Fashion & Textiles Specialist Project - Cinderellas of the Soil

Since this is my specialist project, I want to create a garment that reflects my own personal interests. My main inspiration has stemmed from my allotment, which I took ownership of last year. It is a place that I love to be - surrounded by nature, and growing tiny seeds into a delicious crop that tastes even sweeter for the hard work you put into nurturing it.

Allotments were first introduced by the Victorians to encourage a healthy diet and lifestyle for factory workers, who didn’t have the space at home to grow their own. Over the years, the rise and fall of the allotment has stayed in-sync with Britain’s economic wellbeing. During times of trouble our nation turns to the soil – most notably during WWII when millions became vegetable gardeners in the Dig For Victory campaign. With so many of Britain’s men sent off to fight for their country, the women stepped in to help keep the country running smoothly back at home. In 1939 the Women’s Land Army formed to provide a mobile workforce for the farms and market gardens of England and Wales, which proved vital in helping produce food for the nation. With this in mind I want to draw inspiration from the khaki and green utility uniforms of the wartime Land Girls.

As well as growing fruit and vegetables on my plot I have a started to sow a bed of flowers in order to attract pollinating bees and to cut for kitchen table. Also, the hedgerows that surround the allotments are bursting into blossom. Floral prints were very popular in the 1940s and the land girls would often mix these dainty ditsy prints with their darker, rugged work-wear in the form of blouses and headscarves. I really love the juxtaposition of the practical and the pretty and I want to recreate this in my final outcome.

My final outcome will be a practical utilitarian garment with a twist. I like the idea of creating an apron or overall style garment, but making it very decorative, with print and embroidery.

As well as pattern cutting, I will be exploring dyeing (both man-made and plant based dyes), hand-embroidery, machine embroidery, applique, screen-printing and machine knit.

I will aim to use natural fabrics in my garment such as cotton and linen as they can be dyed with procion and natural dyes and are often used in the construction of work-wear when woven as a heavyweight fabric like a heavy calico or cotton drill. The embroidery threads and yarn I will be using for embellishment may have to be synthetic due to availability of colours and cost.

My colour palette will be quite muted, with different shades of greens from the fresh green of new shoots, to the darker green and khaki of the Land Girl uniforms. I will use a dark earthy brown in smaller quantities and will inject pops of colour in pale pinks, blues and yellows and cream as the floral elements.