CHAPTER THREE: FABRICS AND THREADS

1. Colour Scheme

The contrasting colour scheme will be purple and gold (yellow) as discussed in Chapter 2. I have tried to collect examples of threads and fabrics with variations of colour strength within these ( i.e. darker and lighter tones).

2. Fabrics

At the moment I have experimented mainly with dyeing and printing on cotton fabrics, including fine cottons and cheesecloth. I also have collected some coloured silks and some synthetics. I plan to dye some plain silks later as the need arises. I wanted to get some idea of how the dyes behaved and my preferred patterning techniques before using my good silk. The picture below shows some of the commercial fabrics I have collected.

3. Dyed Fabrics

I have experimented with various dyeing techniques to produce some samples to start working with. I tried dip dyeing and random dyeing and also I did some more experiments with Shibori techniques , as I particularly enjoyed these in Module 2. I was also very fortunate to be able to attend a 3 day master class in Melbourne at the end of August with the internationally renowned Shibori expert, Yoshiko Wada. I found this very inspiring.

3a) Plain Dyed Fabrics

I tried Rit Liquid Dyes this time, so see how they went (colours Purple and Lemon Yellow). They are supposed to be suitable for cotton, linen, rayon & polyester blends. As one would expect, the fabrics containing polyester come out a lighter shade than all cotton ones. I experimented with a few strengths of each dye, to try to obtain a range of tones. This picture shows examples of the variations in colour I was able to achieve. Note the fabric at top left is unevenly dyed because I did not stir the scrunched up fabric while it was in the dye bath. This effect is actually quite interesting. These dyes were fairly easy to work with and could be kept in diluted form for several days.

3b) Dip Dyed and Randomly Dyed Fabrics

The image below shows some samples achieved by using these techniques. For some of these I added a blue/turquoise dye as well, as this is the third colour I want to experiment with in my samples. I found that it took practice to get the dyes to merge a little without everything turning brown. I also found that sometimes it was worth going back and adding a bit more of one colour after taking the fabric out of the initial dye mixture.

3c) Monoprinted Fabrics

The first image below shoes 6 monoprinted fabrics produced predominantly with tones of purple and yellow as the main colours, with their analagous colours as extra highlights (e.g. red-purple, purple-blue, yellow-green). Some of the printed were done on plain coloured cotton and two were done on a fine mauve dyed cotton. I also experimented with putting a black pattern underneath in one, and by adding turquoise blue to a couple.

The second image shows some prints made with a section of a felt placemat which I found in a Two Dollar Shop. The pattern reminded me of some of the wrought iron work, so I experimented by painting it and then applying it to the fabric (this worked best) , and also trying to dab paint around the felt. The piece of felt mat is shown in the photograph in the clamping section below.

3d) Shibori Technique - Clamping

The sample at the top left was formed by clamping pieces of petal shaped balsa wood on both sides of a folded piece of yellow dyed fabric, then placing it in a dilute bath of purple dye (hence the light brown colour of the background). Whilst I did not achieve an ideal spiral shape with this particular pattern, it shows the possibilities for further experimentation in future, and I will still be able to stitch over it as I go forward. The other three samples were various attempts to imprint the pattern from the felt placemat onto the fabric by clamping segments between boards before dipping the fabric into the dye. The felt segment is shown in the middle of the picture.

The top right sample is probably the most successful. With this, I soaked the clamped fabric in water for about 15 minutes before placing it in the purple dye. The bottom left sample was not soaked very well before placing it in the dye, so I got a lot of white and an indistinct image. I then painted the felt with the dye and tried to print the purple image over the top, which gave an interesting result. The bottom right sample was an attempt to dye yellow over the purple, but I did not get a very distinct imprint with this.

3e) Shibori Technique - Bound

This photograph shows three examples of dyeing the fabric after binding it with thick thread or plastic string in a spiral pattern. This has good possibilities for future work and is quick and easy to do.

3f) Shibori Technique - Stitched

This photograph shows 3 examples of patterns produced by different types of stitching to act as a resist before dyeing. I have to admit that this is my favourite Shibori technique and has boundless possibilities, although it is quite time consuming. Top left sample was a lacy pattern reminiscent of wrought iron done with overstitching, sample on right was a semi-circular stitched and gathered pattern on folded fabric, and the sample at bottom left was series of spirals created with overstitching.

4. Threads

I have a good collection of wools, embroidery and machine threads and silk ribbon on hand, so plan to start with these and add others as needed as I work through the module. Several examples are shown in the photograph below.

5. Other items

The photo on the right below shows various commercial beads that I have on hand which will go with my samples and colour scheme, and the the photo on the left shows a range of wooden beads, shells and plastic buttons which I have attempted to colour with gold and purple paints. The plastic buttons were not very successful, as the paint did not stick very well. (It was still possible to wipe it off some buttons after a few weeks). I think that this technique would work better on buttons with a rough surface.

CHAPTER TWO: SPIRAL "WARM-UP" EXERCISES

Colour Selection
I have decided to use the colours purple and gold as a starting point for the work in this module. Reasons for this include: - The final piece will be an accessory, and gold is often found in this context e.g. in jewellery, buckles, purses etc. It also goes well with beading. - I am interested to incorporate some goldwork in the hand embroidery samples for this module, as I think it will lend itself very well to some of the wrought iron designs and combinations with beading.
If I want to add more highlights, I will explore ideas from the Turkish textile I photographed in chapter 1, for example adding some blue/turquoise.

Papers
These two photographs show examples of decorated tissue (top) and cartridge papers (bottom) in the selected colour scheme. I experimented with different dilutions of ink and colour combinations to try to vary the tints and shades produced. I also added small quantities of paint to a few of the cartridge paper examples, to achieve a better contrast and experimented with different ways of making marks, including sponging, paint brush streaks, bubble wrap, the end of a chopstick and a rubber drawing tool.





Simple Two Dimensional Shapes
I this section I focussed on trying to create samples which were reminiscent of the wrought iron and other building patterns shown in the research in Chapter 1. Most of the shapes based on wrought iron were made with rolled tissue paper fixed with PVA glue which could be readily coiled around wires, pencils etc to form curved shapes(e.g. shapes 3, 4 & 5). In some, I also used some pleated cartridge paper to give the effect of a serrated edge (e.g. designs 2, 8 & 9). Other shapes were achieved by cutting the shape from flat paper (e.g. 10,11, 13 to 15). The root spiral ( example 12), formed with alternating triangles of purple and yellow of increasing size, was particularly effective.










Simple Three Dimensional Shapes
Again, I decided to focus on the shapes I had highlighted in my research, and so rather than make simple spirals I tried to make them in a couple of the shapes found in the ancient buildings and wrought iron. I used some green corrugated cardboard which I had around the house, as it seemed to suit the subject. The first image shows the basic chlotoide shape with a single layer, and a repeating pattern, as seen in the Italian banister. This was fairly easy to accomplish, and gave a pleasing effect. Images 2 and 3 show a more complex version of the chlotoide shape often used in carved stone. To get the 3-D effect, this construction required two pieces of corrugated cardboard to twist back on themselves in opposite directions with a space in between. I found that this was difficult to achieve with the cardboard alone, so added a layer of folded paper to keep the two cardboard segments apart. Placing the whole shape in a boxed frame also helped to anchor it. Image 4 shows another wrought iron variation based on a section of a piece in the V & A collection. Again, this gives an interesting pattern with possibilities for use in a decorated textile.









Image 5 shows an attempt to create something like the Richard Serra sculptures, with the planes slanting in and out as you move around the spiral. Although it looks simple, it was actually very difficult to achieve because it cannot be constructed from a continuous flat ribbon of cardboard. The cardboard needs to be pleated to achieve narrowing at the top or bottom as required, and cut in a curve to enable the contours to flow smoothly. Serra constructs his works from welded sheets of steel which, presumably, are cut in precise, varied shapes and then joined to achieve the effect he wants. I held my folds and segments together with sticky tape for now. I had two attempts and then stopped so I could move on to the next section, but learnt a lot from the experiments. It would take a great deal of experimentation to arrive at a final effective piece, but could be interesting to come back to later.



Designs Using MonoPrinting Method
Since the workshop with Ruth Issett at the 2010 Summer School I have become very excited about monoprinting and am now much more comfortable with this technique. The two photos below show some designs based on spirals and my chosen colour scheme printed onto cartridge paper.





Spiral Drawing Using a Computer Paint Program
After a bit of research on the internet, I decided to try the program PaintNet, which was highly rated as free computer paint software. This program gave me a variety of techniques for varying colour, line type and thickness and working in layers, as well as distorting and blurring the images. I had a lot of fun with this and spent the best part of one wet weekend "playing" with the program. The pictures below show my efforts. I can certainly see the possibilities this could have for designing and also for printing a final design onto a fabric.

MODULE 3, CHAPTER ONE: RESEARCH

SPIRALS AS A DESIGN INSPIRATION
The first sheet shows photographs taken during my trip to Europe in June/July 2010. The first three images show various spiral designs used by the ancient Greeks and Romans to decorate buildings and everyday objects such as pottery. These themes were echoed more than a thousand years later in the decoration of churches and mosques by the Turks (row 3).The pictures in the lower part of the sheet (rows 4 and 5) show how the same types of designs have reappeared in other materials such as wrought iron which became popular in the 19th century. Most of these examples are from the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum London, except for one on the right side, row 4, which was the railing of a 1900's staircase in an Italian hotel.

The second sheet shows three sculptures based on spirals. The top left installation is a series of torqued elipses by Richard Serra, seen at the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao. This is my favourite because of the fascinating way the ellipses have been constructed, with the angles of the sides varied to give different sensations as you walk through the "maze", with the walls leaning in, then out. I have also shown another interesting variation formed by the shadow cast by a sun umbrella, and finally (bottom row) an ammonite fossil and an example of a spiral staircase which is based on a similar shape.


Textile Sources
Spirals are often used as a design feature in fabrics and garments. The first picture here is of a spiral motif created with a cord and used as a decorative element on a lady's jacket (garment owned by a friend of mine). The second picture shows a shawl I purchased on the island of Patmos in Greece and the third a very old piece of embroidery from Turkey (75 years or so) which has a gold oval with various stylized "sprigs" radiationg from it.
































































Drawings
I experimented by drawing examples of some different types of spirals related to my research, starting with 4 basic shapes.

Drawing 1: Basic spiral, also known as the Archimedian spiral. I found that the best way to develop an even progression with the lines staying the same distance apart was to increase the radius by about one-eighth every one-eighth of a turn.



Drawing 2: Clothoide or Cornu spiral - two joined Archimedian spirals, with the second rotating the opposite direction to the first. This was common in Greek and Roman architecture.



Drawing 3: Spiral from line segments,in this case joined like the Clothoide. This pattern and variations, also known as meander style patterns, were common in ancient Greek, Roman and Turkish buildings and floor mosaics.



Drawing 4: Root spiral or root snail (also known as the wheel of Theodorus). This is reminscent of the shape of the ammonite fossil shown earlier, and also the nautilus and other shells.



Drawing 5: Chlotoides arranged in a row to form a pleasing pattern. This array was observed in the bannister of a hotel staircase in Italy.



Drawing 6: Drawings of segments of wrought iron seen in the V & A Museum, as well as a few basic spirals. Bottom right shows the effect of distorting the basic spiral.

12c: Postscript to Finished Chest

At my tutorial at Urchfont in July, Sian suggested I consider adding a touch of blue to the tassell at the front of the Tiger Chest. First I tried adding some Pearl 5 threads, but decided they were too thin and did not complement the wider orange and black fabric strips. I also didn't think the blue colour was quite right. Then I found a slightly wider tape in a different shade of blue which I had dyed some time ago. I added a few strands of this, but must say I didn't really like the effect (see below). The blue seems to distract the eye and detracts from the overall impact of the chest;I think this is because there is no other blue on the front of the chest, only the sides and bottom. I think the eye should be drawn more to the embroidered areas, not the tassell. Therefore I have decided to take out the blue strands and revert to the original version.

CHAPTER 13: ARTISTS RELATED TO THE THEME

1. HANS HOLBEIN THE ELDER AND YOUNGER
Hans Holbein the Elder and the Younger, represent two generations of a highly regarded, German artistic family from the Augsburg region. Hans Holbein the Elder (1460-1524) was noteworthy for introducing Italian renaissance elements into austere Flemish and German art. He became an acknowledged master of altar paintings in Southern Germany, as well as an outstanding portrait artist.
Over time as his portrait skills developed, he became noted for displaying considerable realism in drapery and ornament, dress and tone, through quickness and delicacy of hand, and a wonderful facility for seizing character. An example of his detailed depiction of blackwork-style embroidery can be seen in Hans Holbein the Elder's "Portrait of a 34 year old Woman" painted in Basel around 1516-1517 (left), almost two decades ahead of the more famous paintings by his son, to whom he passed on his skills.


Hans Holbein the Younger(1497/8-1543) was both in education and career, a cosmopolitan. At the early age of 16, after training by his father in Augsburg, he went travelling, working initially on Basel, then Lucerne, Zurich and London, where he painted portraits of German merchants and court personalities. By 1536 he had entered the service of Henry VIII, where, as well as being the royal portrait artist, he was responsible for designing the king's robes, buttons, linens and other household goods. In his last 10 years he produced some 150 life-size and miniature portraits of the royalty and nobility.

The works of Holbein the Younger were characterized by superb technical skill, a strong sense of composition and pattern, and a sharp eye for realistic detail, including the decorative characteristics of the period. The clothing of many of Holbein's subjects features detailed depictions of blackwork-style embroidery, and it is in his honour that the double running stitch, particularly used to give a reversible pattern, has also been named Holbein Stitch (see the detail on Jane Seymour's cuff below).

The introduction of blackwork to the UK is frequently attributed to the first wife of Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and the term "Spanish (Spanysshe) work" was often used to describe this style of decoration. Although it is now evident that the arrival of Catherine did not mark the introduction of blackwork to the UK, there is no doubt that her choice of this type of ornamentation for her clothes encouraged the upper classes to embrace it, in order to emulate the style of their new queen.



The blackwork of this period looked like lace and was generally reversible, as it was often used on cuffs and collars which might be viewed on both sides. The black and white scrolling designs had an obvious Moorish influence, and are often described by the term "arabesque". Good examples can be seen in Holbein the Younger's portraits of Catherine Howard (left) and Jane Seymour (right and close-up).
References
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Hans_Holbein_%28The_Elder%29Rosen. http://www.abcgallery.com/H/holbein/fholbeinbio.html http://www.abcgallery.com/H/holbein/fholbeinbio.
htmlhttp://www.answers.com/topic/holbein-hans-the-younger
http://www.prettyimpressivestuff.com/blackwork.htm
Langford, P: Embroidery ideas from Blackwork, Kangaroo Press, 1999.

2. BRIDGET RILEY

Bridget Riley, born in 1931, was the first British contemporary painter, and the first woman ever, to achieve the distinction of being awarded the International Prize for painting at the 34th Venice Biennale in 1968. She developed an interest in creating optical effects and began to evolve her own style during the late 1950s and 1960s, painting black and white works that produce sensations of movement and colour. She created these illusions through careful use of a great variety of geometric forms, such as straight or wavy lines, and shapes such as discs or squares. Her work was influenced by the pointillism style of Georges Seurat as well as the paintings of Victor Vasarely, who had used designs of black and white lines since the 1930.

This early work, for which Riley is best known, is characterised by its exclusive use of black and white, showing the enormous range of effects that can be created through the use of simple lines and shapes, confined to just two colours, as we have been required to do in this module. This approach was also a source of inspiration for the "op-art" textiles used in fashion garments in the 1960s and beyond.

A couple of examples of this phase of Riley's work are shown below in an example from the Fragment series (left) held in the collection of the Tate Gallery, London, as well as one of her most famous works "Movement in Squares " (1961) (right).




In " Movement in Squares" a 3-D illusion that the page folds inwards to the right of the middle is created by using black and white squares of equal size at each edge and then gradually decreasing their width as you move towards and away from the "fold" line. When they become very narrow, the colours tend to merge, giving a greyer appearance.

In a recent article (At the end of my pencil, 2009) she describes how this piece evolved:
"One evening on my way to the studio, I thought of drawing a square. Everyone knows what a square looks like and how to make one in geometric terms. It is a monumental, highly conceptualised form: stable and symmetrical, equal angles, equal sides. I drew the first few squares. No discoveries there. Was there anything to be found in a square? But as I drew, things began to change. Quite suddenly something was happening down there on the paper that I had not anticipated. I continued, I went on drawing; I pushed ahead, both intuitively and consciously. The squares began to lose their original form. They were taking on a new pictorial identity. I drew the whole of Movement in Squares without a pause and then, to see more clearly what was there, I painted each alternate space black. When I stepped back, I was surprised and elated by what I saw".

Recently I had the opportunity to view another piece by Bridget Riley, "Opening" (1961), on display in the National Gallery of Victoria (Australia).
This work features two squares placed at 45˚ to each other. Each square is composed of vertical lines. The back one is comprised of alternating black and white stripes of similar width, but in the front one the placement of the black and white strips is altered so that there is more black on the outside and more white in the middle. Also, the edges of the white stripes are faintly outlined in black so that the striped impression is not totally lost. This creates a tonal progression from black, through grey, to white, and gives the feeling that the centre is receding (i.e. "opening").

All of these pieces are very interesting, and I wish I had learned more about this before I did my black and white samples during the module. If so, I would have experimented with a more systematic decrease and increase in the size of the strips to see what effects I could create.

In 1966, Riley began working with colour, and subsequently introduced other design elements to her work while continuing to investigate optical effects. She still restricts her subject matter to a simple vocabulary of colours and abstract shapes, from which she develops formal progressions, colour relationships and repetitive structures to generate sensations of movement, light and space. Later works have included the use of dynamic diagonal lines, curves and tonal gradations, as well as experimenting with the use of lines of colour to create shimmering effects or tessellating patterns. The Queensland Art Gallery has one of her colour works, "Big Blue 1981-82" which uses a combination of solid vertical stripes of various colours and widths, with the blue stripes having a shimmering appearance created by having a slightly darker blue at the edge of the stripe and a paler blue in the middle.












The following quotes, from the catalogue of her Tate retrospective in 2006, give some insight into Bridget Riley's philosophy and approach:
• "For me Nature is not landscape, but the dynamism of visual forces - an event rather than an appearance - these forces can only be tackled by treating colour and form as ultimate identities, freeing them from all descriptive or functional roles."
• "In general, my paintings are multifocal. You can't call it unfocused space, but not being fixed to a single focus is very much of our time. "

References
At the end of my pencil, London review of books, Vol. 31 No. 19 • 8 October 2009
pages 20-21 | 2009, from http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n19/bridget-riley/at-the-end-of-my-pencil
Extracts from Robert Kudielka, ‘Biographical notes’, in Bridget Riley: Paintings and drawings 1961-2004, London: Ridinghouse, 2004. Commissioned by Karsten Schubert Gallery.
http://www.artinthepicture.com/artists/Bridget_Riley/Biography/
http://metroartwork.com/popup_all-artists_info.php?manufacturers_id=44
http://www.citygallery.org.nz/mainsite/BridgetRileyBiography.html
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/riley/
http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=12591&searchid=9808 (Fragment 3/11)
http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=12590&searchid=9874 (Fragment 2/10)
http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=12589&searchid=9874 (Fragment 1/7)

3. PAT LANGFORD

I selected Pat Langford as my third artist to study because she spent much of her life working in Australia, where she had an enormous influence on the development of creative embroidery, especially at the NSW Embroiderers' Guild of which I am a member. Pat worked in a number of embroidery techniques, including blackwork. However, after mastering the basics, she pushed this technique by exploring how it could be developed to create more "modern looking" works, incorporating colour, paint and other fabrics.

Pat Langford (1927-2003) arrived in Australia in 1960, having studied painting in the UK, and taking up embroidery as her creative medium, studying under Constance Howard. She brought contemporary ideas to this country, having an immediate local impact. She participated in numerous exhibitions and established a correspondence course in creative embroidery for the NSW Guild. She was also instrumental in the development of the Guild's Proficiency Certificate Course and its introductory course in embroidery. As a teacher, her influence was significant. She was a great experimenter and introduced embroiderers in New South Wales to a wide variety of techniques. She regarded herself as a professional artist, and placed an emphasis on original design in her teaching. There was an essential relationship between the theme and content of her work and the techniques and materials by which those ideas were worked out (Susan Wood, 2006).

Pat Langford's embroidery was characterised by an inventive approach to technique and a wonderful use of colour. Most of her works were based on drawings from her sketchbooks, with elements such as scenes from outback Australia, the gardens of people she visited, and scenes of life around her (Wood, 2003). She published three books on embroidery, including one entitled "Embroidery Ideas from Blackwork". This showed how the traditional technique could be extended.



For example, in the piece 'Autumn 1" (left), organza was laid over the blue painted linen before stitching and darker tonal sections were added by placing extra shapes in a deeper coloured organza underneath the top layer. A mixture of hand and machine stitching was then applied. In the second picture, "Blue Box", blue and gold paint were applied before the stitching was added, with gold thread couched around some areas for added emphasis. The third picture "Landscape" shows bark and black cords added to this piece for extra effect.


It is interesting to contrast this with a traditional piece in the Guild's collection, which was worked by Pat as part of her City and Guild's course (below) (used with kind permission from Susan Gower, Curator of the NSW Embroiderers' Guild Collection).





For interest I have also included a work with surface stitchery and embellishment with small metal pieces entitled "Reflections" worked circa 2000, which is owned by a friend and fellow-embroiderer, Robin Kaltenbach.












Unfortunately I never met Pat Langford in person, as she died around the time I joined the NSW Guild. However her legacy is still very strong and many still speak very highly of her work and its influence on contemporary practice.

References
Langford, P: "Embroidery Ideas from Blackwork", Kangaroo Press, Sydney, Australia, 1999.
Wood, S: "Creative Embroidery in New South Wales, 1960 – 1975". A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy MA (CSturt), School of Architecture and Design, Design and Social Context Portfolio RMIT University, May 2006.
Wood, S: "Pat Langford, Artist and embroiderer, 1927-2003. An eye for the artistic potential of needle and thread." Sydney Morning Herald Obituary, May 21 2003.

CHAPTER 12b: FINISHED TIGER CHEST

The following photos show the final Tiger Chest, based on the design discussed in Section 12A. The first two photos show the flat pieced item front and back before it was sewn together. Then after the discussion, various views of the finished piece are shown: front, side, top and open (inside visible). Before the piece was completed, several modifications were made to the plan presented in section 12A; some were based on feedback from the tutor, and some were design decisions that I made to improve the piece as I started working on it.









The main changes were:
• Addition of an orange outline to the blackwork segments (the overall shape before it was cut up was based on the forehead marking from a photograph of a tiger's head). This was done to link the shape more closely to the tiger, give the pieces a more contemporary feel and to complement the black and orange colour scheme on the other main fabrics.
• Black and gold cable stitch pattern added to the strips representing tiger paw prints using a black and gold composite thread in the bobbin and black thread on top, to add extra interest and texture.
• Some modifications to the position of the black strips and the horizontal orange paw print strips for extra interest and impact in the front, and so that black strips could be aligned all the way around (i.e. front, sides and back).
• Tiger picture worked in stem stitch on the inside of the chest using the same black and gold composite thread.
• Changes to fabrics and stitching used on the side and bottom panels. One of the fabrics was the same as the lining, to provide a link, and the thread used for the diagonal stitching was the same black and gold composite thread.
• Four small lines of stitching were added at the join between the top and the back, to give the idea of hinges. Some other options were also evaluated but discarded in favour of this simple approach.
• Four small magnets were hidden between the fabric layers of the front flap and chest front to create a more secure closure.


















EVALUATION OF FUNCTIONAL 3D EMBROIDERED ITEM: MODULE TWO

The completed embroidered assessment piece for Module 2 is an embellished chest for storing small personal items, based on the topic of pattern, tone and proportion, using animally markings a source of inspiration. The chosen theme was tiger patterns, based on a series of photographs of tigers taken last year in Thailand. The tiger marks incorporated into the chest were stripes (shibori dyed fabrics and stitching), paw prints (discharge dyeing and stitching) and an interesting shape from the forehead of the tiger (blackwork on tea-dyed linen). Part of the aim of the piece was to give the feeling of a chest that could have been taken on a safari to search for tigers, which are now an endangered species.

How do you feel about the resulting conclusion?
I am very happy with the visual impact of the piece, as the colour and tonal contrast has worked well. It was extremely fortuitous that during my discharge dyeing experiments I found a black fabric that turned orange when it was discharged with bleach. When combined with the Arashi shibori (polewrapped dyeing), this gave an ideal tiger pattern to form a basis for the work. I also liked the strong horizontal stripes across the chest, which gave it a feeling of strength, like the old-time travelling chests. I also liked the contrast between the blackwork segments and the dyed fabric segments, and I thought that the linen in the black work segments also added to the impression of a piece of luggage (e.g. canvas and leather, maybe early Louis Vitton?). I thought the outside was better than the inside, which could have been made a bit more interesting.

I thought the chest construction was OK but could have been improved. Although I had made a mockup to get the idea of constructing the shape , it proved to be more difficult to get the sizes right and to line up all the joins when the pieced strips were incorporated, even though I tried to measure everything carefully.

Is it fit for its purpose - give reasons?
I think the chest is fit for its purpose and could be used to store small items such as jewellery, handkerchiefs, odds and ends or small items for use in my embroidery. The chest stands satisfactorily on a bench or shelf and has a good closure system, so that items will not fall out easily if it is knocked over. The lid fits well and is easy to open or close. The lighter colour of the lining helps if you are looking for something inside.

If you were asked to make it again, what changes would you make to the way you designed it and the way you made it?
Design: If I was designing this again the main thing I would definitely experiment with would be some other options for the lining. I think the lining could have incorporated a simple striped or squared pattern, but it does not need much embellishment, as it should not clash with the strong impact of the outside. I like the idea of the tiger on the inside, so it would be important to choose something which would still allow this to be a feature. I am wondering if the tiger could be embroidered on a central very pale rectangle (even linen perhaps) and then framed by other strips (perhaps a tonal progression of lighter to darker in a log cabin style).
I would possibly consider some other options for the tassel (although I like the current one).
Construction: If I was constructing the chest again I would experiment with adding other weights of interfacing to the pelmet vilene that I used, (or maybe two layers of pelmet vilene), in order to make the sides and base slightly stiffer , though there would likely be a trade off between stiffness and ease of joining.
Another thing I would consider would be to join the sides with simple stitches then add a simple cord around the joins, rather than making a feature of the insertion stitch. This would probably work well and look good.
Finally, I would allow more excess fabric when cutting any strips being used for the sides or ends of panels, so that there was a bit of flexibility in the final size, as I found that the constructed piece ended up a bit bigger and less flat than the paper template.