Rachel E. Pollock's Blog: La Bricoleuse aggregate and more..., page 32

Summer batik project, conclusion

Today we conclude the batik project i began covering in yesterday's post. (Though admittedly the observant reader will have spotted a bit of the finished product already in my #TonyCanYouHearMe post...)
I'd worked out the wax layers and the colors and gotten several hues onto the fabric, as well as waxing in substantial areas. Here are a few more photos of that and the conclusion:




Here, we're well into the color applications, nearly all the dyes are layered in. But, you might ask, w...

Summer batik project, part one!

So, in addition to this high-profile day job i have as a professional costumer (ha), i am also a writer--not only of labricoleuse , but of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. (That's right, i even have a Goodreads Author Page to prove it!) This project i'll be writing up in two parts is kind of a crossover of sorts; bear with me.

Most of what i have published so far has been short-form work--essays, short stories, short memoir--in journals, magazines, and anthologies. The obvious exception...

#TonyCanYouHearMe

The Tony Awards are tonight, but i won’t be watching. I often do and enjoy them, but this year, i just can’t.

In general, yeah, awards shows are political constructs, small cadres of people within a given industry congratulating one another on doing their jobs. But they are also tied to the visibility of an industry, a discipline, an art. They are a space in which the breadth of a collaborative art is acknowledged, even publicized. Oh yeah, someone designed all those cool costumes,...

Happy anniversary! Parasol textbooks 30% off all month!

June is here, which means it's officially the 10th Anniverary Month for the blog!

I'm still running the Best of La Bricoleuse flashbacks over on Facebook, featuring a daily repost of some of the highlights of the past decade, but I also want to recognize that one of the great things which came about in tandem with writing this blog was the publication of my textbook, Sticks in Petticoats: Parasol Manufacture for the Modern Costumer.

I wrote the book because in my professional experience...

Ombre dyed 3D printed folding fan

So, in my ongoing experiments with 3D printing applications in our field, here's a fun new project!

I came across the freeware file for this Chinese folding fan on Thingiverse, which prints all in one--no assembly required. Cool! So i had the folks at the Makerspace here on the UNC campus 3D-print me a copy so i could test it as a fan prototype, figuring that if the file was sound and the mechanism functional, it would serve as a potential template for any number of other folding fan desig...

PLA filament for 3D printing: dyeable!

Lately I've been considering all the implications of 3D printing technology for costume craftwork, and have begun working with the Makerspace here on the UNC campus which is attached to our library system.

If you're not familiar with the process of 3D printing and some of the ways in which it's beginning to be incorporated in professional costume production, check out this excellent blog post by Joe Kucharski of Tyrrany of Style, which is essentially a postification of a panel he c...

period pattern class projects

They're almost done. This group of projects had such cool little details that i've got more closeups than full-length shots!


Closeup of faux embroidery on a coat by third-year grad Denise Chukhina.



Close-up of machine-embroidered plastron on a gown by third-year grad Corinne Hodges.



Rear view of pocket and vent on a jacket by second-year grad Erin Abbenante.




Plastron and sleeve/cuff detail on a bodice by second-year grad Katie Keener.



Mariner's cuff and pocket flap detail on a women...

Interview: Maria Curcic of Le Chapeau Rouge!

Today i've got a great new interview to share, with milliner Maria Curcic of Le Chapeau Rouge.



Photographer: Judy Bandsmer
Model: Emily Mann
Hat, hair, and makeup: Maria Curcic

Q. How long have you been designing hats, and how did you get started?

A. I have been in the arts since the early 80’s, with fashion shows, producing my own shows and so on. My life circled around hats, design, fashion, and architecture. My mother was a seamstress and made a lot of our clothes--she taught me how t...

period pattern class projects

Moving ever closer to the end of the 18th century, period pattern class presented their post-cavalier yet pre-revolution era projects recently. There will only be one more of these this semester!

Left: women's look by second year grad Katie Keener
Center left: women's look by third year grad Corinne Hodges
Center right: men's look by third year grad Denise Chukhina
Right: men's look by second year grad Erin Abbenante


A better view of Erin's guy with research image.


Riding habit...

Dye class: Repetition

My dye class presented some of their projects today for the most recent unit, repetition techniques. This segment of the class covers a wide range of methods for creating surface designs on textiles involving repeat images, from screenprinting to blockprinting, stenciling to digital fabric printing. Check these out!


First year grad Max Hilsabeck converted a mosaic design into a stencil in order to create multicolor border print on a purchased tee-shirt.



Second year grad Erin Abbenante screenpri...