Gawthorpe Textiles Collection

In my last post about the exciting project for Gawthorpe Hall Textiles Collection, I realised that I didn't show a picture of the beautiful scrap books I was inspired by. Here are just a few examples, mainly of the ones labelled 'poor quality' by Miss Rachel, along with the actual fragment which was the initial inspiration. I have so many of pictures of these - a wealth of inspiration for years to come! Thinking about the people who made them and used the the books to create new pieces so many years ago and the fact that these few tiny scraps of material have survived, thought worthy of recording by the foresight of Rachel Kay Shuttleworth, is just amazing, inspiring, humbling.

roundup...

I am aware I have been a bit too busy to post anything much at all this year and it is nearing the end of April - where has the year gone?! The cold weather has made it seem like eternal winter and so I feel I missed the whole of March indoors, crocheting!

To make up for the lack of posting here, I thought I would share a few pictures of some of the exciting things I have been doing so far this year - regular viewing will commence shortly.
I have directed and styled quite a few fab shoots, with the wonderful Britt Spring, the pic above is from the last, with a stunning piece by Kat Goldin.

 Crochet, crochet and more crochet! For the magazine, and for a couple of new projects. This is my favourite blanket project of the lot.

 I managed to catch the Wool exhibition, Wool House at Somerset House in March. It was in collaboration with the Campaign for Wool. This was particularly exciting for me as I finally got to see a crocheted sculpture or 'Crochetdermy' by Shauna Richardson, which didn't disappoint - it was amazing!

I also taught a couple of classes at City Lit  and the experimental class in particular was great fun. I met a bunch of very creative women, one who upcycles old brollies into fab bags and another who is an amazing spinner. All in all a great year so far...

RCA Textiles show

Last week I popped along to the RCA textiles private view on a very hot and muggy day (how do they choose the hottest day EVERY year?!?)

The knitted textiles students were all very diverse which meant an interesting show. Fiona Brooker's pretty watercolours translated beautifully into her textural knits, made up of stripes of many different gauges, stitches and fibres, the mohair working especially well at blending the colours as in her painting. The palette is pretty and quite calming, creating throws perfect for snuggling under in the colder months.

Lucy Faulke exhibited some crochet, which is fabulous to see, and not only that but she used it in an interesting and orginal way, combining with plastics and using oversized hairpin lace from looms she made herself to create interesting pieces which could become furniture or jewellery.

Victoria Campbell's stunning monochrome pieces were bejewelled with metal beads, chain and metallic yarn to create beautifully elegant evening wear.

Helen Paine used heavy printing techniques on brightly coloured, fine knits to create very modern, wearable pieces.

Victoria Bulmer used recycled denim very effectively to create energetic, textural garments for men - which is unusual in itself for knitwear, most students aim for womenswear. She had also produced a very professional looking fold out pamphlet of a range of her pieces instead of business cards.

There was an interesting and original layout to the show this year, with each textiles student interspersed with a product design one. I think the two disciplines go well together and it was interesting to see the textiles students who used interesting products and form in their work and the product students who utilised textiles in an interesting way. For me, the most fascinating of these was Marina Dragomirova who used Bulgarian carpet making traditions to create chairs that take the form of looms, with the warp and weft making the seat - fabulous! She also has a diverse range of other products, which are just as interesting.

The show has unfortunately now closed, but I am sure there will be many more gems in next years batch of graduates!

tales from the sock drawer

...and here's my humble offering from the exhibition, along with the tale from the sock drawer...

Learning to Fly

"Old Mrs Habberknackle has a large chest of drawers in her bedroom, where she likes to keep her stockings and her balls of yarn for knitting, nestled cosily beside each other. It is a great joy to her every time she opens the little brown drawer full of all the colours of the rainbow and she always has a hard time choosing which pair of stripy socks to wear under her long swishy skirts or exactly what colour yarn to use as she knits another incredibly loooong scarf for one of her fifteen grandchildren.

The trouble is, it is not just old Mrs Habberknackle who loves the drawers so much. A few of the cheeky birdies from the neighbouring woods have discovered just how cosy it is to nest in balls of yarn – so much more comfortable than twigs and moss. So now every time old Mrs Habberknackle opens her drawers she is not quite sure who, or what, is about to fly out next, as each doting mother teaches her chicks the basics of taking off and landing!

However, she doesn’t mind, why should she be the only one to benefit from such a glorious set of drawers filled with a cosy, warm rainbow? Although next time she pokes her hand in, she had better be careful as I am sure I spied some sort of strange and hairy creature burrowing through the yarn last time she opened it – can you spot him?!"

tales from the sock drawer exhibition

Some lovely little shots have come through from the final pieces entered into the Tales From the Sock Drawerexhibition, which I was madly making for last year, like these aliens,and birdies

It is so interesting how each designer has taken a totally different spin on the drawers set up, and I of course love Abigail Brown's unusual and fun display as I have mentioned before that I am a big fan of her work.

I also liked Kate Toms' creative drawers, which were opened up at the back so we could have an insight into a tiny secret world. It did make me wonder whether I should have thought a little bit more outside the box (or drawer) but as you know, I am a simple kinda gal and liked the way my simple tale fitted the drawers and display...more of that tomorrow!

More from 2010: Horrockses

Amongst the selection of fabulous exhibitions I visited last year was the Horrockses Fashion at the FTM, the wonderful, intimate venue in Bermondsey.

For those of you who haven't come across the company the museum was highlighting, Horrockses Fashion Limited was a ready-to-wear manufacturer of fashionable, mid-market clothing in the 1950s.

Although they were mass-manufactured, the dresses were well designed, wearable and made from wonderful, uniquely designed textiles.

The exhibition was small, yet packed in a huge amount of interesting and colourful artefacts, including actual garments, original designs, signage, advertising and fabric samples as well as some ephemera donated by the public. There was a wall showcasing personal black and white snaps of glamourous 1950s young ladies donning the stunning sundresses.

A fabulous fact discovered in the fascinating exhibition literature was that the company came into its own just as Britons began to holiday abroad, as the lightweight, prettily patterned cotton dresses and sun suits were perfect warm weather attire.

I loved everything about this exhibition and found the beachwear and sundresses still eminently wearable. In fact, continuing my New Years Resolutions theme for these posts, I have my eye on a couple of the designs to try to recreate myself.

This must be the year I conquer my sewing machine, if only to benefit my first beach holiday in years, as I am not a typical beach holiday dresser. I think that I've mentioned before that I have what I like to call an 'English Rose' complexion - snow white and freckly! This means that in the sun I will inevitably eschew the short shorts and teeny bikinis for swathes of cotton, a huge floppy hat and oversized sunnies. (I like to think I look enigmatic and glamourous sitting under the parasol, rather than an eccentric recluse - think Joan Collins rather than Miss Havisham). These voluminous skirts will fit in perfectly with my alternative holiday wardrobe...wish me luck!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all have a fantabulous 2011! I feel that this year will be a year when hopefully you will see a more focused and organised Monty. Last year was more of a transitional year for me, with many changes and projects and yet not a huge amount of time for decisions and planning. I achieved a lot, including becoming a magazine editor, which I love, and finishing a book that aims to teach children to knit (above), which I have wanted to complete for many years. However, as a freelancer, one always feels that no offers of work should be turned down, as you do not know what the future holds, so I have often wasted energy working on things that I have little interest in. I hope 2011 will be the year when I may complete fewer projects, but base them around themes and goals I have always wanted to achieve, while also working on having a lot more relaxation and personal time! (I am hoping that a long awaited holiday is on the cards this year!!)

Before I move on totally from 2010 however, I have just found a whole camera full of pictures from the end of the year that I never got round to posting about. So, over the next few posts, I shall give you a quick round up of those things, and some other important parts of my 2010.

Way back in the spring, I went to see the Quilts exhibition at the V&A with a very good friend who I did my textiles degree with. I really enjoyed this show, and surprisingly I loved the older quilts more than the modern versions, some of which I feel lacked the beauty and intricacies of the antique blankets.

However, I adored Sara Impey's Punctuation (above) and I have always loved Tracey Emin's quilts. At around the same time as the exhibition was on I read a great interview with Emin in Vogue where she stated that:

'...there [is] a contraditction within the quilts: the message [is] immediate, but that message would have taken a painfully long time to put together.'

This is what I love about Emin's and Impey's work, as well as that of the older quilts. The messages are important and instant to the viewer, but when you begin to look closely at the stitching and fabrics, you see the maker's hand and processes and the piece takes on a whole other importance, life and meaning. In Impey's work the negative space is as important as the stitches, as the lettering is made from the plain, unstitched fabric and the words chosen derive from a personal, family letter. Some of the older quilts were displayed so that you could see the reverse, with the templates the maker had used to create the quilt still visible. I love this reverence for the skill, process and time involved within the craft. As a textiles designer, I have always felt that the making is as important as the final piece with involved and time-consuming crafts, where the thoughts, conversations even relationships you have as you make a certain piece all add to the final product. As Emin stated in Vogue:

'It is not just the words I make that are sewn onto the blanket that are important. It's the thoughts and the words that are spoken as the blankets are sewn.'

This is a great way to end this post, as it refers back, in some way, to what I was speaking of at the beginning of the post; I am going to give myself the time and space to concentrate on my knitting, crochet and sewing this year and hopefully the decisions I make while creating some fabulous pieces will be all the better for the added time and care I have taken over them.

I still have some more pictures to show you from 2010, here's hoping I can learn more about where I want 2011 to lead from looking back at those, too!! More soon.

the aliens have landed!

More toys made for the exhibition, I love how weird these ones are, and how much expression they seem to have with only their cute little button eyes...

little chicks

More toys from the exhibition pile...

toys, toys, toys

Been busy making lots and lots of little creatures for an upcoming exhibition, Tales From the Sock Drawer.

Here are some Wise Old Owls...

...without faces....

...and with!

More little folk soon.

come dine with kate

If you are a fan of crochet, then get down to the Rebecca Hossack gallery in Charlotte Street before next week, as Kate Jenkins of the knitwear brand Cardigan has a lovely little exhibition, Kate's Cafe there. She has crocheted plates of food and set up the gallery like a restaurant.

There are stitchy puns galore; sushi served with sew sauce, shepherds pie with wooly sheep on top for mash and After Kate mints served after dinner; everything is very cute indeed.

I loved the sushi, which seemed to suit the small, neat, crocheted portions, and all the sequinned fishy dishes, with shimmering scales.

Everything was served on little plates mounted in glass boxes on the walls which was lovely, like a tasting menu - it felt like you were trying everything on the menu!

Finally, to finish it off, you could have some sparkling metallic Babysew which I liked very much as I am a fan of the Babycham glasses and must admit to owning a few. I could imagine necking a few bottles of this after polishing off some wooly canapes and a crocheted fruit tart or two. Cheers!