Ting Ting Wang

Week 1- Introduction To Sustainability

• Researching about up cycling/recycling clothing

I began my research by visiting a few local charity shops, to see what kind of clothing people were donating, upon arriving I was greeted with racks full of clothes that has been donated to reduce waste. I took a quick scan across the racks and found that majority of the clothes that were donated, were from big fast fashion brands like SHIEN, Zara, H&M etc. This made me think about where and how much other clothings (that have not been donated) would end up. Majority of the clothing that people don’t want would be discarded into landfill, which creates waste that builds up as more brands are mass producing clothing that people buy lots of to then throw away. This is important as not only does it pollute the eco system, it also reduces resources that we cannot get back.

• Creating samples

One thing that I realised, was that every time I created a sample piece for my work or did anything sewing I would always create a lot of extra waste of threads. I up cycled the threads by creating a pattern out of them that can be created into a print. Then I took the sample of the extra threads and took them to a digital platform (procreate), where I duplicated the sample, and played around with scale and placements of the sample on a body.

This lead me to think, if I could create a sample without producing extra thread that would be thrown away. I recently learnt a technique using one of the machines (the embellisher) so I combined that technique to create a sample that could bind fabrics together but not produce waste of threads. I took scraps of fabrics and used the embellisher machine, that would punch the fibres of the fabrics together causing them to stick to each other so no threads would be used, and created a sample that was inspired by a artwork from the tate modern.

I also did a drawing where I combined markers and colouring pencils on watercolour paper to create texture, I sprayed it with water to create the dripping affect.

Week 2- Emerging Technologies In Fashion

• Researching about technology in fashion

As the future arrives, technology is also developing and evolving and people are finding ways to bring technology into fashion for example, AI art, digital/virtual clothing, 3D printing, and many more. Combining 3D crafts with fashion enables designers to develop their ideas and samples to create a prototype that they can use to either play with scale, creating specific textures, patterns and with the help of 3D crafts it can and will greatly reduce waste, which is a big factor as waste is a worldwide problem especially becuse the fashion industry heavily contributes.

using the idea of technology in fashion i decided to have a try with drawing digital garments and playing around with how i would imagine my textiles samples to be on a human body. My drawings were inspired by week 1‘s sample and my trip to the horniman museum. i asked my friends from different departments to send me a picture of themselves and i began drawing.

I used the app procreate and drew on patterns and things i saw and was motivated by from the museum. I zoomed in to look for details and discovered i really like the patterns and colour of flowers and plants and i took some of those details and transferred that digitally and combined the thread sample from week 1 into one of the drawing by cutting out the shapes and playing around with the scale and placement. The flowers i saw were very bright and colourful which was what inspired my colour pallette too!

Week 3- Nature

• Creating natural dye

For week 3 I decided to play around with dye. This is because in the fashion industry dye plays a massive role in sustainability, waste dye are toxic and creates harm to the natural ecosystem and affects aquatic life and plants due to the chemicals (that make the dye more vibrant) being thrown away. And sometimes these dye can cause an allergic reaction in humans!

As a textiles designer, the fabrics we use majority of the time are colourful so i tried to see how i could dye my fabrics using a more sustainable and natural way, i played around with scraps of fruits and vegetables to see what kind of colour i can make.

I use cotton as my base and experimented with carrot skin, grape skin and sweet paprika.

I was pleasantly surprised by the results especially the grape skin as the colour turned into a nice shade of light purple. i was disappointed with the carrot skin as it didnt colour my fabric even though the dye was orange. The sweet paprika gave the cotton a nice subtle colour of yellow.

Other natural things you could use to dye your fabrics are onion skin, spinach, avocado skin and pit (turns pink), blueberry, turmeric, beetroot, red cabbage, coffee grinds, pomegranate skin/seed, and many more.

Week 4- Cultural Sustainability

For cultural sustainability, I looked at very old chinese embroidery which has years of history(more than 2000 years ago)they are considered as ‘a folk art with a long tradition’ chinese embroidery started after the silk route opened which was caused ’the production of thread and fabric flourished, and paved the way for the art of embroidery‘. China was also one of the first country to weave silk! There are four main types of chinese embroidery Xiang, Yue, Shu and Su(being the most popular out of all four). embroidery artwork would be inspired by pieces of old chinese paintings, scenery, landscapes, animals, nature and florals and many more. the process of chinese embroidery is very time consuming and very labour heavy, this is because doing this kind of embroidery (or any of those four) you requires not only years of craft but also control over the needles, heavy attention to details and a lot of patience as one piece of embroidery can take up to a few weeks to a couple of months.

Typically for embroidery they use silk threads, like mulberry silk, which are dyed to create colours and specific size needles to create the shading effect that blends together nicely. One plies of thread can can be split into many strands that are as thin as you hair.

I tried to create a embroidery sample using techniques inspired by the embroidery.

Week5- Empathy

I looked at this fashion activist group called ReGo who aims to reduce knife crime and give victims and people who are affected from knife crime another perspective at life by allowing them to not only be creative but to also guide them on the right path. They do very powerful and meaningful projects across London aiming to help young people from violence, they provide help and support to those who need and using the knives that they pick up from the streets they turn something so dangerous into something that is so beautiful and meaningful. The blades they pick up from the streets are turned into statement jewellery pieces or garments that are available to be rented, and each pieces tells a different story. They show empathy to people affected by violence because they are willing to give second chances and they understand the problems that can affect a individual.

“ReGo and this project showcase intend to demonstrate how fashion activism can be used to shape better lives and address social justice, nurturing sustainability and prosperity for all!” — Dr Francesco Mazzarella of London College of Fashion’s Centre for Sustainable Fashion and the ReGo Co-Project Lead

• REFLECTION

I have really enjoyed how I tried to experiment and incorporate different techniques to explore and expand my research. I think something that went really well was that i was able to understand the topic for each week and was able to produce work. It made me realise how each topic was important to everything im doing as it raises awareness and teaches me to be more mindful from the choices of fabrics to understanding how much waste is being produced and many more.

For example for sustainability, i never realise how much excess threads i would produce whenever i created an embroidery sample on the machine, so to combat that i played around with another machine (embellisher) and experimented with ways to reduce the amount of thread waste. For week 2 i really enjoyed how i was able to be creative digitally with my drawings and sample, i got to pay around with scales and placement which gave me an idea of how my sample would look like. And my favourite was week 3 Nature, this is because i really enjoyed experimenting with different food scraps to create dye that was sustainable, it was also my first time dying fabric so it was a very interesting experiment and allowed me to see what items had what pigment and what could be used as dye. Looking back, i think i could have tried to play around with different fabrics that i could use to dye and and create a embroidery sample with the waste threads and challenge myself to see what i could create.