The Gender-Variant Jacket @thegendervariantjacket - Tumblr Blog

Deconstructing

So I’m trying to make my own bias tape— The method I’m currently using seems very exciting— instead of cutting each strip and then sewing them together, this will make one continuous strip out of a square of fabric and sewing just two edges together. I’m about to cut the object in the first image— it’ll prove whether or not I did this correct!! Check out the tutorial here: https://www.makeit-loveit.com/how-to-make-one-continuous-strip-of-bias-tape-from-one-square-of-fabric/

Me and my mannequin bby pt.2

Ok ok blah blah blah fast forward and it’s put together!!! And baby did it all by themselves!

Ooooo yeah!!! My darling is so cute, so fresh, and so new!!!!!

I love them. This mannequin is my child and my soulmate and my partner.

Go us!

But also in all seriousness, I’m so grateful to have gotten grants that have allowed me to make these purchases—

Without the U-M Library mini grant, I would be down $600 of my own money— which is a fuck ton.

Me and my mannequin bby

Ok so wanna know how productive my day was? I put together my $260 mannequin today! Wahoo!!

This is my baby in my car. And yes, I did wake up at 7am so I could get a start on my day and bring this to the art school.

And yes, I did pay for parking at the art school because I didn’t want to drag this child on the bus and then be that super weird person on public transport with this obnoxiously large thing.

And yes, I know the art school has a loading dock for dropping large things off at the door, but I had already parked! And I had already paid for parking!

So naturally, I had to carry it in my buff arms.

See:: my buff arms

On an unrelated note: MY PERIOD MAKES MY ACNE SO BAD AND MAKES NY ACNE LOOK SUPER RED A U G H

Also my head looks kinda like a little blonde bush.

My baby is all wrapped up, obvs. It was super expensive!!!! It had better be wrapped up!

So I ran into a little problem with the wheels-- the directions are not the most clear-- so the wheels are supposed to look like this:

but then one of the wheels just didn’t want to be completely pushed into the opening-- that’s ok, with just a little push, it went right through.

What a productive morning!

So many wonderful things started coming together. I met with Sophia and Franc this morning to do a little individual crit and we made lots of decisions:

Sophia had started playing around with having two strips of polartec fleece being inserted into the inner edges of the coat-- We do these strips of fabric do to the garment? For one, it made it the jacket look a little more elaborate, a little more embellished.

Second, it added some volume to the front if you were to clasp the jacket shut.

Sophia tried it on, to see what would happen if we would use these strips of fabric as a scarf. I.e. changing the neckline! If I cut the pieces of fabric just right, (and also make it longer), then it can work pretty darn successfully.

It also had the potential to be an inner-garment-- some sort of v-neck shirt. Although I’m not as fond of this usage as I think it could be too much work to have it be both a scarf AND a top. We’ll see. OK BUT HERE’S A COOL PART-- If we make the strips of fabric detachable, I don’t want this garment to be modular-- I.e. I don’t want my wearers to feel like they still have to bring a bunch of clothes with them to change presentation! I want my wearers to feel like they can have the opportunity to present however they want-- with a single garment.

So we thought about using snaps on the strips of fabric, allowing them to be snapped to the garment’s inner lining, as well as snapped to the back-- creating a type of tailcoat.

Something that has historically been on menswear, but can be really femme too.

SO, WE’RE REALLY INTO SNAPS AND CINCHES And sleeves. Go sleeves.

Sophia suggested making the sleeves partially separated so you can roll them up and reveal more wrist.

The sleeve could be snapped back together-- similar to cuff links!

And now these cinches. These beautiful beautiful cinches. Honestly, I want to just put cinches in everything I have. Is that bad? Can I just make some cinches right now and then install them in my bed, my sheets, my underwear, my socks??? THEY ARE TRENDING SO Anyways! These cinches can be placed on the sleeve in two parts-- Somewhere along the bicep and then along the forearm.

When cinched, you can tie the ties into a bow -- hi baby femme~~~ When not cinched, the ties will hang down and be pretty neutral-- they’ll just look pretty cool and be a little reminiscent of Japanese fashion.

Hiiii cinch x cuffed combo

Now-- back-cinching?

Wild, right? Here’s why I think this is transformation is cool. This will add more of a cinched, tailored look-- while also taking away some bulk from the front.

And when it works in tandem with the tailcoat-look, it looks much more elaborate than the transformations really are.

Ok, so more on snaps-- Sophia likes blazers a lot. She suggested that if we attach snaps the corners of the jacket front bodice, we can allow people to snap the jacket back to make it into a “snappy blazer”. What does this mean? Wearers can snap these corners back, revealing more of their own body-- waist, hips, legs. Sophia also was thinking about something similar happening with the collar itself. Something like snapping the collar back to make a sort of lapel? See:: reference to menswear, anyone???

Ok so this particular post ends here, but wow I’m really excited about my progress. I’m really tired and a little stressed, obvs. But shit, I can’t wait to go to China for spring break and get a bit of a break from my IP stress. Until next time~~

#work in progress #fashion #fashion student #wip #conceptual garment #garment #conceptual fashion #trans fashion

A new prototype in the works!! :) In other news: one of my housemates is a nightmare and is uncommunicative! ! ! And wow the best part is that she doesn’t even know that she’s literally digging her own grave by ignoring my texts ! ! ! Wow!!! S h e. I s ama z I n g

Another bit of wet felting involves making your wool wet and then stomping on it

#gif #wool #felting

This is my wet felting in action: it involves placing wool in between some nylon netting, then doing large stitches to hold it in place.

#wool #felting

Me: washing and washing and washing wool

I think I’ve had to think a lot about where I can find opinions.

I think about, whether I can ask questions about my exhibition design, or about my garment itself, and have the people give me informed advice.

Questions about my exhibition design were: “do you need it to be a fashion showroom experience?” “Can you pare it down somehow?” “Do you need a large mirror that spans a wall, or can you just have one standing mirror?” To which I reply, yes, I need all these things because since when has contemporary fashion been for trans bodies? Since when have they made trans ppl feel so seen and so considered?

My thesis timeline!!! It’s kind of freaky.

DECISION. MADE

Ok so I’ve been emotionally really weird and sad and weird, and Brandon came over to my cubicle to ask if I needed help with anything.

He helped me MAKE A DECISION ABOUT MY MATERIAL. I’m using Rag & Bone Denim.

He was so helpful and asked me: “Okay, so what do you need to answer your question ‘what materials’?” Which made me look at the two fabric samples I had (one with the Everest Textile and the other with the Rag and Bone denim) and make a choice.

Denim is going to be rad, and here’s why:

It’s already really fucking industrial. It is tough, it is consistent in color and tone. The material also doesn’t matter as much as I think it is-- my thesis itself is about creating new silhouettes. Not, about creating new textiles.

DECISION> MADE>