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Divider_GoldMoth

Webs of Twilight

stitch-1

SUBMITTED BY:

Melissa Bransom

LINKS:

(click images to to enlarge)

Other Credits

Photographer: Bethany Kurtz

Outline the story …

"The Dark Jewels Trilogy" by Anne Bishop is a dark, magical world with a long-awaited queen brought to life through will, dreams and hope who carries the title of "Witch" to. The power structure is built on levels of 13 stones that spiral from lightest color/power to darkest color/power (White, Tiger Eye, Rose, Summer Sky, Purple Dusk, Opal, Green, Sapphire, Red, Gray, Ebon-Gray, and Black), and spider webs. The world is covered in webs of power (reminiscent of ley-lines) Through a series of lies and deceit the queen finally finds her family, friends, and love. With the strength of those people she is close to, Jeanelle (Witch) navigates through a brutal childhood and into adult hood. Her power is so much greater than others that she feels like she does not belong, even with the love. When she uses her power to "cleanse" the people in society who are trying to break society, her injuries are so great that the people who love her create a series of woven webs to help her heal. Through the process of healing, they all create a new Jewel of power called Twilight's Dawn, which is a blend of all 13 jewels and could be worn only by Witch.

I fell in love with the web imagery and decided to create spiraling webs around a central core that shifted colors with light and movement trying to bring to life in a corset the descriptions of Twilight's Dawn combined with the webs of power.

Outline the construction…

I chose corsetry mesh as my strength layer and fused double weave blue-red organza to the mesh. After heat cutting my pieces, I stitched my pieces with the seam allowance facing the right side of the fabric. Then used a warmed fabric roller to press the seam into its shape on a ham. Trying keep the inside of the corset as clean as possible to maintain transparency. I digitally cut the vinyl for the spider webs. Adhering the spiderwebs spray glue and then reinforcing the webs with stitching at points, and a few mirror beads.

Boning channels are cotton coutil fused to a Polypropylene backed silver vinyl. The centre front boning is two half inch flat steel bones surrounded by two quarter inch flat steel bones. Boning channels are on seams and stitched over the seam allowance to reinforce seam strength. The waist tape is the same polypropylene over twill tape. The lacing panels are polypropylene on coutil with quarter inch flat boning flanking the grommets with gray twill tape to reinforce the seam and add an additional boning channel.

I find patterning for myself terribly difficult, as body dysmorphia creates a perception problem. I also have a swelling disorder that causes my sizing to shift up to 8 inches. (notice the images that the lacing is at 4 inches, as opposed to the 2 inches it was patterned to, photography day was a swollen day). This makes for both tricky patterning and a misleading fit.

COMMENTS

Divider_GoldMoth

11 Comments

  1. Avatar Renee Shaeffer on March 11, 2021 at 6:35 pm

    What a great concept. I love the transparency with the web designs.

  2. Avatar Laura Mims on March 12, 2021 at 12:08 am

    This is one of my favorite series of all time! Imagery is beautifully captured, I recognized what it was instantly before even reading the title. Well done!!

  3. Avatar Laura Ingalls Gunn on March 12, 2021 at 12:20 am

    What an absolutely stunning work of art!

  4. Avatar Phanuel Jagna Levinsen on March 12, 2021 at 12:38 am

    I love the use of sheer corsetry fabric with the spiderweb design! Gorgeous!

  5. Avatar Bethany Peterson on March 12, 2021 at 2:25 am

    Lovely, imaginative, and delicate looking.

  6. Avatar Michelle Smith on March 12, 2021 at 6:40 am

    Absolutely stunning!!! I love everything about this!

  7. Avatar Sophia Hein on March 13, 2021 at 12:39 pm

    I love the transparency of the corset and the metallic spider web designs. It looks great and fits you so well!

  8. Avatar Lorraine Lysen on March 14, 2021 at 2:16 pm

    When I saw the picture I immediate thought it might be Jeanelle! What stunning creations <3

  9. Avatar Mary Jo Ernst on March 17, 2021 at 3:20 am

    Beautiful and well designed !

  10. Avatar Stephanie Murison on March 28, 2021 at 8:23 pm

    I love the idea behind this and the way you incorporated the spiderweb imagery which inspired you from the story! Well done, it looks beautiful, iridescent and magical! Also, being in recovery from a long-term eating disorder, I sympathise with the body dysmorphia issue, well done for preserving despite the struggle, I know how distressing it can be!

  11. Avatar Stephanie Tietze on March 29, 2021 at 5:51 am

    This is stunning. I love the transparent panels.

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