For my Final Major project I want to make traditional fabrics such as lace (which has be prominent within my previous posts) but from an unexpected material, such as latex. I have been using latex in a previous textiles project and I think that due to the qualities of latex you can simply paint a lace design onto a sheet of plastic and once dry you have a durable, flexible material, which is easily coloured by the use of paint, although I plan to keep my colour pallet neutral as I want the focus to be on the materials and fabrics rather than the colour.
Lace making is an ancient craft however it was not developed to what we have today until the late 16th century. What we see as lace today in a binding of multiple fibres set away from a backing fabric which now is commonly made from cotton thread however, tradtionally it was made from linen, silk and gold and silver thread. It has been used in fashion throughout the years as a both a base fabric of a garment and to embellish pieces.
(Catherine Holstein, Verrier and Diane von Furstenburg S/S 09)
