This is the article of clothing that increased my awareness of the 'travelogue' aspects of some unstructured garments. The colour, the drape, the texture, the feel of the pieces of fabric in a box at a church rummage sale appealed to me so I collected them all; when I got home I discovered they were pattern pieces for a blouse. I knotted them together and made a shawl/scarf which combined all the things that had attracted me in the first place.
As I wore it, across the months I realized that the release of threads from the main body of the material was more abundant than I had experienced and I was actually leaving a trail of fibre. Oh, not so that I could retrace my steps from place to place, but with enough visibility – car, public library carpet, chair in sushi restaurant, rough spot on wall on stairway etc. – to offer the awareness. Not to mention, of course, those dear people who pick threads that have separated but are still on me somewhere and then alert me to the fact that I am 'shedding'. I am never sure if I should admit to the fact of doing this on purpose and feel the same way about leaves or flower petals sticking in my hair.
This denim vest is a favourite and worn often. It does not 'shed' but it does have threads that shrug away from the fabric and hang loose.
I love the freedom of clothing with edges left to their own devices, both in the aesthetic sense and also in the fit: they tend to move with the body, to adapt to a person's movement and possibly personality: one side of this front has turned out at the neck, the other side has turned under. The flow of the fibre vertically has taken on intriguing patterns.
The intent of the free edges is obvious and I have gotten into some very interesting discussions with people (usually while perusing racks of cut fabric or garments that could be turned back into cut fabric or things like blankets and curtains that could become something wearable, usually in thrift stores) about design and creativity and patina and having fun with the things we use to cover our bodies.
I put the pocket on the inside of the vest because I wanted the outside front to have an interrupted line – but – I need pockets!
The decision about placement of said pocket (same or contrasting side showing) took some time, even though it is not 'on show'; eventually it felt 'right' to do it thusly.
This is the newest member of the family of vests. It is only a few weeks old and seems to be more a separate-and-stick-around rather than a shedder. The scarf/shawl is a rayon or rayon blend while this vest is linen; the former has attitude; the latter will loosen up once it has some history behind it.