Third year hand in time..

Thursday was the last day third years had to work on their collections before Fridays 9am hand. Moira had completed everything, but wanted to do a photo shoot for some business cards. Her work was based on machinery, so she used the machines in uni to work with. I pressed all Moira's garments ready for the shoot, and her friend came into model the collection. Her friend had a really punk look which helped with the contrast of pretty garments and rough machinery. I wasn't present at the photo shoot, although I saw the results, and it looked great! I finished the session early, so carried on working with my final garment, I've decided to hand sew the moulded moulage voile, so I can create the effect and positioning better, without making it stiff through machine stitching it. Best carry on....

it's all taking shape...

After making my Toile I realised there was a few changes that had to be made. I decided to reduce the width of the front straps & reduce the length of the shorts. Another big change that was made was, dividing the front and back bodice into sections to make a seam where the moulded fabric could be inserted. This was a bit confusing at first, but I carried on and the pattern seemed to work. My final Ideas sheets here explain how the pattern will change the look of the garment.....

Weekender.

This weekend I finished my Toile that I began making on Wednesday. it is pretty much done now, although I got a little confused with the straps. I used calico to make my Toile. I haven't ever created a Playsuit, but really just wanted to jump into the chance and do it myself, rather than constantly asking for help. I made a few mistakes when sewing the bottom half of the garment, but I simply unpicked it and everything was fine! I also made the moulded voile whilst at home this weekend, so it was ready when the Playsuit was. I used one of my dads pans, a huge broth one, so the process was much quicker this time thank god! Here's a photo of my Toile for you...

Swing Tag Fun!!!!

Soo, There is a few weeks left until the third year hand in and this week I was helping Moira create her swing tags. Moira decided to use embossing, which i thought was a cool idea. She used a bronze colour that complimented her collection. I had to do 12 of these, putting Moira's name onto the tag then attaching the eyelets pretty much took me all day. I think I probably should have been faster, but I'm a perfectionist so any little mistakes were re-done. She was pleased with them anyway! Moira seems on track so hopefully she will be ready for the hand in of her collection next week!

Times closing in...

SO HECTIC!! Time is definitely closing in! Ive finalised a design which I'm really happy about and decided to use a mixture of fabrics in various skin tones to show the diversity in skin colour as well as the people that can suffer from deformities. I'm using voile for my deformed balls after doing some really good experimentation work and linen for the play suit. The fabrics work together well and the textures contrast too. I'm moulding the fabric to incorporate the interdisciplinary feature. I'm having fun... Here is my final idea and some fabric samples.......

Assisting third years....week 2!

Assisting my third year in the second session was so much fun. Firstly Moira and I went through my PPD1 folder and completed the task forms so I knew what I was asked to do each week and could show if i completed it on time and correctly. On Thursday I had the chance to find Moira 6 female models for her crit with tutors. I loved doing this and luckily got some perfect volunteers before lunch. I then continued helping Moira finish her patterns. Helping with this as well as learning about pattern cutting in my interdisciplinary module really is making me understand it much clearly, and I'm really beginning to love it. Moira asked me to bring scissors and a pattern notcher for next weeks session, who knows whats going to happen!

Half Scale, Interdisciplinary reviews & moulage baby!

Moulage workshop went ok, I just struggled abit at first because the half scale design I had made the day before was too complicated and wouldn't work for the moulage technique so it was coming out of the top of my head! The process and way of working was great to learn and it has opened my eyes to the varieties of pattern cutting techniques! The interdisciplinary tutorials really helped me, a group review enabled me to get feedback from other students and they gave me some really good ideas about how to make my garment more Avant Garde. They suggested a method to created moulded fabric, through boiling it. I had a go and it worked great!! I think I'd like to use it in my final garment. I'm not too sure what I'm making yet, although I'd like to have a go at either trousers or shorts for a change, as i always seem to design dresses. After i have got my final design I will decide on definite fabrics. I'm continuing with some ideas i got in my tutorial and heading on with the design development process. Not long left now!

Assisting Third Years....

On Thursday, we met our third year student that we would be assisting for the next few weeks. I'm assisting Moira Mattingley-Nunn. She was really friendly and introduced herself well, as I was a little nervous. After the initial meeting we went into another studio so we could chat about her final collection & about the logic behind it and the concept.....this didn't go so well. Moira began telling me she hadn't really done much and wasn't really into the project. She had put together a book, which had loads of designs that were both interesting and creative, but I just got the feeling that she really wasn't serious about fashion at all. I couldn't understand at first how when talking to a first year she just talked about the lows of the course, how much work, how hard it was...etc. I asked er questions and she gave me no real answer. I was a bit gutted that I didn't get put with someone who really wanted to achieve something working in the fashion industry. My first task was to unpick some zips. In the afternoon I was re drafting patterns, adding seam allowances. This task helped remind me of how pattern cutting works and how you transform a 2d design into a well made 3d garment. Overall I felt many people got a lot more from their first day and bonded much more with their 3rd year! Although it wasn't a great start I'm keeping an open mind and looking forward to this weeks session!

TASK A.

After researching lots of subjects in the metamorphosis category, I decided to looked at abnormal bodies. This involved looking at anorexia, deformities & aging. I want to change something that isn't so beautiful to something that is. So on Tuesday I was set a task to be completed by the end of the day. It involved creating samples that reflected what I was researching, and developing these into ideas for shape in garments. I loved this process and it really helped me progress forward. It was a fast paced session and helped me think about how it will be in second and third year, as well as the fashion industry. I really enjoyed working to a day brief and would like to be involved in more. Here is some of the work I did...

Avant Garde Research...

Looking at avant garde pieces and creative shapes and fabrics has helped me understand what is expected. Here are a few things I looked at...

Interdisciplianry Processes...

So the new project is all about creating an avant garde piece and creating new ideas for fabrics and materials. Having the brief since before Easter has enabled me to research the theme intensely. Metamorphosis is the theme and I began by looking at varied ideas of what this was. Here are some examples of my research sheets..