Work samples

  • Pulled Warp Corset
    Pulled Warp Corset
    This pulled-warp corset is a miniature fantasy bodice for an escape to a storybook world. This half-scale garment is woven flat on a floor loom using cotton rags and yarn in plain weave. The corset is shaped off the loom by a pulled-warp technique. The lacing is an inkle band in cotton and Tencel. Maybe this is what Cinderella would have made for herself from left-over fabric scraps. Making costumes and playing dress up allows the imagination free rein. (2021)
  • Pulled Warp Corset detail
    Pulled Warp Corset detail
    Detail of the inkle-woven tie made for this miniature corset. (2021)
  • Corset 2
    Corset 2
    Half-scale corset of cotton rags and reeds. Handwoven using a pulled-warp process to shape the corset. Mounted on a handmade papier mache mannequin. 24"x10"x5.5" (2022)
  • Corset 2 back
    Corset 2 back
    Back view of woven corset 24"x10"x5.5" (2022)

Share:

Facebook Twitter Share

About Susan

Baltimore County  

Susan Picinich is a Professor of Theatre at Towson University teaching costume design and costume history.  She served as dean of Towson’s College of Fine Arts and Communication for eight years, following twenty-four years as a professor and administrator at the University of Southern Maine.  Susan is also a past board member of the Baltimore County Arts Guild, Portland Stage Company, and Maine State Music Theatre.  Her creative work is in fiber arts and theatrical costume design.  Susan has… more

View Susan's Resume
Jump to a project:

Cuban Coffee Pot

When visiting the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana, I saw Roberto Fabelo’s installation entitled “Cathedral” made of aluminum coffee pots, and in Trinidad, Cuba, I saw a local artist’s anthropomorphized coffee-pot sculptures “Los Conspiradores.” These inspired me to weave a coffee pot, which as a symbol of domesticity and hospitality exemplifies a bridge between people. (2020)

  • Cuban Coffee Pot
    Cuban Coffee Pot
    Loom-woven pulled warp, cotton seine twine and silk rags, papier mâché armature. 9.5” x 7” x 5”.
  • Cuban Coffee Pot detail
    Cuban Coffee Pot detail
    Detail with open lid. Loom-woven pulled warp, cotton seine twine and silk rags, papier mâché armature. 9.5” x 7” x 5”.
  • On the loom
    On the loom
    Weaving the coffee pot with voided sections to allow for pulled warp
  • Ready to pull the warp
    Ready to pull the warp
    Off the loom and ready to pull the warp to make a three dimensional vessel.
    •

    • Shadow Weave Towels

    These cotton towels are woven on the same two-color chocolate brown and bright yellow warp.  The weft uses the same yellow paired first with raspberry, and then with lime. The draft is based on an eight-shaft pointed twill from Pattern Techniques for Handweavers, by Doramay Keasbey. Warp and weft are 8/2 unmercerized cotton. (2019)
    • Two Towels
      Two Towels
      Two towels
    • Shadow weave towel
      Shadow weave towel
      Detail of shadow weave
    •

    • Corset Process

    This pulled-warp corset is a miniature fantasy bodice for an escape to a storybook world.  This half-scale garment is woven flat on a floor loom using cotton rags and yarn in plain weave.  The corset is shaped off the loom by a pulled-warp technique.  The lacing is an inkle band in cotton and Tencel.  Maybe this is what Cinderella would have made for herself from left-over fabric scraps.  Making costumes and playing dress up allows the imagination free rein. (2021)
    • Corset back
      Corset back
    • Making the corset pattern
      Making the corset pattern
    • On the loom
      On the loom
    • Inkle Woven ties
      Inkle Woven ties
    • Inkle Loom
      Inkle Loom
    • Ready to pull the warp
      Ready to pull the warp
    •

    • Scottish Wedding Throw

    Weaving on an early barn loom at the Marshfield School of Weaving in Vermont.  This throw is the school's design but my weaving.  Wool singles, natural and madder-dyed stripe. (2022)
    • Finished Throw
      Finished Throw
    • On the loom
      On the loom
    • On the clothesline with the Vermont mountains
      On the clothesline with the Vermont mountains
    •

    • Handwoven and Handsewn 1830s Chemise and Petticoat

    These two garments are inspired by the chapter on clothing in the book Keep Me Warm One Night: Early Handweaving in Eastern Canada by Burnham and Burnham. This book, published in 1972 in conjunction with an exhibit of the same name at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, is a touchstone for many hand weavers and a treasured inspiration to me. 

    The chemise is made of fine linen yard in plain weave (tabby).  I wove the fabric and made the chemise pattern based on study and measurement of the chemise pictured in the book (fig. 80) and viewed in person at the Royal Ontario Museum.  The petticoat is made of my handwoven cotton fabric reproducing a piece in the (fig. 79) and studied in person at the museum. The pattern dimensions and construction details of the petticoat were culled from multiple sources including The Workwoman’s Guide from 1838, a woolen petticoat also pictured in Keep Me Warm One Night, a petticoat studied at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and petticoats at Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford, NY.” 

    My purpose in making these reproductions is to learn all I can about the fabric, the garments, and those who made each item.

    • Chemise and Petticoat
      Chemise and Petticoat

      Handwoven and hand sewn 1830s linen chemise and cotton, corded petticoat on a mannequin

    • Chemise and Petticoat detail
      Chemise and Petticoat detail

      Detail of the back waistband and cartridge pleating of the petticoat into the waistband.

    • Chemise Sleeve and Shoulder detail
      Chemise Sleeve and Shoulder detail

      Chemise sleeve and shoulder detail showing hand sewn seams and a closeup view of the handwoven linen fabric.

    •