Standard Processes in Dressmaking
 Standard Processes in Dressmakingby Alison KurkeStandard Processes in Dressmaking is a collaged altered book by nine members of the International Collage Community. Using E. Lucy Towers’s iconic, 1948 instruction manual as a point of departure, artists added fragments to the pages of the book as a means of exploring womanhood and fashion. The result is a collaborative meditation on how the clothes we wear shape identity, meaning, and place in the world. Project lead, Alison Kurke, notes, “We subverted her dressmaking strictures, narrow rules of structure and construction.” The altered book is an example of how the International Collage Community operates through project-based collaboration that transcends borders. Participating artists include Carol White (Ireland), Dorothée Mesander (Greece), Lisa Sheets (United States), Katie Blake (United States), Sabine Remy (Germany), Susanna Lakner (Germany), Anna Cromwell (United Kingdom), Eve Cromwell (United Kingdom), and Alison Kurke (United Kingdom & Italy).  E. Lucy Towers was a First Class Diplomée of the Training College of Domestic Subjects, London, in Dressmaking, Needlework, Tailoring, and Millinery. She was formerly a Lecturer in Dressmaking and Needlework at The Polytechnic, Regent Street, and at Chelsea Polytechnic, London. Her first book, Standard Processes in Dressmaking, was originally published by the University of London Press in 1948 and had its eleventh printing in 1976. Her sequel, Techniques of Dressmaking and Soft Tailoring, was published by the University of London Press in 1968. With Helen Lewis, she published Basic Pattern-Cutting Folders for Dressmaking, Nos. 1-6, in 1954, also by the University of London Press. ABOUT THE BOOK Purchase the book in US dollars HERE. |