Knitwear

Knitwear day one

Day one of knitwear was learning the basics of the machine and how to create simple knitwear designs. I am used to knitting by hand so learning on a machine was something new and exciting for me.

I am glad we were able to work at the machines in partners because I personally enjoy teamwork and learning new things from my peers. We began by ensuring that we understood how to set up the machine and all the basics of how we are going to crate a row of knitting. we went through tutorials of how to create each type of knit first, and then went back and created samples. at first I found threading up the machine quite fiddly, and casting the yarn onto each individual needle was quite a tedious process, however my partner and myself quickly got the hang of it after having to re do it so many times! 

Once the machine was threaded we simply moved the carriage along the machine and A row of knitting was created. I was really shocked at how quick and easy it is to create continuous rows of knitting that would take hours by hand but seconds on this machine!! 

This was the basic process we had to carry out before we started any sort of technique so I think all of my peers including myself got used to this process quite quickly  and mangGed to create a basic row of knitting without any problems. 

Myself and my partner found the cable knit and honeycomb technique the most difficult, and we had many attempts at this before making a successful sample. the cable knit techniques involved lifting three rows of knitting from the right, and three rows of knitting from the left and then crossing them over. each time I did this I would accidentally drop the rows of knitting which then created a hole when I went to knit. The machine also got stuck quite a few times and we had to keep casting on over and over again! 

The honey comb knit was my favourite and the most successful, because if was not a very restrictive technique, and you could crate the honeycomb quite freely. you simply pulled a single loop of knitting up and cast it onto a needle, I kept doing this quite randomly in different areas and I really liked this way of creating texture, so this is something I am looking forward to experimenting with further as the week progresses.

Knitwear Day 2

We then moved onto weaving which was my favourite technique. We were asked to bring in anything we could find that would make an interesting weave, this could be plastic bags, ribbons, elastic or other pieces of scrap fabric. I focused on using sheer ribbons and scrap fabrics because I thought that the contrast of densitys would be quite interesting.

 I found this technique to be the easiest and most interesting. Once we had a row of knitting we simply used out material to weave over and under the needles and continued needing so that the mTeials would weave into the knitting. I loved this technique because it had the most impact but was also really quick to do and was easy to combine two really interesting materials together which I really liked. 

Another simple technique we learnt was fringing, and this involved the same technique as weaving, however you also passed the yarn over and under a ruler aswell as the needles to keep the fringing straight.

I think to improve upon my skills I would need to perhaps use the knitting machines independently in my own time just to get used to some of the techniques, because allot of my samples can be developed into something really fantastic

Digital print

Digital print. Day 1 

I have never used photoshop before or designed digitally on a computer, so I was really looking forward to digital print week so that I was able to learn new ways of creating and developing an idea using photoshop. To begin with we learnt the basics of creating patterns with Photoshop through different workshops. I immediately found this to be a challenge, as their was allot to process in a short pint of time, and once I made a mistake it was hard to rectify that as i wasn't used to using this software. I was however,  really suprised at the endless ways you can develop and modify patterns. 

We started with a simple circle shape, and then made that into a repast pattern just to learn the basics of how to design a pattern in repeat. I then started to play around with colour ways and changing the densitys of them to  develop the initial shape as much as possible. The next part of the workshops involved using existing images of flowers to make a repeat pattern. We learnt to extract shapes from within the flower, enhancing the colours and edges, and then placing them into the repeat patterns we had already made.

 It took me quite a while to make a successful repeat at first, because I have always liked to design quickly by hand and I'm not an extremely fast learner when it comes to technocology!! My favourite part of didgital print was taking these patterns that we made and placing them onto a garment. I had never considered designing on a computer as I enjoy designing by hand so much, however seeing a pattern digitally on a garment is really satisfying and gives a more realistic image of how a product is going to look was made, and this is something I would like to develop onto some of my fashion illustrations.

I surprisingly liked the refined more professional outcome of my first repeats, however I don't think they were that successful, as I didn't manage to develop them to the extent of my peers as I did become slightly concused and needed time to really practice and play around with photoshop in my own time out of class, which will then make things easier for me during the next part of digital print.

Digital print day 2

 I wasnt looking too forward to the next stage of digital print, because I'm not that confident using the software yet, however this next stage involved developing our own designs into a pattern, so I can spend more time on this and learn as I go along! 

We were asked to use something representative of our family history to inspire our designs. I looked back through my Turkish culture and wanted to incorporate the blue of the evil eye into my designs. the symbol itself is quite simplistic, so I drew it first using water colours and inks before scanning it into the computer. I thought that this would be a more unique and personal way of creating a pattern, and my tutor picked up on how the ink marks would look particularly interesting on a pattern!

I firstly started to play around with colours and densitys before thinking about how I could rotate the shape and look at it from different angles. Finding ways to manipulate the shape and make it into something more interesting was very challenging, and a lot of my initial outcomes were made through trial and error. Luckily for me the drawing itself had some really interesting elements to it, especially the mark making created with inks and water colours so I didn't want to over edit my pattern as it would take away what made the design so unique in the first place. 

I really liked playing around with the scale of the pattern and overlaying my designs  so I made a repeat pattern onto the background, and then made the shape larger and overplayed it on top which I found to look the more intricate and visually exciting as it shows the sill outer of the shape as oppose to it being a solid block shape.

When it came to colour I wanted to stick to the authentic Turkish blues however I felt like deep blues greens yellows also worked quite well, so I began to develop my repeats in these colours aswell, and also used different effects so that parts  of the shapes were extracted to show the negative shape. 

I also tried to render my patterns onto some of my existing collar designs from design week

My tutor then showed me how I can use the exact same colour oft inital drawings to form a bald ground for the pattern, and this was my favourite outcome because I was amazed at how the software can detect the colour of my ink drawing and transder it onto the background. To me this was the most unique and personal design, which I think is most representative of the brief.

Tate Modern Visit

Today we visited the Tate Modern to look at the "Energy and Processes exhibition. We were required to look around nine rooms, and select one to write a review on. I chose to focus my review on the William Eggleston Exhibition, as i felt as though i had a personal connection to his work, and it also related to the shoot i did during promotion week.

William Eggleston highlights the simplicity of everyday life in this enthusing exhibition at the Tate Modern, by capturing the ordinary moments of day-to-day life in the American South. “It happens when it happens, it’s not a conscious effort nor a struggle”. [Eggleston William. Online Available at http://photoquotations.com/a/219/William+Eggleston. Accessed 10/10/2013.] You are placed within a clinically arranged series of photographs, which give the impression of physically being a part of that moment in time, through the vivid use of colors and the everyday encounters portrayed in each image. These photographs have such an impact due to their customary atmosphere, and ordinary gestures within the photograph. There is a straightforward connection to these images, particularly the photograph of children at the gate, owing to the fact that there is a focus on capturing “by chance” moments. They convey a natural energy, and do not show the subject matter to be an imitation of someone or something; it is just the idea of capturing a single moment, which is easily relatable.  This exhibition exudes a reminiscent, but still existing ambiance as William Eggleston communicates his idea of conventional life through this tranquil display of photographs.