Scraps Of Nostalgia

Statement Of Practise...

For my final project I was inspired by a photograph of a stylised Romany caravan, this furthered my research into gypsy lifestyle and clothing. Specialising in knit I tried to capture the essence of travellers’ idealised lifestyle, I looked at lightweight knitwear and found myself drawn to lacy and very delicate knits from collection by Mark Fast and Missoni , I started to sample out techniques on the domestic knitting machine, using elastic and lace holes.

My research blossomed into a collection of knit swatches for fashion. By using a variety of different knitting machines i created a collection of fabrics that ooze romantic feminity and a reministant pass-me-down feeling to connect the past with the present with an array of old and used buttons and trims to create a quirky but delicate impression that compliments my eclectic colour palette of soft pastels and aged neutrals. Using the Shema Seiki I found myself pushing my knitting to another level of delicacy because the power machine gave me the opportunity to create fabrics that I could not have achieved on the hand machines. I spent weeks getting a handle on the software and how the machine worked. All knitting from the shema seiki, I had to draw a pattern using technical colours that all have their own command. This took a lot of trial and error before I arrived at my end results.

From the collection of swatches I had created, I spent time designing for knitwear and deciding the aesthetics of the garments I wanted to make. I used WGSN to research key shapes and built up my collection from there. I wanted to put together a collection that gave my knitwear a romantic vintage feeling. I tested various trims and edging, to find the perfect match for my designs.

My swatches have influenced my range of knitwear design for women ages 25-40 for spring/summer 2011/2012. Bringing to life a nostalgic collection of soft delicate laced knitwear that look like that have been give a second lease of life, compiled of slouchy cardigans, teamed with little day dresses and jumpers in a blend of reminisant pastel shades for a fresh feminine twist that is unique to the wearer as they make it their own.