Katie Macleod » Knitwear

A Mini Adventure

Katie — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:52:13 +0000

As I mentioned before I’ve been really keen to start developing the samples I’ve been working on into more substantial garments.

First and foremost, I always always think about the technique and appeal of the fabric I’m designing before I consider it in the context of an actual piece of clothing, and for this reason I mainly think of myself as a Textile designer rather than a Fashion girl. That being said, I think it’s really important that I show that I can visualise my work successfully and can see my designs as they’re intended to be worn. Producing actual wearable pieces gets me more excited about what I’m doing too, so with that in mind I’ve had a wee idea to experiment with a few simple little bodycon skirts. Their shape means that I should be able to produce them without the aid of the linker etc, and their straight and simple lines should keep the emphasis on my heavily techniqued based designs.

I’ve seen a few things around and about which have been similar shape wise.

This little fairisle skirt from Miss Selfridge… simple, clean lines shows off the pattern.

This isn’t by far one of my favourite designs of theirs, but [...]

Some Gems

Katie — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:27:04 +0000

Just a few things in the online world I’ve been loving over the past couple of weeks…

Knitkicks - www.knitkicks.co.uk

I stumbled across this lovely wee site a bit randomly and ended up staying a while (sometimes I feel like I could spend weeks wandering in the world of online blogging… there is so much talent out there!) Run by Jen Jarvis, knit kicks is dedicated to catwalk and graduate knitting talent, a refreshing change from most of the other knitting based blogs I’ve come across which tend to be either a bit stuffy or centred on personal knitting projects. I especially love graduate Hannah Buswells work with her bright fairisle stripes and panels. Like me she’s not afraid of colour and everyone knows I love a pattern…

Fifi Lapin http://www.fifi-lapin.blogspot.com ‘The worlds most stylish bunny,’ Fifis creator scours the the latest catwalks on style.com to give this cute little rabbit a wardrobe to die for! I love her with this little Marni Dress and orange glasses, though she does enjoy a bit of knitwear too..!

Rob Ryan http://www.misterrob.co.uk/ I came across the genius of Rob Ryan and his adventures in paper cutting when a friend gave me his gorgeous ‘This is for you’ book. The combination of the beautifully intricate cutting with the childlike [...]

It’s Business Time.

Katie — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:13:34 +0000

Just got my shiny new business cards and I’m pretty chuffed with them. I think the mannequin design works well, and notice how the little ends of the ‘K’ and ‘L’ look like a knitting needle sort of thing… nice touch, don’t you think?

How I Roll…

Katie — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:12:47 +0000

I thought I’d write a little post on the process I tend to go through when designing the things I make and all the things I’m trying to keep doing to keep inspiration up and keep pushing myself!

My course always put a huge emphasis on drawing, and this is something I’ve tried to keep up since finishing. I’m obsessed with geometric patterns and structures and my past inspiration has come from a huge variety of sources from fishing ports, old tiles, facades and shutters in little details of buildings.

I’m always photographing anything I find interesting pattern wise and sketching helps me think about how even a tiny element from a shape or structure could be translated into a successful sample. During my honours year, alot of my knitwear had a slightly structural quality to it, and this was often reflected in my art work too where I’d combine collage with my drawings, almost like I’m building what I’ve photographed…!

Collage and Sketchwork

Star Lace Tile Collage

I always explore colours by making colour wraps (I’ve always found matching the threads and sitting winding strangley therepeutic!) and these help me see how colours [...]

A Brief History…!

Katie — Wed, 05 May 2010 21:11:56 +0000

I Studied Textile Design at the Glasgow School of Art, specialising in knitwear after my first year. While some Textiles and Fashion Design students pass there designs onto manufacturers to produce, GSA placed alot of emphasis on us being highly trained at the manual production aspect of out specialisms as well as the design process. Initially we were trained to machine knit on domestic Brother machines; the chunkier effect they produce means you can see the stitches really clearly and get a good grasp of all the different techniques. I was always desperate to get onto the more fiddly intricate stuff, but starting out like this really helped me learn the basic principles of how to manipulate stitches and achieve effects that could be applied when we moved onto using the lovely fine industrial machines later on.

A couple of photos of very early work…!

Very first garment! 2nd year

In my4th year cardigan collection, I really developed my love for interesting colour combinations, fine weighted yarns and the use of techniques like inlay and chevrons to achieve the patterns and proportions that I love so much. After graduation, we headed off to the New Designers exhibition which [...]

Hello There.

Katie — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 17:11:16 +0000

Nice to meet you.

After spending a couple of months buried under yarns and sketchbooks, I decided it was about time that I joined the blogosphere and got to grips with managing my lovely new website!

With the help of the very talented Ivanna over at Muymono I’ve had a little crash course in the technicalities of organising and managing galleries on my website which means I should be able to keep adding and changing things around all by myself - exciting!

One thing I’ve found I’ve really missed since graduating is constantly being surrounded by other creative textiley types to bounce ideas off. When you’re producing work in your own wee space it can be easy to get stuck in a rut or talk yourself down. Being the sort of girl who loves organising and diary writing (there’s nothing like a good list I say) I’m hoping this will be a place where I can document ideas and day to day musings as well as little bits and pieces of the projects I’m currently working on and what’s inspiring me.

Time to get cracking!

Practice makes Perfect