Photo Credit Bill Burlingham
Orphaned Fragments: the dissection of particular parts where two things intersect.
This is a series of stitched drawings that I'm developing from my understanding of the armhole as a dressmaker. It is my closer investigation of the technique of sewing a set-in sleeve, and on the word "armscye" itself. I was fooled by the word for the first decade of my dressmaking as I was mastering the technique, because most dressmakers refer to and pronounce the opening as "arm's eye."
I'm making these drawings from deconstructed fragments of the armhole, with attachments to other parts pulled from seam allowances. My drawing process provides a way for me to consider both the construction technique and the devolving of the word "armscye" from etymological fragments. The dictionary does not provide a clear trace of meaning, nor is it clear that these are drawings of the armhole.
A set in sleeve looks effortlessly beautiful on the outside--a curved arch that holds space for the arm's mobility--however the inside reveals the awkward, imperfect hand work needed to ease the relationship between the sleeve and the armhole. I'm most interested in these imperfections found on the inside that trace the work of the human hand. I'm purposely distorting the standard pattern technique to balance the arm hole, repeating the compositional format with different results.
Armscye 1 and 2 for ARTwork 6
January 19 - February 1, 2013
