Design to Garment

Design to Garment

	From September 1999 until June 2002 I was a student on the Designer Craftsmen Course at West Nottinghamshire College, Mansfield. I joined the Course because I wanted to extend my work. I attended every Monday for the three years and my task in the third year was to research and develop a series of designs leading to a collection to be shown in June on which I would be assessed for my final grade and the possibility of becoming a Licentiate of the Society of Designer Craftsmen. After several false starts I began to photograph and draw trees - there are trees everywhere in Sheffield. From this work I became interested in tree bark and explored the challenges and difficulties of combining texture and colour without one overpowering the other.
	I made many stitch samples, beginning with leaf and branch patterns in commercial wool and then as I became more confident began to design yarns which in turn would dictate the stitches used.
	I did all the spinning on my lovely new Lendrum wheel which eased the load of work.
	I used mainly silk squares and noils. I dyed them in shades of yellow, orange, green and dark red/brown using Russell dyes. I squirted several colours on to the silk squares, before wrapping them in Clingfilm and steaming them to set the dye. I would like to have used natural dyes but couldn’t use the colours on the squares in the same way. The noils were carded into small rolags using a travelling size carder. I spun yarns alternating lengths of silk squares and rolags, following a colour sequence.
	When I knitted the yarn I used reverse stocking stitch for the noil part of the yarn and stocking stitch for the smoother silk square lengths. I also used short rows to create lumpy areas with the noils and elongated stitches to balance in the stocking stitch areas.

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