University Inspired Design – Fleece To Fashion

Original drawing of windows by Susan McComb, which inspired knitting patterns and our Fleece to Fashion logo.

Black and white photograph showing windows in the Gilbert Scott building (credit: Susan McComb) — Windows in the Gilbert Scott building (credit: Susan McComb)

The logo for the Fleece to Fashion project is based on a design created by Susan McComb, a Textile Design graduate from the Glasgow School of Art, when she was Knitter in Residence at the University of Glasgow during Wool Week 2014. The Knitter is Residence was one element of a larger academic and public engagement project, ‘Knitting in the Round’, funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. During this project, Susan created a series of knitting design patterns inspired by the architecture of the Gilbert Scott Building, and these patterns appear throughout the pages of our project website. During the project, Susan gave a description of how she transferred architectural motifs into knitted patterns:

I then went on to develop a series of patterns for colour and texture. The bold stone carving like the ‘honeycomb’ high up on the 4 turrets of the tower lent themselves well to cable knit. The tall, carved oak doors with their grid box design on the south facing frontage had similarities with the Sanquhar knitting technique of grids and boxes. The bold ironwork used in the windows form their own repeat pattern around the building and are often superimposed on one another as you look from the outside through the interior and on through the window on the other side. Another of my designs, the Rose & Thistle, was inspired by the University Tour and the use of national symbols in the stonework.
Susan McComb

Colour photograph showing a sample of a knitted pattern by Susan McComb inspired by ‘honeycomb’ stone carving on the Gilbert Scott building — Knitted pattern by Susan McComb inspired by ‘honeycomb’ stone carving on the Gilbert Scott building

Colour photograph showing a sample of a blue and white knitted pattern by Susan McComb inspired by oak doors in the Gilbert Scott building — Knitted pattern by Susan McComb inspired by oak doors in the Gilbert Scott building

Colour photograph showing a sample of a blue and white knitted pattern by Susan McComb inspired by windows in the Gilbert Scott building — Knitted pattern by Susan McComb inspired by windows in the Gilbert Scott building

Colour photograph showing a sample of a blue and white knitted pattern, ‘Rose and Thistle’, inspired by stone carving on the Gilbert Scott building — Knitted pattern, ‘Rose and Thistle’, inspired by stone carving on the Gilbert Scott building

Once Susan had developed the designs, she knitted samples using two of the project’s featured yarns, Jamieson & Smith’s jumper weight in Flugga White and Indigo, and New Lanark Mill’s Arran weight in 4 natural colours. Throughout Wool Week, Susan was present at different locations around the university campus and used baskets of wool, knitting needles, and her design patterns and samples to instruct beginners and encourage those already able to knit.