As we reach the Summer in Shetland that also means the end of the student year at the Shetland College, carrying on from our earlier project with the second year students of the Contemporary Textiles course they have produced some brilliant garments in their final project. They will be on display at Shetland Wool Week in October but anyone who has visited the Shetland College during the past few weeks will have had a sneak peak at their end of year show. The project brief was to show off the versatility and quality of J&S wool and they didn’t disappoint!
Rebecca Sinclair’s fun design uses lots of different weights and colours of Jamieson & Smith yarns. Her inspirations from classic Fair Isle can be seen, and the use of different yarns and colours is really inspiring!
Malin roberts was inspired by her Scandinavian background and 1950s menswear shapes in her project. She created a lapel shaped scarf using Wool fleece and Shetland Heritage using a carpet making technique
She created a great 3D pattern on her other garment and she was inspired by weaving, which I think you can really see on the sleeves here where she has used the inside as the outside and cut the floats in the knitting.
Lynn McCormacks sculptural shapeed neckpiece and top used a brilliant technique i’ve never seen before
Lace tubes stuffed with Combed Tops make a brilliant addition to the lacey top she created by using one thread of 1ply Shetland Supreme with one thread of 2ply Shetland Supreme. The effect is really striking, Lyn is more interested in texture than pattern which i think comes across in a brilliant way in her work and I love the addition of the blue stripes on the neckpiece.
Izabella Delnickas work used very clever shaping and pattern to demontrate the smooth and springy aspect of the Shetland Heritage. Her top knitted with negative ease hugs the body and looks very sleek.
Her top can be worn with the caped neck downover the shoulders or up as a snood, multi style garments like this are so tricky to plan and Izabela has done a fantastic job.
I love how vivid the Heritage colours are, they work really well in machine knitting.
Kara McKay has used the colleges industrial Shima Seiki knitting machines to develop a modern take on the knitted swimsuit, her piece knitted in Shetland Heritage Coll Black has been embellished with 2ply Jumper Weight motif’s added on afterwards.
The effect is really striking, and the finishing on the piece is to a really high standard, you could jump in the pool now!
Dorothy Fraser has expanded on the techniques used in the previous project we did with the College
She has continued developing mixing hand knit lace in Shetland Heritage with felted machine knitting, the combination of textures makes for really interesting garments.
Joyce Leask, chose to develop scarves using felting and embellishment techniques which she also started in her previous work with us.
Joyce deceided to explore mixing traditional patterns with contemporary techniques and styles, she chose scarves as they are a popular accesory which can complete an outfit and she really wanted to develop some new finishing techniques
Its always really great to see what the students are creating at the College and as an ex student I love to see what new techniques and styles they have come up with. The exhibition is on at the College until the 25th of June but it will be on show again at Wool Week,
Happy Knitting!
Ella x
Thank you for sharing these experimental pieces….they are so inspiring!
It is always stimulating to read about your interests and inspirations. I do wish you could write more news and knitting news. It helps me to feel in touch.
Exceptional work. I can’t tell you how pleased we are to see such talent being let loose on Jamieson and Smith’s Real Shetland wool yarns! It is an ancient industry but I keep learning something new all the time. How lucky are we?
Please keep the passion and enthusiasm for Real Shetland wool and we will do our best to create some exciting new yarns……..watch this space….
These are stunning, one and all. If I can’t be in Shetland during Wool Week, these pictures will still provide great inspiration.
Very inspirational work! I loved the new textures and ideas. Any chance of a pattern book from the college, maybe online, maybe sponsored by J&S?
I’m in a ceramics show where the catalogue was published online – so lower cost – but still a long-term, great way to display and publicise my work…
Maybe the college could get photographers and IT students to collaborate to make a similar online catalogue – maybe coordinated as a marketing student project? They would all be able to have it in their CV/portfolios.. I just want the patterns, of course!
Lovely objects. Visually striking, and unique. It would be great to go back to college 😉 lots of permission to play. Well done to the students.
I second the idea of a pattern book! Thank you, Carys Davies – brilliant idea.