Kinks in the Process

I have had two tutorials since the last post. Things are generally going well.

The 3D fabric is so nearly right it hurts!! Another session on Friday should see it finished in it's current form. In the next month or so there is a new Shima with a wider bed arriving and I want to switch across to that next term. This is for two reasons, the new machine is a finer gauge and I'd like to see this knitted in silk and the wider bed means I will be able to be more adventurous with the final design as I will have so much more fabric to play with. That said I may use the  narrow panels to construct a garment just to explore the complications in designing around the machines limitations.

I am making interesting headway with designs to accommodate the pleated linen fabric. It's hard not to revert to designing on paper so I am using photos printed in grayscale to work on top of. I have also bought some fabric that I am hoping will be perfect for one of the garments....now all I have to do is get the garment right.

New yarn cards should be arriving this week so lots to think about.

Working with linen and Whole Garment.

The last couple of weeks have been spent working with two different aproaches.

I have spent a lot of time pleating and finishing a large piece of linen so I have a panel large enough to manipulate on the stand. Previous I had been working with smaller pieces but they didn't allow the flexibility to drape on a body. I have also spent a lot of time programming to try and form a 3D length of kitting.

The large piece of linen has yielded results that have pushed me forward on garment design. I photographed the mocked up garment shapes and then put the photos on a light-box and traced over them to help think about how I could form dresses, skirts etc that draw on the potential of the shapes. Again this was not a way of working I have ever indulged in before. The benefits in the process were that I wasn't designing front and back views and then putting in seams so I could make up a garment. This method allowed me to work on a side view, or the area around the waist or bust in isolation and then move forward into a garment that takes the form more fully into consideration.

As for the 3D length of knitting I am learning an awful lot about how the Shimas' brain interprets my commands. The design system itself is very good at telling you what it doesn't like however still allows me to ignore the issues it thinks are there if I believe I have already put something else into the programme to counteract potential problems. It is like learning any language in as much as although there may be a real word or phrase for what you want to say sometimes you need to invent your own slag to really hit the nail on the head. This week I hope to actually solve the outstanding problems so I can start sampling in a variety of yarns to try and identify the perfect one for the fabric.

OH Late Again....

I seem to need at least 10 days to cogitate on a meeting before posting....but I am here now.

Last tutorial went well ....... we have the MO! I am finally off and running.

The pleats constructed by painstaking and laborious hand crochet through linen (yes this really is what my life has come to...) are ringing the right bells. There is also a lot to go at with knitting into leather......and into mesh.

Each fabric has it's own personality, the linen is feminine, leather edgy and the mesh sporty so there are three potential directions to follow......

Added to this I have the pure knit route on power and that makes 4! I am starting to think in term of 4 garments or outfits each separate but following the same line of enquiry. This could be possible if time allows.

As for now I am starting on the linen, large piece of fabric pleated and then shaped around the body from there I will do some flatwork based on the photos......