This is my contribution to the Centre for Sustainable Fashions great blog...

 

11.10.10 - Savile Row, Field Day

The Campaign for Wool, headed by His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, aims to encourage and promote the use of the highly versatile fibre wool – with wools natural ability to wick away moisture from the skin, its fibre structure allowing great breathability and its ‘built in’ UV protection - not to mention it is totally biodegradable as well as being sustainable, wool really is an amazing fibre – highly underutilized in today’s fashion world!

Walking down Regent’s Street we had no idea what would confront us around the corner on the most famous tailoring street in the world, Savile Row. A bright yellow sign warned that sheep would be crossing before Savile Row’s entire street came into view, all beautifully adorned with bright green grass, picket fencing and lots and lots of lovely (and remarkably clean!) sheep!

 

With Bowmont sheep in one pasture (a cross between Saxon merino and Shetland – meaning beautifully soft fleece!) and the next pasture holding Exmoor Horns (great for making tweed with!) we were treated to a look at the beginning raw material in a long journey from the sheep’s back to the shop floor.

“Savile Row’s tailors continue to create simply the best suits in the world, by hand, using skills that the modern world consider archaic or lost” (www.savilerowbespoke.com), Many tailors up and down Savile Row had opened their doors to allow the general public a peek inside the secret world of bespoke tailoring, it was an amazing chance to see top industry cutters and pattern makers at work – and to see the amount of dedication and hard work that goes into each step of producing a one off shirt or suit.

In a bid to increase the demand for wool across the globe which has been decreasing in popularity since the introduction of cheaper synthetic alternatives in the late 1940’s, to encourage a more responsible and sustainable way of living, and to help farming livelihoods that have been devastated by the drop in demand (it now often costs the farmers more to shear the sheep than the money they gain from selling the fleece at market), The Campaign for Wool has set up a number of high profile projects aimed to increase the general publics awareness for this highly abundant, beautiful fibre being brought back to the forefront of fashion.

 

After a great introduction to the archives of Hardy Amies, who has dressed everyone from the Queen to Mick Jagger, we were able to look at the beautiful illustrations that had been the inspiration for many fashion trends over the years. Back out in the sunshine we ventured past the sheep and into a wooden shed filled with different types of wool fleece from around the world – from the finest Australian Merino wool to finished rolls of beautifully woven British tweed.

With hundreds of people taking photographs and film cameras abundant, hopefully this day was a roaring success and helped show the public just how great and versatile wool really is, whilst showing off what amazing skills British tailors and designers still have, offering a unique alternative to today’s generic fast fashion high street.

  After a really nice chat with the owners and a demonstration of how to use the massive machine (it looked just like a giant jacket press but with more bolts and fastenings!) we were left to our own devices and had a lot of fun laying out the wool, wetting and soaping it up before letting the machine take some of the hand work away! It took a few goes to get a good consistency - but we had a really great time experimenting and seeing the different thicknesses that could be achieved! The machine can make pieces as big as 3 foot by 5 foot , and works by creating friction between the wool fibres caused by the vibrating movements of the flat inside plates! 

I now have a huge soapy bag of big pieces of felt ready to hand finish tomorrow in my garage! Hopefully I am going to have time to experiment a little with using felted wool - maybe in a later project now though! However i'm definitely going to use it to see if its tough enough to create fastenings with!

This will have to be a quick catch up of the last few days - as I never seem to be around a computer when I have time to write!!

On Wednesday a few of us headed down to the Fashion Expo show and lectures, held in Westminster. Hosted by the Ethical Fashion Forum it was a great opportunity to see lots of different manufacturers, companies and designers all focused on creating a more sustainable and ethical fashion industry. Although quite tightly packed in quite a small location - with a slight feeling of claustrophobia whilst pushing through the crowds to see each stall (which can only be a good thing as it showed there was a good turn out!) it was good to see such diverse companies specialising in many different fields - from fabric manufacture to knitting cooperatives in Africa.
There were three stalls which really interested me and directly related to my project - Izzy lane - which was great to see their new collection of high end clothing, Marling and Evans - a woven cloth producer using only naturally coloured British Wool, all processed in England, using the variation in colours to create beautiful patterns, and Mikono Knits a cooperative operating in Kenya, where women hand knit organic cotton and African wool in their own homes.

Thursday involved a trip to The Knitting and Stitch Show, held at Alexandra Palace, where I volunteered for the UK Hand Knitting Association, helping teach people to knit, although not very busy as I had a quite early morning shift, hopefully the event went well for them and it got a little bit busier in the afternoon! I rushed to university then headed home to quickly pack before getting the bus back up to Bolton ready for a busy Friday...

 

A productive day was had at Mare St yesterday - after completing my first base garment (yay...I can now have one full nights sleep to reward myself!) and being not entirely satisfied with its appearance  - I think I may have looked at it for too long! - I added a ribbed trim on the bottom and neckline - which gave the piece a lot more structure and looked more 'finished'!!

I then used the magical steam press to block my design - and all the niggly bits and slightly curled edges were flattened out - leaving me with a much more satisfactory garment - I can't wait to try it on someone to get a few shots up on here and show it off...

Today is a total library day - I have a bag full of heavy books, some dating back to the 1920's so i'm going to bury myself in them and hopefully come out with a fully structured, thoroughly referenced introduction to my project - I think  might be being a little too optimistic there!

I found a great video of a huge exhibition - I guess like the knitting and Stitching Show, in Paris...

Some of the projects look amazing and so well curated - inspiration...

 

After a productive few days, organising samples etc for the presentation/review day, all went smoothly and i'm now on full time knitting duty of my first proper garment - the sides and one front panel are done and its just the back now to do...i'm not 100% happy with it at the moment as a little bit of the structure of the piece is different to how I imagined it - but maybe it will sort out when I attach the back piece - or maybe i'll have to think of something else!

HOWEVER - one major achievement is that the dip dyed yarn I dyed with onion skin has made the most beautiful patterns - i'm really happy with them and hopefully I can use them in other elements of my designed garments - well I have to get back to knitting at my challenge for the day is to finish the back piece!!

So after developing some of my designs...i've decided they do indeed look good with legs and heads!! (thanks Sal!),

I still can't help being really neat - i've tried my best to be messy and sketchy - but its just not me!

Todays checklist - 

Organise sketch book with heading/titles/labels - DONE

Finish annotating samples - DONE

Organise coloured skeins - NEARLY

Finish neat designs - DONE

Finish knitting - NEVER WILL AT THIS RATE

Well thats over half completed - still going to be quite a late night tonight though ready for the big critique tomorrow - hopefully it will all get done!!

Designs...

 

I was really struggling to keep my samples neat, tidy and in a logical order to see the progression, so instead of having them squished in a box, I decided to present them on giant 'label' type data sheets, and hopefully can find a box suitable next week sometime!!

This has really got my mind focussed on how far i've come - and where the journey began!



Also, today I saw the weirdest advert for wool on the back of a bus...I just don't see the appeal of a semi-naked guy wearing pink socks and stroking a dog...and it definitely doesn't entice me to buy woollen socks?!

After a busy few days I feel I have totally dishonoured this blog!! - and shall try and post a lot more regularly! As I can't remember half the things I have done over the past few days!

After a great get together session with the rest of the MA group, I had the very daunting task (with Beth, Kate and Saida of course!) of standing in front of a the hundred new Masters students beginning at LCF and giving a short presentation about our Sri Lankan experience -TWICE!! There was no major screw ups and hopefully we showed what a great opportunity it was and how lucky we felt to be involved in it! After a quick rush back to central London we re-joined the MA group to have a great discussion about how we were feeling about our projects and how we felt they were progressing! It was great to speak about them openly and also lovely to see how everyone else was feeling and how their projects have progressed over summer!

The rest of the week has been spent at Mare St using the open access rooms to plan/knit/draw, and after a really great tutorial with Sal I now have a clearer idea of how much i need to achieve before next week (!!!!) if i'm to keep myself and my brain from going into melt down!

Today we went to the ICA to see a great new exhibition by a Russian design/art/thinking collective - it was really well presented and had some really interesting ideas of how to challenge current systems and how to present a journey effectively!

After a busy few days of panicking and flapping about my work, I felt the only way to actually get anything done was to get out of my flat and go to the studio to stat pinning on mannequins etc.

After an amazing phone tutorial this morning, which really helped to clarify thoughts and ideas in my head - I have come to the conclusion that I need a clear plan and direction - and to plough on through my doubt to see what will come out of experimenting and actually creating my pieces - instead of me continuing to be too scared to begin using the yarns i've spent weeks (and months!) creating!

So its full steam ahead with ideas on how to document and present my findings, i've also completed the first 5 inches of knitting for my first collection piece so far today!!

I think my designs will naturally evolve once I start knitting them, so the next stage of my journey begins...