NEWS!

I am now on INSTAGRAM, Follow me for updates about my work @katielouisemills27 

AND... I hope to open an ETSY shop later this year, hopefully in time for christmas!

New Designers 2016

THANKYOU! To everyone who came to New Designers.

I had a wonderful time at the exhibition, it was lovely talking to everyone and I am glad that people liked my work and I was able to bring smiles to so many people.

Please feel free to contact me if anyone has any questions and I will try and get back to you as quickly as I can.

Degree Show

The Degree show is up and ready to be marked and opens next friday 27th May!

Click the image to see more pictures of the final display.

Illustrations

Using my fabrics as examples I have drawn illustrations to show what they could be used for.

Bradford Awards

6th May - Bradford Awards

I received my award for 2nd place in the Woolmark Company Award, A Woven or Knitted Fabric for Fashion.

I also unexpectedly won the Travel Award, so will be going to Premiere Vision in the autumn with the society, along with 3 other winners.

Final Pieces for degree show

In the run up to our deadline at uni, and the final degree show I will be making some full length scarfs that will be part of my display.

Mixing Chunky and Standard Guage

Developing my fabrics so that I am mixing both chunky weight yarns with standard weight yarns (2ply).

Design Seminars

Last week we had our Design Seminars. I did a powerpoint presentation followed by showing all of my current work to my lectures and peers. we discussed what I had done and where I was going next with my project.

The main discussion during the design seminar was the type of edging I would be putting on my scarfs, and I believe we concluded that the felted fringing was the best, therefore I am currently experimenting with different colour weightings and striping for the edgings.

NEC Exhibition

As part of the Guild of Machine Knitters, I helped out on the stand at the NEC Hobbycrafts exhibition in March, My work from last semester was displayed as examples of what could be done on a knitting machine alongside others work from the Guild.

Chunky Samples

Created on the domestic Chunky machine with Ribber:

Shima Samples

Industrial Machine Samples:

Dubied Samples

Creating fabrics on the double bed machine to replicate the gill structures on the underside of the mushrooms.

Update On Bradford Competition

I received an Email over easter saying that I had come 2nd in the category that I entered.

Sample development

Here are a few more images of my samples as the collection grows.

Trend and Market Research

Using WGSN as a resource I have a found a couple of trends that may influence my designs slightly.

I have also done some market research and found a couple of companies that are selling high end products, such as knitted homeware accessories. This research has influenced my project development as it has enabled me to come to a conclusion as to what my fabrics could be used for. the two companies that I found were Seven Gauge and Chadwick and Quinton.

Bradford Competition

Bradford Boards

This week was Bradford Textile Society Competition week. I have done one entry using a main board and a supporting board.

Initial Samples

Knitting first samples

I knitted a couple of ribs on the 2.5 gauge Dubied and laying in bobbly yarn to create different textures. I will then transfer the ribs to the chunky gauge Domestic machine to create a couple of samples. I am working on a standard gauge domestic for the majority of my knit samples, I will do some samples on the Dubieds’ and will do a couple on the Shima Seiki.

Colour Palette

Colour Palette

This week I decided on my colour palette, allowing me to gather yarns to use in the right colours. I have chosen to work primarily in Lambswool as it is a natural fibre, washes well and is soft to handle. I have also got some acrylic mixes to use on the chunky gauge to allow me to experiment with different weights to gain different textures. I will also be using a wool loop, and a mohair nylon mix to create different textures.

Paris

Paris Trip

As part of the course we went on a trip to Paris to visit the trend exhibition, Premiere Vision. The exhibition was a good incite into the trends and the business although a little overwhelming on first entry into one of the massive Halls. The colours and fabrics that we saw were amazing!

Inspiration

Knitting inspirations and samples

Here are a few images that I have found which will influence my project.