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 [...]]]> http://www.katiemacleod.com/a-mini-adventure/feed/ 0 http://www.katiemacleod.com/some-gems/ http://www.katiemacleod.com/some-gems/#comments Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:27:04 +0000 Katie http://www.katiemacleod.com/?p=549 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 [...]]]> http://www.katiemacleod.com/some-gems/feed/ 0 http://www.katiemacleod.com/a-wee-discovery-2/ http://www.katiemacleod.com/a-wee-discovery-2/#comments Sun, 27 Jun 2010 20:22:51 +0000 Katie http://www.katiemacleod.com/?p=579 Over the last wee while I’ve been trying to play around with different garment ideas. Those who are clued up on knitty related matters will know that working with knitwear raises all kinds of little bothers to overcome when it comes to constructing even very simple shaped garments.. Obviously, you can’t just knit a huge square of fabric and pattern cut into it as the continuous thread of the fabric would just unravel - disaster! At Art School I always had access to a linker, a very clever machine that sort of catches the stitches from the different panels of fabric and stitches them neatly together.. perfect! If you look at any edge on the inside of a cardigan or the like you will see the lovely little neat edge it leaves behind.

Not having the lovely linker at my disposal has meant I’ve been playing around with alternative ways of joining panels together and I reckon I’ve managed to find a way of doing this on my trusty viking that i think works pretty well…

Yes, it doesn’t seem like much but to me it opens up a lot more possibilities for my designs .. and yes, thats my arm just for trial purposes.. baby steps!

Bury based Mr fox owns Fairfield Yarns, an absolute Alladins cave of every kind of yarn you could be looking for, with a somewhat bizarre theme of vintage railway memorabilia dotted around alongside…!

Specialising in surplus stocks of proffesional yarns used in industry, I’ve been going down to Bury periodically for the last three years, both while I was studying and since. Their stock changes regularly, but there are always some really really amazing Italian lambswools and the silks I love so much, and they are never too badly priced either.

Even better, this man really knows his stuff. Show him a colour or a little swatch of what you’re looking for and off he goes up some ladder into the corner,  “I know exactly the thing!” .. amazing.

He also makes a very lovely cup of tea, and is always keen for a good natter with your mum while she’s waiting (usually for a minimum of a couple of hours) for you to have a dilemma over how much you can actually [...]]]> http://www.katiemacleod.com/fantastic-mr-fox/feed/ 0 http://www.katiemacleod.com/its-business-time/ http://www.katiemacleod.com/its-business-time/#comments Wed, 05 May 2010 21:13:34 +0000 Katie http://www.katiemacleod.com/?p=344 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?

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…!

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 [...]]]> http://www.katiemacleod.com/how-i-roll/feed/ 0 http://www.katiemacleod.com/a-brief-history-2/ http://www.katiemacleod.com/a-brief-history-2/#comments Wed, 05 May 2010 21:11:56 +0000 Katie http://www.katiemacleod.com/?p=361 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…!

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 [...]]]> http://www.katiemacleod.com/a-brief-history-2/feed/ 0 http://www.katiemacleod.com/my-little-studio-3/ http://www.katiemacleod.com/my-little-studio-3/#comments Sun, 25 Apr 2010 18:27:48 +0000 Katie http://www.katiemacleod.com/?p=289 Bedroom, Studio, Workshop all rolled into one!

My lovely 12 Gauge Dubied, affectionately known as Ralph (the chaps at Tortex inform me the designers at Ralph Lauren over in NYC use the same one in the initial stages of developing their stitches… love love love this fact!)

I live in the top floor flat in an old Victorian tenement street in Glasgow, and the bay window gives me loads of light as well as being such a great spot for people watching as I’m working away on my stuff…!!

My ever growing yarn collection…! Almost all my yarns come from an amazing wee place down South called Fairfield Yarns, a complete Aladdins cave for knit lovers which I’ll mention more later..!

My yarns are mostly Italian lambswools and silks, though I often mix little bits of other things in if I love the colour. I’m liking having everything colour coordinated for now but I switch them round all the time so I can play with colour combinations and try unexpected things beside each other.

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!