Collection | Three

Wallace Sewell Wool Collection

For my Wallace Sewell collection, I have composed my samples similarly to the composure of the painting I chose; by creating busy structures for the decorative edges of the scarf, mimicking the middle part of the painting. Like the outer calmer parts of the painting, I followed suit by  designing the middle section of my scarves with fewer colours and patterns running through them.

Close up of reversible samples

Designing for scarves meant that for the first time I had to think about reversibility; the scarf had to look good on both sides. This meant that when planning and designing on scotweave I had to be particularly cautious with my extra weft patterning, making sure that the back of the scarf had no loose floats or mess. Using extra weft, I was able to make a thick warm scarf with a bit of weight to it.

As I have never used wool before, I found the finishing process much more fun than the fabrics that I have previously made. I enjoyed testing the washing temperatures and finding out what the samples felt like after each wash; I also learnt how easy it is to over wash wool.
Whilst at the Wallace Sewell studio, we learnt that they take great pride in finishing their scarves and collections off to the best quality, and so I continued to finish my samples off by brushing, steaming and pressing them, as well as pearling the edges.
Below are two of my final designs, after the finishing processes have been completed and the edges pearled.

Suggestions of possible scarf designs 

Wallace Sewell

Live Project Brief

After our visit to the Wallace & Sewell studio in London, we were set a live project to design and sample for a Wallace Sewell collection of either scarves or interiors. Wallace Sewell have a reputation based on their use of vibrant colour and are famous for their scarf designs. Similarly to how Wallace & Sewell design, we were given the task of beginning our projects by first choosing a painting. One painting stuck in my mind, which was Victoria Horkan's Butterfly.  

I began working by drawing out shapes and structures from my chosen painting, I mostly looked at the soft nature of the brush strokes, and the shapes of the wings. I was interested in developing different structures to go with the circular shapes that I found, as well as looking at the fragmented lines and wings on the butterfly. I tested several colour combinations through gouache stripes and yarn wrappings, and I eventually developed my palette of 12 colours. Our brief restricted us to picking 12 colours only through the weft. I designed my warp based on a Knoll 2 17's Lambswool and I wanted to weave at 28 ends per inch in order to give my scarf a weighty comfortable feel. 

Victoria Horkan Butterfly Series 1 and 2. Development Drawings 

In terms of context, I have chosen to base my scarf designs on Wallace Sewell's Diffusion range, which is a range aimed at the lower end of the market in terms of price. I wanted to design for this collection in mind as I like the way the middle of the scarves remain relatively plain, whilst the edges are decorative and fun. The diffusion range is priced from £49 upwards and Wallace Sewell sell these scarves to clients such as Anthropologie. 

Wallace Sewell's Diffusion Range