Kodachrome Jacket

Kodachrome Jacket (2011)
Handpainted silk with silk charmeuse lining
with help from Sharon Bell

Kodachrome was my antidote to a year of white.

I had just finished Eternal Love Wedding Ensemble – twelve months of weaving and sewing ivory silk – and I was more than ready for a burst of color. I designed it for Handwoven magazine’s 2011 Garment Challenge, which meant tight design constraints: woven on eight or fewer shafts, commercially available yarn, and a commercial pattern. Because it would be a runway garment, it needed to deliver something to the viewer both up close and 30 feet away.

Bold color delivers the distance view; subtle patterns woven into the fabric rewards the viewer who comes closer.

Kodachrome was selected as one of the ten winners of the Garment Challenge, and appeared on the cover of Handwoven in September 2011.