The Holyhead Cowl

Now I've put my 3 cowls up for sale on my Etsy shop, I thought I'd do a series of 3 blog posts giving you a bit of insight into how they were made!

This cowl was inspired by Holyhead Mountain, and the combination of the gorse and heather against the rock.

After doing numerous drawings, paintings, colour studies etc from my photographs - I blew aspects of them up (see left) and used all my research to help me make knitting samples.

Here's a selection of them on Holyhead Mountain - my Mum and I took all the samples and photographed them in the landscape which they were inspired by. It was so strange going back because this was early spring, and all my photos were taken late summer - so the colours of the landscape were completely different. It was also quite amusing carrying a rucksack full of knitting around Anglesey :')

Some samples for the Holyhead Cowl were largely led by texture - such as this one, which was knitted with several strands of wool at once rather than using any specific colour work technique. Whichever colour came out more prominently was left entirely to luck, and the boucle wool I used really did make the sample feel like the hardy plants living on the mountain!

 The other sample I did was more geometric. I broke down and simplified my painting into a pattern that would work knitted in Fair isle. Fair isle knitting can only be worked with 2 colours per row, and so my brushstrokes became short stripes and large areas of colour became very uniform. I did really like this effect - all that needed altering was the colours, as at this point I was fishing colours out of a basket of scrap yarn that my mum gave to me!

My project eventually developed at looking at things in the round, and somehow I ended up looking at Buffs, specifically their packaging. I made my own "Buff packaging" out of iconic Anglesey objects - lighthouse, maps, birds - and voila! An idea was born.

I set about designing a knitting pattern, to be worn round the neck (like a buff, but more like a snuggly knitted cowl) and just did it! Knitted using fair isle in the round my first cowl to be finished was this one.

You can buy the knitting pattern to make your own, OR, if you don't want to knit your own, you can now buy the original from my Etsy shop - you decide!

 from Ravelry
Or go here to purchase from Etsy.

Painting

The majority of my research for any project is drawing and painting-based. My FMP was no exception, and I explored all ranges of media - stick and ink, watercolour, acrylic - before producing quite a few fully-realised paintings. The colours and shapes within these paintings then developed further into my digital prints, knitting patterns etc, so they really are the core of my project. Some, naturally, are more successful than others - and they vary from quite illustrative to bolder, almost simplified scenes. At all times I was thinking of the textures that expressive brushstrokes can create - something which I find more important than making it look photo-realistic, especially when working towards a textiles outcome. 

Cottage at South Stacks, Anglesey

Heather on Mynydd Twr/Holyhead Mountain

Cottage behind the rocks, South Stacks

View to Snowdonia from Beaumaris

Mynydd Twr/Holyhead Mountain

South Stacks Lighthouse

All these are now available to buy as a set of 6 cards, or if you REALLY like them - some are available to buy, smartly mounted and ready to stick into a frame! Check them out...

First up - the final outcome!

Thought I'd share some pictures of my FMP exhibition, as I really think it sums up my project, and therefore my products pretty well!

I was so glad I ended up with 2 boards rather than just the one, as I think leaving either the paintings, knitting or digital prints out wouldn't have been a fair representation of my project - everything connects and compliments each other. I'm ESPECIALLY glad that my birds had their space to shine - because who doesn't want to see little birdies wearing scarves?

The opening of an Etsy shop

Over the past few days and weeks I have been in the process of preparing some products and pieces from my Final Major project to sell in my very own Etsy shop!!

So in order to (perhaps) drum up some publicity and interest beyond the realm of my family and friends, I'm going to post up some images and information, letting you know what to expect to be able to buy!

My project was all based and inspired by the beautiful island of Anglesey - a place very close to my and my family's heart. I have very fond memories of staying in rented cottages as a young girl, being taken to places like Newborough Warren and Beaumaris. Nowadays, we go for epic walks around the coast - often missing lunch and making up for it with huge quantities of fish and chips.

 It was one particular walk around Holyhead that really inspired me to look at Anglesey in more detail - and thus, a project was born!

And an Etsy shop was opened right here.

Upcoming Exhibition at Manchester School of Art!

Briar T-Shirt and Kelly Skirt!

Now I made my Kelly Skirt AAAGGGEESS ago but I hadn't posted about it so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and post an entire handmade outfit (with muchos lovos to Megan Nielsen who made the two patterns I made!).

So here are the front and back views. I made the Briar top in the short cropped version purely because I only bought 70cm worth of wide jersey (I went fabric shopping with my Mum and fell in love with the colour but not the price!). The original pattern has a deeper arch at the front but I shallowed it a little as I cut it out as I didn't want to bare too much midriff as unlike the Man Repeller I feel I ought to avoid the Resort-full-on-belly-reveal trend! The sewing on the Briar top is far from perfect, but for my first time sewing with jersey I am rather pleased.

The Kelly Skirt is another fantastic pattern! Please excuse the creases and runkled-upness of the skirt - I'd already worn it the day prior to taking these photos and, well, I really hate ironing. I do really love the fabric I made it out of but next time I think a cotton twill or any fabric with a nicer drape would be better as it does rather stick out a bit. I'd also make a smaller waist band because, although you can't tell from the photos, it is tooo big for me! I can tuck a t-shirt, jumper and more into that thing (which to be fair has led to some interesting outifts!). 

Here's a closer look at both of them, and the horrendous creases in my skirt.

Completed Thurlows! (and Exams)

So my latest project has been the Thurlow Shorts from the awesome Sewaholic . And I'm so pleased with them. I'm a major pear shape so finding shorts on the high street that fit my hips while not being stupidly huge on the waist or vice versa is a bit of an issue - luckily Sewaholic patterns are designed for pear-shaped women so getting them to fit was actually pretty easy. I made a muslin (ALWAYS MAKE A MUSLIN) in a size 0 as the finished measurement on the waist matched my own. The fit around the waist ended up being perfect and then I just used the Colletterie's Pants Fitting Cheat Sheet and this chart of common trouser alterations to change my paper pattern, whip up a new muslin just to check and voila! I was ready to go! Turns out all I needed to do was add a touch more room to the inseams near the crotch and at the side seams so I literally only graded those sections out towards a size 4 and back again.

Sadly for a beginner, Sewaholic pattern instructions are a bit sparse in some places so I'd urge everyone making them who's a bit unsure about certain tricky sections (the double welt pockets for example) to read Lladybird's Thurlow Sewalong. The only thing she wasn't that useful with was the cuffs at the end - turns out I don't know how to make a cuff! However after a little bit of Googling I found this tutorial which helped me out.

 

I went for some swish navy blue gabardine because I wanted some nice smart shorts that I could wear with tights in winter too, but they'd work just as well in a lighter cotton for summer!

My lining was pretty standard navy too but I really fancy making a pair in perhaps a beige cotton with a really crazy lining like this:

Como Bright cotton lawn by Alexander Henry

                     

My next project is going to be Sewaholic's Cambie Dress with the full skirt. I have always wanted to have a dress like that so I can't wait to get started!! I was inspired by this fabric which I saw in John Lewis

Charleston Farmhouse Bloomsbury Parchment by Felicity Miller

But I'll have to see if it's still available :( It's just perfect for the shape with it's fifties vibe and really reminded me of Angie Lewin's art (one of my favourite printmakers).