Mirrored - Alyssa Sanchez

Alyssa Sanchez -

My work varies in the distinct way each piece looks despite all being created with the same type of silk, which connects them in order to create one entire collection of works. Sewing became an interest to me late in year 1 of IB art. My work is not only intended to showcase my creativity through fashion, but I also want to show people that it's okay to try new things even though you may have little to no knowledge and experience with. My collection resembles the growth I've experienced from my first piece of art to my most recent, and this growth is not always apparent in other collections of art.

When I first started taking art class, my intention was to take an easy class and get a good grade, although after year 1 I realized that I could enjoy taking this class, get a good grade and put effort into what I was doing. I didn't want my art career to simply be just for a grade but for something enjoyable and exciting to me. I realized that there are so many different types of art and sewing became of interest to me. I began simply by watching videos on sewing and practicing with different materials and patterns. One of the most important components of my work is the material that I used. Each of my pieces uses a different type of silk in order to show how each one is beautiful and alike yet unique in texture, pattern and color.. Silk is often seen as an expensive and classy material which is the reason my main focus is on silk. Each of my pieces resemble a very unique but basic style creating a likable collection to all viewers. My work is intended to be easy for the viewer to look through but allow enough detail for each piece to become unique.

My collection contains pieces of work that viewers might say are “bad” or “messy” which is the reasoning behind my piece ``Messy”. This piece was my very first work done with textiles. I was extremely new to this and my help consisted of youtube and my grandmother. This piece is missing a few components that most seamstresses would point out as messy although I was extremely proud of this piece because I knew I would only improve. Later on I started creating the pieces looks deceive, Green Goddess, and Growth, these are my three most proud and statement pieces because of the amount of improvement from Messy to these three pieces.

While studying the fashion industry as well as fashion designers, I learned a lot about materials, style, texture, development and much more. My very first artist study was with Elein Fisher who is a sustainable fashion designer. This struck my interest because of how horrifying and toxic the fashion industry really was with materials, labor and waste. I studied brands such as H&M and Zara, which allowed me to learn more about the grim background of fast fashion. I wanted to be able to show viewers that sustainable fashion does not have to be formidable. My piece titled “Bow” was created with the scraps left over from a piece called “flower”. This is one of my most extraordinary pieces because I left little to no fabric behind. Although my pieces are not 100% sustainable I want the viewer to see how effortless it can be to save even the smallest amount. Overall, I want the viewer to understand the importance of mistakes within art as well as the growth process it takes to become an artist. I also want to show the simplicity of sustainable fashion.

Back, bust- 16’’, shoulder to hem- 13’’, Casa Satin, silk thread

This top is my first piece to have an open back, I want the viewer to be able to see the beauty of our bodies. My main focus was to show the entire back because that is not what you see in most clothing pieces. I attempted to create a minimalist piece with the main focus being the opened back.

Floral, waist- 13”, length- 16”, Casa satin, cotton thread

This piece was made with a pattern and was one of my beginning pieces. I envisioned this piece to become the shape of a flower with many layers, this succeeded very well. I used a thicker satin which was a lot easier to work with and although this is not one of my greatest pieces I learned a lot of new sewing techniques.

Green Goddess, 12.2’’x4.5’’, Casa satin, cotton thread

This piece was a little out of my comfort zone but I wanted to explore making something with a pattern I created, since this was the first time not using a store bought pattern I wanted to start off with something I could measure with my own body. This process was actually extremely difficult and took multiple tries to understand how to measure and create a pattern. The title of this piece is called green goddess because of the perfection with each seam and the type of silk I used creates a very classy and beautiful look.

Rosey, 6.5x10”, Casa Satin, cotton thread

This piece is a halter top, I created this with a pattern made with my form. This was one of my most time consuming but one of my favorite pieces. My goal for this piece was to create a very simple yet intimidating piece to the viewer.

Pink n pretty, 5.5x12”, Casa satin, cotton thread

This piece was created from leftover material from my piece titled Floral. I didn't want any of my material to go to waste which is why I improvised with this piece. Although this piece is smaller than the rest it shows a lot of detail and this was the first piece I started to notice how much growth I have made throughout my work. My seams looked extremely clean and the piece in general came out beautiful.

Mess, waist- 12.5’’, length- 26’’, Casa Satin, cotton thread

This was my very first piece, the reason I added this piece in my collection is simply because of how bad it is. It took me a while to decide whether I should be embarrassed about this piece or be proud of how far I have come with my works and I decided to include it in order for the viewer to see the beginning stages of starting a new form of art. It is never really talked about or shown in other bodies of artworks which is why I wanted to add this messy piece to my collection.

Growth, bust- 16”, waist- 12.5”, length- 42”, Casa satin, Embroidered mesh, cotton thread

This piece was my final and most well done piece, I created this piece with the use of my form to create a pattern. I intended for this piece to be my biggest and most beautiful piece I've created this far. My overall goal within this collection was to show my improvement from my piece mess. I wanted to be able to show the change in art over time and the progress within art.