Arts Thread

This project is a knitted textiles for fashion and accessories collection designed for Lydia Bolton. It explores the sustainability aspects of upcycling and recycling in the textile industry.     I chose sustainable fashion designer Lydia Bolton as my client, focusing on how she uses donated materials to create garments and accessories. Many of her designs are one-of-a-kind and made to order. For example, she gets scrap fabric from fashion brands, designs, and makes them into garments. She also produces unique knitwear items sourced from charity shops. In technical aspects, she uses a lot of patchwork and add-ons.    Thus, the materials I use for this project are generally ‘second-hand’. This includes donated materials to WSA of end-of-line yarns from the knit room shelf, and woven fabric waste from the local silk mill (@Sudbury Silk Mill on Instagram). A smaller percentage of yarn is from a dead-stock yarn blind box I bought earlier in 2025. I also used leftover yarn from my previous projects, collected cast-on waste yarn from Dubied practicing, and yarns collected from waste yarn bags in the knit room.    Initially inspired by the Pinatex yarn made of agricultural waste from pineapple leaves, I wanted to know more about the raw materials of the innovative or sustainable fibers in the textile industry. I further researched mycelium leather and orange yarn.   I was also drawn to the approaches of fashion and textile designers to create sustainable collections. I researched the fashion brand Yan Yan. Their materials are sourced from dead-stock yarn from all over the world, and their collections are all limited editions.   The final outcome will include 12 final samples, including 10 knitted and 2 digitally stimulated on ApexFiz. The visualized collection of this project will be a lifestyle collection, featuring some garments and various fashion accessories, including bags and scarves.