Cottonopolis

In December I spent a couple of days in Manchester on the way to visit my husband's family in Liverpool. For those who don't know much about the history of the place, it was at the centre of the Industrial Revolution in the UK at the beginning of the 19th century. It was probably the world's first industrialised city, and its growth was driven by the textile industry - at its height, around two thirds of the world's cotton was processed in the city.

The day we were there it was freezing cold, so instead of looking round the city, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry, and I'm very glad we did as they have a big gallery dedicated to their cotton processing heritage. As well as artefacts relating to the business side of the cotton trade, they also have a huge set up of the machines used for processing from cotton bale to cloth, which they have demonstrations of twice daily (I think around 11am and 3pm).

Seeing these machines running is amazing. They are huge and noisy, and then you realise that the machines in the mill were six times as large, with hundreds all together. It was a pretty dangerous and difficult life to work in such a place. Many workers ended up with byssinosis (chronic lung disease from inhalation of the cotton dust), and there was grave risk of injury or death from the drive belts and the machinery itself. It also made me wonder about the conditions in modern mills - whilst I'm sure there is some more mechanisation nowadays, the principle of how the cotton is sorted, spun and woven is the same, so has life improved for those who work doing this?

On a slightly lighter note, there were also exhibits of modern Mancunian textile artists, two of which were especially fascinating. Jennifer Collier, who creates art by incorporating found materials into textiles, and Trish Belford, who created printing techniques for designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Zandra Rhodes in the 1980s and 1990s, and since 2005 has worked on amazing composite materials, with fabric embedded in concrete. Seriously, these things are beautiful.

The rest of the museum is also super interesting, but if you are interested in the history of textile manufacture and find yourself in Manchester, I would highly recommend a visit. And look: I have a piece of cotton woven on a loom over 100 years old!

Fabric goodies from London

I actually bought these at the beginning of November but hadn't got round to showing them here, so I thought I would put up a quick post for your enjoyment! These were all purchased from Classic Textiles on Goldhawk Road - and surprisingly it was the first time I'd actually been upstairs to the wools floor.

Actually, thinking about Classic Textiles, the last I heard I think there was a going to be a judicial review of the redevelopment of Shepherd's Bush Market. Does anyone have any updates on what's happening?

L-R: Missoni(-style?) sweater knit, very lightweight wool jersey, wool/cashmere/mink blend coating, lightweight wool woven (I don't know what this type of fabric is called!)

These were all purchased with projects in mind (apart from the Missoni sweater knit, which I just couldn't pass up). The lightweight wool jersey is for a sweater dress, or possibly this top from BWOF:

The coating is for, surprisingly, a coat - although I think this will wait for later on this year for next winter, as I don't think I'll be able to get it done for this year. I also want to mull on what style of coat I want.

The plaid woven is to make a dress inspired by this dress from Monsoon:

I loved the use of the plaid on the bias, and the interesting seaming and volume added by the godet. Unfortunately when I tried it on, the cut was just bizarre and unflattering (on me at least). Then I saw this fabric, and realised it was meant to be!

Stay tuned to see if and when I get round to making all these...

Stalking cool people...

So, I know it's bad form to take pictures of people without their consent, but I figured if I don't show their faces it's sort of ok, especially as I am saying how super cool their clothes are (everyone likes a compliment right?). I hope no-one thinks too badly of me. So, with that in mind, I saw a couple of very cool garments recently...

I saw this lady in Heathrow airport, and her hoodie made me smile - the zip has a little temperature scale printed either side (Fahrenheit one side and Celsius the other!), but the key is the scale is upside down, with the hottest at the bottom - so how much it's zipped up indicates how cold it is! So cute.

This lady was out and about in Geneva with her family. I think this might be the coolest wax print I've ever seen. It's sort of hard to see the pattern properly (I only had my iPhone with me, which only has a digital zoom, so it's a bit grainy), but it's of horseshoe magnets, with zig-zaggy lightning bolts of pure magnetism coming out of them! So awesome.

There you go - thought you might like to see these too.

Heads up: Alexander McQueen

A heads up to anyone in London - Harvey Nichols currently has a selection of McQueen couture dresses in the windows of the Knightsbridge flagship store, promoting the New York Met Museum retrospective.

You can't get up terribly close to the dresses, and the window reflections play havoc with taking photos (as you'll see the evidence of below), but it's still super interesting to be able to see such a selection of (a) proper couture catwalk dresses and (b) McQueen dresses from as far back as 1999. It always surprises me how "handmade" many catwalk dresses look (haha from my vast experiences of about 4 V&A exhibitions!!!). I guess they are one-offs and not really meant to be seen super close up. It would be amazing to actually be able to have a proper nose around them to have a look at all the internal construction...

The display is only up until the end of May, so get there quickly! Here's a few photos to give you an idea of what's there:

I did some shopping whilst I was in London (of course) and now seems like an appropriate time to show you some of the jewellery I bought - yep, an Alexander McQueen pendant! I'm sure it's not to everyone's taste, but I adore it...