Catrin Eluned Jones – Textiles

The main themes of this project are childhood and undersea life. The outcome includes a collection of five children’s dresses and illustrations for a storybook about a jellyfish called Eli. The dresses and the story intertwine and reflect one another in order to give a child the chance to experience and become part of the wonderfully imaginative world of storytelling. I’m aiming this project mainly at children and therefore chose to work with a broad palette and a large variety of fabrics. The dresses can all be worn but also work as an instillation piece with the addition of hanging jellyfish that I created with fabrics used in the dressmaking process. My main technique in my illustration work was to paint my own backgrounds before adding collage and machine embroidery, finishing off with a few 3D, tactile elements that would appeal to children.