Knit Rotation

After three new weeks of learning to knit on the knitting machines I have come to a conclusion that I really like knitting.  I can create a lot of interesting patterns and techniques with the machine and the transfer tool.  I found it fun after I knew how to fix the mistakes and how to be aware of when a mistake could happen.  I loved the choice of yarn in the university and I found it interesting walking up and down the rows of shelves and looking at the different tones and textures of yarn.   I mainly kept to using the thick stranded wool but I did experiment out of my comfort zone into different textures and thickness.  At times my eyes got sore at staring at the needles when casting on and off. I did get frustrated when I accidently dropped a stitch but I took my time and remained calm and I found it quite funny listening to others getting frustrated as they knitted their own samples.

The final three weeks starting next week involve pattern cutting and manufacturing, where we will be finishing off the bodice; I can’t wait to have a complete little jacket fit for a teddy bear! We are also starting figure drawing and C.A.D which is computer work in Photoshop and illustrator.

Weave Photos link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56137331@N06/sets/72157625302216975/show/

Weaving

We were asked if anyone would like to have a go at weaving.  Because I enjoyed hand weaving in my BTEC National Diploma Art and Design, I wanted to learn how to work the weaving machines and to experiment with ideas and patterns. So on Thursday I went and played with the machines and created some interesting patterns.
I was pleased with what I produced; it’s full of colours and has given me inspiration for the other classes such as knit.  I'm annoyed that I have to wait untill next year to actually have the weave module and learn new skills for it.

I have also finished my four knit samples for my knit class.  I enjoyed the machines and found it fun experimenting and having fun with playing about with different yarns of wool.  It was quite frustrating with the machines as I sometimes dropped a stitch or the yarn snapped while I'm trying to stitch.  But I got there in the end.  I'm really pleased with the results and thought they were unique and interesting full of colour and different but similar patterns linking the four pieces together.

Vogue articles

1935 Cover Design                                                                          2010 Cover Design

After visiting the Design Museum in London I noticed a huge difference in the Vogue magazines.  In 1935 and around that time Vogue had illustrators create the covers for them and I thought this was really interesting and lovely to look at.  Now it is all computerised and the magazine has a publisher to create the cover from using softwares such as Photoshop and also using Photography skills to create and enhanse photos of famous people the public look up to.

London Trip

I went to London for 2 days as a course trip this week.  We visited the Japanese exhibition on Thursday evening.  It was really interesting to see this style as I had expected it to be different.  I took a lot of notes and sketches related to my modules research.  I really liked this exhibition, it was full of interesting detailed garments expressing the human form and also pushing the fabrics to limits of what they can be used for.

Unfortunately I went to a talk on future of fabrication to find out that they are thinking of using bacteria to grow frocks… this to me defeated the purpose of textile designers and the process of knit and print and weave which is what I’ve been learning on my degree which I am enjoying.  It will also push fashion towards science and technology more rather than designing and creativity and most importantly artistic.  Also it will remove jobs from the industry as textile designers will not be needed and I don’t think they will pay for someone to sit and watch the bacteria grow.  They also said they had a sample of pig skin for leather that they could grow to create leather – this would save a lot of hassle with killing animals for their skins and also will allow there to be a sustainable quantity of the material.  So why haven’t they presented this and done something about it?  This annoyed me quite a bit.

On Friday we visited the Design museum and I jotted some notes of some of the fashion illustrations which I thought were interesting and inspiring.  They were all very unique and I was also able to see the vogue cover designs, I noticed how they were different from the recent vogue magazines and I really liked them.  The architectural design was also interesting and I was able to take photos so I created bird’s eye views and was able to see lines and textures that I linked with knitting and weaving features.

Overall I thought the trip was good and useful for my own personal understanding and research into fashion and textile design.

The Discussions in the Seminar this week

I found the discussions of our task of visiting Nottingham very interesting.  I was able to find out from my peers that they actually went into the shop and asked if they could take notes of the clothing and completed the task this way, were as I looked at the shop and the clothes and remembered the information in my head and then jotted it down when I left the shop.
I found out from the discussions that Paul Smith employers were very helpful and gave really good information to the students.  I now have a very positive respect to Paul as he is very generous and wants to help those around him to follow their dream just like he has.  I loved his shop it was very homely and creative and I was very inspired by how he displayed everything his actual shop was like an art work.
I also found out that Vivienne Westwood employers were very stuck up and rude to the students who came in to the shop.  The employers actually told them to leave, which I thought was very rude and unpleasant.  I still like the retail designs she creates but if she is going to have her shop assistants pay no attention to students who want to learn and only take notice of those with the money then she will loose a lot of respect.  My peers in the seminar said that they lost all respect for Vivienne because of this issue and I agree with them.