Achi news desk-
Ayrshire Mansion is the headquarters of The King’s Foundation, the charity established by His Majesty King Charles III in 1990.
The Firrhill trio of Angus Wallace, Lisa Elvin and Rosie Eastwood – led by teacher Lisa Campbell – most impressed a judging panel which included Patrick Grant from TV’s The Great British Sewing Bee, Vixy Rae from Edinburgh’s Stewart Christie, the oldest tailor in Scotland, and John Sugden of Campbell’s, Beauly.
Grant said of the Firrhill team’s creation: “The construction of your clothes is really beautiful and very elegant and refined. The quality of the sewing is excellent and all three of you were fully involved in the work and seemed to be enjoying it.”
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The prize for the south-west Edinburgh school group is a behind-the-scenes tour of Stewart Christie on Queen Street in the Capital, Scotland’s oldest tailor, where pupils will have the opportunity to meet leading tailors and kilt makers.
The King’s Institute for Future Textiles fashion and textile education workshop program has, for a decade, given pupils the skills, confidence and knowledge to develop their interest and aspirations in further training and careers in the industry.
In the Tartan Takeover competition, pupils from Firrhill High School (Edinburgh), Bo’ness Academy (Falkirk) and Biggar High School (South Lanarkshire) in the east of the country joined representatives from the west of Scotland from St Stephen’s Academy (Inverclyde), Academy Bellshill (North Lanarkshire) and Clydebank High School (West Dunbartonshire) as well as students from Ayrshire Academy Queen Margaret, Loudoun Academy, Girvan Academy, Kilwinning Academy, Marr College and Carrick Academy.
More than 150 pupils from those schools attended specialist workshops at Dumfries House in recent weeks, honing their skills under the guidance of The King’s Foundation tutors. Last week a selected group from each school competed for a series of awards to recognize their creativity and skill.
Second overall in the competition was Queen Margaret Academy from Ayr, who achieved a high standard of technical sewing using modern looking textiles.
Carrick Academy was particularly praised for its innovative use of materials which included natural dead lace using beetroot, while fellow school Ayrshire Academy Loudoun was also praised, this time for what the judges described as design style features “funky and colorful”.
Twelve pupils from Firrhill attended monthly workshops with specialist tutors from the King’s Institute in the run up to the inter-school competition.
To design their tartan, Firrhill pupils were given the theme “animals from the estate” and were given two inspirational pictures of rare calves and piglets on the Education Farm on the estate. The whole class designed their own interpretations and everyone voted for their favourite, designed by Esther Hudson. The three pupils to take part in the competition, making a kilt inspired waistcoat and skirt from scratch, were new fourth year pupils, Angus Wallace, Rosie Eastwood and Lisa Elvin.
Kelly Espindola, Future Textiles lead tutor for the King’s Institute at Dumfries House, said: “It was great to see young people involved and enthusiastic about sewing, and to see the intergenerational mix between our Sewing Bee members and the pupils.
“Well done to Firrhill, attending the workshops in recent months (and having to leave Edinburgh at 7.30am every day to do so), working hard on the concept of their tartan, and really embracing the challenge. ” They rose to the occasion and stood out on the day It was a winning combination of great craftsmanship and sewing skills combined with great design.
“This has been a great opportunity for the young people, but knowing that The King looks at their work is another level. The pupils’ work will live on in the Dumfries House tartan, and The King will make a big impression on me I’m sure seeing the fruits of their labor in the last few months.
“I hope that the pupils will take home valuable lessons from this course about sustainability and what goes into making clothes, allowing them to make good choices in the future and maybe even making their own clothes. They all had a burning passion for being creative, and we’d love to see them carry that on and become the sustainable designers and makers of the future.”
