Another whimsical 'dressel'.
This one stands 18" high and 11" round. Made from cotton fabric, enamelled copper wire and silk thread.

1949: a day out in Blackpool

I remembered to take photos at various stages this time.

I used a cardboard tube, the sort you get inside a roll of carpet.
Covered it in pelmet vilene, held at the join with double sided tape, so that I would have something to stitch into to secure the top pieces.
I then covered it in a white cotton fabric.
The 'rolls' at the bottom of the dressel were made from polysterene tubing covered in white cotton.
Machined as tight as possible with excess fabric left in place so that the fabric looked bunched up between the rolls.

The next section was knitted on the knitting machine using a 0.20mm enamelled copper wire with a silk thread in a lacy pattern.



The two pieces hanging down are stocking stitch knitted over five needles.

The top sections were each made seperately using just the wire this time.
Once they came off the knitting machine I pinched the edges together to create this shape.
I then machine stitched them to a cotton fabric using a zig zag stitch.
And cut around them to end up with this shape.

These pieces were covered in gesso seperately then attached to the main piece.



The whole dressel was then covered in gesso ready for painting.
And the inspiration for this piece?
I think you need to be British and over a certain age to understand this one :)

It is based on a working mans garb for a day at the seaside.
The rolls around the bottom represent rolled up trousers.
The knitted wire represents a string vest and the two pieces hanging down are braces.
And the sections around the top - the knotted hankie on the head!