Fite Fuaite
Brigh Harkin
Kerry County Council
Brigh collected clothing passed down from her cousin that she had grown out of including a black jumpsuit, a blue and white romper, a hat and a bag. She also gathered small fabric pieces from a scrap bag at home. Brigh wanted to draw from the Irish phrase 'fite fuaite' - meaning intertwined or woven together, and decided to create a patchwork from mixed scrap pieces of fabric to represent this. She wanted to highlight all the people and environments connected through the fashion industry, from textile production and clothing manufacturing, to the people who buy and wear the clothes, and the people affected by where our clothes often end up in landfill.
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Brigh began by planning how she could make the jumpsuit fit her again. She made alterations like detaching the bodice from the legs and changing the shape of the bottom. This was done by inserting patchwork godets in the outer seam of the trousers and lengthening them with panels harvested from the blue and white romper.
Brigh created the patchwork by cutting out small rectangle and square shapes from the scrap fabrics she collected and machine sewing them together to form larger pieces for the godets.
The trousers are finished with a thin fabric trim around the waist that ties at the back, made from a harvested strip of fabric.
The outfit is accessorised with a bag and hat, also featuring patchwork details, made into long strips and sewn on to bring the whole outfit together.
