Design
Concept
In 1984, I learned to dye fabric in color and value gradations. As I was dyeing one day it occurred to me that I could make a pleated skirt from my hand dyed fabric in which each pleat would be a different color in a gradation. I tried this with cotton fabric and then made a series of skirts with silk fabric. In Rainbow Sorbet, the bottom of the pleats are a gradation from blue to purple to fuchsia. The tops of the pleats are a gradation from turquoise to chartreuse. In addition to making the top and bottom of each pleat a different color, I also pieced in three extra squares in colors that blend the top and bottom color of each pleat. The squares run diagonally across the pleats. The undersides of the pleats are a gradation from light grey to black. Once the skirt was finished, I cut the remaining graduated fabrics into strips and string pieced a tailored suit jacket. I dyed silk yarn along with the fabrics and hand knit a sweater vest in the same colors as the skirt and jacket. The colors run diagonally across the sweater vest to coordinate with the colors of the skirt. I hand painted silk charmeuse in the same colors as the skirt and vest to make the matching blouse. The sleeve colors match the colors in the sweater vest at the shoulders.
This ensemble was exhibited in the Fairfield Fashion show which premiered at the 1986 Houston Quilt Festival and then traveled around the country the following year. |
