I chose LCF because I have had a strong interest in design since I was a child. I was going to apply for Level 4 at the beginning, but after a in-depth communication with my friend who was a Level 3 student at that time about courses and study life in Level 3, I decided to apply for it. So before I came to IISF, I already had a general understanding of what we need to accomplish at each stage.

My life in London is absolutely amazing and it’s better than I thought it would be. I made a lot of friends from different countries, it’s so good to feel the diversity of the world. And most people here are nice, I don’t have to worry about anyone judging what I do or what I wear every day, and when I am walking on the road, there are always strangers who say to me, “I like your outfit”. At the same time, I became more independent. When I was living in my home country, everything was arranged for me, but when I came here, I had to do everything on my own, so I learned a lot of things that I didn’t know before.

I think it is an exciting thing to have the opportunity to learn about courses in other pathways. In term 1, in addition to design, which I am most interested in, I also have courses in media and business, which enabled me to have a preliminary understanding of these two pathways. Doing fashion photoshoots, going on the street to interview people’s outfits to make a customer profile, and so on were precious experiences for me. But the most significant achievement for me was that I got to learn something I had never tried before. Before I changed my first choice to knit, I planned to apply for womenswear, so I never tried knitting. But since we have to make fabric samples by ourselves, it pushes me to learn all the woven and knitting techniques.

I think I am quite prepared for the next three years of undergraduate study. I wouldn’t say this last year, but I am sure I will be more effective when doing my homework after this foundation year. And I became more explicit about how to complete a portfolio independently.

If I have more time for my term three projects, I think I will find more materials to make my fabric samples and to learn other knitting technics. Also, I will have more time to consider different ways of making the draping part more interesting.

In general, I had a very happy year at IISF. With the help of every responsible teacher, I was satisfied with the work I did each term. And I am looking forward to the new three years that I will start at LCF.

This is the most challenging fabric I made in this project. I need to thread the wool through this brown paper, but it’s fragile and can tear easily. I had to be very careful as I threaded yarn through the holes in the brown paper.

i made some collages using elements from my research pages.

and then i used two of my favourite collages to make the colour story. (The first and the last collage)

This was our first Draping class, and I had already made a fabric inspired by my current research during the holiday. Although this fabric is not a very delicate fabric with many elements, it is quite large, and I spent a lot of time knitting it with Crochet hooks.

While Carlyn checked my fabric work, she went to the next classroom and picked up a yarn, nylon net and a design hoop that she thought would help me. She attached a nylon net to an embroidery hoop and created some interesting designs by weaving woollen threads in the middle of the net. At first, the wool was too soft to pass through the nylon net, but then we put a few loops of tape around the front of the yarn to harden it, which made it convenient.
Then, I also made a few patterns in accordance with this method and put them on the little man to take photos.

I made fabric samples in the following two weeks and drew some sketches. In the process of sketch drawing, I found that I spent most of my time on patterns and did not make a lot of attempts on the silhouette when I was doing the draping part. Therefore, I decided to add some collages based on the original cutting to enrich the silhouette.

Then I decided the 6 sketches for my final line up.

Look1: knit dress

Look2:knit corset dress

Look3:mesh dress

Look4:hollowed out knit dress

Look5:Stitching top with knit trousers

Look6:yarn

In the beginning, my sketches didn’t have much to do with my fabric samples, which is a mistake I often make. I usually focus on only silhouette and styles in sketches and forget to add more fabric samples. But after Giles reminded me that my sketches had to be more engaged with my fabric samples, I reworked my sketches.

Final line up in colour story.

I am not good at digit drawing, so all my illustrations are hand drawings. It’s more time-consuming, but I think it’s also more effective. I also added some red colour on every illustration’s face according to the previous research.

I researched about a artist Jacqueline de Jong whose art works are related to violence. Her works are characterized by bright colors and thick black pencil lines to express themes, so I also used bright red and thick black border lines to draw my Muse.

I went to the Alexander McQueen exhibition the day after Carlyn told us there was a exhibition going on.

As a student, it is difficult for me to understand how a renowned brand creates each ready-to-wear collection deeply, but this exhibition allows me to explore for myself.

As a textile student, what helps me most from this exhibition is that I can understand how they extract elements and choose fabrics by reading the stories behind each series.

The staff in the store was also amiable and patiently answered all my questions.

My chosen topic is Dream core, an aesthetic revolving around nostalgia images.

I chose this topic because the word “unlovely” remind me of a childhood memory. When I was in primary school, one night I was playing on the playground slides outside of my house, and suddenly I saw a women in a bright red dress walked right up to me and tried to hit me for no reason. I freaked out and run toward my home as fast as I can. From then on I began to be scared of the color red and playground slides. Pictures themed with dream Core often make me feel uneasy, because they usually contain empty abandoned amusement parks and narrow Spaces, which is a panic-inducing aesthetic. Seeing these pictures often reminds me of bad memories of my childhood.

As for the research part, I will first look for some pictures of Dream core on the Internet, because this word is emerging on the Internet, and I can hardly find books about it. However, I will carry out some relevant research on the extension of this theme, such as human psychology and so on. I have researched the beta brain waves of people when they are frightened, and I think the fluctuating shape of brain waves can be used in my fabric and silhouette design. I also go to an amusement park and an art exhibition to take some photos and draw inspiration from them and extend some ideas.

I will also go to some interesting places to do my first-hand research.  The first place I’m visiting is an amusement park that is very similar to the playground I had in front of my house when I was a kid, there are some simple facilities for children to play, including a net for people to climb on, and when we look at it from different angles, the way the ropes crosses is different, and I think I can extract some inspiration for woven fabrics or silhouettes. I will also go to an exhibition by artist Rana Begum. One of her works also includes mesh fabrics and rich colors, but rather than the unease feeling of the colors in the dream core pictures, her works always try to find a way to express beauty. I think it fits the project topic of making unlovely things into something lovely.

The BA course I chose is Knit.

These researches will be helpful to my course because it has rich colours and distinctive shapes, which will give my fabric design more possibilities. For example, dark or bright colours in dream Core pictures, Rana’s colourful and fluffy mesh, and the interlaced net for people to climb in the amusement park, which are like wool wound together, all these elements can be extracted and used in the fabric, which I find very interesting.

C¡NeCalav¡a (2020) Marnie (Alfred Hitchcock, 1964) Available at: https://twitter.com/cncalavia/status/1277319632496594946 (Accessed: 23 May,2022)

Dreamcore(2021)‘Dreamcore’ [Facebook] 26 March. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/dreamcoreposting/photos/a.125953985738463/258593469141180 (Accessed:19 May,2022)

DREAMcORE | LIMINAL SPAcES (2021) Available at: https://aintxistencia.tumblr.com/ (Accessed:19 May,2022)

Dreamcore map (2021) Available at: https://www.planetminecraft.com/project/dreamcore-map-1-16-5/ (Accessed:19 May,2022)

de Jong, J (2021) Jacqueline de Jong: The Ultimate Kiss – MOSTYN, Wales Available at: https://www.jacquelinedejong.com/2021/10/07/jacqueline-de-jong-the-ultimate-kiss-mostyn-wales/ (Accessed: 23 May,2022)

de Jong, J (2019) Frieze Masters 2019 | JACQUELINE DE JONG Available at: https://www.jacquelinedejong.com/2019/10/01/frieze-masters-2019-jacqueline-de-jong/ (Accessed: 23 May,2022)

de Jong, J (2018) Jacqueline de Jong – Rétrospective Available at: https://www.jacquelinedejong.com/2018/09/12/jacqueline-de-jong-retrospective/ (Accessed: 23 May,2022)

eiko_no_omo (2022) ‘What planet am I at?’ [Twitter] 10 March. Available at: https://twitter.com/eiko_no_omo/status/1501846289323020291 (Accessed:19 May,2022)

Emozacky (no date) quiet now child. Available at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/32932641014369315/ (Accessed:19 May,2022)

Interesting Facts about Beta Brain Waves (no date) Available at: https://www.brainwave-music.com/brainwaves/beta-brainwaves.html (Accessed: 23 May,2022)

PAS DE PRINTEMPS POUR MARNIE (2012) Available at: https://www.allocine.fr/video/player_gen_cmedia=19387613&cfilm=1404.html (Accessed: 23 May,2022)

Reddit (2021) Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/LiminalSpace/comments/r2id3a/one_of_my_favorites/ (Accessed:19 May,2022)

Understanding brain waves (no date) Available at: https://neurofeedbackalliance.org/understanding-brain-waves/ (Accessed: 23 May,2022)

Verma, S (2021) LOOKBACK AT HITCHCOCK: MARNIE [1964] Available at: https://www.highonfilms.com/hitchcock-marnie-1964/ (Accessed: 23 May,2022)

꧁Aesthetic senpai꧂ (2021) Freetoedit Glitchy Glitch Glitchcore by @aesthetic_senpai. Available at: https://picsart.com/i/sticker-348073933067211 (Accessed: 23 May,2022)

Since we have learned how to draw CAD with AI in term 1, my memory of this software still exists, so the content of this session is not unfamiliar to me. Since we were not required to bring our work in the previous classes, I did not bring it in this class either. As a result, I had no idea what I should draw. When I went to Google to search for some pictures of suits to draw, Sing told me that I would rather draw CAD of my own sketch according to my memory than looking for images of clothes on the Internet, which is meaningless. Therefore, I have been drawing CAD according to memory in this class, and I think I will regularly scan all my homework in the future, just in case.

I made two more CAD drawings at home.

The other Adobe class I took was the PR class.

I’ve used other programs to cut videos, and they all work pretty much the same, so I understood it quickly after Sing went through it. But there was something wrong with the computer at that time, we couldn’t airdrop our videos into the computer, and Sing couldn’t solve the problem, so Sing agreed that we could use his videos. But when Sing imported the video from his hard drive to my computer, there were some unsolved problems. Anyway, I can’t actually edit a video for this class.

After returning home, I used the PR on my computer to conduct the operations that Sing taught in class, and I am sure THAT I have mastered them well.