Sonya Surbek

Throughout my undergraduate degree I have maintained a strong focus on re-creative and experimental methods in dress history. My capstone constitutes an attempt to gain practical sewing knowledge by using original technology from the 1890s. The combined practices of speculative sewing and embodied empathy have allowed me to uncover hidden stories of women’s techno-scientific ingenuity and their challenges to societal norms. While fashion trends were a driving force in the late Victorian period, practicality also played a significant role in the development and adoption of specific sewing technologies such as seam construction and the practice of pleating. My installation engages with the sensory and emotional effects of archival fashion research and explores how the experience of interacting with historical garment-making practices produces specific affect. Visitors are invited to interact physically with the hand-crank sewing machine on display as a fulfillment of my intention to revive touch as a function that creates intimacy between an exhibition-goer and an object.