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This thesis takes a narrative chronological approach to explore the development of tatting as a craft activity from the eighteenth century to the present day by examining a broad range of primary and secondary literature. Extant tatting and relevant ephemera in archives and other repositories have been examined and analysed in order to identify the origins of this hand-held, knotted lacemaking technique. By the very nature of the subject, the research has been multidisciplinary and the data was accumulated over several years at every opportunity. The narrative, an enquiry as a means of understanding experiences as lived and told through both literature and research, has extended from the first known record of tatting in print through to the present day. A variety of literature is discussed, including periodicals and patterns, along with many illustrations of tatting and shuttles, a variety of designs with their possible use, threads, methods of construction, provenance, extant tatting in museums and archives. The Introduction to the thesis introduces the history and development of this needlecraft as a leisure occupation for women and highlights how tatting has often been neglected in relevant craft literature. The chapter also analyses the world-wide appeal of the craft. Chapter 1 investigates the tools, threads and variations of this portable craft as well as the often confusing terminology associated with it. There have been many practical books and articles published about, or referencing, tatting and Chapter 2 offers an analysis of them from the earliest confirmed mention in 1770 to the latest books to show how instructions for creating this knotted lace have changed, from those Madame Riego de la Branchardiere at the end of the nineteenth century to the colourful diagrammatic instructions seen in the twenty-first century. Tatting has been used by people in all walks of society, and Chapter 3 discusses some of the uses to which tatting has been applied to fashionable clothing, from elaborate collars to handbags and parasols. Many of these tatted items are in museums across the UK, a large number of which were visited to in order to study the surviving items, which are discussed in this thesis. The catalyst for this research was The Art of Tatting by Lady Katharin Hoare which contains photographs of Lady Hoare’s own tatting and that of Queen Elisabeth of Romania. Chapter 4 focuses on the work of these women, both in terms of their writing and their surviving tatted items. Access was given to both the surviving tatting of Queen Elisabeth in Pelés Castle, Romania and Lady Hoare’s tatted items preserved in collections owned by her descendants and those still use in Sidestrand Church in Norfolk. This work, never before discussed in close detail, is analysed in Chapter 4. The Conclusion to the thesis reviews current attitudes towards tatting and needlecrafts in general especially the difficulty in promoting and keeping tatting active and alive. The thesis aims to offer the first academic account of the social history and technical development of the neglected craft of tatting, and original contributions to knowledge include clarification regarding the writings of Mlle Riego and the discovery and recording of Lady Hoare’s tatting, as well as the extant items by Queen Elisabeth in Pelés Castle.

There are 72 different breeds of sheep reared across Britain but their fleece is combined in centralised depots and sold with loss of breed identity. This thesis looks at an alternative in which designers, informed about the individual characteristics of purebred wool, would be able to design for breed type. As a practice-led investigation, the thesis reframed the situation as a design problem, and found a resolution in a practical and digital toolkit that enables designers to navigate their breed selection process to narrow in on choices suitable for their purpose. Behind the research is the view that demand from designers for purebred wools can lead to systematic change in the promotion of wool in the UK, but the first step is to make designers aware how purebred wools can enhance their work, and how to make the right selection. In the present economic model wool is primarily a by-product of the meat industry. It has insufficient monetary value to encourage change from the current centralised system set up in an era of nationalised industries, in which wool is viewed as a commodity without much distinction of type. There is potential to add value to British wool by exploiting individual breed variations, in terms of both physical characteristics, and their associations with local heritage. This thesis proposes that understanding the differences between wools from individual breeds can aid knitwear designers to heighten garment functionality and aesthetics, and satisfy consumer demand for more authentic, locally traceable garments. This practice-led research uses a design methodology to synthesise knowledge about wool from individual breeds from microscopic to macroscopic properties. Desired characteristics of handle, colour, and fineness, through to the cultural and geographical heritage of sheep breeds are integrated to produce new understandings. Besides the wool itself, the research findings make use of evidence from designer/makers, spinners and industry bodies, alongside scientific data, and knitwear design experience. An innovative aspect of the thesis is the use of new technologies to communicate breed characteristics. A virtual online library of British wool yarns, created using Shima Seiki SDS-ONE APEX3 software, alongside a physical library of yarn samples, breed information books, and data sheets form the core of a toolkit for designers. The toolkit connects industry-level wool knowledge and knitwear design technologies in a format aimed at designer/makers. The contribution to knowledge includes a new understanding of the wool properties of British purebred sheep in terms of their application in knitwear design and production. The synthesis and integration of a broad range of wool information in a clear comparative visual manner, in both tactile and digital formats (the toolkit) is a novel presentation and application of both existing and original evidence. Where it makes use of existing knowledge, the toolkit applies this in an original manner, in the creation of a new design-oriented model. The research also demonstrates the utility of the Shima Seiki software for distant communication of yarn and knit information. The thesis looks toward use of the toolkit as a catalyst for re-generating British wool use through the mediation of design.

Creative Journeys contribute to our knowledge of how practical ontology navigates multi-perspectives through an auto-ethnographic journey with material. I investigate how it may be possible to navigate geographic locations – Norway, Britain and Spain – through knitting as an approach to practical and philosophical exploration. In Creative Journeys I am in a process of reflexive practice, engaged in external and internal dialogue, haptic encounters, challenges and creative action. My thesis suggests that engagement with material is a fluid process and understanding evolves, so too does my journey in life. In such circumstances material functions as a mediator; creates a bridge between hand, movement, time and space. Material transcends boundaries, assists orientation and facilitates articulation of aesthetics, reminiscence, symbols, patterns, colour, sensory appreciation; all of which contribute to an understanding of relationships. Body is material and being conscious of body movement with the rhythm of diverse locations enables me to make connections through daily events, to attune to different atmospheres. In such a journey there are moments of harmony and misunderstanding, discord and adjustments; interruptions occur with energy and disrupt patterns of life. These are crossing points which enable me to experience myself through the perspective of the other; to understand how situated knowledge changes in relation to diverse perspectives; and to understand how I may contribute to the social fabric of life of diverse locations through the art of paying attention to detail. Creative Journeys are investigated through three questions: How do I relate to the world? How do art subjectivities manifest themselves through art practice? How does art evolve through relations? The questions are examined within the perspective of situated knowledge; subjectivities; material of location and practice. Investigating material in the context of these questions provides opportunities to develop capacities to navigate social, cultural and political orientation, economy, health, race, gender and belief, which all impact on the journey. My approach to the thesis evolved through my relations with creative works of knitted artefacts which I documented in personal journals. The components of practice have woven threads of inquiry through theory and reflective critical practice and form an aspect of the viva voce examination. Along with the illustrations they contribute to 20% of the written component of the thesis.

This thesis explores how women form, perceive and communicate their sense of identity by hand knitting for leisure. Leisure, defined here as time outside of work or caring responsibilities, was selected as the focus of this research because women have some choice over how they spend this time and express themselves. Writing on contemporary knitting has tended to frame knitting within political, artistic or commercial contexts (such as Black, 2005, 2012 and Elliot, 2015). This leaves a gap in our understanding of why women who knit for leisure do so. This is partially addressed by recent empirical research (for example Fields, 2014) that has studied social processes within knitting groups. However, research has devoted less attention to the wider motivations of women who knit alone or in groups. This is important if we consider that identity formation happens in a broader context, and may involve a constant interaction with people (Jenkins, 2004), objects and ideas, as is suggested by the findings of this study. The research employs a qualitative approach based on Charmaz’s (2006) grounded theory by way of a staged design which aims to respond to the data and minimise the influence of preconceived ideas. This aim is particularly important given the historical and contemporary stereotypes associated with knitting, and my own background as a textile historian and maker. Application of social research methods also aims to further develop the role played by empirical research in the area of textile scholarship. Data was collected in three stages; a pilot study, questionnaires with women textile bloggers and the main research stage which consisted of semi-structured interviews with knitters living in Edinburgh. Interviewees were contacted by volunteer and snowball sampling. Content analysis was supported by QSR*NVivo and involved descriptive and theoretical coding in order to identify themes in the data. Analysis suggests knitting provides immediate social interaction and support. This could be associated with Jenkins’ (2004) proposition that identity is formed by ongoing social interaction. However, there is another dimension here as knitting also enables the solitary knitter to access interactions with ideas and other people through objects and the personal memories held within them as well as through online communities. Three key findings are that knitting presents a way to be creative, productive and social. Firstly, respondents describe knitting as a balance between challenge and perceived ability, as might be described as ‘flow’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 2002 [1992]). Secondly, this meets a need for a leisure activity that produces a tangible manifestation of effort and skill. However, the process of knitting is also seen to be as important, if not more so, than the final product. This insight reinforces the usefulness of empirical study of the experience of making textiles, and reveals additional data than studying only the final object. Thirdly, knitting is presented as a means to access meaningful social interactions and a sense of belonging to a community whether or not the knitter is a member of a knitting group. Such interactions might be online or provide a sense of continuity with previous generations of knitters in their families or women in general. Knitters see this as a way of building social capital and support. Overall, findings suggest that identity formation and communication should be seen as a complex process that does not only involve direct social interactions but interaction with the idea of other knitters, past and present, and the practical experience of making.

Producing coloured stripes in Fair Isle knit creates complex colour interactions, where changing one colour in a design can dramatically change the viewer's perception of the pattern. This can be explained in part through established colour and pattern theory, and the most interesting effects occur when colour theory interacts with pattern theory to cause figural ambiguity, or to disrupt the Gestalt principles of "belongingness" (Kanizsa, 1979). The originality of this work stems from situating the theoretical exploration in the unique structure of Fair Isle knitted fabrics. The research utilises a design methodology, which recognises the importance of tacit knowledge, intuition and creativity. It suggests metrics to assess the success of the research and communication methods that are appropriate to a design audience. Outcomes of the research include results for formal experiments, exhibitions and collaborative, performance workshops, confirming and explaining the inter-relatedness of knitted fabric, pattern and colour in the perception of Fair Isle knitted fabrics. The research identifies Performance Craft, a new concept for design research and dissemination.

This thesis explores, broadly, contemporary enthusiasm for craft, making and its geographies. It engages with knitting and the spaces that the practices, politics and skills of this particular form of vernacular creativity play out. Politically, it is interested with knitting as being taken for granted and how this is intimately related to its complex geographies of domesticity and its relating of public and private spaces. Methodologically, it engages with how to research 'making'. Using feminist, participatory and embodied geographies, the thesis explores ways of researching making, the role of researcher skill and enthusiasm in researching amateur creativity, and the ways that exploring craft and knitting involves particular forms of storytelling. The empirical research for the thesis is based in the UK, principally in London and the North West of England. The thesis develops its concerns across three core empirical chapters. Firstly, it explores knitting festivals and events where craft consumption takes place. This section explores the affective atmospheres of knitting festivals, their spaces, practices and the people who attend them. It engages with broader classed and gendered geographies of consuming differently or ethically. The second empirical chapter explores knitting groups and engages critically with contemporary celebrations of making as connecting. Through various case studies it explores what it means to make together, examining knitting groups as spaces of care, friendship and therapy. It also explores the value of making alone and introversion in the context of a contemporary buzz around making and communities. The final empirical chapter explores yarnbombing as an urban intervention and knitting as activism. It asks questions about gender, craft labour and the material of producing this knitted street. These chapters represent a critical engagement with making and particularly knitting and its collaborative, interventionist and alternative geographies. The thesis concludes by sketching out the 'knitted geographies' of craft, creativity and materiality that sustain enthusiasms for making within communities and spaces.

This thesis tells the story of Shetland knitted lace. It is a history that comprises more than a series of chronological events which illustrate the development of a domestic craft industry; it is also the story of a landscape and the people who inhabited it and the story of the emergence of a distinctive textile product which achieved global recognition Focusing on the material culture of Shetland lace opens up questions about the relationships between the women who produce it, the men and women who sell it and the women who consume and wear it. In acknowledging these connected histories and by following Shetland lace over time and across, often wide, geographical spaces, Shetland knitted lace can be shown to epitomize and signify social relations. This research takes a life cycle, or biographical, approach to Shetland lace in which consideration is given not only to the circumstances surrounding its production, but also to recognising the different stages in its development and how it moved through different hands, contexts and uses. Shetland lace exists within a set of cultural relationships which are temporally, spatially and socially specific and it carries shifting historical and cultural stories about its makers, traders and wearers and the worlds that they inhabited. Recognising these relationships as an integral element in the formation of historical and cultural narratives it is possible to see the role Shetland lace played in defining self and community within Shetland while acknowledging difference in an expanding national and international market. This understanding of the production, marketing and consumption processes demonstrates the multiple relationships between Shetland lace and its market and between the producer and consumer. The focus on the highly skilled Shetland lace producers demonstrates the development of female enterprise and entrepreneurship in the Shetland lace industry in which local networks operated in an exchange of labour and goods, both as a barter and monetary economy. Identifying the economic and symbolic place of Shetland lace within Shetland society highlights the impact of external influences on the success, and perceived decline of this industry. From this perspective this research engages with many of the key questions concerning a specialised form of textile production dominated by women, its place within the female economy, and its position within the world of trade and fashion. In this it aims to make a new contribution to our knowledge of women's work, of the operation of markets, and the perception of skill and value in the past and the present and provide an understanding of an industry which was a crucial element of household economics and female autonomy in these islands. It acknowledges the community of unknown Shetland women who, over generations, introduced, produced and sustained the Shetland lace industry and where possible identifies, and gives a voice to, previously unknown individual producers.

The separation of the design and technical roles within commercial knitwear design has led to a 'technical skills gap' between designers and industrial knitting technology, which has contributed to the communication problems between designers and technicians. Historically, these issues have been ignored and designers have accepted compromised versions of their original ideas. However, the advent of seamless knitting technology has exacerbated the issue and the skills gap has grown exponentially, as designers struggle to engage with seamless knitting processes. The nature of seamless garment design is that all aspects must be considered simultaneously, and pattern-­‐cutting principles for two-­‐dimensional garment blanks are no longer relevant. The most crucial aspect of the design process is the programming of the garment, from which designers are generally excluded. The complexity of the programming has led to manufacturers creating wizard-­‐based functions that simplify and speed up the process, and produce standardised garment styles. The database of pre‐programmed garment styles has been held responsible for uniformity of garment silhouettes within the commercial fashion industry. This research develops a craft theory, that has broadly developed from David Pye and Peter Dormer’s seminal work up to the 1990s, and locates it in relation to more contemporary work on digital craft. Programming is acknowledged as a form of digital craft and the Shima Seiki APEX CAD system and SWG-­‐N knitting machine are the craft tools. The creative experimental practice explores the possibilities of taking control of the programming and knitting of seamless garments, in terms of the creative design development of new seamless sleeve head styles. The practice is carried out within an 'experimental system' away from the constraints of industry. The data from semi-­‐structured interviews with commercial knitwear designers and technicians is discussed in relation to the 'communication bottleneck' identified by Claudia Eckert and the 'technology skills gap' identified by Sayer et al. Four scenarios for the design and manufacture of knitwear are identified and analysed in terms of the creative management of the design and sampling of seamless garments. The outcomes reflect on how the roles of designer and technician could be more interchangeable to better exploit seamless knitting technology. Concurrent design practices are considered in the light of a new slow fashion framework that exploits the new possibilities afforded by seamless knitting technology. This study presents the case that the design and technical aspects of knitwear design need to be reunited in order to create innovative seamless garments, and that this could either be as one role, such as technical designer, or within a design team made up of designer and technician. The artifacts created as part of this research illustrate the possibilities of a designer taking control of the whole process, and are products of a design methodology that incorporates digital tools with traditional design skills. However, it is acknowledged that to fully exploit the software one needs to be an expert craftsman, which, due to the complexity of the software, can take many years to achieve. Therefore, the culture of the knitwear industry needs change to actively encourage and facilitate teamwork, and the training of designers and technicians needs to reflect this change, if seamless knitting technology is to be fully exploited.

This research considers amateur fashion making - ʻfolk fashionʼ - as a strategy for sustainability. Homemade clothes are often seen as sustainable, in comparison with the environmental and social problems associated with mass-produced ʻfast fashionʼ. However, this view is partly based on a simplistic and romantic view of the homemade, which has received little critical examination. The study specifically investigates the reworking of existing garments through the use of knitbased skills, techniques and knowledge. This approach challenges the linear productionconsumption model of the mainstream fashion industry. Because re-knitting techniques must be adapted to suit the particularities of each individual garment, re-knitting provides an opportunity for amateur knitters to engage with creative design. The research employs a workshop methodology, which combines design research with creative methods. A group of seven female amateur knitters were interviewed individually before taking part in a series of workshop sessions. The project culminated in six of the participants re-knitting items from their own wardrobes. The detailed data gathered from this group is supported by comments from a wider community of knitters, primarily gathered via an informal participatory knitting activity. The research finds that re-knitting can be seen as an effective strategy for sustainability. It not only provides a means of extending product life, but more holistically offers an alternative means of participating in fashion, and a way of addressing the relationship between fashion and consumption. Beyond this central finding, four key insights emerge from the research. These are the metaphor of fashion as common land; the nuanced understanding of the experience of wearing homemade clothes in contemporary British culture; evidence of the ability of amateurs to design for themselves and ways in which this can be supported; and the understanding of the factors that should be considered when trying to develop a culture of reworking.

This qualitative, interpretive study explores women's views on the impact that amateur knit or crochet and the sharing of such making through the social media platform Facebook™ has on their subjective wellbeing. Focus within the Academy on textiles made by women amateurs is limited, as is explicit study of the impact knit or crochet may have on subjective perceptions of wellbeing - a concept which itself is associated with contentious definitions. The ways in which amateur yarncrafters connect in Facebook™ groups to share their making is a significantly under-researched area: Recent studies have begun to address the benefits as well as drawbacks of engagement in digital communities, whilst identifying gaps in understanding its use by mature women. To facilitate this ethnographic research, a 'closed' Facebook™ group was created where participants could engage with the researcher. Thematic coding was used to support the analysis of the data consisting of threads generated by questions posed by the researcher, alongside discussions and questions created by participants. Findings confirmed that both making in knit or crochet and sharing within a Facebook™ group contributed to feelings of connection and community, but also could exacerbate loneliness; making could help engage participants in a worthwhile activity, but could also lead to frustration; there was joy in giving to others, but conflicting emotions about keeping yarn for the self; negative impacts on feelings of wellbeing were shared, illustrating how amateur making could also lead to physical pain and emotionally destructive thinking. Several contributions to knowledge are claimed: The method of using Facebook™ as both a platform for gathering and the topic of data contributes to debate on the ethics of participation; The thesis offers an exploration of some of the ways the haptic, tactile nature of making by hand is articulated and mediated through digital means in a Facebook™ group; Most significantly, alongside its confirmation of positive benefits, the study presents the negative impact amateur making in knit and crochet may have on subjective perceptions of wellbeing.