Textile Body part one

One thing kept occurring to me as I watched operations, particularly open surgery, was that the layers of different tissue structures in the body were all strangely familiar. I could see quilting and knitting, fine silk behaviour and embroidery difficulties. To express this I eventually came to the conclusion that I had to make some kind of 'princess and the pea' mattress structure.

  A favourite illustration when I was little was a picture of that multi layered bed.Over time it was reflected in the fabric swatch books that anyone in the fashion or interiors world would be familiar with. Finally the Great Bed of Ware (and its fabric samples that the public can examine) found at the V&A museum decided me on my course of action.

  It would not be anatomically correct but a parallel in material challenges.It would be in colours that I usually work in and not reds and pinks.There would be no cutting, no stitching and hopefully nothing for the squeamish to baulk at. It would be explorative both literally and metaphorically.

  The first layers are about the skin and fat, then muscle and artery.Underneath those are vascular challenges and delicate organ structures. OR quilting,plain knitting, french knitting, rouleaux loops, beading, trapunto quilting,lucet braid, machine embroidery, needlelace, hand embroidery and silk fortune tellers. OR linen, printed cotton, silk, wool, organdie,paper silk, raw silk, clingfilm and elastic bands. I may also include a little corsetry.
 Posts about the individual layers will follow but this one shows the first dissection down into the body.