Oh, happy days!

My final project is about choosing and developing knitting techniques to explore ‘joy’, and Oxford Dictionary describe this as ‘a feeling of great happiness’. After a pandemic which has shaken the world, and left us isolated from everything we knew, joy had to be found in unexpected places. As I was separated from my family, I felt immense happiness in reminiscing over happy childhood memories, and this was the starting point for my project. Using hundreds of childhood pictures, I realised there was a key pattern and fabric which was evident throughout these pictures, and that was gingham. I chose to explore all the different ways in which this traditional pattern could be elevated through a variety of knitting techniques, such as tucking, engineering with high and low butts, jacquard, plating and mock ribs.

For me, the textiles you surround yourself with should make you feel happy, and in my opinion, there is so much magic, joy and nostalgia to be found in these textiles. For instance, for me it is a knitted cardigan, found in a charity shop when I was 16, which is a replica of the cardigan my mother wore when pregnant with my sister. Instantly, when I see the heart motif on the cardigan, I am reminded of my family, and ignited with feelings of such joy. It was crucial for me when designing and developing this collection that all the samples and garments produced would be colourful, playful, and happy.

I was extremely interested in gaining a deep insight into whether people from all walks of life have textiles, and especially knitted textiles, which also spark emotion. Whilst undertaking research I came across artist Grayson Perry, who finds great joy in dressing in flamboyant, ‘girly’ dresses, with big ruffles and collars. Instantly, when looking at the pictures of Perry wearing the playful garments, I knew I wanted to explore how to replicate the volume and style in knitted textiles.

Through weeks of practical research, I discovered through combining a variety of techniques with a variety of yarns, I was able to create ruffles mixed with gingham, which was knitted using elastic to add volume and dimension to the samples. As soon as this was developed, it was a concept I ran with for the final collection, and it is a theme running across all my samples.

I have produced six garments for my final collection, including 2 cardigans, a sweater vest, a racer vest and a co-ord halter neck top and skirt. Each garment is technique heavy to create a variety of joyful shapes, which hopefully should ignite joy in the person wearing the garments.

I truly believe the textiles we surround ourselves with should spark emotion making us feel happy so that we place personal value on our clothing and develop intention to keep hold of our purchases through life.

I hope you enjoy my final collection, and that it makes you feel happy!