Ashley Chan_Final Documentation

For my final project, I decided to weave a poncho/wrap for myself because I wanted to explore how to create a wearable if the shape of the original textile needed to adhere to a rigid, rectangular shape. I was inspired by the wraps created by indigenous tribes of Indonesia as well as Indian saris and the rigid pattern designs that employed Nanjing brocade. These inspirations were inspirations mainly because it sparked questions about how to transform a stiff textile into something loose and delicate on the body. I also wanted to create something functional for myself as an incentive for choosing a challenging task and being ambitious.

Honestly, the most challenging part was not the weaving itself but making sure I wove enough every day to reach my end goal. In the beginning, I spent a lot of time creating intricate patterns that really eat my time and didn’t maximize time spent weaving with how much was actually wove. It would’ve been a lot easier to make this monochrome or one specific pattern but I found switching it up through pretty regular increments kept me entertained to keep weaving.

Originally, I thought the wrap would turn out to be more of a silhouette of an asymmetrical poncho but when I finished weaving and experimented with wrapping the textile around my body, I had actually miscalculated and wove too much so the shape was too unbalanced. I played with the form a lot by wrapping it around my body before settling on this shape. I chose this as my final form because I liked the symmetry of the shape despite the pattern of the textile was mismatched and I thought it was the shape most flattering on my body.

I’m still not sure how much I like that the back and front are disproportionate in shape and balance but overall, I’m very happy with how this turned out and I honestly believe I will keep exploring further wearable shapes through weaving.