So here I am, at work, writing my first blog (in my lunch break) about my journey on the MA in Textile Design at Birmingham City Uni, due to start September 2016.
Here's a quick bio of my life so far.

I hail from a small village in South Wales and for as long as I can remember I've loved art, clothes, fashion, colours, design, textiles and patterns.
I left school and attended the Carmarthen College of Technology & Art, first doing a BTEC in Graphic Design and then a GNVQ in Textile Design. I was desperate to sample city living so applied for a BA in Fashion & Textile Design at Nottingham Trent Uni (1995-1998) and got in!
The course predominantly focused on fabric technology with some design and production, the last year was more business orientated e.g. marketing. Looking back now, I should have changed to a purely Textile Design degree but being naive I didn't enquire if this was possible.

I left Uni with a 2:1 and after a Summer camp job in the US I moved back home to get a job and some money. I quickly got a job in retail (hated it with a passion) but the company asked me to move to Taunton then Banbury to work in a failing store and then a flagship store. 6, yes 6 years later I was made redundant. I don't know I stuck with it as long as I did. But life takes over, I had a boyfriend, we moved in together, we had to live, pay rent etc.

After that I got a job in sales, which led to a job in admin and then PA work. Meanwhile, my love for attending aerobics, step, circuits etc started and has continued ever since. I trained and became qualified to teach and have been doing so since 2001. I teach mainly Pilates and HiiT classes now and I love it.

My PA work took me into a few areas, namely the NHS and some smaller companies.

So, let's get a bit more current, I got a dog in 2011, got married in 2012. And I started to think about my future, money, security, pension, a job for life with prospects. I looked around and thought about a career as either a physio or as an occupational therapist. I took a night class and got a B in Human Biology A-level.
I started my BA in Occupational Therapy at Coventry University in 2015 and I stuck with it for a year and then dropped out. I was embarrassed to drop out. I'd worked really hard to get in but the course just wasn't for me. That coupled with the standard of teaching (I had more knowledge of anatomy than the lecturer), the apathy of some of the other students and a family illness, I started to reassess my life.

My very supportive husband asked me what I wanted to do and in my heart of hearts I knew that I wanted to get back to my first love of textile design. I applied, created a portfolio and got in to Birmingham City University.
So, over the Summer I'm taking a CreativeLive class in Adobe Illustrator and I'm taking a Make it in Design Summer school to get me up to scratch.
Recently I went to the Fashion & Textile Museum to see the Missoni exhibition, please see the photos below. It was mesmerizing, but I would have liked to have gotten closer to the clothes.

So there you go and back to work go I.






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