PE Task Two

My first year of University on the Textiles in Practice course has been an eye opener for me. I have learned that I am quite a versatile worker.

In my first unit, I took part in the construct world. Firstly, I learned to weave. I found this quite tedious and that casting on to the loom alone was such a time consuming task and I didn't feel as though the appearance of the final outcomes/samples was representative of the time spent. However, I really did enjoy knitting and I feel as though this is something that I would want to be involved in next year.

I feel as though as a textiles practitioner, in the real world of becoming employable, it is essential to be particularly skilled in one specific area of textiles, after all, no one wants to be a Jack of all trades and master of none. I think it would be really important for me to become involved deeply in knit as it was something that I enjoyed greatly. I loved the instantaneous nature of using the knitting machine and I am going to endeavor to learn to hand knit over the summer.

I also feel as though I worked well within the Textile Design for Fashion workshop and that this could marry really well with becoming closely involved in developing knitwear. I really enjoy creating fashion illustrations and developing work that could sit easily within the world of fashion. I felt that the piece below worked well and I feel as though I could improve further, including other techniques such as embroidery and digital print that could work so well with some technically great knitwear.

In the final unit, I finally created a sculptural piece that could sit within an art gallery. I really did enjoy this process too, however I feel as though I could use this as a starting point to develop my work further, drawing from it to create digitally printed fabrics that could be applied to the body and used for fashion.

I feel as though I have developed quite a strong relationship with colour too. In the first unit, I managed to use a series of bright colurs together well and then on the opposite end of the spectrum, the line up above shows that I am also able to work much more subtly with greys, creams and blues that have been accented with metallic tones.

Next year, I'm still open to trying new processes and want to be absorbed in as much practice as I can. However, it is so important to me that I refine and become skilled in one specific area and marry it with a different area that I also really enjoy. I feel as though this will put me in good stead for the future and a set of specific skills will boost my prospects dramatically.