Coalescaremonium was born as one of the most splendid of nights, granting Brussels its very own miniature Gothic Treffen; brimming with artistic performances and dramatic acts, including myself taking to the stage.

Not finding enough time to take on the ruff collar concept from scratch, a pre-made design proved itself an ideal experimentation base to be turned into a higher level ornament by attaching two sizes of pearly beads procured from a remnant strip of bridal trim: one every three correlation points, alternating big and small to gain differently weighted rows, whilst just sewing together the empty points for a strong round ruffle flow.

Having the perfect material at home is a blessing turned sour when there’s just not enough of it to fulfil the project requirements, even more so when in lack of the time for a trip to the specialist store; sometimes the ideal moment to creatively make the maximum out of what one has and elevate the design to a higher level.

With the transferred foldlines handsewn to match in baste, the depths of the pleats can already be pressed before they are stitched shut to the desired heights, after which the whole is ironed into perfect even pleats, leaving the hand stitches to stay – and thereby restricting the bulk of the fabric – until the project is finished.

Merging two layers of translucent fabric into a free flowing brocade window, worked into the backpanel of the cape; fixing pre-angled trimline and strengthening interfacing onto the construction within the process.

When the patterns are cut from the fabric, the specific locations of the pleat-lines are transferred by the use of roller and carbon paper, continuously placed underneath the silky material; after which marks are added to distinguish between the sections so that the inside layers of the pleats can be correctly brought together.

With the plethora of complex corners well studied though cotton base and final assemblage, the composition of this gorgeous inner-cape is so known that it even allows certain liberties rarely seen throughout my work.

Turning to use a most modern technique to create a minimal touch hemline that keeps the lightweight satin thin and supple whilst finishing off the fabric’s raw edge without leaving pin, thread or needlepoint marks.

As much as I like to channel my work into properly refined designs, this particular chore required the turning of a whopping 16 meters of deep-purple velvet fabric into a square backdrop to be done overnight, a task at which not grace but efficiency proved to be key to successfully dressing the Coalescaremonium photo-stage.

For this special project I called upon my favorite jewelry designer at Ornamentum ex Medio who printed out my 3D model for me and turned it into a cast to transform the Opus Relinque logo into a wearable pendant.