Live Brief

My chosen live brief is ‘The Branding Project’ which requires me to research into a brand of my choice, and producing a sketchbook of research, mood boards and a final outcome. My chosen brand is ‘Mark Fast’ I have chosen Mark Fast as I feel his work is different to mine, his use of lycra makes his work sculpt the body and he is known for his ‘open garments’ clothing with a lot of ‘holes’ and open spaces. 

On researching all his collections, I took interest in his latest spring/summer collections. I particularly like his s/s 2014 range, his collection is very punk esc – hip and alternative. I noticed that through the collection he adds more colour – from greys to bright colours, some garments being very colourful. I like how the colour comes in gradually, sort of fades in. 

As lycra is important in relalation to his brand I intend to use it in my project. I intend to kick start this brief through the idea of an ‘open and closed structure’ which I feel his garments are, they are very detailed in areas, and then are open in other areas of a piece. 

Developing Samples

 This week I have started to work on the dubied knitting machine, mixing the ripple and ribbing techniques together, this sample is I feel successful but if I were to do it again I would change the placement of the rib slightly higher rather than in the middle. I will take forward the way the knit expands on the ripple as it gets closer to the ribbing. 

I have also started to work with the possibility of manipulating the knit once off the machine. On this technique I used the technique ‘Smocking’ stitching parts of the knit together. This created a ‘ripple’ in the knit and the colour followed the movement within the smocked area. I intend to use this technique in my final collection as I feel I can shape the knit how I want it to within relation to my research easily. 

Developing Samples

I also want to experiment with wire in knitting in this project, so using the dubied machine I started to insert wire using the inlay technique, I used a stiff wire so it was easy for me to mould it the way I wanted. Once knitted I was able to shape the knit myself, I used it to make a waved effect that I have in my research. But I need to consider if the wire is wearable, if I take this forward as a design in my final collection I need to find a way of the wire being safe to wear, as the ends could cut into anyone wearing it. There is also the option of using a finer wire, which would not have as much effect as the thicker wire but would give me mean to manipulate the knit still. I also need to take into consideration if the wire is secure enough – will it fall out of the knit? (sample below)

Initial Samples

From my research I have started to experiment with techniques on the domestic knitting machine that I feel link to the shapes in my research. I also have carefully considered my yarn, I have decided to use mercerised cottons for the shiny/reflective quality, using mohair for use of blurring lines and wools in parts to add stability. On choosing my yarns I had to consider the intent of my collection. I want my collection to be an Autumn/Winter range, so the use of wools I feel was needed. I also need to consider my colour proportions, I don’t want to focus too much on the greys, therefore making my knit dull. 

In this sample I have used the hooking up technique. This created a wave in the colours therefore giving the illusion of movement. I think the colour proportions in this sample are not quite right though as the sample, particularly the black and white are look quite stripy, I think this could be resolved with adding mohair and then brushing it to merge the colours together.

In this sample I also used the hooking up technique, but used fewer colours, I find that if I added more peaches to this it would become warmer – more rich in colour giving it a better quality.