Crochet and Culture at the Fashion and Textiles Museum

I attended a fabulous workshop at the Fashion and Textiles Museum in the last week of October to learn how to crochet with the absolutely lovely knitwear designer Katie Jones. She delivered a 3-hour session with the help of her mum where she taught us the basics of crochet and by the end of the session we had all made a crochet necklace.

We used t-shirt yarn in a variety of colours which is a pretty chunky type of yarn made from recycled t-shirts. Due to the thickness of the yarn you created a decent amount of crochet in a short space of time.

Here are some photos of my progress.

Learning how to get into the rhythm of a continuous chain 

The first row was 20 stitches long

My first attempt at adding a new colour to the second row. Still too early to tell if I have done this correctly!?

The finished piece after a third grey row. This final yarn was VERY chunky which gives the illusion of extra volume but it's exactly the same stitch as before

On the first Friday of November, I attended a talk by Amber Butchart on the 'Chronicles of Fashion' her most recent book. She is an associate fashion lecturer at the London College of Fashion and also presented the BBC programme 'A Stitch in Time'. 

Amber spoke about a number of the best-dressed people from history she has selected when writing the book which covers over 100. The talk was extremely interesting and engaging and at the end of the evening, I bought her book which she kindly signed!

The ticket to the event also included entry to the current exhibition 'Night and Day; 1930's Fashion and Photographs' which has an abundance of absolutely glorious bias cut, beaded and embroidered dresses. A true feast for the eyes! I would highly recommend you pay a visit. The exhibition continues until 20th January 2019.

Art Exhibition Adventures

Joseph Frank at the Fashion and Textiles Museum, Bermondsey until 7th May 2017

I visited the Joseph Frank exhibition last week and enjoyed the bold and beautiful prints created by this artist and designer. The work is displayed brilliantly with the original textile prints artworks alongside floor to ceiling lengths of printed fabric. A fun interactive touch is there are several pieces of furniture upholstered in the prints for visitors to sit on.

Upstairs hangs a wide collection of still life and landscape paintings produced by Frank throughout his career. They are bold watercolours that showcase his interest in colour, pattern and texture.
I would highly recommend a visit to see this exhibition before it closes on the 7th May.

Teheran 1943-45

Himalaya 1950

Window 1943-45

Alternative Facts by Fatherless at Stour Space, Hackney Wick until 1st May

This exhibition at the Stour Space Gallery involved a little adventure to get there starting at Hackney Wick station and a walk down the canal towpath next to the Olympic Park. I really wanted to see this show by the Fatherless print collective as I already own one of their prints (below) that I bought from the Pick me Up exhibition in 2013.

They have an interesting approach to making art. As a collective they all add to each piece of work they do layering screen-prints over the top of each other using bright and bold imagery and colours. The artists in the Fatherless collective are Jarrod Hennis, Javier Jimenez, Greg Lang, Dave Menard and Londoner Ben Rider.

FTM 1920's Jazz Age: Fashion & Photography

I spent an hour after work at the Fashion and Textiles Museum in Bermondsey. It was a lovely way to bring some much needed inspiration and glamour into my life after the shock of returning back to work after a gloriously relaxing Christmas holiday.

If you haven't yet had a chance to visit this exhibition be quick, as it ends on Sunday 15th January. The FTM is a petit and bijou museum but it rarely disappoints. Tonight was no exception as the show opens with a gaggle of gorgeous gowns and coats to hit you with a blast of 1920's glamour. The accompanying literature offers some insight into the purpose, styes and fads of the 1920's fashion era as women were expressing the cultural changes of their role in society.

From a textile enthusiast's perspective the show had me leaning very closely to every mannequin to see the construction techniques, hand embroidery, pin-tucking, beading, tassels and fringing. There were so many sumptuous fabrics, colours and patterns to behold!

I shall leave you with a visual feast of photos.

An added bonus was the sale in the museum shop. I have consciously stayed clear of any high street shops to avoid any knee-jerk sales purchases of things I don't need, but I really couldn't say no to 50% off Sew Over It patterns! The Shift Dress and Pussy Bow Blouse found their way into my life before my return home. Oopss!

Missoni Art Colour at the FTM

I think the Fashion and Textiles Museum in Bermondsey has definitely upped it's exhibition game for the Missoni Art Colour event. I have a feeling they were influenced by the outstanding Alexander McQueen at the V&A and thought they needed to get more dramatic and atmospheric.

This exhibition certainly is bold, dramatic and atmospheric thanks to some creative lighting, interesting displays and a 'white-noise' soundtrack especially commissioned for the exhibition. Recordings of the knitting machines used to make Missoni fabric were looped together to create a soundscape that certainly added to the exhibition experience.

As a trained textile designer I found the sketchbooks and technical notes for the knitted fabrics really interesting. The most striking aspect of the show is the wall of mannequins wearing a vast collection of amazing Missoni garments.

In addition to the beautiful clothing there is an impressive collection of artwork bought by the Missoni family over the past 60 years which links their fashion inspiration to a range of fine art pieces by Giniani Severini and Sonia Delauney amongst others.

This exhibition runs until the 4th September and I would highly recommend a visit to this stunning little museum if you get a chance this summer.