Woollen Mermaids # 5 - The End Product!!!

I finally finished and it was by the deadline i set for myself so that was good!
I went up to Mannum on the Murray River to take my photos as i thought it was like Annette Kellerman swimming the English Chanel. I am really happy with the way my Little Black Swimsuit turned out and i think that it is a timeless piece which reflects how far bathers have come from the 1920's and also how we can still change what bathers are to us all.

The little black swimsuit I have created, inspired by the original mermaid Annette Kellerman, is a shirred and cut-out design. I was given three inspirational images to work off which had gathering details, shape geometric shapes and a rose to work off. I designed my little black swimsuit with a shirred bodice to create the illusion of curves and coverage which would suit the era but a modern twist with the diamond cut-outs throughout the torso.

Alison Cawte

Woollen Mermaids # 4 - Toile

I made my toile in a chocolate Wool Jersey like the other students which has a little bit less stretch than the black wool jersey that we will be using on out final product and i think that it works really well with my design.


For the top edge i have pulled in the first row of shirring to pull it even tighter which has given the sample a beautiful edging!

I worked out to get the best finish on the diamonds i need to change the blade on my scaple after every 3 diamonds to keep the edges looking sharpe so there is no pulls.

Woollen Mermaids #3 - Shirring

Now that i had my design decided and that the knew that the cutouts were going to work i set apon sampling my shirring to get the tension and type of elastic correct. The first elastic i tried did not work at all as when it was stretched and realeased the caseing broke up and the elastic then was stretched out of shape. I first thought it was simply old and had perished but got told could have been knitting shirring elastic and therefor did not work at all when put through a machine and pulled to its limit! I then found a correct elastic and found that it worked really well with the wool jersey giving this beautiful fullness.


I then started to eliminate the different edging options that i had to finish off the top of the bathers. baby-lock just did not work, it hated the wool jeresy and now i hate the machine! lots of stress that morning! However i then went and tried a zig-zag stitch on the semi-industrial machine with a twisted foot to get a fantastic finished which i love and let me stop pulling out my hair!! Top edge sorted.

Woollen Mermaids # 2 - The Cut-Outs!

Working off my inspirational images, reading about Annette Kellerman and the one piece theme i started designing and came up with a series of working sketches. Mostly all working off the ideas of shirring or gathering and some form of cut outs.

With the test fabric i started working with shirring and cutouts to see how they looked and how good the finish was.

So i decided that from my samples that the fabric worked well with the cuts outs and did not fray so i did not need to worry and the finish of the fabric and could leave the edges raw.
i then set to work on the size and positioning of the diamond cuts outs.

Woollen Mermaids # 1 - Designing

When first given the design brief for the Little Black Swimsuit i did not know where to start until i saw my inspirational images!







After first seeing my inspirational images the first thought that came to mind was both gathers and/or cutouts! Now i know i'm not suppose to go with the first idea that comes to mind but i could not shake the idea!!