Celebrations - De Montford University Leicester, here I come

Hurrah, Yippee, Ta Daaaaaa.....

Dressed in my latest slub yarn knitted jumper this morning, I nervously dragged my self to school for A level results.

Fantastic News - when I opened the envelope I was thrilled to see  that I've been awarded an A* grade for GCE Art endorsed Textile.  Bubbles and Flowers rule OK.

It's still sinking in, but De Montford  have confirmed my University offer, and I'm off to Leicester for the next three years to study for a BA (Hons) in Textile Design at the School of Fashion and Design.

The School of Textiles was officially founded in 1885, with clothing manufacture developing in the 1930s - I hope they're ready for me.

To celebrate I made a new mouse, here being chased across the arm of the settee by my old  version.

Can't wait until September.

Costume and Textile Society of Wales - upcycling Headscarves

27th July - Vintage Village Bazaar - made some new friends at St Fagans at the end of July at an event to re-cycle patterns, fabrics, books and costume related items in the Village Hall.  Jill Salen was there with her books on Corsetry, lingerie and swimwear, as was Michelle Griffiths from the Resist Gallery/Studio, Llantrisant,  with her incredible Japanese vintage textiles, haori, kimono, obiage, obi, and fabric bolts suitable for soft furnishings and dressmaking.  Michelle explained how her wonderful shibori chrysanthemum creations can take a full day each to tie, amazing patience.  www.shibori.co.uk

After a conversation with one of the members selling liberty bodices (which my grandmother remembered wearing as a child) and lace pieces , I ended up buying a small selection of silk scarves and came home full of ideas on how to reuse these.

Here is the first experiment using one of these scarves (red with white bows and a white and red striped boarder) as the yoke of a top.  I added a contrasting white bias cut edging and white cotton gathered skirt with red machine embroidered hem.  Only took about 2 hours to make, and I'm really pleased with the finished result.

 

 To make it even better, my grandmother won the raffle and her prize was membership to the Society for the next 12 months.  They've got a great programme, and hopefully I will be able to attend some of the lectures on pattern cutting, early shoe construction, wedding dresses, traditional tribal weaving technique and Indian textiles .  More at www.costumeandtextilesocietyofwales.org.uk.

Mum's Homemade Birthday Present - Embellished Bag

Starting with a floral print fabric, this was embellished with Angelina fibres, French knots, stem stitch embroidery and satin stitch to enhance the design.  Contrasting handles and a sturdy hessian bottom to give added durability, and voila, a fully functioning work of art.  Mum loves it.

Prom Dress 2013

Well, what does a poor textile student do when she has nothing to wear to the ball? Resort to upcycling and re inventing a friend's old bridesmaid's dress of course.

Chop 50cm off the bottom and hem,  design a new top skirt and sew - two dresses in one for future use.

Art exhibition presenting my Iluminations final piece- 'The Bubble!'- July 2013

Suddenly, my photograph of a bubble in the sink grew and grew to a larger than life 3d model, bubbles inside bubbles, iridescence in fibres, moving and catching natural day light, but also lit internally with LED lights. Olafur Elliason  created the Weather Project, ever changing, this was my illumination inspired piece.

 

Rainbow colours, Kandinsky influenced circles, acrylic paint skins, paper quilling, weaving, hand painted back ground and beadwork, metallic embroidery, buttons and cut work.  Who would have thought that the base was formed with PVA glue on a Space Hopper?

 

Thank you to Miss Lamont and the rest of the Bishop of Llandaff Art Department for all their help with this project and displaying the final results.