Eyelash Dress – The exciting part of machine knitting is that it greatly expands design possibilities. Instead of being limited by fabrics that can be purchased, one can create an original fabric while concurrently building a garment. The purpose of the Eyelash Dress was to explore color mixing, color relationships, layering and texture in this process.
First, a large square of fabric was knitted of green and yellow yarns. Rows of complementary colored (red and purple) yarns were knit-grafted to this piece, by re-attaching areas of the original fabric to knitting machine needles, and beginning to knit again. Adjoining rows of this top layer were sewn together at arbitrary intervals, exposing the background fabric in eye-shaped areas. The top edges of each area were crocheted with long haired yarns and brushed. The resulting layered fabric was draped around a dress form, yielding triangular-shaped voids above and below the waist in back. Solid color triangles were knitted and attached, and a crocheted circle completed the center back waist. Yarns used were made of of linen, cotton, rayon, Tencel, wool, mohair and alpaca. Completed May 2008.
