Cost book, Dress fabrics, 1893-1899

Archive Iterations

This series is the first stage of a project exploring Isabel’s family history in the Yorkshire textile industry (1837–2005). Reinterpreting archive fabric swatches from the Mill’s cost books, she transforms them into sculptural forms using production offcuts from contemporary British manufacturers, linking past and present textile industries.

Selecting three fabric swatches from a Dress Fabrics book (1893–1899), Isabel reinterprets them using neutral textiles to emphasise structure and stitch over color at this stage.  Using a magnifying thread-counter, Isabel explores how yarn density, warp and weft intersections, and negative space within the weave present sculptural possibilities. Rather than replicating the fabrics, Isabel experiments with techniques that expand the 2D swatches into sculptural forms.

As the custodian of the Mill’s handwritten cost books, Isabel has a unique opportunity to engage with this history. This project will continue to be developed to understand the Mill's historical context and highlight today's British textile industry by collaborating with manufacturers.


Materials

Wool and cotton selvedge, wool blanket, wool carding waste, deadstock wool yarn, polyester thread.

Date of Production

June 2024

October 23/96 (left), March 8/99 (center), March 2/99 (right).


‘March 2/99’ brings focus to the strong geometric structures of the weave, in particular the intersecting grid where areas of the warp threads float vertically over the weft.

Wool blanket fabric, wool carding waste, polyester thread. Machine and hand stitch.

‘March 8/99’ focuses entirely on the chunky selvedge of the fabric swatch. Responding to the rope-like structure, each of the multiple strands are stitched and then entwined together as a mass. The floor-based work hints at the common endpoint for selvedge as disregarded production waste.

Wool and cotton selvedge, polyester thread. Hand stitch.


‘October 23/96’ has been rotated 90 degrees. The chunky weft threads are now presented as long vertical strips, interconnected by strands of loosely tensioned yarn. The structure of this textile has been opened up and rotated to imagine the movement and drape of the original textile.

Wool selvedge, wool yarn, polyester thread. Machine and hand stitch.