Dolce & Gabbana is also starting to use the "PatchWork" technique

 

Dolce & Gabbana also recently started to use the methodology that we have been using for over 30 years at Melilli Factory, a methodology brought by Eugenio Vazzano from his experience in America where he was one of the first in Italy to start working fabrics with this particular technique.

The patchwork (translated means "work with the pieces") is an artifact that consists in the union, throughseam, of different parts oftissue, generally but not exclusively ofcotton, in order to obtain an object for the person or house, with reasonsgeometric the name.

History

The technique has been developed over the past centuries by the American pioneers who recycled parts in better conditions than worn out garments for the repair of other garments or for the creation of new ones, in particular blankets stuffed with tobacco leaves, cotton, etc.

Patchwork spread toItaly starting from the mid ofthe nineties with the importation of specific fabrics and related equipment and the dissemination of the first related courses.

The term "patchwork" today, improperly, indicates a series of techniques that have nothing to do with this type of artefact, such as the "needleless patchwork" which indicates works in which the fabric is stopped in slits made for allow coverage of the object inpolystyrene

The technique

The processing consists of several phases.

At the beginning we prepare the drawing of the object to be made to scale. Overall, the top will be divided into blocks which in turn will be further divided into pieces (patch = piece work = work). Each piece must be sized and a list of how many and which pieces need to be cut must be made; in this way it will also be easier to get an idea of how much and which fabric will be needed to make the top.

Once the design is finished, proceed with cutting the fabric, carefully ironed previously, keeping a seam allowance of 0.6 cm on each side. For example, if the piece we need is 4 x 4 cm, the cut will have to be made by 5.2 cm.

At the end of this step, proceed with the seam keeping, obviously, a margin of 6 mm. After sewing, a new ironing is carried out to flatten the margins for the subsequent seams.

At the end of the assembly, depending on the object to be made, a more traditional manual or machine quilting may be necessary.