Passionate about anything to do with fashion, Gore fashion designer and creator Viv Tamblyn found entering WoolOn to be a logical move.
This year’s event at The Canyon at Tarras would be far cry from Mrs Tamblyn’s first time entering WoolOn in 2009, when it was held in a marquee in Pioneer Park, in Alexandra.
‘‘It’s such a fun event and the people are wonderful,’’ she said.
She won the supreme award in 2017 with A Touch of Copper, a five-piece ensemble made from 100% wool featuring an oversized vest, bralette, pants, jersey and beanie. The off-the-shoulder jersey was hand-knitted and painted with splashes of copper. The oversized vest and the beanie were also hand-knitted.
The following year she won the streetwear section with Perfect in Pink, a knitted coat. Fashion is a family affair, with her daughter Andre Johnson winning the supreme award that year.
Wool’s versatility made it wonderful to work with, Mrs Tamblyn said.
‘‘You can do so much, so many different things with 100% wool fabric. I love the new fine wool fabrics coming up. They’re soft, they flow, they move when you walk. As a yarn it’s limitless what you can do with textures and colour combinations.’’
After each event she took a couple of months off then was back into planning and creating for the next year. Her designs were hand-knitted and crocheted.
Designs often evolved, and she had been known to undo a finished item and start again.
It could be a fine line between being too avant garde with a design and not being original enough, she said.
Each year there were different judges and it was hard to know what they would be looking for. It was important to be happy with what you had created yourself and learn to take criticism from the judges.
‘‘It took a while to learn that.’’
This year she was entering the streetwear and collections sections.
