Bones

After struggling to think of a new theme to develop my work from, I decided to have a conversation with my tutor, Laura, to see which aspects of my work for Leutton Postle were strong and should be carried through.

We both agreed that working with texture and blending unusual yarns with plastics and leathers was something that really worked and could be developed. I decided to run with this idea but still needed a theme to underpin the entire collection.

As I wanted to also consider the shape of my samples, I thought that the irregularity of bones could be a really interesting starting point.

I decided to gather research via medical journals from the library but wanted to also source my own images. I organised an appointment at The Manchester Museum to photograph human remains from their collection.

Fresh start

After such an intensive few weeks of working on my Leutton Postle live brief, I really wanted to move on with my personal project, leaving most of the work from the live brief behind. As I was working so far out of my comfort zone, I felt that it was importnat to return to me. I wanted to revert back to the way that I like to work and communicate my own vision again.

I did, however feel that it might be a shape to completely abandon all aspects of the work I have done for Leutton Postle and decided to extract small details to carry through to my personal project. I really loved combining unusual yarn qualities to create an interesting surface. My previous posts show the blending of mohair, lurex, plastic monofilaments and leather. I thought this playful combination of materials was really interesting and with some refinement, this way of working could be transferred to my personal project.

I also really liked the idea of working back on top of the samples after they had been knitted. Techniques such as foiling and embellishment may come into play, as well as joining additional fabrics (perhaps leather as before).

Crit with Sam Leutton

My first experience of a crit was with Sam Leutton of Leutton Postle. I was nervous but at the same time quite excited to present my ideas and the samples that I had worked really hard on over the fortnight of sampling time that was allotted.

I knew that the crit would be a chance to explain my choices of yarn, stitch quality and colour palette. However, when I came to do so, I felt like the positive aspects of the samples were overlooked. I am completely aware that crits are meant to deliver critique but I feel that the critique should be constructive and that positive points should also be touched upon. I felt that Sam seemed slightly aloof and uninterested throughout the whole of my presentation and the feedback I did receive was very much the same.

I left the crit feeling as though I had not really gained anything from the experience and felt pretty deflated and was left doubting my abilities. I knew that my speed at developing samples had improved and I know that there were aspects of the samples that did work well but I felt like all the effort that was put into them was not really noticed.

I have enjoyed working to a client specific brief and pushing myself out of my comfort zone by using varied bright colours and unusual textures and this may encourage me to be brave when choosing colours in the future.

I want to take these positives away from the experience as a whole and try and move on from the crit as I didn't find it useful or encouraging.

Bondable Film

As blending unusual materials was a recurring theme throughout the sampling process, I wanted to constantly test myself and push this as far as possible. I discovered bondable film, which is basically angelina fibres that have been processed into a flat sheet that bonds to itself when treated with heat.

I loved the bright, iridescent nature of the film. The transparency was also something that I found interesting and I tried using the film to finish an edge to act as a trim and to trap other materials in between such as the leather tassles (see images).

The bondable film was quite difficult to control successfully. It was also quite annoying that the film would only bond to itself and not other fibres or yarns from the sections of knitting. I do, however think that the colour and texture works beautifully with the leather and could be experimented with further.

More trims and details

 

I began to use some of my other yarns to create detailed trims. The fringing above was created by e-wrapping individually cut lengths of a royal blue acetate floss yarn. I liked the free movement of the yarn fringing and felt that it was a way of tying the samples together, even if the detail is in a different yarn.

 

 Brushing the mohair with a darker, shimmering yarn also helped to create a juxtaposition of texture- key to the entire collection of samples so far. It has been a struggle to find a use for the mohair so far. I have tried knitting it in on the machine and it kept getting caught and the same happened on the chunky gauge domestic machine also. I have found the only way to successfully use the yarn is to e-wrap or long e-wrap it in manually. It is a little disappointing and I do feel that the yarn has limited uses now but I still love the colour and hairy quality that it provides.

Tassles and Trims

I began to see a pattern in the development of my samples. I was using a lot of detailed edging techniques and fringing/ tassles. I decided to introduce leather as yet another texture, mainly due to the different quality found on the surface and on the suede. I think this will help to introduce a darker element to the samples and the movement of the tassling will serve well as detailing, making for a potentially exciting fashion fabric.

I think that the leather being used as an edge detail will also help to lift the aesthetic of the collection, hopefully reflecting the high end context that they are going to used for. The interaction with other colours and textures of yarns such as the mohair and bright oranges will be visually really interesting too.

Picot Edge with leather tassle detail.

Blending textures

I began sampling immediately after the Christmas holidays, constantly reminding myself to combine unusual textures through my choices of yarns, embellishment and any other techniques that I might use to manipulate the appearance of the sample after they had been knitted.

I began by blending materials such as lametta and monofilament with much softer and hairier yarns such as mohair (see left). Using contrasting and unusual yarns was a way of communicating the care free attitude Sophie had towards her drawings, using a strange combination of colours and media to create her marks. I felt like this was something that was working well and that should be a constant feature throughout the sampling process. The sample in the photograph also featured technical aspects, such as the Picot Edge, which the lametta was made to appear from. I think blending free use of colour and texture, combined with using refined techniques and attention to detail is what will allow the samples to work as a whole.

I particularly liked the way that the hairy quality of the fluro mohair was contrasted against the plasticity of the monofilmanet and how the stitches in monofilament seemed to contain the hair and only allowed it to come through at certain intervals.

 

 

I'm slightly concerned that the monofilament will be quite itchy to the touch and this may mean that it isn't appropriate for a fashion fabric, howvever as part of an edge or a trim, it may work well.