Sunrise Sunset Coat

This coat was just juried into the fashion show for Convergence 2012, the biennial international conference sponsored by the Handweavers' Guild of America. This year's show and exhibit takes place in July in Long Beach, California.

My entry is titled "Sunrise Sunset Coat," marking the many changes this winter in the lives of the people I love. It's dedicated to my father who turned 88 in January and is now in long-term care at a wonderful nursing home, Penfield Place, in Penfield, New York.

The coat is woven on a warp of 60/2 silk, hand-dyed in two alternating color ways, which you can see in the stripes.

I used two different wefts: one of hand-dyed 60/2 silk (on the right side of the photo above) woven in stripes of 3/1 and 1/3 twill and the other of Habotai silk ribbon and handspun merino (on the left in the photo) dyed a deep burgundy and woven in plain weave. I love the way the warp flows every which way in the plain-weave fabric, which resembles a rag rug.

The pattern is by Issey Miyake, Vogue 1069, now out of print but still available from the Vogue website. It has a wonderful construction that drapes beautifully and flows gently over the body.

Thanks to Timothy Fuss for his artistry in the photos! They definitely show off the coat in its best light. For more on his work, visit http://www.pixel-wave.com/