Lindsay Gallagher

 I researched the process and found a way to reproduce this structure using a peg loom and weaving it by hand rather than machine. The fabric by Gillian Craven was full of texture as the chains and loops of the fabric were constructed, almost like chain mail. The resulting openwork patterns created were very interesting when magnified. My final piece was produced to try and capture some of this warp knitting process and I included some of the bright colours of Missoni’s style. The warp is hand chained and the weft in parts is woven through these chains in loops resulting in a very stretchy fabric.

Materials

Hand dyed mix of cotton and wool hand spun yarns.

Inspiration

The inspiration for my textile artwork was the knitted fabrics to be found in the college archive. In particular, I loved the work of Gillian Craven the Bradford Textile Society Design Competition winner from 1976 who used a process of warp knitting in her work.

I also loved the bright colours of the knitted fabrics by Missonni. I was really fascinated with the warp knitted structure of the knitted fabrics that the Raschel loom could produce and especially the series of loops and chains in Gillian’s piece. I was fortunate enough to see a Raschel loom at a local industrial museum; the original designed by Wilhelm Barfuss in 1859.

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