Happy New Home!!

Today we received the news that the first of our pieces had been given out! June kindly emailed us with the news saying:

"Hi All

Sorry not to be in touch before but just wanted to say how thrilled everyone is with the cushions and draft excluders - bit overwhelmed really - and that's just the team!

Julie will be in touch very soon if she hasn't been already, but I know she's already given out the first cushion to a young man. She let him choose which he wanted and says it really meant a lot to him. He started by saying 'They're all so lovely' but decided on one because 'it was a bit special'. She then talked to him about the label and he was very touched by the people who had put time into making it.

Thanks for taking up the brief. Its been a read encouragement to Julie and Ben as well. They really value being able to give what Julie describes as 'little pieces of art' to people who may feel vulnerable as they move into a new place. We'll feed more info on as it comes.

If there's anything else you need, please just get back. Good luck with everything around the end of the year.

All the best

June"

I'm thrilled to bits with this news and so happy that he's found a special piece to move into his new home with! I think it's fantastic that they are being offered a choice of item, it increases the personal value as they've been able to select a piece that resignates with them on a individual level. The feedback of them being 'little pieces of art' is really encouraging too and I'm very pleased that both the team and the people moving into their new homes are so touched by the project we have run.

After going through the highs and lows of working through this project (part and parcel of any project!) I'm so pleased that we've successfully translated out concept and made inanimate objects personal and filled with emotion and sentimental value. I'm excited to hear more feedback as the pieces are given out, hopefully they will continue to have a positive impact. I honestly can't express how thankful I am to everyone who has helped us achieve our end goal!

Time to Donate!

Today we met with June, Julie and Ben at Inn Churches HQ in Bradford. For the first time we saw all the pieces together and I think we were all truly impressed by what we'd achieved! From the start of the project we had aimed to have enough objects to contribute to a substantial amount of Home Starter Packs (while bearing in mind the time scale we had) so when we totted up 13 cushions and 2 draft excluders I think we all felt we'd achieved this. This was definitely reinforced when June, Julie and Ben saw the volume of items we had created. They told us they were amazed by the amount we had achieved and how it was so much more than they had expected.

We hadn't actually seen Julie and Ben since our first meeting with them in February so we ran through what we had been aiming to do, how we came up with our concept (thanks again Ben!) and what we'd done to achieve it. They were really pleased with the amount of people who had engaged with the project and loved the envelopes we'd made to give to people (we took one along as a example). Julie even described them as 'pieces of art' which was a fantastic compliment after all our hard work! They fed back that they thought the gift tags were a brilliant idea and that being able to see who had contributed their time to the items would really impact on the people receiving the items. Our end goal all along had been to create items to be included within the Home Starter Packs, however Julie and Ben told us they didn't want the items to just be put in with the Packs. They want to be selective about who they give them to, so that they go to people who will really cherish and be impacted positively by the time, care and love embedded into each piece. They also told us they would give each piece to these individuals personally so they could explain the work we'd done and the meaning behind each piece. I think this is a much more successful outcome than any of us could have anticipated and it feels so rewarding to know they're going to provide reassurance and comfort to those in vulnerable situations. The images below show all the items together being donated at Inn Churches HQ.

The Journey

Now I've finished my cushions ready for donation to Inn Churches tomorrow I can't stop thinking about the journey this project has taken and the variety of different communities we've managed to get involved.

Communities which we've worked with:
- Inn Churches: They set the brief, and sparked the entire concept with Ben comment about how a little time invested in making something means so much.
- Live at Home: Our workshops with the Live at Home group have produced so much of the material for this project. The samples created within them really feel embedded with emotion and care as we engaged with them directly and experienced their positive reaction to the project. These workshops took place in two community based environments, The Hope Centre and Great Horton Village Hall.
- University: Fellow student at Huddersfield University have engaged with the project. It seems to have had a positive effect on their emotional well-being as in a period filled with deadlines and pressure they have been able to use the project as a way to have some 'down time'.
- Family: Envelopes were given to our families all located in different areas and therefore members of entirely different communities.
- Friends: Our friends have engaged positively in the project, they have responded well to our concept and embedded love in each sample they've created.

The variety of communities means the various components of the items have journeyed through such a variety of locations and been involved with so many individuals that each one truly captures the care taken to make something especially for those receiving Home Starter Packs.

Crafty Couture!!

I've loved the entire process of this project but as mentioned in one of my earlier blog posts my strengths really lie in coming up with a concept and translating this through the making process. I absolutely love our concept of embedding emotion into a object through the use of stitch which translates the time invested in each object and have found it really exciting watching people engage with the project allowing us to realise this. Needless to say though, I've been really looking forward to the making stage of things where we can finally see what all our work has been building up to!

I've been working hard making my 13 samples into cushions the last two days, we're meeting with June, Julie and Ben to donate the items tomorrow. Ideally I'd have started sewing over the weekend however because it's been Easter I've been working crazy amounts so I haven't had chance!

I ummed and arred about how to go about making my cushions (I've decided to make all cushions because the fabric I've bought can be cut to just about squeeze 6 cushions on and I can't think of a way to rejig it to fit in any panels for draft excluders!). Because of work I've really had a limited time to make my items so sewing them on a machine would be the easier option! However because the whole driving point behind our concept is the amount of time invested in the items I can't help but want to stick to this completely and hand sew the entire thing! In the end I decided to hand sew, the small amount of extra stress for me would be nothing compared to carrying out the concept to the best of my ability and how this extra care could really positively impact someone's life. Therefore I have also decided to embroider my own button hole loops (I really like making things extra challenging for myself!) as well. I want the cushions to be entirely hand made, like crafty couture! These are the items I made...

I'm really, really pleased with how the items have turned out! It may sound silly but I was a little worried to begin with as I'm quite a perfectionist when it comes to my work and the colours used so I was a bit lost as to where to begin with some of the samples as they were really out of my comfort zone. I found the process really enjoyable though and it was a brilliant learning curve for me to have to complete something where I didn't have entire creative control as the pieces were created by individuals with their own unique style. The combination of these different styles really emphasises how many unique individuals have donated their time to the project and the quality of the samples really shows how much they care. I'm so glad I decided to push myself to hand embroider every aspect of the cushions! The extra time taken is really in keeping with the concept and I don't think I would have found the process as rewarding had I used machine embroidery, although that's just my personal interpretation of the concept I guess! The tags seem really effective on the items as the majority of them have a good 4+ names as contributors alongside the stitches which that individual has added. The exception to this is the cushion with the knitted sample, I fell in love with this piece so much that I really wanted to show case it on it's own cushion.

I'm so excited to see what the other girls have made when we go to Inn Churches to donate the items tomorrow! Hopefully June, Julie and Ben will love the items as much as I do!

Live at Home Session 3

On Wednesday we ran our final Live at Home session!

We're a dab hand at getting everything set up and ready to go now so the preparation of the workshop ran smoothly! We did have a few reluctant members this week asking 'is this just the same as last week?' however Julie reassured us that some members are just reluctant to get involved with anything and it wasn't to do with our workshop. Having been told this I'm pretty impressed we successfully got them to engage in both last weeks session and today's! I think this reflects positively on the activity and our concept as there must have been something which encouraged the women to actually take part!

The drawing templates were used more this week, however a orange highlighter appeared from somewhere and took over the designs! I guess this shows us that we should have perhaps considered including colour however we were concerned about the aesthetics of the pieces and how a miss-mash of colours could be detrimental to the end design - although our project is very concept led the end result still needs to be aesthetically pleasing! It was good to see they were getting involved and getting something out of the workshop but having looked at the amount of templates which were filled in we don't have enough to generate a large enough variety of samples to be able to create unique objects with them. Therefore we have decided not to turn these into sublimation prints and are happy knowing that they individuals completing them got something out of the activity.

The rest of the group were really happy to carry on working on the samples and I think they began to see more clearly what it was we were aiming to achieve. We took them some chocolates as a 'Thank-you' for taking part in the project and being so lovely and welcoming. I think it's safe to say they went down a treat!!

It's been really busy at the Live at Home sessions for Julie the last few weeks due to them being understaffed so today was the first chance we've really had to get some feedback from her about the sessions. She told us she thought they'd gone really well and everyone seemed to really enjoy them. She also reassured us not to worry about the ones who didn't want to take part as some of them are always reluctant to get involved in any activities. I'm glad she told us that as I was slightly concerned that they weren't engaging because of something we'd done wrong! I felt a little sad when we'd left as we'd met some really lovely people and had some fantastic laughs with them. They asked us to go visit again which we all agreed we'd be very happy to do, it was really nice to engage with a community I wouldn't normally be involved with.

When we got back to Huddersfield we headed to Rhi's house to divide up all the samples we'd generated. Out of curiosity I counted all the samples and we were all amazed when we realised we had almost 40 ready to be incorporated into items for the Home Starter Packs!! The fact that enough people had taken time to work on the project with us was a little overwhelming and I'm honestly so happy with the results and I think it's really achieving our concept! It looks like each gift tag with have a good few names of people who have contributed to making that item which will really demonstrate the time and care taken to create each piece. We discussed exactly what we're going to make today and have decided to go for cushions and draft excluders as the patchwork style we will be using lends itself well to these items. They're also associated with safety and comfort which are important qualities we'd like to capture to contrast to the other items in the packs which are purely practical.

Live at Home Session 2

Today we went back to the Great Horton Village Hall where we first met Julie Maude and the Live at Home group. Julie had said to expect about 40 people but due to medical reasons and the bad weather (unfortunately pollution from the Sahara has made its way to the North and people with health issues such as lung conditions or the elderly are being advised to stay indoors - of all the days!!!!) there was only about 15. It was much more difficult to engage the group today as there was a table set out for them to have their lunch and one for us to do the workshop separately. Everyone seemed to beeline to the lunch table and were a little reluctant to move! We did approach everyone, explain the project and ask if they fancied taking part and ended up with about 5 people coming to work on some samples with us. It was lovely talking to them again and engaging with them as we all stitched away but it was slightly disheartening that more of them weren't willing to be involved.

There were a few people who arrive late and we tried to tempt them with the envelopes to take home but were unsuccessful. The whole 'homework' idea really hasn't been as successful as we'd hoped! It seems that a lot of them enjoy knitting so perhaps the project could be adapted to utilise knitted samples should Inn Churches want to continue our work in order to encourage more involvement from this group.

Although we were a little dissapointed with the lack of involvement from this session we were aware that Thursdays were going to be a more challenging day due to the higher volume of men and the fact that the Wednesday group were the real 'crafters'. We're hoping that next Wednesdays session will be the best of the three. Fingers crossed by then we'll have generated enough samples through the workshops and envelopes which have been given out to friends and family to create a decent amount of items to give to Inn Churches!

Live at Home Session 1

This morning we had our first session with the Live at Home group. Before the session we were all a little nervous about whether the group would engage with the idea, after all the prep we'd put in it really felt like crunch time!!

The group was quite a bit smaller than we expected as a few members were under the weather. Despite this I think it went really well! The information sheets went down a treat! Some of the ladies had started picking out which fabrics and threads they wanted to use before we'd even introduced ourselves! As the workshop ran we sat amoungst everyone and mingled with the group. A lot of them were telling stories about things they'd made when they were younger and the different styles of stitches they would use. It was lovely to hear how our project was bringing back these memories and allowing them to take part in something they enjoyed doing.

Things I picked up on from this session:

- Threading up the needles was a brilliant idea. It allowed everything to run smoothly and made life a lot easier for everyone.

- We wanted to encourage people to sew in this workshop so we didn't put the drawing templates out at the beginning of the session. I suggested that we should perhaps include them at the beginning of the session tomorrow so that if people didn't want to sew, they wouldn't write off the project immediately as there would be another option available. Tomorrows session also includes a lot more men so we're expecting the drawing excersise to be more popular with them.

- The envelopes to do at home weren't quite as popular as we expected. A lot of people seemed to be quite busy with other projects such as home improvements so they didn't feel they'd have the time to complete any samples at home. However they did enjoy the workshop and were looking forward to working with us again! We also realised that we hadn't threaded up the needles in the envelopes we had given out and so tomorrow we're going to tell people that this is the case and offer to thread it up for them before they leave should they wish.

- Although we had put multiple tags on the swatches and explained that we'd like them to be passed around so multiple people could work into one swatch it didn't quite work like that! People seemed to be happy to invest a lot of time in one swatch so they could get it to a stage where they were happy with it. They would then move onto a completely new swatch. We're planning to put some of the plainer samples back out tomorrow so that they can be worked on top of.

- Having example samples on the table really helped. Before the session we'd all completed a couple of swatches to take in so that participants could see what sort of thing we were looking for. This seemed to really inspire everyone as they could see the various stitch types and what they could create with them.

- Everyone seemed to really enjoy that we sat and chatted to them, so much so that we got invited to stay for lunch!

So the first sessions down and it seems to have gone really positively with the group! I feel like we're really achieving the concept by combining these workshops with the envelopes as such a variety of people and therefore wide community have been able to get involved with the project!

Envelope Feedback

Since last Wednesday (26th March) I've given out a couple of envelopes to friends and the feedback has been really really positive! My housemate even asked for another one so she could contribute some more! She's on the Fashion Design with Textiles course at University and as she's been on placement this year she's found herself a little out of touch with the textiles side of things. She's said that it was really nice to get back into embroidery as she absolutely loves sewing, especially for something which is so rewarding.

Another friend I gave a envelope to is currently in the middle of doing her dissertation. I was sure to stress to her that I didn't expect her to spend any more time than she could afford doing it. She was really excited to take part in the project though, and loves doing crafts and fed back that it was 'lovely to have a break from the headache of dissertation writing'. This shows how engaging in crafts can have a positive emotional effect as it provides rest-bite from the everyday stresses of University and other responsibilities. The simple act of stitching, without over thinking what you're doing can be therapeutic and I think this is a lovely way in which our project is helping another community emotionally. We're helping them relax while they help us achieve our goal for Inn Churches and it really embeds the samples with emotion and story.

This feedback has really made me feel positive about the project, it seems that we're helping various communities in more ways than one and I love that that's the impact craft can have.

Planning!

Over the last week we have met twice at my house (Wednesday 26th March and today, Tuesday 1st April) in order to complete the envelopes and prepare equipment for the Live at Home workshops. I have to say I have a new found respect for teachers and the time and dedication it takes to prepare equipment for a practical session!! I could not do it full time!

It's safe to say we severely underestimated how long it would take for us to do everything we needed to be fully prepared. We finished the envelopes and most of the prep for the workshops last Wednesday, we spent this afternoon threading up needles in preparation for tomorrows workshop in order to allow the session to run smoothly.

Our To Do list for the two meetings:

Complete envelopes

- Cutting out fabric swatches

- Selecting appropriate thread colours and embellishments to go with the fabric swatch

- Creating a tag, cutting these out, threading up and attaching a safety pin so they could easily be attached to the finished samples.

- Creating a information/instruction sheet which explains our concept, what we would like the person to do and thanking them for taking the time to do so. We created two different sheets using a larger font on one which would be included in the envelopes to be given out after the Live at Home sessions bearing in mind that a smaller font may be difficult for the elderly participants to read.

- Put needles in the packs selecting ones with appropriate sized eyes for the envelopes to be given out at the Live at Home sessions.
- Create labels for the envelopes and stick these on.
- Create a label for Rhi's drawer in the Textiles department which she has volunteered for us to have as a drop off point for University students to return their envelopes to.

Plan sessions

- Write a brief plan of how we will introduce the project, why we're working with them etc.

- Create information sheets to be given out at the sessions. We decided to use a bigger font on all documents which would be given to the group on this day.

- Thread up needles.

- Cut out swatches.

- Attach tags to swatches. We decided to put multiple tags on each swatch so that the samples could be passed around and worked into by more than one person, building up the time and emotion embedded in the fabric.

- Prepare geometric templates.

The envelopes we've created are, in my opinion, very cute. They're like little crafty presents which will eventually be developed into crafty gifts for the Home Starter Packs! I've included some images of these below.

I think all three of us are VERY relieved now we've got everything prepared for the sessions and the envelopes are done! We were all taken aback at how long it took us to complete everything and now it's all packed up in boxes and envelopes it really doesn't look like we've done much!! I'm really pleased now we've done this though as although it doesn't physically look like much I know it's propelled us so much further forward with the project. Sampling time is upon us!!!!

Session Planning!

Finally we have begun planning sessions!! I feel like we've been building up to this point for so long that I'm really glad we're getting going with it and it feels like this is the first step of realising our idea!

We've confirmed the following dates for sessions with the Live at Home group with Julie:

- Wednesday 2nd April

- Thursday 3rd April

- Wednesday 9th April

Although these sessions run past our original cut off date for workshops (4th April) we felt it was really important to be able to give out the 'envelopes' after the sessions while leaving enough time for everyone to work on them. We'll give them out on the 2nd and 3rd and collect them back at the session on the 9th. We've also decided to use this date as the deadline for the packs being given out at University to be handed back to us so that we can make sure we have time to split the materials between us before we all go our separate ways for the Easter break (beginning on the 11th).

The option of working with the After School club is one that we have unfortunately had to let go of. In the time we have left we felt it would be better to concentrate our efforts on the Live at Home group and the envelopes to be given out at University. It's unfortunate as it would be fantastic to get 3 very different communities involved in the project however logistically within the time scale it just doesn't seem possible. At the beginning of the project we agreed to be ambitious, but not over ambitious in terms of what we could complete in the time scale and organising session with this group as well would most likely be biting off more that we can chew.

The date we have decided on for handing the items back to June, Julie and Ben at Inn Churches is the 24th April. As Rhi goes on tour for the first week of the break and my work commitments are through the roof (working in a bar when there are so many bank holidays around the Easter period is not ideal!) this should give us all enough time to work around our other commitments and really invest some time making the items.

We started generating ideas for activities we could do with the men to engage them in the crafting process. I came up with tie-dying however when we all discussed this and actually looked at the amount of equipment this would require we realised it wasn't a practical option and it was back to the drawing board!

No good plan should go to waste and so we've decided to what was our plan to do drawings with the After School club and adapt it for the Live at Home group! We're going to explain that the images will be transformed into fabrics and ask that they 'doodle' as they chat and drink cups of tea (sounds like a ideal afternoon to me!). We're limiting this to black marks on white paper as Rhi has informed us that the sublimation printer will pick this up best. Rhi also suggested that we have templates in geometric shapes for them to draw into which can then be cut out and appliqued onto the items. This will create a strong aesthetic for the items. We're going to provide examples of marks they could work with as sometimes it can be intimidating to be asked to draw onto a white sheet of paper with no further instructions. The drawings will also be labelled with the artists name and the marks they've added so we can include this information on the gift tag at the end of the process. It's my job to research geometric shapes that will be appropriate and create templates ready for the workshops.

Tomorrow we are meeting at 7pm at my house to prepare everything for the envelopes and Live at Home sessions. We've all got jobs to do for tomorrow so we're ready to crack on and have a productive evening.

To Do:

Rhi: needles, threads, hole punch, card and scissors.

Claire: envelopes, fabric and safety pins.

Me: fabric, iron/ironing board, card, geometric templates.

Today in our session with Claire the nitty-gritty areas of working with the public such as ethics and health and safety were raised. We're going to look into this more after we've got the workshop plans and envelopes prepared. Rhi has agreed to complete the risk assessment form for next week.

Live at Home/Reminiscence session

Earlier this week (Thursday 13th March) we visited Julie Maude and the Live at Home group at the Great Horton Village Hall in Bradford. We arrived as the group were about to have their lunch and had a cuppa and chatted to them during their meal. We told them a little about ourselves and why we were visiting them and they seemed interested in getting involved with the project. They told us about a project they were currently working on where they were knitting squares to be turned into throws for the pews in one of the churches involved in the winter shelter scheme. This existing engagement with Inn Churches is reassuring as it shows they are practically engaged with helping the homeless already. It was lovely to sit and chat with them, as they discovered we were textiles students they began to tell us all kinds of stories about the mills they'd worked in. One of the men, Jim, had managed weaving mills all around the world! It was fascinating to hear about all the things he had done a reassuring to find that they had such a keen interest in textiles as a lot of them had spent their working lives in this area.

After lunch we spoke to Julie and ran through our idea to do a workshop with the group where they would stitch into fabric swatches and how this would strongly embed a feeling of love into the project. She responded very positively and told us how the group were very interested in crafts and loved making things. However she did also mention how the men may not want to get involved in embroidery and this is something we're going to have to consider and adapt to in order to encourage everyone to get engaged with the concept. We also ran through how we were going to create packs to give out at University to explain how we were getting other communities involved with the project. Julie then mentioned that a lot of the group have a lot of spare time during the week and that they enjoy being given something productive to do at home, especially something which is rewarding. One lady had been so taken with creating the knitted patches to make the throws for the church that she went home and made 150 in a single week! We're now considering how we could roll out the packs to be given to members of this community too. It all seems very positive and I feel like we're going to generate a lot of love filled pieces through this process!

The next step was to discuss logistics with Julie, we needed to pick her brains to find out when the group met and where we could fit our workshops around their current planned activities and our individual timetables! The schedule for the Live at Home sessions is:

Monday - exersise classes and bingo.
Julie mentioned that this may be a ideal time to host a workshop as those who don't take part in the exersise classes can sometimes feel left out and it would be nice to have a activity for them to take part in. The session runs from 10am - 2.30pm and Julie mentioned it would be preferable for us to do the workshop before lunch.

Wednesday
Julie said that she'd really like us to run a session on this day as it has a lot of people attending it who really enjoy crafts. It would again be preferable for us to run the workshop before lunch. This means we could do it between 10.45am and 12.30pm.

Thursday
The available slot for this day (before lunch) would be 10am-12.15pm.

Julie told us that a hours workshop would probably be best to maintain engagement and that we could come on any day, we just needed to drop her a text before and that not much notice was needed. This is fantastic news as we've got a lot of deadlines coming up and it provides us with the flexibility we need to work around these.

A lady then arrived to run a reminiscence session with the group. She had visited the library and picked up 'reminiscence packs' which contained various items from 'back in the day'. The group then looked at the objects and discussed what they were, telling stories about them from when they were younger. The majority of the objects were a mystery to me but it was fantastic seeing how they triggered memories from decades ago and how they all seemed to light up telling their funny anecdotes! Seeing this reiterated how a story can be captured bringing emotional value to a inanimate object. It was really encouraging to see as it's what we're aiming to achieve.

Just before we left Jim caught us to chat again, we told him we were planning to come back to do a workshop and when we told him about the plans to do stitch (along with something more aimed at the men that we were yet to think of!) he told us to 'remember he's 92!'. After leaving the session I mentioned to Rhi and Claire that we were going to have to adapt the equipment for the workshops and the envelopes being given out at these, needles would have to be bigger, with bigger eyes and it would be ideal if we could thread them up before going in order to help things run more smoothly.

The three of us also discussed our upcoming deadlines and have agreed to take a week off from meeting up for this project in order to elevate some pressure and give us one less thing to think about over the next seven days. The aim after this is to focus on creating the envelopes to be given out at University and after the workshops.

I feel like the projects progressing well although I really want to get cracking giving out the envelopes and doing the sessions so there's some physical evidence of what we've been up to! Looking back at my blog I can see we've done a lot of work generating ideas and researching for this project but I can't wait to actually see some products being developed!

Light-bulb Moment!

I found this image today and feel like it pretty sums up our feelings about our group meeting this afternoon!!

After a positive response from Julie Maude about us completing some workshops with the Live at Home group we have arranged a meeting with her on Thursday 13th March. We decided to meet after our session with Claire today to really try to bash out some ideas so we could have a clear plan for what we'll be planning to do at the sessions in order to gain feedback from her as to whether she thinks they will engage with our concept.

We recapped our idea for a reminiscence workshop. This would involve the participants bringing in fabrics, embellishments and unfinished samples which had some sentimental value to them which they would explain to the group and then donate for us to upcycle and create new objects embedded with the individual stories ready for the Home Starter Packs. However we were concerned about how this would actually work. Items which have strong sentimental value are often treasured and kept for a reason (personally I would be unwilling to let go of a item of such value to me) and so we think we will struggle to get a volume of donations with a actual story this way. There would be no coherency with our concept if the items being donated had no emotional value which is really the whole point. 

We then went back to the drawing board considering other options of how we could work with the group. We had already considered working with the After School Club, getting the children to work on drawings which we could turn into fabrics using sublimation printing for the production of the end items. Why couldn't we do something similar with the Live at Home group which involved engaging them directly with the production of samples which could be transformed into objects for the packs? We looked at our individual specialisms and with two embroiderers and a weaver in our group we decided the most straight forward option would be to run embroidery workshops with the group. Ben had said in our first meeting with Inn Churches that it was 'the time and care taken by someone to create a item' that really had a positive impact on those receiving it. By working with the Live at Home group to create embroidered samples each individual stitch would be embedded with time and care. Labels would be attached to each sample allowing the creator to add their name, information about the stitches they had added and a kind message for the receiver. We discussed how the samples could be combined together or worked on by multiple participants in order to really build up the time invested in the objects.

I then thought about the 'Stitch and Bitch' society which is run at the University and mentioned about how we could engage other communities such as students at the University. The more communities we got involved the stronger the emotion embedded within the products would be. Each object would be made by a group of people, all from various communities and all engaged with creating something special for someone moving into their first home. How special could this item be?

The idea of involving other communities really got us excited. We thought of how we could do this effectively knowing that we have a limited time to generate the samples (it's 3 weeks until the last possible date for any workshops!) and baring in mind our commitments to other projects and work etc. Then it hit us, couldn't we create packs which would include everything the user would need to create a embroidered sample? These could be given out to students, friends and family for them to complete and return by a set date. The samples could be returned either to us or to one of our drawers in the Textiles department. This would allow us to generate samples without expecting anyone to donate anything but a little bit of their time and care without requiring us being their to monitor progress as the workshops will.

So, the new plan:

- Organise workshops with the Live at Home group where we will explain our project and how their contribution will mean so much. We will take fabric swatches, needles, threads etc. and engage directly with the group as we all create samples. The social engagement involved works in partnership with the organisations aims to reduce the feeling of isolation elderly people living independently can experience. This will be run by Julie on Thursday to see if she thinks it's appropriate and wants to give us the OK to go ahead!

- Create envelopes to be given out to friends, family and in University. These will contain everything needed to create a beautiful sample for our project such as a fabric swatch, needle, threads, embellishments such as buttons and beads and information explaining the project.

- Each fabric swatch (both for use in the workshops and the envelopes) will have a label attached to it which will be filled in by the participant saying their name, what stitches they have added and a kind message. These labels will provide the information for us to put on the gift tags included with the end object, translating the unique story. We are hoping the tags will offer reassurance, showing the amount of people who care about the individual receiving the item, as they go through what can be a very lonely process of moving into a house on their own.

As the Live at Home group is made up of individuals who can feel isolated at home it feels fitting that they will potentially be involved in a social project which is creating a object to reassure another individual who may be going through the same emotions. It feels like a very natural connection that will positively affect only those receiving the items but those contributing to the project too.

We recapped how we could get the After School club involved by doing a drawing workshop to create samples through sublimation printing. It would be good if we could do this as it would involve another completely different community (the children are aged 5-11, a complete contrast to the Live at Home community!) in the project, however I have concerns about the amount of time we have left to run workshops and whether we would be able to achieve this logistically.

I honestly can't wait for our meeting with Julie on Thursday now! I'm really keen to get the ball rolling with generating samples and products as I'm finding this concept really inspiring. Hopefully Julie will like our concept and think it will work well with the members of the Live at Home group!

Dress A Girl Around The World

To date Dress A Girl Around The World has delivered 200,000 dresses to girls living in poverty around the world. The foundation believes that every little girl deserves to own at least one pretty dress and asks volunteers to sew together a dress which could be made from something so simple as a pillow case. It's a cause that tugs on the heart strings as each dress makes the girls, who are often victims of neglect and abuse, feel like they are loved and cared for. It's amazing how something so simple can have such a positive emotional impact on a individual.

The project is another example of how a little time and care when creating a item can really positively impact on a less fortunate individuals life. It's a really inspiring way of working and really reflects the way we want our items for the Home Starter Pack to be embedded with love.

The Innocent Big Knit

Similarly to the way we plan to collect community donations, Innocent Smoothies have been running The Innocent Big Knit in collaboration with Age UK.

As many elderly people struggle to stay warm and healthy over the winter months The Innocent Big Knit asks volunteers to knit a little hat for one of their smoothie bottles to wear. A million of their smoothie bottles were dressed up in these little hats before they went on sale in November and for every bottle purchased Innocent Smoothies donated 25p to Age UK to help the elderly! Some of the amazing examples are shown below.

For those who don't know how to knit (like myself!) there is the Big Knitter. This gives options for hat styles, colours and embellishments for you to 'knit' a hat online. You can then share your knit directly to Facebook or Twitter and for every 'knit' shared Innocent Smoothies donates 10p to Age UK. I've really got excited about involvement in community projects while working on this brief and you can see my 'knit' below.

This project reflects how we are aiming to engage the community with crafts in order to create a positive impact on the lives of vulnerable individuals. the use of social media has clearly been successful for The Innocent Big Knit and I think we should consider exploring how we could utilise this within our own project. The Big Knitter also allows those who are perhaps less practical to engage with the project making it accessible to a wider audience, it's not limited to those with knitting abilities. This reflects how we are considering using donation boxes to generate materials for our project as this will also allow those who are less engaged with crafts to contribute to the project.

The Hope Centre

Yesterday (27th February) we had our meeting at The Hope Centre, Bradford. Unfortunately Julie and Ben couldn't make it so we just met with June. She began by showing us around the centre which was part of the Inn Churches scheme and was currently having its turn playing host to 12 individuals in need of shelter during the winter months. We looked around the sleeping areas which were warm and welcoming (see photo below). I noticed how they had all put the few belongings they had out on display, using the windowsills as shelves and the chairs as places to neatly hand their clothes. The respect they had for their belongings reaffirmed that we should really take time and care to make these items special for the receivers to cherish.

After looking around we went and had a brew (thanks June!) and discussed our ideas for the project. Our idea for including a tag or booklet with each item to explain it's journey went down a treat! She was really interested in the idea of donation boxes and suggested that we could put one in The Hope Centre as well as at Inn Churches HQ but thought this would be good as a supporting method of gaining materials alongside actual workshops. It was mentioned that the workshops would work well on several levels including:

- Engaging otherwise isolated individuals with a wider community project while encouraging social engagement.

- Raising awareness of the work done by Inn Churches.

- Being able to source primary research about the fabrics while engaging directly with a wider community.

June also mentioned it may be a idea to work with children on the project and that she had a contact named Gaby Young who runs a after school group and may be interested in us running some workshops there. She's going to contact Gaby and let us know what she thinks. Rhi suggested that we could perhaps run drawing workshops with them and transform their images into textiles using sublimation printing.

We agreed that the final date for completing any workshops would be the 4th April in order to leave ourselves enough time to create the items. June is going to contact Julie Mord about potentially working with the Live at Home group and Gaby about working with the after school club.

I feel like a lot of progress has been made during today's meeting and that the project is really heading in a positive direction in terms of really engaging with the community!

Group Meeting

Today we had a group meeting to refine our ideas before going to the Hope Centre tomorrow. I feel like it's very important for us to turn up with as much clarity about how our ideas will be realised in order to reflect this being a professional live brief.

We again discussed the donation boxes and agreed it would be beneficial to run some sort of workshop to encourage donations. We also discussed unfinished samples and fabrics we have which we love but are unable to use and how we could use these to get going with the production of items while waiting for donations to come in.

I raised to the group that I was still a little nervous about not getting enough donations to really give the items a story. I suggested that we could perhaps run workshops which encouraged a wider community to engage in textiles crafts. As myself and Rhi specialise in embroidery and Claire in weave we disscussed how we could run embroidery workshops (Claire also has some knowledge of the specialism) which would allow participants to create samples which could be formed into items for the packs using stitch or weave. We would include a label with each item explaining who had contributed which would translate the amount of time and care invested in the objects. This could be another option for a workshop with the Live at Home group should they be interested in taking part in the project.

I feel much better about going to Bradford to present our ideas tomorrow. By turning up with two options we can get feedback from the clients and see which they feel would work best in terms of having a positive impact. Tomorrow we will also inquire about the potential of working with the Live at Home group and whether they believe our plan to run a workshop is something which they will want to engage in. I'm very excited for our meeting tomorrow now we have two clear ideas to present to the clients!

Feedback

Today (25th February) we had a meeting with Claire (our tutor for this module) to discuss our initial thoughts for the project. It was raised by Claire that it would be ideal for us to come up with a concept with longevity so Inn Churches could continue our work easily once the project had passed (or we could continue working on it ourselves should we wish to continue working with the project).

The other main points we discussed included:

Donation Boxes - Would this be practical? One of the worries I had was whether this would generate enough materials for us to create a substantial amount of products to be included in the home starter packs. Claire had mentioned that Inn Churches had connections with a 'Live At Home' group. Live At Home is a organisation which allows elderly individuals who live independently at home to get together a few days a week and participate in various activities, the intention being to combat the isolation these individuals can sometimes experience. We decided it may be a good idea to utilise this contact and perhaps put on a workshop with them where they could bring in samples and fabrics with a story behind them for donation. They could tell the group about why it's special to them in exchange for tea and cake!

Social Media - Could we use social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to raise the profile of the project and encourage donations from a wider community?

The Story - Claire was really supportive of the idea of each object having a personal story and how this could convey the time and care taken by so many people to make that object unique. This has become the key concept within our project as it will really allow us to capture how special the pieces are. It will make each one like a one of a kind piece of art for their home.

I think the meeting really got us thinking about our idea and how we still need to get a little clarity on things before we go to our meeting with June, Juli and Ben at the Hope Centre on Thursday! The base concept feels really strong but I feel like how we're going to carry it out is really cloudy at the moment and we need to have another meeting as a group to really clarify what we plan to do before our meeting on Thursday!

Generating Ideas!

Earlier this week (19th Feb) we had our first meeting as a group with the aim of generating ideas for the project in preparation for our meeting with June, Julie and Ben at the Hope Centre, Bradford next week.

We all agreed that we wanted to aim to create objects for the Home Starter Pack. This way we could actually impact on the lives of the individuals receiving the objects by hopefully reassuring them with a comforting object embedded with sentimental value through the use of craft. To achieve personal value within a inanimate object we agreed that it would be beneficial to get different members of the community involved. The volume of people taking time to get involved with the project would create a real feeling of care. This idea was developed and we decided we could use donation boxes to collect various materials with sentimental value or a story. Tags would be provided next to the boxes allowing those donating to explain a little about why their donation is special and where it has come from. The information from these tags would be relayed using a gift label on the final item, allowing each object to have its own unique story.

Items we would hope to receive would include:

- fabric swatches/samples. The samples could also be ones which individuals have started but perhaps not had the time to complete.

- good quality clothing which is no longer of use.

- threads

- embellishments

We then thought about where we could put the donation boxes to allow us to reach a wider community. Some would involve communication with other businesses such as fabric shops as donation boxes in these locations would be seen by individuals who are interested in crafts and likely to have interest in getting involved with a community textiles project. These locations included:

- Fabworks, Dewsbury

- Samuel Taylors, Huddersfield Market

- University Campus, within the Textiles, Costume and Fashion departments

- Inn Churches, Bradford

- The Hope Centre, Bradford

We would then divide the donations between ourselves to be turned into objects for the Home Starter Packs such as cushions, blankets, draft excluders and lamp shades. Each with a gift tag explaining it's individual journey conveying the care the wider community has put into creating the item. We also discussed the idea of potentially using smaller fabric swatches to create Sewing Kits which would allow individuals to repair worn through clothes and other items while stitching in a fabric piece with a unique story.

Team Building

This week I found out I would be working with Rhiannon and Claire on the Home Starter Pack Project. I'm very pleased with my team as we have worked together in previous projects which have involved very short time scales so I think we will be able to achieve a lot in the time given. It feels like a slight head start that we have experience of how each of us work and what our personal strengths are. Our lecture this week looked at key skills for team work and how we could effectively achieve these within our group.

The key skills include:

- Showing a creative and resourceful approach to a Live Project.

- Working successfully with others.

- Understanding group dynamics.

- Consultation procedures with client and peers.

- Recording all processes involved during the development and implementation of the project e.g. phone calls, methods of sourcing materials etc.

Our first task as a group was to assess our individual strengths and weaknesses and how we could use these to create a strong team dynamic. This involved looking at our individual personalities:

Claire

'Thinker' - strong analytical skills, able to foresee problems and stop other personalities getting carried away with potentially impractical ideas, gathers and evaluates information, can be quiet before vocalising a idea or concern.

Strengths: Good making and research skills, access to her own sewing machine and textile equipment.

Weaknesses: Can find it difficult to talk to new people.

Rhi

'Coordinator/Achiever' - very organised, able to keep the project on track, makes sure decisions made allow progress within the project.

Strengths: Very good at researching and selecting appropriate information, feels comfortable talking in front of people.

Weaknesses: Can take on too much work which can impact on the quality and progress of work.

Myself

'Doer' - keen to get things done, very practical and strong making skills. Less engaged with long discussions.

Strengths: Confident in CAD, strong skills in terms of creating a concept and ensuring this is adhered to and reflected through design, strong making skills.

Weaknesses: Can struggle to articulate ideas, can be disorganised.

We then looked at how these traits could work together to create a strong team dynamic. Rhi has clear organisational skills and so would be ideal for communicating with clients, coordinating meetings and logistics (we discussed how it would be beneficial to have only one team member communicating with the client in terms of organising meetings etc. as to maintain a professional manor by not overwhelming the client and causing confusion, Rhi's skills are suited best for this and so she has agreed to take on this role). My strengths will allow us to create a concept based upon our research which we can stick to and achieve through the design stage. Throughout the process Claire's analytical skills will allow any potential problems to be foreseen and avoided. Having completed this exercise I can see exactly how our individual characteristics will work together effectively to allow us to work as a unit.

Following this we decided it was best to set some ground rules for the project which would allow everything to run a little more smoothly. This allows everyone to know where they stand and understand what is expected of them from the get go.

We established that we should:

- meet for a minimum of 1 hour per week. This would be fit in around our individual university timetables and other commitments such as work. Tuesdays at 3.15 or Wednesdays at 11.15 seem to be the most preferable options as these follow lectures we are all in together and so have minimum impact on our other commitments.

- if one of us is unable to attend a scheduled meeting we should let the other group members know.

- equal practical participation. We are all very keen to be involved within the making process and so will divide this fairly between ourselves.

- complete any tasks we have committed to. If we need a hand, let the group know. As the project will involve us working on individual tasks alongside group ones it's key that we complete any of these tasks within the time scale set in order to allow the project to progress successfully. We're all aware that other commitments such as other projects, health issues or employed work may impact on our ability to complete tasks and will help each other out where needed. This relieves pressure on us as individuals and will keep us working as a team unit effectively.

- play to your strengths! Don't take on any tasks you know you can't complete as well as another team member, by playing to individual strengths we will have a far more successful outcome.

Finally we looked at our key goals for this brief:

- to be ambitious but not over ambitious within the time scale. Bear in mind what is realistically achievable.

- to try to set up something with longevity which could be continued by Inn Churches after the project has been completed.

- allow market research and individuals to influence the project, make sure the end product answers the needs of the individuals we are catering for. This bring me back to what Ben had said in our first meeting about how the idea that someone had invested time in a object (in reference to Homeless Beanies) really made a difference. I believe this is something we should really try to include within the project!

- maintain a balance between the purpose of the end product and our creativity.

Overall I think our key aims and strengths as a group will allow us to run this project successfully and achieve a positive outcome for both the individuals benefitting from the Home Starter Packs and Inn Churches.

I got it!

We had to submit letters of application for the project we wished to take part in. This was then assessed by Claire and representatives from the respective organisation based on our interest in the brief, initial ideas, how it fit in with our individual practice and whether our skills would be appropriate for the brief. Having applied for the Home Starter Pack Project I found out this week that my application was successful and I'm able to start work on this exciting brief!! I'm very happy with the result as I find this brief incredibly inspiring and I'm very eager to get ideas flowing with my team. I'll find out who I'm working with next week when we can start looking at team dynamics and how best to fulfill the brief!

Planning!

During the session on community with Claire (see my last blog post!) we also looked at planning, how to go about this and how it can impact on a project.

To put this into practice we were asked to split into groups and complete a Case Study based on teaching Year 6 pupils (aged 10/11) over a 4 week period (a 2 hour session each week) about the theme 'Victorians'. There would be 4 students running the class of 15 pupils. A teacher would be present who would be in charge of the class in terms of behaviour and safety and a teaching assistant would also be available.

Within our group we decided that the theme for each session would be given to the class as a whole before splitting the pupils into groups of 3 or 4. These groups would be decided before the sessions with the help of the class teacher as they could consider academic ability and behaviour in order to best split the pupils into groups. Each group would be allocated a student leader who would then take them through the sessions activities. The teacher would circulate the groups in order to keep a eye on behaviour etc.

As a group we decided to focus on 'Victorian Inventions' as a more specific theme for our sessions, keeping in mind textile influences which could be incorporated into the syllabus.

Session 1 - The Camera

Activity:

The session would begin with a talk about the camera including key facts such as when it was invented, who by etc. Photographs from this era will be shown to the pupils and we will discuss the clothing styles in the photographs. Fabrics sourced from Lee Mills would be brought in to show the pupils the textiles within fashion that can be seen in the images. A pinhole camera would then be made in groups and the pupils would dress up in the Victorian fabrics and clothes provided to have their photograph taken using the pinhole camera they have made. A digital camera would also be on hand so more copies of the images could be made allowing the pupils to take a copy home!

Learning Outcomes:

- Key facts about the invention of the camera.

- Insight into Victorian textiles and how these were used within fashion.

- Learning how to make a basic camera.

- Team building skills.

Equipment:

- Cardboard boxes

- Light sensitive paper

- Electrical tape

- Scissors

- Outfits

- Victorian fabrics

- Old photographs

Session 2 - Post

Activity:

In this session we would look at the invention of post and how huge of a impact this had on our country - imagine a life without post! The invention would be introduced along with key facts such as when and who it was invented by. Examples of letters and stamps would be shown to the pupils in chronological order so they could see how the postal system has progressed. We would also talk about when the Christmas/Easter card was invented (depending on which season the session fell in) and would get the class to create their own holiday cards. Textiles such as felt would be used when making the cards in order to incorporate our own textile practice into the session. Fountain pens, feathers and ink and other original methods of calligraphy would be available for the pupils to experiment with.

Learning Outcomes:

- Understanding the origins of the postal system and how important it is

- Looking at the way in which post has allowed us to correspond and how important it has been e.g. love letters during war, holiday cards, postcards etc.

- Engaging with individual creativity and developing craft skills.

- Being able to identify with the Victorian era.

- Social interaction skills improved.

Equipment:

- Card

- Felt

- Embellishments: ribbon, buttons, beads, glitter, pom poms, fluff etc.

- Drawing materials: felt tips, pencils, pencil crayons etc.

- Writing equipment: fountain pens, quills, ink etc.

Session 3 - Sewing Machine

Activity:

The invention would be introduced along with basic facts and information as to why the invention was so important. Explain how clothes could be made at home with ease and how this was needed during war time. The invention of the sewing machine also enabled the mass production of clothing - could the pupils imagine a world where clothes were not mass produced and freely available?! A cross stitch activity would be completed with the students allowing them to engage with the practice of sewing. They could stitch their own image or name, alternatively template images would also be provided.

Learning Outcomes:

- Learning about machine and hand stitch techniques

- Understand how clothes were made during the Victorian era.

- Engaging with the design process

- Improving craft skills

Equipment:

- Fabric swatches (semi-open weave to allow needle to pass through easily, reduce hazard of pricking fingers)

- Pencils

- Embroidery threads

- Tapestry needles (these have a blunter end and would reduce the possibility of pricking fingers while still being able to pass through a fabric with a semi-open weave easily)

Session 4 - Banner

Activity:

For the final session the smaller groups would come back together to work as a while class of 15 on a large, collage banner for display in the pupils school. The banner would show what the pupils had learnt about the Victorian era with the banner being split into 3 sections: the camera, the postal system and the sewing machine. Equipment relating to each invention would be gathered e.g. photographs and fabrics donated from Lee Mills from the camera session, stamps and letters created by the pupils in the postal system session and cross stitch samples created during the sewing machine session.

Learning Outcomes:

- Team building skills, the whole class have to work together towards one goal (a banner demonstrating what they have learnt over the last 4 weeks)

- Engaging in the design process

- Developing craft skills

- Recapping information taught in previous weeks

Equipment:

- Large card banner ready cut out

- Collage materials: tissue paper, felt, fabrics (donations from Lee Mills), stamps, letters, envelopes, polaroids, cross stitch samples.

- Embellishment: buttons, fluff, pom poms, glitter, beads, ribbon etc.

- Drawing materials: pens, pencils, pencil crayons, felt tips etc.

- Scissors

- Glue

For me I feel this was a incredibly useful activity to complete as planning is not my strong suit! This case study has shown me how planning ahead can make the running of community sessions much more relaxing and straight forward which will definitely be useful throughout this project!

Community

During yesterdays lecture with Claire we were shown a presentation which explained a little more about the meaning and importance of community and how we could embed our textiles practice within this. I'm really keen to get members of the wider community involved within this project so I found the presentation really interesting and inspiring.

Community

"...not only the people who are in it. A community is already existing before all the people in it have been born. A 'community' may not even have a physical location (members could have moved to other locations), but it is formed from a group of people with a common interest."

This made me think of the different types of communities, some of which may be interested in contributing to this project:
- Educational: Schools (e.g. Mount Pleasant Primary School who are interested in participating in the Penistone Line project), Colleges, Universities.
- Clubs: Scouts, sports clubs, art groups, sewing classes, knitting groups, after school clubs.
- Family
- Local: based on location
- Ethnic
- Religious
- Co-workers

Textiles can be embedded within a community in a variety of ways such as:
- Community Art: professional artists collaborate with people who don't normally actively engage in arts.
- Artistic Activity: this can be based in a community setting. It can take any form and involves interaction or communication with the community.

The impacts of participating within the arts can include personal growth, empowerment, cultural democracy, social and critical awareness can be raised, personal enrichment and enjoyment, and transmission of values. Art creating a transmission of values demonstrates that no art is "value free" which I feel lends itself well to the Home Starter Pack brief as a key theme within this project is the inclusion of sentimental and emotional value within the object. I think this could be achieved with strong community involvement!

I'm really hoping my application for the Home Starter Pack project is successful as I really think community collaboration will add so much value and meaning to the outcome of the brief!

Decision Time!

Of the three projects I think I've been most drawn to the Home Starter Pack project from the off set and this was really clear to me following the visit to Bradford earlier this week.

What has drawn me to this project the most is the idea that the products which we create could really impact on a individuals life who hasn't had the easiest of times. The idea that a concept could be drawn together allowing us to create a object with immediate sentimental value, impacting on the emotional well-being of the receiver is really inspiring my imagination. Moving into a new home can be a lonely experience, what with blank cream walls, sudden independence and a lack of personal items. I would love to be able to get various communities involved with the project and working into the final item(s) in order to really give the object a sense of comradely and love which would hopefully impact positively on the receivers life.

I have to apply for the project now, after which I find out who my teammates will be.

Fingers crossed I get it!

Inn Churches - Home Starter Pack Project

Yesterday we visited the charity Inn Churches in Bradford to find out more about the Home Starter Pack brief which they had set us. We met with June Hill, Julie Thompson and Ben who works for Inn Churches. The charity began as a winter shelter and 16 churches are now involved each taking turns to shelter 12 people a night for a week. These individuals are then moved into permanent accommodation and their needs are assessed to see whether a Home Starter Pack would be appropriate for them. The idea of the packs is to help individuals kicks start life in their new home. They contain basic necessities such as washing liquid, towels and bedding. A £10 voucher for use in the charities in house shop is given out with the packs to allow individuals to buy ornaments etc. which will personalise their new accommodation and make their house into a home. Since December 2013 over 60 starter packs have been given to those in need.

Inn Churches also runs a scheme called Homeless Beanies. This involved volunteers knitting beanie hats and sending them to the charity to be given out to those in need of warmth over the winter months. During this process there was some cross wires and the charity found themselves receiving a lot of knitted squares alongside the beanies. They then utilised these squares to create knitted patchwork quilts which were given out to those in need. During the chat Ben mentioned how the fact that these items were handmade really 'made a difference' to the individuals receiving them. The idea that someone had taken the time to create a item especially for them really meant a lot. I really love this concept of making something which will have such sentimental value to the receiver due to something so simple as taking a little extra time and care to create a truly personal item.

During the meeting we generated ideas as a group gaining live feedback from June, Julie and Ben. Key ideas which were mentioned included:

- Strong use of textiles. Textiles is associated with comfort and warmth and can give inanimate objects emotive value.

- A little time and attention means a awful lot.

- Personal touch: A label could be added to the items once completed e.g. "made with love from Huddersfield University".

- Awareness raising: Posters and illustrations could be used to promote the work done by the charity. It was emphasised that we are not limited to items to go within the packs but could do other work which would help the progression of the charity. As I'm a huge fan of illustration and it plays a huge role within my practice this sparked the idea in my mind of creating a incredibly large textile wall piece which could contain illustrative images and a message to promote the charity. This could then be cut down into blanket sized pieces to be given out with the Home Starter Packs encouraging a sense of community and connection between isolated individuals.

- Sewing groups: Create social engagement within the project. As moving into a house on your own can be very lonely to begin with (I've experienced this when moving into blank university halls) these workshops would encourage social engagement. This would also be a sustainable concept which could be continued beyond the parameters of the project deadline.

Innovative - Interesting - Imaginative - Inspiring

The Knitting & Crochet Guild / Penistone Line Partnership

Today Angharad Thomas and Barbara Smith from The Knitting & Crochet Guild (Lee Mills Archive) visited us in University in order to explain more about the Lee Mills Archive brief and what could be achieved should we choose to work on this brief. The archive itself was explained in more detail and I was amazed by the volume of items within the collection. Based in a warehouse it contains the largest collection of Knitting & Crochet publications in the country dating from 1910. This section of the archive includes rare publications such as The Lady's World Fancy Work Book which provides insight into social history through advertisements etc. As a embroiderer who came into the Textiles course during the second year I have absolutely no experience of knitting or crochet (unless we count a painful fifteen minutes when I was four and my grandmother tried to teach me to knit a sleeping bag for one of my teddy bears. Needless to say my short attention span got the better of her and my grandmother sent me off to play with my bears while she made it for me). Therefore I found today's visit very informative and my knowledge of historical knit has been widened, continuing to widen my knowledge of this area of textiles could be one advantage if I chose to partake in this brief. The textile area of the archive includes a astonishing 1000 knitted and 2000 crochet items. Some items brought in were available for us to look at closely wearing white gloves due to their age and delicacy. It was explained to us that The Guild required us to sort through the archive categorising items and pattern leaflets, scanning front covers and cataloging leaflets. I feel that this would be very difficult to achieve without even a basic knowledge of knitting and crochet and so I do not feel I would be able to contribute to this project as comprehensively as I would like, especially having seen the passion that Angharad and Barbara have for the collection. Having considered that it is a team project I feel I would fair better if I chose a brief which played to my individual strengths so I could contribute fully to the team effort, in the Lee Mills Archive I feel my lack of knowledge would slow the progress of the team down. Therefor I'm ruling this one out for me!

Rowena Chantler was also due to come and speak to us today about the Penistone Line Partnership in order to broaden our knowledge of the aims of the brief and what we could achieve, however unfortunately she was unable to make it. Instead Claire presented her powerpoint. It was highlighted within the presentation that encouraging customers to travel on the Penistone Line during off-peak times was a key aim of the project as this would potentially allow the company to have trains running more frequently along this route. Previous projects which have taken place on the Penistone Line were mentioned including music trains, community notice boards, guided walks and textile craft projects. The possibility of working with Mount Pleasant School was discussed in further detail and we were informed that a local Scouts group along with Moor End Academy are interested in taking part in the project. I think the idea of working with groups in the wider community is very exciting and it allows a real community feel to be embedded within the project which could be particularly effective in the Tour de France aspect of the project if a 'welcome' display were to be created.

At the moment I'm swinging towards the Home Starter Pack project as it screams 'making a difference' to me as it helps individuals through a exciting and potentially difficult time of their life. However I'm very taken with the idea of working with groups in the wider community which the Penistone Line Partnership allows. Next week when we visit Inn Churches (the charity which provides the Home Starter Packs) I will see how open to working with different community groups the project is and whether this could be involved as a strong theme within the project.

It begins!

Today marks the beginning of a new project!

This project looks at applying textiles skills to a community based concept. We have three options to choose from, each involving a different client and real like project brief. I'm quite excited about this brief as I haven't worked to a live brief which has involved consultation with a client as of yet and I feel the community aspect will make the project incredibly rewarding as we will be making a difference within the wider community.

I'm currently deciding which project I would like to apply for, I have quickly cooked up some potential ideas for each brief so I can try to establish which is right for me, these are shown below.

Textile Thinking and the Penistone Line Partnership

The Penistone Line Partnership is a voluntary organisation which raises awareness of the railway within the local community. This brief asks us to use our textile thinking and consider how our practice may help promote community involvement and enhance people's experience of the Penistone Line journey while challenging us to work in response to the site itself.

There are two potential avenues for this brief:

Le tour France - Yorkshire Grand Départ
This requires a permanent or temporary piece to be created for display to coincide with the second stage of the Tour de France as this passes by one of the stations along the A616 in July 2014. This would allow the piece to reach a large audience providing a rare opportunity to showcase our work while also working to the brief and promoting awareness of the Penistone Line.

Initial Ideas:

- creating a 'welcome' display for tourists. This could involve interaction with groups within the community e.g. local schools, clubs etc. and the final display could be inspired by the heritage of the Penistone Line.
- a section of the Penistone Line could be cycled and recorded using a video camera. This would provide primary research showing what the cyclists completing the Tour de France would see while passing through. This could then be developed into a installation piece allowing tourists to see the Penistone Line from the cyclists perspective, marrying the event with it's environment. Community groups could help create the final piece in hands on workshops.

Mount Pleasant School
This avenue for the Penistone Line brief asks us to work in Mount Pleasant Primary School developing the student's understanding of their local history through our textiles practice.

Initial Ideas:

- headphones could be plugged in around the train which tell stories about historic landmarks which can be seen from the train window.
- a kids pack could be given to children riding the Penistone Line with activities relating to historic landmarks such as mills etc. which can be seen from the train window.
- treasure hunt - this could be themed with the local history or the Tour de France and be run during off-peak times in order to encourage families to ride the train during quieter periods i.e. after school until tea time. This would assist the Penistone Line with their aims to get trains running more frequently which can only be achieved if customer volume during off-peak periods is improved.

Archival Interventions: Lee Mills Knitting and Crochet Archive

This brief asks us to visit Lee Mills and work with the vast collection of knitted and crocheted items archived there. It would involve researching and categorising the items. Due to my limited knowledge of knitting and crochet this brief could help me improve my understanding of this area of textiles.

Initial Ideas:

- work towards some sort of exhibition by showcasing the work, perhaps in a timeline form so visitors can see the way knitting has evolved over the last century.
- investigate creating a publication of some sort which would generate publicity for the archive. Magazines such as Selvedge could be approached as they reach a large audience who have keen interest in textiles.
- generate a online archive allowing individuals who are interested in the collection but may not have the means to see it in person to access it. A newsletter option could be created so those interested in this area could keep up to date with new arrivals to the archive.
- re-vamp the website. It could be made much more modern and showcase the archive in a informative and interesting way. A email newsletter could also be integrated within this in order to encourage repeat visits to the website by promoting new items or development which would maintain public interest and hopefully generate more visits to the site itself.
- groups from the wider community could be invited to Lee Mills and their reactions to the collection could be recorded. This may work well with elderly groups as the collection may cause them to reminisce about knitting and crochet they had, or completed when they were younger.

Innovations in Giving - Beyond the Sleeping Bag: Home Starter Packs

Since 2010 the University have been developing The Sleeping Bag Project. This has involved students using textile thinking to create innovative ways to personalise a sleeping bag to be given to someone in need of warmth and shelter over winter. Abandoned sleeping bags were salvaged from places such as Leeds Festival, washed and craft skills were considered and applied in response to direct interaction with individuals seeking refuge in homeless shelters.

Beyond the Sleeping bag: Home Starter Pack is a  development of this project which aims to work with individuals who have experienced homelessness and are about to move into their first home. Home started packs are given out to these individuals as they move into their first home and contain all the basics which they will needs for example; washing up liquid, dusters, towels and bedding. This project aims to create a item which is included within the pack, not as a necessity, but as a item of sentimental value which considers emotion, aesthetics and spiritual values we bestow upon objects.

Initial Ideas:

- engage with the wider community to involve various groups (e.g. schools, clubs) in the project and generate a real sense of community and comradely within the items.
-soft furnishings could be created such as cushions, blankets and bean bags as these are often associated with comfort within the home and could hold sentimental value while being aesthetically pleasing and adding something decorative to a room.
- a decorative wall piece which includes hooks for keys, the keys will be a object of great value to the individual as they will not have had keys to their own home for a extended period of time, or possibly ever. A item which is decorative and celebrates the first set of keys would hold a lot of sentimental value and show a sense of pride in the new home. Key rings could be made to match this with strong emphasis on craft showcasing how important this item, which many of us take for granted, is.
- worry dolls could be made and given in the packs. They are placed under pillows and believed to take our worries away while we sleep, this might be a nice idea to encourage security within the home.
- posters and a webpage could be created to promote the work of Inn Churches and showcase the work they do with Home Starter Packs. This could be used to encourage volunteers to create items and send them into the charity for inclusion within the packs, thus involving a much wider community and encouraging the use of textile craft for a community based project.