Hilary Wells & Victoria Griffiths with their dress design for French Connection

Last week two teams went head to head to compete for a chance to join the UK Squad going to compete at EuroSkills 2008 in Rotterdam in the Netherlands in September. The team selected to compete in the Fashion Product Development & Production Competition were Hilary Wells and Victoria Griffiths from Somerset College.

Their brief was to design a dress for a UK / international high street retailer. They completed all the design and research work in advance then had to make the patterns from scratch (using basic pattern blocks in size 12) and finally cut and construct the garment (toile) to a production ready standard in calico fabric.

The two teams - one from Somerset College and the other from the University of Huddersfield were selected to receive further training after gaining first and second places at the national heat held at Cardonald College, Glasgow in January 2008. They attended an intensive two day workshop at the Huddersfield Textile Centre of Excellence in early April before taking part in the final which was held at Hinckley College in Leicestershire from the 15th - 17th April.

Katie Ann Eardley & Katy Holgreaves with their dress design for Whistles

The team was chosen following a nationwide hunt for fresh new design talent held by Skillfast-UK, the Sector Skills Council for fashion and textiles and UK Skills.

The response was extraordinary, with colleges, universities and businesses from across the UK all nominating their talented teams to compete in Rotterdam next year.

Skillfast-UK was looking for a team with the ability and flair to represent the UK at the highest level and showcase tomorrow’s talent. Linda Florence, Chief Executive of Skillfast-UK, said: “The level of interest in this competition has been remarkable.

“It has highlighted that we have a wealth of talented young, up and coming designers here in the UK - I am only pleased that I am not going to be on the judging panel!”

Linda continues: “It’s great to see fashion production and development making its world debut at EuroSkills 2008 in Rotterdam next year.

“The UK is home to some of the world’s most creative design talent, but it is very important that these creative skills are matched by top-notch technical ability, something that EuroSkills is very keen to promote.”

Skillfast-UK and UK Skills, a not-for-profit organisation that champions skills and learning for work, worked together to organise the UK entry into the competition.

EuroSkills 2008 will see hundreds of young professionals, students and graduates from 22 European countries, compete and demonstrate their skills in almost 30 typically European trades.

This new innovative event will showcase European skills on an international platform and will consist of skills competitions, demonstrations, interactive events and conferences.

Now that social networks have become a regular part of the fabric of modern life, segmentation is well under way, with communities popping up all over focused on specific groups and interests. Case in point: OURthreads.com, a social marketplace designed specifically for users interested in fashion, clothing and accessories. Launched earlier this month, OURthreads facilitates the buying, selling and trading of clothes. Registered users begin by setting up a virtual “closet,” which serves as their home page. From there, they can proceed to display items for sale or look through other users’ closets for something to buy or trade. Users can link to their favourite closets, and they can also advertise on the site to bring more visitors to their own

Creating a closet, buying, trading and listing items for sale are all free; sellers pay OURthreads a fee of 3.5 percent of the total selling price for anything they sell. Ads, meanwhile, are available in variably priced packages. Cofounder Pete Yonkman explains: “When we designed the concept we tried to create a community that would allow people to easily create value for the items they have, whether they designed them or they just don’t want to wear them any more.”

Though it’s just barely out of the starting gates, the Indiana-based site already has a few hundred registered users—an eclectic mix of “boutiques, stay-at-home moms, a retired teacher who knits clothes, some college students and a few independent designers,” Yonkman says. Buying and selling on OURthreads is currently limited to US residents, but the company is open to partnership and ideas from those who want to make the site better. OURthreads is also gearing up to launch a new program next month, Yonkman says—stay tuned for more!

Website: www.ourthreads.com
Contact: feedback@ourthreads.com

Friday saw the final of the ‘Can-U-Cut-It’ competition that I helped judge back in June. The finalist’s garments from colleges across the UK, were modelled on the main stage at the Clothes Show event at Birmingham’s NEC.

The final winner as chosen by Tristan Webber (Clothes Show Live’s artistic director) and Hilary Alexander (fashion director of The Daily Telegraph) was Akari Fujimoto a student of the London College of Fashion, studying a Level 3 Diploma in Production Tailoring.

Akari Fujimoto being presented with her prize by Caryn Franklin and Brendan Courtney

Stunning image from the main stage fashion show

Hi Everyone,

Appologies for not being a very active blogger this week.  I’m in the process of packing up my life and moving house.  Well actually it seems I’m just packing up clutter and junk that i can’t seem to rid from my life, that just seems to move from place to place with me.  I actually moved most of my business to my new temporary residence a few months ago but left most stuff at my old house until it was sold.  I hate moving, and sometimes wish I was one of those people - as pictured above - who can fit all their worldly posessions into one bag and off they go.  No such luck with me though.  I have a huge collection of vintage knitting books and patterns, and keep every issue of Elle Decoration and Wallpaper Magazine (I have every issue ever published barr numbers 1-4)  And I haven’t even mentioned my wardrobe full of clothes and shoes…oh well better get moving ….