Unit Evaluation
My main concept and theme of
this project has been extracting shape and pattern from the unit brief of “Urban
Influences”. Within this brief I started looking at building structure and
movement within city life, which I then refined to specific elements such as blocks
of shape, linear qualities and negative space. I began to work from this
approach in my sketchbook, focussing on smudged lines, blocks of colour and
minimal patterns. This approach of drawing relates to an artist that has always
inspired me: Trisha Brown, who has created a collection of spacial linear
drawings. My sketchbook communicates a journey of how I have explored this
topic and gathered inspiration from artists and designers throughout the
project.
I started to develop this
concept of shape and pattern into my knits. At first I found it really
difficult to find not only the right technique that worked for me, but also the
most suitable types of yarn, therefore I started to experiment. In order to
reflect my drawings I used a lot of mohair as the texture creates a very
smudged and delicate look, however to play with this idea I brushed the mohair
which made my samples look more exciting and original. Secondly, I explored combining
different yarns. By knitting different types together, such as 2/16 mercerised
cotton and strips of monofilament, it worked successfully as the yarn created
unique shapes within the knit. Although this approach gave a successful effect,
it was very temperamental as the yarn would snap in the domestic machine at
times. Similarly, knitting with cotton Lycra also added shape to my knits by
pulling contrasting knits in horizontally, however a mistake I learnt from is
that when Lycra is steamed, you lose about 1/3rd of the wideness,
therefore when sampling with this yarn again I cast on a lot wider. One element
I found hard to overcome in this project was communicating the blocky style I had
collated in my sketchbook, as few techniques were working successfully when I was
knitting. I then decided to try a completely different approach and paint onto
my knits: I loved the combination of texture and colour this created in some samples.
However considering my collection for fashion, this would be unsuitable for
industry as the paint will soon wash out/fade in time.
I articulated my primary
images, drawing and research by combining elements from each section in order
to create a successful collection. My primary images looked at a range of
shapes, shades, and combinations, which I then carefully selected and refined
in my sketchbook. I did this by taking small sections of photographs and
repeating them to create patterns. During this process I found it very
important to pay attention to negative space in order to communicate the idea
of “extracting” within my project. Research I conducted was extremely influential
of my colour scheme and yarn choices. Suzanne Antonelli & Alexander Wang
were extremely inspirational and impacted me to use yarns such as mohair &
wool and colour wise, the tones of lime green, greys and whites. I selectively
used colour within my samples to communicate extraction. Within my collection I
have kept the background tones quite muted using greys and whites, then used
colourful yarns to draw attention to shape and pattern.
Contextually, throughout my
project I have constructed my collection to be suited for fashion. My yarn
choices such as cotton, wool and make the samples suitable for wear.
Researching fashion designers such as Alexander Wang & Serena Gili really
inspired me and gave me confidence to work in a grid style while knitting.
Although I have used a range of yarn throughout my samples, certain pieces that
contain mohair & monofilament may push the collection to be better suited
for high end fashion, as these yarns are more expensive to source and harder to
wear. Furthermore techniques such as hooking up would be time consuming in the
process of being made. I feel my collection would be likely to have an
audience, the subject of my knits focus on shape & pattern;
this is quite common within knitwear and also follows yearly trends.
My
final collection is strong & works together to communicate extracting
shapes. Throughout each sample I have combined similar elements whether its
yarn choice, colour or technique so each sample compliments one another. Moving
forward with this project, I have always been interested in texture therefore
in the future I plan to play around more with mohair and perhaps introduce more
texture and fluffy elements into my sampling. Additionally I would like to
explore the monofilament side and play around with more stiff and structural
yarns,
I will begin to conduct research on 3D textiles and high fashion knitwear to support this idea.
this is quite common within knitwear and also follows yearly trends.
I will begin to conduct research on 3D textiles and high fashion knitwear to support this idea.
