Knitted Textile Awards 2012

Over the past couple of months I have been lucky enough to exhibit a few pieces from my Masters collection at the Knitting and Stitching show in both London and Harrogate. This was part of the Knitted Textile Awards, which is a showcase of student and graduate knit work from all over the UK. I entered it after my BA, but unfortunately didn't get selected as a finalist - obviously this was because I was destined to do it after my Masters instead...

About 20 of us from various colleges all over the UK were given the opportunity to exhibit our work at the aforementioned locations, where it was also judged by a panel which included designers and editors. I'm very happy to say I was presented with a Bronze award, which judging by the standard this year I was very excited about! Here is a link to the website which features all the finalists and winners,  also pay special attention to the work of Kirsten Presly and Carlo Volpi - 2 of my very talented classmates from the RCA who also exhibited.

I took a few snap-shots of my display - for continuity I kept it the same for both exhibitions, I'm not just trying to make you play spot the difference.

Alexandra Palace in October 2012

Alexandra Palace in October 2012

Harrogate International Centre in November 2012

Congrats to all the finalists, it was a damn good exhibit this year. x

Extreme weather knitting

Hello blogging world,

Once again I've been absent from this for far too long. I've spent a summer recovering from my Masters (yes you need therapy after finishing, it should be integrated into the course!) and seen a bit more of the world before I embark on the next step in my career.

As the weather has begun to turn bitterly cold, I felt a post about some extreme weather wear I designed was rather apt. The whole concept was about designing fabrics which would keep you cool in hot climates and warm it cold temperatures. Turning what we currently wear in these extremes on its head, I designed huge fluffy thick garments which keep you cool, and sheer featherlight fabrics which act as insulation. Mildly mind-boggling, but hopefully my mad little illustrations below explain it better.

The inspiration for fabrics and shapes came from Inuits and Bedouins and how each culture dress for their appropriate climate. They use clever materials like fish skins for waterproofing and oversized cotton robes which allow the desert winds to circulate through the garment. Smart. We could learn a lot from how they constructed they're clothes but I'm not going to bore you with that.

Lightweight sheer fabrics for the arctic....

Thick breathable fabrics for the desert, the idea is the structure of the fabric allows air to circulate out the garment whilst maintaining a cool comfortable climate inside for the wearer.

And hopefully some illustrations which explain the whole thing..it's a bit of a far out concept. It was for a project called Future textiles so maybe one day we will dress like this on the beach...

Behind the scenes

So my 2 years knitting at the RCA has rather sadly come to an end. I passed my final exam, had a pretty awesome graduation with my fellow classmates of 2012 in the Royal Albert Hall, packed up my desk and got drunk and fell off a bouncy castle at the grad ball, its been a blast and I shall miss everyone and everything dearly.....especially looking out at this view every day (rainbows were a regular feature).

Soppyness over, time to move onto bigger and better things and most importantly get back to blogging more on a regular basis! Thought I would show you a few behind the scenes shots from my lookbook shoot, excuse the not so great iphone quality but the proper shots are on my website. A huge Thank you to the extraordinarily wonderful team who made it all happen - Gareth, Diana, Jenny, Klaudia and most importantly my lifeline in the last couple of weeks before the final show, my mum :) ill shut up now - end of oscar acceptance speech and more importantly on to picture posting!

Website now live...

Finally after a lot of headaches and a crash course in web hosting I have the beginnings of a website!!

www.sophiewaterfield.com

Check out my final collection on there, I'm updating it by the day whilst at my exhibition so stay tuned for more!

One of my favourite looks from my photoshoot, shot by the wonderful Gareth Hacker. This dress is currently on display at the RCA SHOW 2012, come along and say hello!

Final Collection

Not long now until my final collection goes on show at the RCA MA Textiles exhibition, and as you can probably guess from the prolonged silence I've been knitting my little socks off in recent weeks! But it is time to break the silence and show you a taster of the collection! Come and see the rest at the SHOW RCA 2012 from 20th June - 1st July.

Preview - The Travelling Line

Long time no post!

Although I don't finish and exhibit my final MA collection until June, time seems to be slipping away far too quickly! It's been an exciting few weeks, I've bought a babylock embellisher, 10gg knit machine and also a 10gg hand linker, so deep in the Hampshire countryside there will soon be a little studio in the making!
A while ago I promised a sneaky look at what I am currently working on and I think it's probably about time I let you all in on it.... so *ta daa* here it is!

 Stay tuned to see what it all becomes!

From the 19th Floor

Up until now I have blogged purely about my own work. However it's now time to mix things up and add in things that inspire me / are of interest within the general world of knit/fashion/london/me.

Being a very lucky little so and so today, I got to go and sit front row at the Jonathan Saunders AW12/13 show on the 19th floor of The Broadgate Tower. It was FANTASTIC. I really can't say much more (other than Anna Wintour was also there, so obviously it was the place to be on a chilly sunday evening), so I shall let a number of photos I took do the talking. I don't have a fancy camera so some might be a bit fuzzy but it's all about the general vibe rather than the finer details. Enjoy!

woven leather, very clever.

nice bit of knit!

powder blue = my new obsession

graphic patterned textures

divine sheer back to the emerald dress

intarsia check patterned knit 

clever combinations of ladders and stripes 

the clever man himself 

incredible backdrop

the breathtaking view from the venue

Better than your average Sunday.