Off to London

I first heard about the ‘Knitwear: Chanel to Westwood’ exhibition about a year ago and have been looking forward to it ever since then. A few weekends ago, armed with needles and yarn I took the train to London. The Fashion and Textile Museum is in Bermondsey just south of the river. Before I left home, I checked the tube route and came up with a plan of other things to see and do on this day out.

Neat the Tower of London

My first stop was the Tower of London. Here there is an outdoor art installation of ceramic poppies to commemorate the end of World War One. I have the feeling that everyone in Britain must have seen photos of these poppies, so was surprised that I could not see them leaving the underground. In fact, you have to be fairly close to the Tower to see them and it is an amazing sight.

The installation is called ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’. Red poppies are a symbol of Remembrance in the UK. The installation was unveiled on 5 August 2014, one hundred years since the first full day of Britain’s involvement in the First World War. More poppies will be added each day until there are 888246. This will represent each British and Colonial fatality during the war. The poppies will encircle the Tower of London. The poppies are for sale in order to raise money for six service charities.

I love how they rise out of the moat (or are they descending into it). They also flow over the entrance. This work comes out of a collaboration between ceramic artist Paul Cummins and theatre stage designer Tom Piper. Take a look at this video clip showing how Paul Cummins Ceramics, from the East Midlands, makes the poppies.

Also at the Tower were these majestic creatures …

Kendra Haste made these life-sized lion sculptures using wire mesh. They are on guard by the ruins of the Lion Tower at the main entrance!

After a short walk from the Tower of London, I arrived at the Fashion and Textile Museum. Time for a coffee in their great cafe, then off to see the exhibitions.

Visionary Knitwear

Sandy Black curated the first exhibition: “Visionary Knitwear. The photos below are from a mini-exhibition in the small room at the museum where visitors could take photos without flash, so they are not my best photos.

Mark Fast

There are some stunning machine knitted dresses, including this long openwork dress from Mark Fast’s Spring/Summer 2010 collection. This viscose and lycra dress has nylon feathered fringing. Mark Fast graduated from Central St Martins in 2006 with a BA (Hons) Fashion and in 2008 with an MA in Fashion.

Julien MacDonald

Here is a close-up of the Utopia dress by Julien MacDonald from his Autumn/Winter 2014 collection. This viscose and lurex dress has beautiful beads knit into the fabric. Julien MacDonald is well-known for his stunning knitwear.

Rory London

This close-up shows the detail of a stitch transfer dress by Rory London who graduated in 2011 with a BA in Fashion Knitwear Design from Nottingham Trent University. This uses a machine knit technique called plating which uses two yarns at the same time. One yarn shows on the knit side and the other on the purl side. This creates two colour ribs which you see to great effect here.

This is Rory’s final year collection on the catwalk at Nottingham Trent University. Rory won the “George Gold Award” at Graduate Fashion Week 2011 for this stunning collection.

Yang Du

I think there’s always room for some fun in knitwear, even if I wouldn’t wear it myself. This is ‘Mr Elephant’ hat and ‘Mr Lion’ gloves by Yang Du from her 2011 Autumn / Winter. Yang graduated from Central St Martins in 2008 with a BA (Hons) in Fashion Print 2008 and in 2010 with an MA in Fashion Womenswear.

Amy Twigger Holroyd

The next photo shows a detail of work by Amy Twigger Holroyd from Keep and Share. Amy is a designer, maker and researcher who explores the relationship between fashion, making, design and sustainability. Her sustainable fashion philosophy is based on longevity and versatility; I was lucky to hear her speak whilst I was working on my MA at Nottingham Trent University; she is a stimulating and inspiring speaker, so if you get the chance to hear her, grab it!

This piece is ‘St Michael 12-40’ and is an example of Amy’s stitch hacking. She worked the ‘writing’ that you see by reworking stitches; it shows the text from the garment label.

Knitwear: from Chanel to Westwood

I cannot show you any photos from the main exhibition because photography was not allowed. This is usually due to the issues that occur when intellectual property rights owned by different people. Some may allow one thing, others something different and it all comes at a cost; it is simply more practical to ban visitors from taking photographs. However, if you look on the FTM’s FaceBook page you will be able to see some of the delights officially.

It is wonderful to see knitwear highlighted in an exhibition, and done so well. Outfits by Chanel and other designers from the 1920s were the first theme. If you follow me on Pinterest, you will know I adore 1920s clothes; they wouldn’t suit me at all, but I love them. I was amazed by how fine the 1920s knitwear was – it was machine knitted in rayon (viscose). I also loved the “Make Do and Mend” section showing garments made from oddments of yarn and most of them were quite wearable. The display of Fair Isle sleeveless tops was mesmerising. There were garments from all eras up to the present day. It was fun to revisit the 1980s and see designer garments for real.

I thoroughly recommend visiting the ‘Knitwear: from Chanel to Westwood’ exhibition. It is on until 18 January 2015; you can find out more here. You can also buy the above book, which whilst not exactly an exhibition book, does show many of the items on display.

More knitting

After the exhibition, I popped along to I Knit London, one of London’s famous yarn shops. This is a small shop with a lot of yarn and yarn-related goodies, and on the day I visited it was full of people too. I think most were members of a regular knitting group, but some were there for the launch of ‘Knit for Health and Wellness – how to knit a flexible mind and more …’ by Betsan Corkhill who set up Stitchlinks.

Knit for Health and Wellness

The main aim of Stitchlinks is to promote the use of therapeutic knitting and stitching. I was delighted to talk to Betsan about her research into the health benefits of knitting (of which I think most knitters are aware) and the science that underpins these benefits (new and exciting). We also chatted about the work that I do with Headway, the British charity that works with people with brain injuries. I’m hoping to use some ideas from Stitchlinks to develop my work with Headway.

So many books

I love books, I love knitting and I love books about knitting (and other textile crafts). Last on my itinerary was a visit to Foyles bookshop on Charing Cross Road. I usually go there when I visit London because they have a good selection of knitting and stitching books, and every other kind of book and a great cafe. And this visit was my first chance to see the new shop (take a look at this video clip to see how they moved all those books). The new shop is light and airy. I had a delicious soup, then browsed the books. I bought one, but that will remain a secret since it is a present for someone.

All in all, it was a fantastic and inspirational day out!

Changing things

On the way home I was too excited to read the book properly, so I skimmed some of it. It occurred to me that I mainly knit whilst doing something else: talking to people at knitting groups, listening to the radio, watching television, even at the cinema (this was a knitting group outing). It is rare these days that I just sit and knit and let my mind wander. And as someone with fibromyalgia, I do need to relax more and pace myself.

So, now I try to start the working day with an hour of quiet knitting. It’s work knitting, but I choose something that has reached an easy stage, i.e. no decisions to be made. I leave designing to later in the day. It means that large knitting projects progress steadily hopefully without a lengthy knitting session just before the deadline! Which helps me relax – a win, win strategy if I can keep it up.