An Army of Caterpillars

The brief for this assignment was to take the title 'An Army of Caterpillars' and use it as the basis for the visual studies and also as the basis for design for weave.

I decided to concentrate solely on the caterpillar part of the title, as there was so much inspiration in this alone. The colours and textures really inspired me and I felt translated well into the medium of weave. It has been a long time since I did the weave specialism last September/October, and it felt like coming home, getting back onto the hand loom again.

This time we had to make more decisions for ourselves, on the warp threads as well as the weft. We had to warp the looms, (with instruction) for the first time ourselves. A challenge in itself the first time. I was using a sixteen shaft loom this time, whereas last time I only had eight shafts to contend with.

I felt the project went particularly well, but please feel free to leave comments on this work.


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Patterns taken from caterpillar markings.

The brief for this part of the assignment was to produce 4 weave samples which reflected the visual studies undertaken - An army of caterpillars.

These are two of my samples which reflected the colours of the caterpillars studied.

Both were woven using double cloth techniques and have a three dimensional surface.

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Sample on left incorporated beads into the weave, and also the green stripes were of hand dyed threads.

Sample on right is of distorted weft weaving, which I subsequently used for my bag.

Two samples woven on sixteen shaft hand loom, using double cloth techniques, to resemble the caterpillars studied in visual studies.

The piece of work for this assignment was to make something to wear or a fashion accessory. I chose to make a bag. The fabric was woven on a sixteen shaft loom, using distorted weft pattern. The bag is lined and decorated with a piece of mikalov lace (which resembled a caterpillar) and the strap is made of a kumihimo braid.

My final piece of work for this assignment was a table runner, inspired by the caterpillar colours.

It was woven in cream cotton thread, 4 rows of plain weave followed by one patterned row of overshot pattern. The overshot rows were woven using a thicker strong thread. After weaving the overshot pattern rows were pulled up and tied both sides, and then the fabric was dyed using procion cold water dyes, green on one side and yellow on the other. After the dyeing process was complete and the fabric had dried, the tied threads were cut and withdrawn, revealing the dyed patterning on the fabric.


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A Holiday Location - my source - Japan

The brief for this project was to take a holiday location, and to bring back an object, a texture and a memory, which were to be incorporated into the design.

I have not been to Japan but have great interest in the country, having friends from there and an interest in their craft of Kumihimo and Bonsai.

I wanted to reflect my interest in the culture of the country.

I hope I manage to capture the essence in this work.

First piece of visual studies.

Second piece of visual studies

Third visual studies piece.

The hair ornaments fascinated me on this piece.!

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One idea for a fan design.

I decided to make a fan after the visual studies.

I wanted to use elements of the Japanese garden, and ended up using the ornaments found in a Japanese garden, along with the maple leaves and the Japanese wooden garden sandals. Everything a visitor would need to contemplate in the peace and tranquility found there.



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Design for Fan.

Design for the front leaf, intended to do two designs to make the fan more interesting and reversible.

The fabric I chose was semi transparent and so the design on the reverse was also a back drop for the front design.

The design for the back of the fan.







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Print Samples from Japanese design.

Transfer print design which I embellished using Traditional Japanese Embroidery techniques and silk threads.

This was the basis for the design for the fan which follows the samples.

This sample was hand embroidered using traditional Japanese Sashiko quilting thread and stitch.







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Transfer print techniques used, additional small green leaves appliqued afterwards and hand embroidered with gold thread.

This design was again transfer printed and embroidered using machine embroidery.

Japanese Print, printed using transfer print techniques.

Additional leaves appliqued on after printing and machine embroidery to attach them.

Transfer Print with machine embroidery, hand embroidery and beadwork to embellish.






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A Holiday Location - my source - Japan

The final piece of work was a fashion accessory or item to wear but not a garment.

I bought fan sticks and designed this fan.

I printed it using transfer print techniques and then embroidered it using traditional Japanese embroidery in silk threads.

I made the fan reversible, to give the user a choice, although this is the one I consider to be the front.

The back of the fan, with a different print.

The fan was made up and then hand stitched to the fan sticks.

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I also screen printed the design onto cotton fabric and used the fabric to make a box to keep the fan in.

The box is entirely hand stitched with no glue to hold it together.

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China Crisis - a look at Wedgwood Jasperware

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The starting point for this assignment was a visit to Nottingham Castle and an exhibition they had, on Wedgwood Jasperware.

I particularly liked the items which were not in the colours that you normally associate with Wedgwood (ie not in the shades of blue), such as the two scent bottles I have drawn above.

I decided to use this colour palette for my knit samples.

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Knitted sample done in two variations of tuck stitch, which I then machine washed to partially felt. The flowers were then needle felted and applied, and beads added afterwards.








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Two samples using punch cards. Left also using tuck stitch. Right using lace holes which were subsequently threaded with ribbon with fleece needle felted to it.


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Two samples, left - using tuck stitch and hanging in threads, then hooking up

right - using weaving threads.


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Two knitted samples. Sample on right had the lemon coloured leaves worked afterwards in bobbin lace techniques.

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Knitted item to wear

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This was the final piece in this assignment. The brief was to design something to wear, but not a garment, based on the samples and art work from Wedgwood Jasperware.

My piece, this collar is modelled by fellow student, Sarah.

The piece was made using various knit techniques, and finished with a crochet frill around the edge, felted ribbon through lace holes on the front, and needle felted flowers which were also beaded.

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Visual Studies - Shine a light

This visual studies assignment was based around projected images. A number of items were initially projected onto walls using an OHP. I have a special interest in hand made lace, and as some of the items were machine made lace, I used this as a reason to branch off into lace as a source.
I also photographed cobwebs with frost on, in the garden and used these as a source.
The idea was initially, to use black and white, with the designs being based around the silhouettes created by the projected images.
When the designs were taken into print, you could then reintroduce colour into the designs, but I decided against this and used monochrome for this assignment.
The prints were then subsequently embellished by various means to enhance the print.

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Two designs with inspiration from plants and cobwebs, with a couple of lace motifs.



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Two designs with the inspiration from my own lace designs.


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Two designs in black and white.

Motifs taken from cobwebs, lace and plants.





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Two mood boards

for interiors.









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Print specialism

Print design - 3 layers of print, with free machine embroidery to outline the motifs









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