Portadown designer, who stars in BBC TV show 'A Stitch Through Time', sets up fashion house in Magheralin

Presented by Claire McCollum, this is its second series showing on BBC iPlayer and BBC One Northern Ireland. It says it combines ‘a passion for fashion with inspiration drawn from the rich Ulster-Scots legacy in our textile history’.

-

-

This series the designers take on sustainability and design-based challenges, against the clock, to prove they have what it takes to make it in the cut and thrust world of contemporary fashion.

Annie McColgan, originally from the Scotch Street area of Portadown, is up against DIY fashion influencer AJ Tinsley, 25, from Belfast; Fashion and Textiles student Aoife Harvey, 23, from Londonderry; and 3D fashion designer Giovana de Bona, 27, originally from Brazil, living in Bushmills.

Annie, a former pupil of Derryhale Primary School and Portadown College will be vying with the other three to win votes from the judges – top designers Una Rodden and Katie Larmour.

Annie, who studied Textiles at the University of Ulster, has already set up her own company designing and creating her own brand of women’s wear Annie Leona from her family home in Magheralin.

Speaking from her design studio, Annie, aged 25, said: “I am hoping to launch my new business alongside the show. I am making hand-made women’s wear, In my design studio near Moira everything I am making is using locally sourced material.

"I am launching a fashion collection made from Irish linen, hopefully alongside the show when it airs. It has different blouses, skirts and trousers and a few bespoke pieces as well.

"It is all inspired by our own coastal landscapes and the Wild Atlantic Way and where I grew around Co Armagh. It all has been heavily inspired by home,” said Annie.

"My website will officially be launching in July - with another very exciting announcement on its way. It has been an incredibly nerve wrecking but exciting experience and I can’t wait to share it with you all. There has been lots of blood, sweat, bruises and tears in bringing my little dream to life but also lots of laughs, butterflies and friends made along the way.”

Each week, host Claire will be joined by author and textile historian Bruce Clark, a descendent of one of Northern Ireland’s great linen families, to reveal the fascinating history behind the design challenges and the outfits.

The first episode on Monday 17 July, BBC One Northern Ireland at 8pm, is inspired by the Herdman family of Sion Mills, who had a vision of creating a model village and achieved it against all odds. The first challenge tasks the designers with making an apron from pre-loved linen garments while in the six-hour challenge, the designers must create a ‘Sunday Best’ look from linen.

A Stitch Through Time is also available in its entirety on BBC iPlayer from 8.30pm on Monday 17 July, and is made by DoubleBand Films, with assistance from the Northern Ireland Screen Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund.