De Montfort University Degree Show

After handing in my final project of university there was one mission left; The De Montfort University Degree show.

Degree show (18-24 June) included the putting up of a selection of my final collection to show to family, members of the public and potential employers. 

I had an array of equipment to help display my woven pieces including a low table and wall hooks as to which enhanced the display of my work greatly

The opening day of the show included all students from the course looking around the exhibition to see the work done by their fellow peers, awards being handed out and thanks being given to tutors for their guidance. It was a lovely night, one of amazement of what we had all achieved and how far we'd come.

I had placed business cards and a visitor book with my work to gain some opinions on my work which came back with some lovely results; many people were fascinated by my work.

My degree show display; jacquard weaves as the main feature and hand woven pieces showing a variety of techniques and yarns laid flat below.

Final Year at De Montfort University

My third year at De Montfort University had finally arrived. I couldn't believe it and felt as if I'd only just started my time as a student.

Pre collection was the first project of my final year; it was almost a practice for our final majors where we were expected to work through most of the processes of design on our own, guided with help if needed.

My collection was called The Fragility of Nature. The concept being the way nature adds to or takes away from itself, for example shells that have been partially broken and have had barnacles grow on them and trees that have been defaced by animals and algae.

A shell coated in barnicles and 'graffitied' by the sea; collected from the South Wales coast

 A paper folding and collage made to represent part of the shell above

A cracked sea urchin shell worn down to its bare state without the spines, underfur or colouring 

A Photoshopped key hole image of the sea urchin above; changing colour and abstracting its shapes

Tree bark ingrained by growth and animals

Colours drawn from inspiration within this project were very naturalistic and soft.
The target market for this collection was luxury hospitality, for example boutique hotels and spas where the aim was to develop room dividers/blinds which changed from day to night via technical yarns; altering the ambience of the environment too.

This project had a very light weight handle and was very sheen focused therefore aiding the decision for monofilament to be used as its warp yarn. I used fancy and technical yarns such as bobble, glow in the dark and reflective in the weft to pick up on the textures of respective primary imagery. A draft of four blocks allowed a wide variation of pattern and proportion.

Yarns used within this project: cotton, bobble, fluffy, retroflective and glow in the dark

I took professional photography of all of my collections for portfolio and showcasing purposes, some of them are shown below:

Simple cotton weft on a monofilament base with retroflective yarn feature inspired by key hole drawings of rows of shell spirals. The two blocks to the right hand side of this weave work well as a focalising statement

 An overlay of two of my woven pieces with varying stripe widths

Hand manipulated piece featuring fancy yarns using block structure inspired by tree markings

Complex striping with fine cottons and monofilament photographed using perspective

Here are some images with my technical yarns in use:

Glow in the dark yarns change from delicate to light source inspired by rogue barnicles seen on shells

Retroflective yarns on show

Jacquard weave showing retroflective yarn (left) and its regular form showing twill and plain weave contrasts

Contextualization of a weave from my collection in a hotel environment

Following this pre collection project I moved onto my final collection and last project at university.

It was my time to shine, time to show the world who I was as a designer. Release the colour..

Within the first week of my final year project of textile design I decided to set up an Instagram to track progress and get myself in the public eye. It's a lovely thing to have to look back on, to remember this past year. It has to be said I do miss university and weaving on those huge looms. I still can't believe how much I achieved in the space of a year. Here's the link if you'd like a look at my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucyannis.textiles/

An insight into my Instagram

My final year project at university was called 'Looking in, Reflecting Out'. It was deferred from inspiration of an image seen within another via reflections, distortions, perspective and proportion; all taken from urban environments at a variety times of day. 

Its chosen market was women’s couture SS17; focusing on structural pieces such as shoulder ruffles on dresses, 3D skirts and featuristic panels.

I drew my primary research from Leicester and Cardiff's City Centres and Cardiff Bay; with basic mark making using gouache, pens, cutwork and collage works (later developed using CAD) being taken from segments of these locations.

Key features of undulating paths, blocks of colour and distorted angles through yarns (at a 2/30 weight) such as viscose, cotton, monofilament, fancy (rubco, bobble, wire and tapes) and tie dye were shown off by techniques of extra weft, tapestry and twill notations throughout the collection. Most weaves were double cloths to fit with the collection's target market and fill the market gap of sculptural pieces within couture normally being plain and single coloured fabrics made decorative with embellishment.

Contemporary artist Matthew Jorde became an important influence upon formulating routes of distortion within my initial research through the collaging and blurring of single images. Mohammed Ashi, a womenswear couture designer was also inspiration towards my design process, aiding the formation of highly manipulated structures to be shown on the body.

In addition to this final year project I also undertook the creation of a website to showcase Lucy Annis Textiles, a portfolio and a press back to send to companies.

Website showing woven projects achieved by me, portfolio and contact links: https://lucyanniswooddesign.wordpress.com/

Portfolio of work from my final major project: https://issuu.com/lucyannis.textiles/docs/llucy13

Below I have included a variety of images showing an insight into my final year project:

Warp two set up using hand dyed cotton

Viscose warp set up being reeded

Large scale placement jacquard weave. Formed using mirroring, contrasting structures and complex striping; seen in hand manipulated image of De Montfort University buildings under construction

Sideways twill in blocks of varying coloured viscose, the highlight being tye dyed

 Viscose, wire and cotton piece showing back and front sides; inspired by Selfridges in Birmingham (left) and possible end use, showing wire manipulation (right)

Close up of wire manipulation on alternating twill weave above

Triangular placed layout of weaves from my collection inspired by perspective and zig zags

 Viscose and cotton curved twill and varying proportion striping and blocks with different fibres on top giving depth

Contexturalisation ideas of the weave above showing pleated and exaggerated shoulders

Textured monofilament and bobble/chenille fancy yarn piece inspired by Fenwick shop window

In lay technique on striped warp giving undulating lines of De Montfort Doctors Surgery panelling(left) and panels of this weave shown as end use

Play on blocks to form distortion by bringing out depths of colour using placement of warp threads

Hand tye dyed warp threads used to gain soft tonal effects alongside streaks of pink 

 Contextualisation of tye dye influenced distortion pieces as panels of skirts

Elongated triangles on curved twill background using stretch viscose, cotton and tye dye yarns; inspired by London tube imagery (left) and pleating of fabric to form wide shoulder and high neck pieces(right)

Abstract triangle jacquard weave mirrored and repeated on a large scale. Colour only on inset of piece to add to vibrancy of dark shades seen in shadows

Grouped weaves of undulating and blurred lines seen in drawings

Manipulation of fabric to give movement (left) textured triangle mark making jacquard weave with placement to left hand side (right)

 Free flowing patterns as seen in distorted water images from Cardiff Bay

Repeated and flipped tile jacquard of waves seen in reflected windows from across street in Leicester City Centre

Loose woven form in viscose, cotton and wire piece using plain weave

Tapestry triangles and peaks using cotton and monofilament; picking up on distorted lines of restaurant lighting seen on wet paving stones

Pleats and angled beaten sections in contrasting cotton and fancy yarns showing difference in perspectives which altered lights from buildings on Cardiff Bay waterfront

Contextralisation of perspective piece using draping

Ombre in lay of mixed washes of colour with diamond and circle background of equally merging colour

Grouped fabrics inspired by elongated triangles and peaks

 Heavy in lay on herringbone background giving effect of lines of weave body being distorted

I handed my final year project in at the beginning of May, my collection displayed on pretty white hangers in my crisp work space alongside my mood and context boards. 

I'm was delighted with my final collection; the colour, techniques (striping, angled beating, in lay and zig zag) and sheen based yarns made for a very unique hand in. The use of tye dye was one I feel showed off the feeling of distortion, one of my main focus points particularly well. 

I feel if I was to have continued my collection I would have done a wider variety of viscose weaves as they were the most effective as far as showing off sheen. They equally gave a far more luxurious effect and handle than some of the cottons and monofilaments I used later in the project. 

Upon over-viewing my work I think I potentially should have focused on one or possibly two techniques for my final pieces as the eye is a little overwhelmed by its busyness- I struggled to rein in one particular feature of my extensive research as I had so many ideas I felt needed to be captured.

Final hand in of university