - but it strangely looks a bit Edwardian. Hmmm.

A Piece of Cloth Exhibition opening night is Friday at 6pm at Gleaners Inc

8 comments:

  1. You continue to amaze me, Julianne. You're always so creative. Who'd have thought you could get such lovely ideas from that scrap of cloth. WTG!

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    1. Thanks Irene! I really enjoyed making these pieces!

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    1. Thanks Mezz - I'd wear it too - Liz has teamed it with a lovely black shift dress and yellow belt for the exhibition http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.471652302889637.1073741826.216733858381484&type=1

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  3. I love BOTH of your creations. While your second piece might look more Edwardian than you'd like, it's definitely a fabulous tribute to the era -those 70's crafty bits you've made to embellish it are fabulous. And I don't think your poncho is drab at all, I think it's beautiful.

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    1. It really took me back to the days when my Mum was macrame and wooden bead crazy and we had a huge basket of jute always at the ready!

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  4. Wow! You are so clever! I love both pieces too (I loved the inspiration cloth being a big fan of the 70's!). The crocheted shoulders on the 2nd piece with the beading are brilliant. Digging the pineapples too. : ) xx

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    1. That's very kind Donna. I love the 70's too and have some wonderful 70's frocks! The crochet shoulders just sort of happened in one evening and just seemed to work. Which was a relief!

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