BTEC L3 Dip in Fashion & Textiles Yr1: UpcycleBTEC L3 Dip in Fashion & Textiles Yr1: Upcycle
Category: Fashion and Textiles
UAL Ext Dip in Fashion & Textiles Yr2UAL Ext Dip in Fashion & Textiles Yr2
UAL EXT DIP IN FASHION AND TEXTILES: YR2
Naila Bibi
Previous Education: Dudley College (Level 1 Art)
Progression: Employment
The theme I chose for my project was about Honeybees. Bees are important for the environment because they collect pollen from different plants such as flowers, fruit and vegetables. They fly from one plant to another and make pollination happen so that fruit and vegetables grow more. If the honeybee is reduced in the world or die then this means that maybe gone will be the fruit and vegetables or not be in big quantity. Honey bees also make honey from the pollen which they collect and is used in many things that we eat or help with our skin. In my project I looked at the different bees and made drawings from them. I used the drawings to create hand embroidery and used different sewing machine techniques like, applique and cross stitch. I created a wall hanging with all the work I created to celebrate the honeybee.
With this project I improved on my time management skills and created lots of practical work. I have also learnt that taking risks and trying out ideas, even if you are unsure of them is ok as it helps you to create lots of ideas that you can choose the best from.
Kelci Edwards
Previous Education: Ormiston Sandwell Community Academy
Progression: BA (Hons) Fashion Business and Promotion- Birmingham City University
Fantasy and make believe has always been a part of the fashion world. It can be seen in catwalk shows or as part of a marketing strategy. It allows the viewer a moment to escape the realities of their working world or offer ideas on how to dress or style themselves for a social event. For my project I wanted to look into a range of different fantasies and make-believe scenarios and recreate my own for a magazine cover and inside spread. I created digital collages using a phone app that enabled me to layer separate elements together and blend them as one. I tried out several whilst testing them out on different magazine covers. The remaining images I used for the inside fashion story.
The work created during this second year has been intense and fast paced but has helped to develop personal confidence and organisation skills. It has been a challenging experience but has enabled me to find a direction that I want to develop further on the Fashion Business and Promotion Course at Birmingham City University.
Mia Honeyghan
Previous Education: Bristnall Hall Academy
Progression: UALAB Foundation Diploma Art & Design. Dudley College of Technology
For my FMP I want to tackle the design and pattern cutting aspects of my practice. With my earlier work I had a tendency to revert to shapes and silhouettes that were familiar to me as well as spending too much time on surface manipulations. Although this was fine to some level, I was hindering myself as a fashion designer and not investigating silhouettes through pattern cutting and construction. With this in mind I decided to choose a theme that would offer interesting points that I could grow and evolve from. Investigations led me to the Bauhaus movement of the early 20th century. This movement which started in a German art school ‘The Bauhaus’ became famous for its minimalist aesthetic and functional approach that influenced many designers over the years.
The work by Josef Albers, specifically “Multiplex A” threw open design possibilities and enabled me to generate a wide range of designs and silhouettes that I took forward into 3D modelling and pattern cutting experimentation. This resulted in a series of garments that could be worn in different ways such as a skirt becoming a top or a dress.
Vast learning experiences have been undertaken with this project from time management to critical thinking, as well as working in a more abstract and conceptual manner. These have enabled me to become much more creative as a designer and will take these to a higher level on the Foundation Diploma course in readiness for the demands of University studies.
Megan Lawrence
Previous Education: Halesowen College
Progression: BA (Hons) Fashion Design. Birmingham City University
With a recent project I looked at exploring how the clothing we wear is percieved in the general community. This led me to investigate gender sterotypes and the rise of androgynous fashions. Research into designers such as JW Anderson and Rad Hourani opened up a wealth of information as they had begun to challenge what appeared on the catwalks for either Mens or Womenswear collections.
Designers such as Maison Martin Margiela, Gucci and Comme des Garcons are further disrupting and blurring the boundaries of what is acceptable for Menswear, an area that has remained generally safe for many decades- singer David Bowie played around with this concept in the 70’s. Recently at the 2019 Oscars, actor Billy Porter appeared on the red carpet wearing a tuxedo/ballgown hybrid by Christian Siriano whilst singer Harry Styles wasn’t afraid to experiment with fashion in the public eye by wearing dresses, skirts and make-up whilst still looking masculine on the cover of Vogue Magazine.
This idea of Gender Bending”, clothing that challenged the rigid, binary definitions of dress became the basis for my styling project. I played around with fabrics and female items of clothings/accessories and put them together on a male model in ways that would offered creative play and joy in being able to wear what you wanted.
A great deal of learning and critical thinking has encouraged on the course especially with time management. By acting on these I have been able to generate a diverse portfolio of creative work. I plan to extend and explore much all these valuable skills more widely on the Fashion Design course at Birmingham City University.
Rosie Malcolm
Previous Education: Sandwell Academy
Progression: BA (Hons) Primary Teaching and Education
Currently we have been dealing with a serious pandemic that has affected not only the whole of the UK but also the rest of the world. With the concerns of shortages, and shop closures I began to think about the amount things that have ended up in the waste, unsold or left in factories. This has impacted the fashion industry in that clothing and accessories were not purchased and there were rails and shelves of unsold items. I began to ask myself, what would happen to these things and was there a need for so much mass production, but most importantly what effect has this had to the environment? With this in mind, I wanted to create a body of work that addressed this waste issue and to promotes sustainability. I produced collages and visuals for an info-booklet that could be picked up and passed around by everyone to help raise awareness of waste and start conversations on they could play a part in sustainability and zero waste.
A lot of learning experiences have been undertaken with this project from time management to critical thinking. These have enabled me to become much more focused as an individual and will further develop these valuable skills at University.
Sarah Moore
Previous Education: Beacon Hill Academy
Progression: BA (Hons) Fashion Garment Technology. Birmingham City University
My project was entitled ‘Architecture of Flowers’ where I focused on the irregular shapes and the silhouettes of flowers. With my previous work I had a tendency to focus on the surface aspects of my projects, often neglecting or leaving too late the design play around shapes and silhouettes. In doing so I restricted myself with learning valuable skills such as design development and pattern cutting – two areas that are important in fashion design. My first impressions were that flowers came in a wide range of shapes and forms, some with more curved rounded petals whereas others have straight angular features. Closer inspection revealed other sections such as leaves, stamens and sepals, details which I felt would allow me to delve into when investigating possible shapes for design work. Through pattern cutting and design investigation I was able to generate a very abstract respose to the project where separate shapes were created and placed on the body in different ways. This provided me with a wide range of possible outcomes and created a bigger collection than just designing one garment.
I have been pushed to think more creatively and inventively this year which has helped me to become a stronger designer. Planning and critical anlysis has played an important part in the project. I hope to build on these skills on the Garment technology Course at Birmingham City University so that I am better prepared for the world of work.
Navdeep Najran
Previous Education: Bristnall Hall Academy
Progression: BA (Hons) Fashion Design. University for Creative Arts (Epsom)
The work I created for previous project enabled me to prepare for my FMP however on reflection I found that I had spent a large amount of time on the surface and textiles aspects of the work leaving me little time to investigate the fashion design and construction side of my studies. To ensure that I succeeded with my final work I decided to investigate a concept that allowed me to focus just on shapes and silhouettes and in doing so explore and exploit pattern cutting and construction to the best of my abilities.
Designers such as Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons, Craig Green or Iris Van Herpen, are wildly exploring abstract shapes with interesting motives. Through this exploration they have been able to play with pattern cutting and construction skills to produce unusual and almost deformed silhouettes.
I decided to delve into the basic fundamentals of shapes and silhouettes to create abstract outcomes. The intention was to explore mundane geometric shapes such as squares, circles and triangles and in doing so, investigate the relationship between unusual designs and the human body. Square dresses became fluid, circles had the ability to add sensuality to the form and rectangles when wrapped around the body created flow. All garments constructed could be worn not only in different ways but combined together in multiple ways that generated a large collection of sophisticated clothing for women.
What I have learnt this year is that working closly with staff and acting on their valuable suggestions has opened up ways of thinking and working that has injected fresher perspectives in my fashion work which I will take on more willingly on the Fashion Design Course at the University for Creative Arts in Epsom.
Jodie Pountney
Previous Education: Earls High School
Progression: Employment: Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust
The recent lockdown has been incredibly hard for me, due to my anxiety I was very afraid of visiting and talking to my grandma, however as things got better, I was able to spend a lot of time with her as she had been very lonely and fed up in the pandemic. I built a really close relationship with her and this improved her life and mine. Through this time, I learnt a lot about her life which I didn’t know before. Learning about her childhood and being shown her collection of china, jewellery and even her own embroidery work.
We also connected over our love of jigsaw puzzles and she had been teaching me to bake. With this in mind I felt it was an idea to create and develop biographical work around the life of my grandma, taking inspiration from her life stories and her belongings. I looked into work by contemporary artists and designers such as Grayson Perry and Tracey Emin, who created biographical work whether about themselves or others to add contextual depth to my project which resulted in me creating a fabric-based photo album full of imagery that were linked to her life.
I have learnt this year that taking risks and trying out ideas, even if you are unsure of them is ok and help you grow as a person. These can be further developed and offer other options that I might not have considered. I hope to take this newfound confidence and apply it to all aspects of my life and careers.
Tia-Ann Rowledge
Previous Education: L3 Art & Design Dudley College of Technology
Progression: BA (Hons) Fashion Design & Technology. Manchester Metropolitan University
My FMP revolved around Japanese street fashions and the different fashion subcultures found within the Harajuku district in Tokyo. The Harajuku street fashion has long been known for its expressive and cartoonish styles, often very flamboyant and colorful. Japanese youth have a sense of bravery and adventure in their fashion outlook and there is a strong play on eccentricity, fusions of patterns and co-ordination of accessories with nods to art-based influences such as Pop Art.
I was drawn to this very unique and fluid style with the fusing together of different subcultures and felt that investigating into this would allow me to take many influences and ideas and meld them into a personal response that is fun and eclectic. Through research and practical investigations both in drawing and textile techniques, I created a range of designs that were inclusive to all genders and accessible so that it would be possible for anybody to wear with confidence.
I feel the most successful part of my second-year experience has been the growth and development I have made with practical skills and approaches to ideas. I have started to become more experimental and braver with what I do and through staff encouragements able to take practical risks more openly. I look forward to developing my newfound confidence on the Fashion Design course at Manchester Metropolitan University so that I am better equipped for the world of work.
Simran Simplay
Previous Education: Colton Hills, Wolverhampton
Progression: BA (Hons) Textiles Print & Surface Design. Birmingham City University
I often find myself drawn to stories, films and documentaries that revolve around serial killers or murderers whether as fantasy story telling or real-life adaptations. For my FMP I wanted to look into the range of items used by serial killers and find ways to incorporate them into textile designs for surfaces. It may appear sinister to use these objects as a design inspiration but I have come across works by many artists and designers who have looked at unconventional starting points to create work that appears beautiful but are unsettling on closer inspection.
Textiles designers Timorous Beasties subverted the traditional Toile de Juoy by replacing romantic scenes with images associated with the dark side of the city in their work Glasgow Toile which included images of gunmen, drunks and drug addicts. I approached my work with this similar ideas of disruption where an image may appear attractive at first glance but shocking on closer inspection. Initial observational drawings of knives, ropes and hammers became layered and distorted.
These were then turned into inventive patterns through experimenting with repeat structures. Through the process or digital manipulations and sublimation printing, I was able to generate a body of work that at first glance looked like creative print designs but on closer inspection, hid a dark story. The prints can be used not only as prints on fabrics but on different surfaces such as wallpaper and furnishings.
What this year has taught me is that research and drawing investigation has played an important part in the creative process and allowed for a wide range of work to be created which could be narrowed down to the most successful. Year 2 has been a challenging experience but it has enabled me to find a direction that I was most successful in and one that I want to develop further on the Print and Surface Design Course at Birmingham City University.
BTEC L3 Dip in Fashion & Textiles Yr1BTEC L3 Dip in Fashion & Textiles Yr1
BTEC L3 DIP IN FASHION AND TEXTILES YR1
Kiayli Arye
Jacob Bennet
Krystal Clarke
Sherrice Harris
Seraphina Hunt
Olivia Jenkins
Rajandeep Jhamat
Daisy Lilly
Rudy Spicer Neal
Fay Peters
Camilla Predo
Lauren Slim
FAD: Fashion and TextilesFAD: Fashion and Textiles
FAD: FASHION AND TEXTILES
Oluwatobi Ajibola
Destination: University/ Employment
The title of this project was ‘Expect the Unexpected’ and develops work produced for my Extended Diploma course. I wanted to create strange beings inspired by the work of Surrealist Max Ernst and contemporary illustrator Linder Sterling. Both make strange compositions collaging together animals, humans and objects to create bizarre and weird imagery. Another artist that I was inspired by was J Semp because his work is bizarre and futuristic looking.
If the national lockdown didn’t happen I could have developed the idea of using peers as models for me to photograph and use in my collages, this didn’t happen so I had to use only magazines.
Back in college I did manage to develop my ideas by transferring tracings of my collages into silk screens. I used a mixture of different brightly coloured fabrics, viylene, existing printed fabrics and PVC. I could have potentially applied more refined details and definition through the sewing techniques, hand and machine stitch and applique but there wasn’t enough time.
The different images, surfaces and colour palettes all helped me convey my idea of ‘Expect the Unexpected’, due to the unusual mix and clash of colour on various surfaces. I have developed my confidence in printing and machine embroidery and want to broaden my skill set at university.
Ellie Bloomfield
Cabin Fever’ was inspired by the uninspired. My FMP began during a Covid-19 lockdown and I was struggling to get motivated due the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped indoors. However, rather than allowing this to negatively affect my project, I decided to embrace these feelings and allow them to direct my work, pushing me to be creative whilst stuck in a small office. Self-reflection realised that to cope with the disorder and unknown of the circumstances, I relied on repetition, order, and control of the space around me.
The Outsider Art heavily influenced my project. I found comparisons between some of the artist’s dispositions and methods, and my own ideas and emotions during the lockdown period. Heinrich Reisenbauer’s organised grid paintings of identical subjects reminded me of my own coping methods, for example, eating the same foods during isolation. His work also emulates the feeling of endlessness, and the repetition of lockdown life, whilst the low-tech materials, remind me of the lack of resources I had at home. In contrast, August Walla’s explosive and expressive murals evokes the feeling of disorder and claustrophobia that I felt at that time, the crushing feeling of cabin fever. The vast distinction between the techniques used by these troubled artists became the basis for my ‘project of two halves’. The work I produced from home was inspired by Reisenbauer’s simple line drawings of subjects around me. However, once I returned to college, I decided to explode my small initial drawings into a large exhibition space, to challenge my creativity and to use my return to the studio space from home to the best of my ability.
My biggest challenge for this project was to trust the process and to allow myself to react as I go without a structured plan for an outcome. I was able to achieve this by having frequent tutor discussions which allowed me to create bite sized plans that provided the control I needed in order to cope and create order within disorder.
This project could have continued forever, and I feel as if the creativity and curiosity I learnt from it will. There are many ways it could have developed, from textiles print to embroidered samples, however I am pleased with where it did conclude as it remains ambiguous and my use of mostly paper-based materials links back to my original resources. In my proposal I had planned to create a ‘range of textiles’ and although my final space and samples do not resemble a traditional example of textiles it holds all of the key elements and explores the idea of a modern take on textiles.
This project not only enhanced my practical skills and creativity but taught me about myself. The purpose of the project was to explore the personal effects of Covid by emulating my emotions through large scale motifs and repetition in an installation environment, but that space itself trapped me and pushed me to work through my struggles and allow the lack of motivation at times to inspire new work
FAD has given me the opportunity to explore a large range of specialities and combine aspects of them all to create my own creative individuality. I have learnt to be more experimental and to not be to be caught up on the outcome and forget to explore the process. I will take these fundamentals on with me into my creative career.
Nathaniel Buffery
Previous Education: King Edward VI College Stourbridge
Destination: BSc Psychology, University of Liverpool
“Space and Fashion” was an investigation both into the historical roots of Space Age but, also a look at more contemporary print techniques and technological innovation. My aim was to create a series of simple 1960s silhouettes with astronomy inspired printed fabrics for a Space-themed garment collection. The idea came from renewed international interest in space travel and personal interest in aesthetics of planetary surfaces and how they may be applied to fashion. I developed my initial ideas in lockdown through research and sketches and then moved onto printing techniques.
My main inspiration for this project were the fashion designers of Space Age such as Pierre Cardin, Paco Rabanne, Andre Courreges etc. Their use of unconventional materials and ‘looking to the future’ in a time scarred by the fear of a world-ending nuclear war was something I could relate to given the limited supplies I had in lockdown and being in a world event where the only outlook to have was to look to the future. Another source of inspiration was Mary Quant and the work of activists in the 1960s who pushed against modesty and prudish culture of the 1950s, allowing for more ‘scandalous’ silhouettes such as the mini skirt and more exposed skin.
Tutor and student comments did influence my ideas a lot. In the early stages, tutor discussions helped me pull all my research into one cohesive idea. Had time not been so tight that I could have developed further ideas such as expanding my collection to look at other 60s silhouettes (e.g., the A-Line or the cape/poncho) or looking at accessories outside of the hypothetical (e.g., shoes or cuffs).
There are many things I have learnt from my FMP project. The main one is improving my practical skills in both textile and fashion design, I specialized in fashion without any prior experience of this field. Although it has been a steep learning curve it has been incredibly useful, not only learning skills for personal use but also how the industry works and how the skills I was using translated onto an industrial scale.
I also learnt more skills in organization and recording my work, that the end-product is not just the finished garment but the journey to get to that work. The most significant thing the FAD has taught me is to go outside my comfort zone, to try new things because it’s better to be rewarded for doing something new rather than doing something mundane that you always do. I would like to apply that to my undergraduate as although it’s a different subject, there are many fields to explore, opportunities to try something new.
Evie Burgess
Destination: BA Hons Creative Direction for Fashion London College of Fashion UAL
The coronavirus pandemic and how it has affected the fashion industry influenced my initial ideas for this project. I wanted to consider how fashion will change in the future and create work communicating this.
Fashion must become more sustainable, and this is something I wanted to explore in my work. I found an article on Forbes outlining how the fashion industry will be data-driven, sustainable, digital, and simplified in the future. It discusses how new technology and changing customer demands will begin to transform the industry.
My approach in previous projects has always involved photography, an area in which I feel confident, but lockdown meant that opportunities for this were limited. I was able to experiment with hand-rendered techniques such as collage in the initial stages of my project. My experimentation informed the type of practical work I wanted to produce, directing me towards new ideas.
After extensive research into the brand Jacquemus, I created a publication, working in a hypothetical style as if I was producing this for them. Its purpose is to inform potential customers about sustainable practices and methods used in production. I wrote about the brand’s decision to slow down the company through co-ed shows. Doing this allows a reduction of wastage fabrics, being able to take control of energy expenditure. I was able to educate myself on sustainability, which I found was the most rewarding part of my project.
Being on FAD, I have learned that experimentation is a significant process. I feel it allows me to devise ideas that I may not have had if I jumped straight into practical work. I also found I could allow more time to consider the presentation of my outcomes. I wanted to grow my InDesign skills and investigate new techniques that combine text with images. My approach has worked well for this project, and I have the confidence to develop this finesse when I progress to university.
Molly Cartwright
Previous Education: UAL Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, UAL London College of Fashion
Destination: BA (Hons) Fashion Design Technology: Womenswear
My Final Major Project was a reaction to the pandemic I am living in, specifically the effects of the lockdown being anxious, distressed, alienated and frustrated feelings. When stimulating ideas for what my project could be, aware that fashion designers collections are normally a reaction to what is happening in the world around them I decided to look to my own experiences of the current world I’m living in. My initial idea was mainly developed from researching Outsider Art. This work is made by the untrained, and includes work by the mentally ill, child art, work mad by prisoners and those who live in isolation. I wanted to see how being isolated effected their art to inspire how I present my isolated, lockdown feelings through art. Here I discovered motifs of outsider artwork including overlapping, communicating through repetitive words and numbers, and illegibility, which I applied to my initial drawings which then went on to inform garment design.
Outsider artists including Emma Hauck who inspired me to explore my feeling by writing them down in manners that explored the outsider motifs. My drawings reminded me of Gosia Wlodarczak’s work who went on to inspire a significant amount of my practical work, I applied the same fluidity to explore the lack of control felt in lockdown, applied my drawings directly onto silhouettes to see how they would distort the drawing, distortion being something I wanted to achieve to further convey anxiety and alienation and finally experimenting similarly in a performative manner and filming this experimentation to explore another lockdown feeling of mine in a more abstract way, the desire for human touch and connection.
Discussion with tutors and peers was vital for the development of my work, as they suggested interesting artist research and ideas. For example, I had all these ideas of feelings in lockdown and how art has been used as a coping mechanism, thinking about the psychological effects of being confined and even OCD in the pandemic. My tutor’s suggestion of looking into outsider art bound all of my ideas together and led to how I would explore my own time in isolation.
In my proposal my aim was to design a minimum of one garment, however, as ideas developed I realised I did not want my work to result to one garment I wanted my final outcome to be a collection of all my experimentation and fashion films to demonstrate what I was able to achieve in these difficult times.
One of the most significant things I have learnt on FAD is problem solving. Having a lack of resources to work with but, still stimulating alternative ideas, and design development are very valuable skills for both university and industry. FAD has also taught me how to collect my own relevant research from different sources and a range of artists. I think the most successful aspect of my project has been my ability to then stimulate lots of ideas from my research, using my research to inform my practical work and the continuation of this throughout my project.
At university, I want to be able to take my approach to mind mapping, lateral thinking and research and ideas from beyond my specialism and use my planning, resilience and problem-solving skills to work independently and negotiate support from my peers and tutors.
Chloesue Hartill
Destination: Kingston University BA (Hons) Fashion Design
“Fade to Grey” is a project inspired by fascination with the New Romantic Era and how open and how all gender stereotypes were forgotten about. I wanted to look back into the 80s and explore what inspired their flamboyant fashion choices.
Through research I discovered many influences on the New Romantics such as; 19th English Romantic Era, Glam Rock and Sci-Fi. The New Romantic took all of these influences and through clashing and contrasting different styles together created bold, over the top garments.
I created fashion collages to inspire draping and fabric manipulation on the mannequin. I produced a collection of that mismatched and clashed menswear with womenswear and pattern, colour and texture. This project has given me a greater understanding of Fashion throughout the 80s and how it was influenced by many different things which shows fashion is constantly evolving and how the younger generation is constantly looking up to the older generation to inspire their fashion choices.
The foundation course has increased my confidence which can be seen throughout my work as it shows a growing confidence in experimentation and a more varied style than I had at the beginning of the course. I will continue to push my boundaries and to go out of my comfort zone.
Alister Kidger
Previous Education: UAL Foundation Diploma in Art & Design
Destination: Further Education
I think that there is a pressure on people to be perfect and beyond cool from film, TV and social media, especially with celebrities and Instagram models where they are pictured as living the dream and being the centre of everything 24/7, which can make people feel like they need to be more than they already are in a negative way.
For my Final Major Project intend to create a menswear collection titled ‘Unseen’, which is based on the feeling of anxiety in social situations that introverts like myself can feel. The pressure of desperately trying to stand out and be seen as the life of the party, and hiding who you really are for fear that people won’t accept you for as you actually are is a problem for many young people.
I was interested in extremes of constructed personality; the introvert and extrovert and wanted to try and convey those feelings through the fashion design. I was drawn to extroverts like Prince, who was very experimental and wild with his choice of fashion as well as fashion collections like Balmain Fall 2016.
Hiding the body through layering and a dark colour palette informed my early designs. I was also drawn to the idea of censoring the face without it looking like it was done intentionally, and so I was drawn to the idea of covering the face with black cloth which was inspired by the work of Juha Arvid Helminen called The invisible empire.
Due to lockdown, I was unable to construct any garments but feel that this FMP has given me more confidence in fashion illustration and a greater understanding of fabrication.
Sarah Lewis
‘Covid-19’ is a project that portrays the horrific pandemic that hit the world in 2020. Lockdown has had a huge impact affecting everybody’s day to day lives. The experience of being trapped inside and repeating the same routine is what inspired me.
My initial ideas were developed through researching Artists and Designers that were inspired by the pandemic. The influence of Coronavirus can be seen in Fine Art, Fashion. My research extended to investigating how the pandemic was spreading and what the virus looked like. It was a shock to see how beautiful these deadly virus were under a microscope! As a textile designer I was drawn to the patterns and colours in these microscopic images as well as wanting to reference medical equipment.
I am a very hands on designer and enjoy the challenges of developing work practically, so not having access to the textile print resource I instead had time to really experiment and explore drawing in much more depth than I would have done had college been open. This is something significant that I have learnt.
My confidence has grown through being able to communicate my ideas through drawing and in discussing my work with others. Working on my communication skills have certainly prepared me to talk about my work more broadly in future projects at university.
I believe that I managed to achieve all I set out to do. This is through the variety of hangings that could be featured for interiors. Pattern and colour have also been explored massively to create vibrant elements in my designs.
Commitment and resilience to producing my very best work is shown throughout the project and I was dedicated to work hard and focus on developing my ideas, even though at times I found it hard to stay motivated.
Although lockdown has been difficult to cope with, I am so grateful for how it has improved the way I work. I believe that I have pushed myself through working outside of my comfort zone, and I will continue to test my experimentation on my undergraduate course. Overall, it has been a challenging but exciting experience, and it will be the project that I shall always refer to if I am ever struggling in future projects.
Isabella Loveridge
Previous Education: Kinver High school
Destination: Employment
My work is based on Danish Architecture, I thought the contrast between the old and the new was very stark and different to my own surroundings. I have never visited Denmark but if I ever did, like any tourist, I would want a souvenir to remind me of time spent in a different country. I decided that my textile work would take the form of holiday keepsakes, fabric postcards!
My work has been inspired by a range of textile artists and designers, I particularly drawn to the work of Harriet Popham and Ruth Chalk – these are textile artists who explored architecture using textile techniques and processes. Harriet Popham is an illustrative print designer whose work is complex and very detailed using print and embroidery. Artist working in recycled textile and waste plastic. Chalk is inspired by the urban landscape and works with knit, machine embroidery and collage. I had hope to use some of these techniques but due to the lockdowns and having limited access to textile resources I decided to focus on small scale pieces in techniques I could work on from home. Also working on a small scale meant my work would be more suitable as keepsakes if they were small and easily packed in holiday luggage!
When working from home it was important that I kept in contact with tutor and my peers to help keep me on track and motivated. Whenever I had a one to one or a student gave me advice or feedback on my project, I made notes and reflected on what was discussed. Sometimes I was given ideas or other techniques to try. On one occasion, I had a meeting on Microsoft Teams and a group of us showed a PowerPoint of our work in progress, we talked through our project, and got feedback from each other, ideas of what we could do next, what they liked, what they didn’t like. I found this very supportive and useful.
I have learnt new skills as the work I produced had to be presented digitally. I was initially a bit nervous about using computer but now I use it a lot more. The most useful thing I learnt in my Final Major Project was to be more inventive in using whatever I had around to make work and not worry about having to use traditional materials and techniques. I think this pushed me to think of new ways to work this helped my project develop a lot more than it usually does, as I was forced to try new ways of making work that I would not normally think about. I did a lot more drawing at the beginning so I had lots of work to use to insure my textiles pieces. I planned much better in this project, so I was able make the most of the time when I was in college.
I managed to produce a range of fabric postcards, some figurative, others with text and some that were more abstract to appeal to a wider market. I also made some badges that could be sewn onto clothing.
I think FAD has made me more confident in my work and more confident in myself. I now have a set of skills that I will develop after leaving college, hopefully selling through craft fairs maybe even online!
Ailish McCay
“Anatomy – (between sizes)” is an exploration of the unjust sizing systems in retail clothing stores. I also wanted to challenge what people would consider beautiful by aiming to make something beautiful out of something gruesome. The initial ideas stemmed from personal difficulties of being between two sizes in retail sizing myself and rather than this being strange is actually how most women actual are. I decided that the best way to show this would be to explore the inner working of the body which everyone shares, eluding to the fact that we are all the same no matter the size we wear.
From this research I found certain fashion designers to share the same aesthetic as me, for example Comme des Garçons, Iris Van Herpen etc. Van Herpen’s 2021 London Fashion week display had looks that, to me, looked similar to vein structures, which linked to my idea of using internal organs as a surface decoration. I began to create detailed linear of internal organs and skin structures. I then explored how these organs would look if they were to be used to inform the silhouette of the garment as well as its surface. I explored print and embroidery. I printed heart onto calico and projected a heart shape onto the stretched calico as my pattern for the oversized silhouette.
The idea of the garment being oversized is to hide the natural figure of those who decide to wear it, regardless of what size they are.
As a result of lockdown, starting this project was really difficult for me, my mental health had plummeted and I had absolutely no motivation. It became really important for me to have regular contact with my tutor so I could continue to take small steps to get this project off the ground and not be overwhelmed by what I had to do to complete the project. These talks with my tutor helped me to really grasp where I wanted to go with this project, and what work I could produce until we were able to create something spectacular once reintroduced to the college facilities.
In an ideal world I would have loved to have explored multiple outcomes of this project and create multiple garments, however with the current global status and aforementioned personal problems, this was just not possible. Once reflecting on my initial proposal I feel that I have created a project that has exceeded what I set out for myself. I have proved myself wrong and have proved to myself that I am more than capable in any situation.
Naomi Reynolds
“Beyond the surface” is an exploration of digitally and physically manipulating photographs of natural surfaces such as textured fruit skin, leaves and flowers. From my own photographs I wanted to create abstract patterns and repeat prints, inspired by predicted 2020 and 2021 spring/summer pattern trends. I was interested in the juxtaposition of natural and geometric forms featuring in patterns. There was also a trend that looked at surreal patterns found in nature that were contrasted with a vibrant colour palette creating a new abstract surface. The choice to explore this as my theme was inspired by lockdown partly as I could turn photographs of natural things I could find around the house into patterns moreover, this paired well with working digitally and from home which I think enhanced the work as I could create photographic prints using vibrant and vivid colours which would be hard to achieve in the studio.
I experimented with hand rendered and digitally produced collages, enhancing the colours which juxtaposed the initial image with vibrant and unnatural colours. I was inspired by Sonia Delaunay’s use of geometric shapes and solid primary and secondary colours. I also looked at various photographers of microscopic natural surfaces such as Wojtek Plonka to help me develop my colour palette and designers Margaret Howell and Snow Xue Gao to see the practical applications of the vibrant patterns on garments. The design of the Hermès scarf to help develop my patterns into designs. If I had the opportunity to develop this project further, I think it could be interesting to turn some of my more graphic style patterns into screen prints and experiment with scale, layering, printing and then manipulating, positioning and photographing the printed fabric to see how the patterns distort.
I believe I have achieved all I set out to do in my proposal as I ended up creating a wide range of patterns incorporating the predicted pattern trends and developed those into face mask and silk scarf designs. However, I did not experiment as much with geometric shapes and hand-rendered elements within my work since, working digitally was more successful.
The key things I learnt on Foundation is the importance of time management as well as reviewing your work. Some of my favourite patterns in this project came from revisiting unsuccessful collages or heat transfers, photographing them and digitally manipulating the image. Developing this in my undergraduate course I want to work digitally more and I think this has proved successful.
Sophie Smart
For my FMP project I wanted to design fashion prints exploring the theme of ‘Maps and Journeys’. I want to incorporate telescopes, compasses and their internal mechanical workings. In my last project the range of what I drew inspiration from was narrow and this had an impact on the variety of drawings I produced, this had to be avoided on my FMP.
I have been inspired by textile artist Valerie Goodwin use of intricate lines and shapes which create complex fibre art maps. Closer inspection of her work shows that these patterns are city blocks and landscapes inspired by aerial views of real and imaginary places.
I also referred to The London tube map, ordinance survey maps A-Z as part of my initial research and experimentation.
I also looked into other printed textile designers who have created a simple garments including Susan Stockwell and I have produced a range of printed samples informed by extensive drawing. I explored screen print but also using cogs and wheels to print directly onto my samples. The colour palette I chose was inspired by contemporary trend forecasts. I feel I have developed my subject specific skills in readiness for university.
Fashion and TextilesFashion and Textiles
FASHION AND TEXTILES
UAL Extended Diploma in Fashion and Textiles: Inspired
FAD: Fashion and Textiles
BTEC L3 Diploma in Fashion & Textiles Yr1: Evolve
BTEC L3 Diploma in Fashion & Textiles Yr1 – Upcycle: Evolve
