I was in Winchester for a family party at the weekend, which happened to coincide with the Winchester leg of Soft Engineering: Textiles Taking Shape. Knitter Alison Ellen and weavers Anne Richards and Deidre Wood have common ground in that they create textiles with structure, form and dimension not always associated with textile art. 

Deidre Wood creates hand dyed woven pieces using narrow strip weaving techniques to create structural twisted and curved pieces (below).

Ann Richards' textile jewellery is a flat rectangle when on the loom, but her innovative use of high twist yarns means that the pieces transform when they come into contact with water, giving a dramatic pleated effect (below, left). Alison Ellen's manipulates yarn through stitch pattern to create hand knitted garments that are soft, yet structural (below, right).

References:

• Burns, R. Soft Engineering 1-5. (2018)

• Hampshire Cultural Trust. 2018. Soft Engineering: Textiles Taking Shape. [online] Available from: https://www.hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk/event/soft-engineering-textiles-taking-shape [Accessed 29 January 2018].