Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Korean Wedding Jacket (Jeogori)

(shown here with accompaning Chima)

Accession Number: CR.356.66.1a


Label: Wedding Dress, Coat, Korea, c.1960’s


This jacket is made of a gauzy synthetic material in hot pink and yellow. The pink fabric has a woven medallion pattern, while the yellow has a woven floral pattern. There is a white fabric collar and the jacket is fully lined with yellow tulle. On the right side of the jacket there is a short yellow tulle strap that ties to a similar strap attached to the inside of the coat, just below the left sleeve. On the front of the jacket are two long, hot pink ties. After construction, medallions and decorative patterns have been printed on the pink fabric in silver ink.

During deconstruction, the pink ties were removed. The right sleeve was detached from the lining and removed from the Jacket. The seams in the sleeve were removed, freeing the yellow piece of fabric.

A canteen was obtained and from it, a pattern was drafted. Four identical pieces were cut from the yellow fabric. Two pieces were hand-sewn together along the top half, folded right side out, and pressed. This was repeated with the remaining two pieces, creating two identical pieces of double thickness. These two pieces were pinned and hand-sewn along the bottom edge. After turning it right-side out, the yellow canteen cover was then fitted onto the canteen and the two sides were hand-sewn together at the top, enclosing the canteen. The finished ends of the two pink ties were sewn together, forming one long strip. Approximately ¾” of both sides of the strip were folded under, pressed, and top-stitched into place. On the back of the strip, the edges of the folded-under sides were secured with a slip stitch to create a 1” wide strap. This strap was threaded through the three metal loops on the sides of the canteen. The ends of the strap were overlapped and machine-sewn together.

The accession number has been embroidered on the canteen’s pink strap.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Uzbekistan Embroidered Textile

Accession Number: TR8616-26


Label 1: Conley 11/4/86

Label 2: Uzbekistan Study, Conley, 12/86


This 37-inch square textile is made from silk Ikat fabric with stripes of blue, red, and yellow on a cream colored ground. The square is constructed of two pieces of fabric sewn together and hemmed on three sides. The fourth side is a selvage edge. The textile has a large border of tambour embroidery in black and red.

A “U” shaped pattern was drafted and used to cut two pieces from the textile. Being careful to match up the embroidery, these pieces were sewn, right sides together, leaving a small gap through which the neck pillow was then turned right-side out and filled with foam polystyrene beads. The gap was then hand-sewn shut.

The accession number has been embroidered just below the pre-existing embroidery on one side of the pillow.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Girl’s Korean Jacket (Jeogori)

(shown here with accompaning chima)

Accession Number: A.8416.64-3a


Label: Girl’s Costume (Coat(ie?), Korea, c.1960’s, Gift of Miss Younghee Choy


This tradional Korean garment is usually worn with a large skirt (chima). Together, the two items are known as a Hanbok.

This child’s sized jeogori is made of pieces of gauzy synthetic material in mint green, red, white, pink, yellow, purple and black. For the sleeves, the fabric has been pieced together to create stripes. On the front of the garment, pieces of fabric have been folded and sewn to create a decorative pattern of triangles. The garment ties at the front with two strips of red fabric. It is fully lined with a white synthetic netting. After construction, the garment was stamped with decorative patterns in bronze paint.

During deconstruction, the left sleeve was detached from the lining and removed from the garment.

Two 4” wide strips of fabric were cut from the length of the sleeve and sewn together to form a strip of fabric 4” wide and 20” long. The strip was folded in half lengthwise, sewn along the long edge, and turned right-side out to form a tube. An 8” piece of 5/8” wide elastic was threaded through the tube. The elastic ends were overlapped and sewn together. The ends of the fabric tube were folded under to form hems and sewn together to finish the scrunchie.

The accession number has been embroidered onto a green stripe on the scrunchie.