Pamela de Groot Tutor Extraordinaire

              

Freedom Construction 20-26 April 2014 FIbre Arts NZ Wanganui
report from Karen Workman

I arrived late because of family reunion commitments on Easter Sunday.  We viewed Pamela's samples on Linda's body, and started thinking about the design we might like for ourselves. 

   

Our 6m of silk tissue and merino fibre was soon turned into prefelted fabric.

A 10cm sample and calculations gave us the size of the pattern required and now to decide on how to set it out on the fabric…freedom of choice!

The designs were similar to Julian Robert's ideas.

  

The hanging of the white ‘ethereal creatures’’ the garments took the forms of, was in the computer room, a very public space.  They needed to be hung high so we could work on them more easily. sewing off-cuts on to the bottoms, and then attaching the silk paj.  I decided not to have paj on the bottom of mine and made more paj/merino fabric instead.

    

Felted down, and fitting us, we then laid out the garment to add leaves and metal ready to roll into very tight bundles for the pot by 6pm Thursday night.

           

Friday morning was fun and exciting to watch each other as the bundles were undone and we had the BIG reveal!

At one stage, a cell phone rang, and Bettina said, "that'll be the press".  How prophetic that was, as we did get in the Weekend section of the Wanganui Chronicle, with a large photo of us all wearing our completed garments on May 3rd.  On Anzac Day at exhibition time we were a “Moving Installation”!!