Selected garments, textile prints, details, & process outcomes from Reclaimed Form – a Pattern Design project exploring sustainability, emotional attachment, repair culture, & wearable storytelling through reclaimed materials & sublimation print.
This week I submitted my final Pattern Design project in Barcelona – a body of work developed through print experimentation, upcycling, digital manipulation, hand construction, & storytelling through garments.
The project began with physical processes rather than digital perfection. I created hand-painted & laser-cut stencil prints, worked with layered textile experimentation, & then translated these outcomes through Photoshop & sublimation printing. Rather than hiding the handmade qualities, I wanted the traces of process, imperfection, repair, & transformation to remain visible.
The collection explores ideas of comfort, softness, memory, & emotional attachment through reclaimed materials & symbolic imagery. Cats appear throughout the garments as protective & nurturing figures – symbols of intuition, companionship, independence, & survival. Floral motifs, vessels, hearts, lace, & embroidered elements became visual fragments of care & domestic ritual.
The garments were created from salvaged & second-hand materials sourced locally, continuing my ongoing commitment to slow fashion, circular design, & visible sustainability. Instead of presenting waste as something invisible or neatly resolved, I am interested in keeping its history present within the final piece. Repair, reconstruction, & reuse become part of the aesthetic language.
The sublimation prints were developed from my original artworks & textile experiments, then placed intentionally onto garments to create wearable narratives rather than surface decoration alone. I also incorporated my own care label manifesto directly into the garments:
Wash rarely. Air often. Repair always. Care is a political act.
This statement reflects my belief that clothing can function beyond trend & consumption. Garments can carry memory, responsibility, emotional connection, & lived experience.
Alongside the technical outcomes, this project also became a reflection on process itself – learning to move between digital & tactile methods, between structure & intuition, & between fashion, art, textile practice, & personal storytelling. The work sits somewhere between wearable object, emotional archive, & sculptural narrative.
After months of intensive production, experimentation, technical development, & very little sleep, it feels strangely emotional to finally submit the project. There is still the presentation to come in a couple of weeks, but for now I am allowing myself a rare thing: a day to breathe.
Then, of course, back into the chaos of making.
Larissa Sarina BAGLIERI 