A brief meeting with SN at the V&A to discuss the research ahead and which objects I am going to concentrate on. With the Falkland pillow covers we expanded the idea of collective making to be an investigation into the materials and traditional technique, thinking about materiality and the process of reconstruction. SN pointed me towards a knitted stockings reconstruction project where aspects of their construction were only revealed in the process of trying to remake (https://earlymedievaltextile.wordpress.com/2018/07/19/the-stockings-of-texel/)

We also discussed the Falkland Jacket, how I might approach the study of this and what sort of reconstruction/interpretation might result. We agreed that the original idea of creating a purely computer-generated reconstruction would be extremely complex and possibly wouldn’t be of much use in terms of research. Instead, we discussed the idea of this being a ‘composite’ piece – pulling together methods for study and presentation I develop during the work with other objects. Close observational drawing will probably be key as we talked about the fact that the garment will be difficult to scan without distortion. I will need to draw on my experience of designing and making clothing patterns, measuring and drawing the embroideries and translating them onto pattern flats so they can be viewed without the distortion. In addition, the making of small stitched samples may also be important as the scale of embroidery and materials used are so fine. Finally, we discussed the use of digital technology on bringing all these elements together as a single composite piece and how that could be used to experiment with different modes of presentation.