During the time that I was drawing / making the white fabric of my dress, I had felt excited about making the final image that would form the main design. A toil had been made to so that I could plan where the circles representing the enlarged bronchi and normal sized artery could go.
Whilst happy with the placement of the circles over the chest area, it soon became clear that trying to draw a small section of a CT scan image into the markings wasn’t going to work.
I didn’t like the drawing of the CT scan detail so I removed it. Feeling disappointed, I knew that I had to rethink my ideas. I quickly realised another important reason for the project, that feeling of disappointment when you are told that something is medically wrong and how you may feel when you suddenly take on this new label / diagnosis and the implications for your future wellbeing.
The base for my design is a shift dress, it is made from delicate thread that has been worked obsessively. Instead of the detail, I would pare the design down and make two simple circles in the same colours that are seen on a CT scan image. The dress will also have a label and come with instructions for care – just the same as if the dress was hanging on a rail in a shop. However, this would have been one dress that I might not have chosen.
