http://businessboombolton.com/2012/07/24/bolton-university-textile-and-surface-design-graduate-amy-tomlinson/

I would like to thank business boom bolton who have placed my work on there website please feel free to have a nosey

This week I have been making the wellington boot socks that you can see on the photograph I have taken. This pattern on the top of the sock’s was generated by taking a motif that I found in a church. I changed the motif to fit my colour way  and style of my work . I have also been researching Manish Arora who uses a lot of print pattern and creates beautiful dresses . I have also been looking at a designer named Etro they design clothes with lots of print pattern .
I created these wellington boot socks out of fleece connecting the pieces together using the over locker machine. I created the pattern section by digitally printing the pattern onto coated cotton satin.  I encountered a few problems creating these cuffs  as connecting them to the fleece was difficult. Eventually after sewing the sock in a different way I managed to create  the Wellington boot sock. I had to pin the cuff section onto the inside of the fleece sock sew those sections together and then invisible stitch the grey section underneath to create the wellington boot cuff. I decided to create these wellington boots for summer as you can never tell what the British weather will do.

This week after digitally printing my design’s for the tops onto fabric I constructed the garment’s.

I am happy with the way the garments have been printed, the repeated triangle top design did however shrink by 7 cm when it was washed and dried which made the triangles smaller. But this  has not affected the design in fact it makes it better. I like the feel of the coated silk cotton Diana white as it is very light weight which makes the tops ideal for summer beach wear. As they can be worn over swimwear  or as a light weight top for those hot summer days.

I have had to purchase a much thinner plastic. After testing the plastic on the  sewing machine on the free hand foot I have found that the plastic tears far to easily. So to overcome this problem I have decided to hand stitch the design on to the back of the raincoat as you can see on the image below.

I used mainly  chain stitch on the raincoat as I found that this did not rip the plastic . I also used invisible thread to sew the blue, red and gold beads on. I encountered a few problems with the beading as if I pulled the needle and thread to fast or to hard the plastic tore and I therefore had to start again.

 I am very happy with my the way the raincoat has turned out  and using the thinner plastic has made it a lot more flexible and light weight.

Over the last two weeks I have been making a toile of  a raincoat out of thick clear plastic completed with a ¼ inch black bias binding. Making this jacket became a miniature challenge as  the plastic was a hard to work with. I had to hand sew the pieces of the pattern together as they would often get slide whilst putting the plastic through the sewing machine if they was not tacked. The plastic was also hard to put pins into as it would often rip so it was difficult to cover the edges with bias binding. Overall I am extremely happy with my raincoat toile and the way that it looks

I have recently been on a trip to London to The British Museum to see an exhibition

called  Treasures of Heaven saints, relics and devotion in medieval Europe. This was

a wonderful exhibition that contained painting’s, drawing’s,Jewellery pieces, marble,

 gold and glass pieces or art and  history. I found this Exhibition very interesting as

many of the piece’s in the collection had intricate details and very small drawings.

This week I went on a trip to Edinburgh to see St Giles Cathedral. Whilst in Edinburgh I

took a wide selection of photographs . I enjoyed learning about the history of the city

and looking at the variety of stained glass windows. Statues and  benches in the cathedral, The attention to detail  was amazing especially in the windows which  were all stained glass. The photograph on the left hand side is of a statue which is in the centre of a park I found this  interesting as it has a gothic feel towards it. I also found the way that the stone has aged interesting  as it has done this on the Cathedral walls,

 

This week I have been on a trip to York. Whilst in York I have explored the Cathedrals and

churches  I find the architecture fascinating as each Church has its own unique style.

Below are a few photographs which I took.Whilst in York I also visited the York Art Gallery and I looked around the exhibitions that they had in one of the rooms  I looked around have a lot of religious painting’s  from the 14th- 19th century most of these are from Italy. Whilst walking round I noticed that other religions had less imagery and art work in museums.

Over the last few week’s I have been working on A2 sheets  creating designs from different religions using mixed media. On the image on the right I used paper versions of the two previous designs I

Created. These  patterns were then collaged with the designs. The design in the bottom right corner was created by looking at different patterns   in religions.

Whilst looking on WGSN I came across the V-top image below which is a top design for spring summer 2013 . I have decided to create my own design based on the design below, I then created a few sample pieces based on my design’s using fabric and Pvc, unfortunately the Pvc was to stiff to use and would make the wearer feel uncomfortable so I have decided it is best not to use this and instead I shall use a light cotton or silk organza .

 

This is my toile of the top which is in the summer 2013 collection on WGSN. I created this out of a plain medium weight cotton but I intend on using a organza or sheer fabric . I plan on getting  the floral pattern above digitally printed on to the top and then beaded on top of. I shall also be getting the design on the bottom left printed onto a top and then I will embroider and bead onto this.

I then created the following designs by using a mixture of photo shop and illustrator techniques . I placed  the shapes into repeat and changed the opacity, hue and saturation and the scale of the shape, the next designs which  have been  created using the stamps created on illustrator and then taken through to photo shop. These were then digitally printed onto fabric and screen printed on top of  with foil and flocking.
Over the last few week’s I have been working on A2 sheets  creating designs from different religions using mixed media

I am currently studying textile’s and surface design at the University Of Bolton. I am  working to my own brief, the theme of my work is religion from around the world I have looked at various religions which include Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism. I initially chose religion as it is something that has always been in my life, as a child I went to a Church of England primary school and when we was in church  I found the stain glass window’s fascinating especially when the sun came out.

I Began this project by first focusing on my own religion Christianity so I began my research by looking at grave stones, churches, steeples, stain glass windows, gates , and doors also cathedrals. I took photographs and began to draw and paint from these in my sketchbook and on A2 sheets using mixed media.

 I was then encouraged to explore other religions and look at there traditions, symbols and way of life . 

I created stamps using photo shop and illustrator, I first created the religion symbol with the pen tool and then by using the rotation tool was able to create these stamps.  After creating the stamps I then used photo shop to fill them with the correct colours from my colour way. I then placed two of the shapes on a blue coloured background and played around with opacity to make the colours fade into the back ground. Also changing the scale to see which works best.