Farnham Museum

 Farnham Museum 

During the break I went to Farnham Museum to look around and was pleasantly surprised to find lots of fashion. I found it interesting to see this all displayed next to and around scenes which were related to how it would of been in their date. 

They also had an exhibit on natural dyes and sustainable fashion. This was really interesting to see after completing my sustainable fashion project. It was interesting to read information on eco-friendly practices with alternative techniques to the workshop that I completed with the same artist. 

Once looking around the inside I went out to the garden which was really nice and saw that they had a natural dye garden which included three classical dyes- madder, weld and woad. They have other plants depending on season like Japanese indigo and rhubarb among others.

Overall, I found it interesting to look at all the things in the museum other than textiles related like their paintings an local postcards, which was nice to try and match up where they're from in the local surroundings and see how it has changed.   

Easter Holiday's

 Easter Holidays

Over the termly break I made sure to complete my toile so that I can start on my final garment straight away. Sewing the paniers went well as I was more confident in sewing this after completing the first one. I had no problems with sewing this but I have relised that if I want the ties to connect I may want to make some of these longer to make the reach between ties more comfortable. 

I then sewd the dress together, which was challenging when trying to mark out where I want the ties to connect in the seam. To overcome this I made sure to carefully pin where I wanted them to go so that they were in place for me to sew them. As my usual mannequin is smaller than the size 12 block pattern I decided to use my expandable mannequin so that the length of the straps from the bust to the shoulder would be more accurate to the length on the body. 

In this time I started to complete architecture work, this included, researching Zaha Hadid and her firm, the design cycle, illustrative drawings and mark making. I tried to work on my presentation by adding different colour paper and pens to add more interest to my pages. I also have created bigger bolder titles which I think works well as they are clearer and easy to read. I enjoyed doing this work as making the pages more interesting is enjoyable to do as I also enjoyed drawing fashion designs inspired by architecture.

 

Week Twenty Three

 Week Twenty Three

This week in pattern cutting I draped my panier sample that I made over the weekend to imagine how I could want this to be in my design. This was successful because it gave me ideas on how my designs can be developed and how I can attach this to the dress design. 

   

From designing my paniers and draping them I discovered that I want two of these asymmetrically but I think that the panier for the shoulder may be too big so I decided to divided the original pattern measurements and divided this by a third. 

I also started to make my dress pattern this week which I found a bit difficult to understand how to create the pattern with the empire waists. After asking to assistance I was able to understand the pattern so Incan finish this off at home over Easter. 

In Textiles this week I Finished of my skirt by added the zip. This was a difficult process to start with as the zip I had taken out of the trousers, in moving it around the zip had come of the teeth. Luckily someone had an old zip that I could use so this worked. When sewing this zip I accident send the two panels together with the zip affectively creating a fake zip so I had to amend this by unpicking it and sewing making sure it can open. 

I hemmed the top of the skirt to finish it off and then send the label in by hand to minimise the amount of stitches sewn on the right side. At home I decided to add poppers that where given to me so that the waistcoat wouldn’t flap open and would be more wearable. overall, I am happy with my final outcome as I think I have used materials sustainably. I also made sure to stick to my £10 budget and only brought second hand garments. 

 

In CAD this week we made a cover for a travel magazine which I enjoyed as we got to choice our image and our font. We also went over the parts of a magazine and what they mean which was useful as I wasn’t aware.

 

In Stretch this week I started to make my final lived for the global goals which Iw I’ll continue in the next lesson. I enjoyed this because I like weaving And I was preparing fabrics to be woven with, for example, plaiting the, to add structure and textures.  

In Photography this week I continued with my tabloid making on Indesign which made me think about ways that I could use this software to develop my pages to look more advanced. To do this I used photoshop to get rid of the background on some of my pictures to add this knot pages. 

Week Twenty Two

 Week Twenty Two.

In Pattern cutting this week I develop the designs that I did over the work experience period. I did this so that my design where more refined to the designs I liked the most. When doing this I was researching ways to create a fuller skirt and I came across a Panier. I then thought about ways to incorporate this in my designs. I am planning to make this over the next week so that I can see what this will look like in person before I finalise my design. 

In the lesson I started to make the base of the fabric which the boning will be put into which I carried on at home. I experimented with different width channels when doing this so that I could learn which width may be the best option for this. I found out that all worked well in holding the boning up but the wider channels allowed the boning to twist slightly when I was transporting this, so I think that the thinner ones might be best suited. 

In Textiles this week I started to cut out my pattern pieces in my shirts making sure I put these in appropriate places which will limit the amount of waste, making it more sustainable. When cutting up the shirts fabric which would be split up by a seam I wanted the fabrics to be opposite in colours making it have the fabric next to it. When it came to sewing the seams together I relised that for some reason they wouldn't line up as the back fabrics pattern was cut onto the wrong side so that if it was opposite the pattern would be sewn on the wrong side. To amend this I just had to put them onto of the usual colour so that the pattern was facing up. As I didn't want this to be different for the front I just matched the front fabrics up with the same colour as well. I deiced to not change the the pattern fabric and cut it out again correctly as I didn't want to waste the fabric an cut out more when I could just slightly change the idea I had in my head to be more sustainable. 

When sewing the pieces together I tried hard to line them up do that the bridge between pieces was not too noticeable. This went well as I made sure the pin these together well making them line up. 

I found it slightly stressful when it came to me cutting up the trousers to become the top as if this went wrong I didn't have any other trousers to cut up. But once I cut them up just below the zip I unpicked one of the seams from each leg so that they layed wider so that I would be able to put the pattern piece down whole without having to cut it into sections. I found some parts of this hard to unpick as of the layered fabric so I needed to use scissors to carefully cut these parts.

I then sewd the seams of the top together. Before I sewd the top part of the bodice to the bottom half I wanted to check the length which made me relise it was too long so I made the seam allowance on the bottom half of the top longer to allow this to be shorter. This also meant that the clasps do up around the waist as it fits the smaller section of the waist. 

When patchworking onto the skirt I decided to use the straight foot only to ensure that the lines where neat and so that there was a range of stitches. 

In Photography this week we where using InDesign to create our tabloids. This went well as I managed o create a few double page spreads with my work which varied in layout an design style. This was also good to do as in the past lessons I spent most of my time in the photography studio assisted people and setting up, so it was good to be able to get this done. 

In Stretch this week a speaker came in to talk to us about sustainability and natural dyes and fibers. It was interesting to see the process in that you take to dye naturally as I have only dyed with this and not prepared it. I also found it interesting to see how many different colour shades you can archives with an original colour by altering it. I think this will be interesting to experiment int he future as you can dye with things that are easily accessible. This will be useful when thinking about the Stretch project about global goals and our sustainability project in textiles. 

In CAD this week we made sure that we where confident in our photography work layout by making sure we know how to set up the page layout. This was useful as I could check I did this right. 

Work Experience - Day Nine

 Work Experience 

Thursday was my last day of work experience as the school had an inset day on Friday. I really enjoyed my time over work experience. 

Today I started by writing up the notes I had made while I was making my samples. I did this on google slides so that the aa writing would be easy to read for everyone.

Before all the  lessons today I made sure the books were laid out and the equipment they would need was available for them.  I made sure that all the transfer dues were out for a class with pipettes in them so that the colours wouldn’t mix through paintbrushes. In this lesson I cut up card for the students to paint on and than once they had I printing this using the best press. I decided to print a few at a time so the students didn’t have to wait long as I could fit four in at once. 

In another lesson a student wanted to make a corset so I helped them understand the pattern and how to cut it out- front pattern in the fold. I decided to draw a diagram of how to put the pieces together as this students had never done it before to explain this. 

After the lessons finished for the day I changed half of the machines feet to straight feet so that the machines where more accessible for the students  and I made sure to thread up all the machines so they will be ready to use. I also made sure that all the chrome-books were plugged in so they would be charged for the next use. I also helped another technician/ teacher get chrome book's after lunch time ready for the exam. 

Overall, I really enjoy my work experience and all the members of staff were very welcoming and friendly. 

These are the samples I managed to make whilst being at work experience along side help the teacher. 

Work Experience- Day Eight

Work Experience 

Today was my eighth day of work experience and there wasn’t a lesson before break. In this time I looked over the samples I made yesterday with the teacher and we discussed ways to develop these samples which I then proceeded to do in this time. I used different machine stitches and also used the free embroidery foot to create lined which developed two samples. I then used some already painted transfer dye  paper to cut and layer more colours onto my screen print samples. 

Before this lesson I made sure that the booklets were laid out in the table so that the students could start the lesson straight away. The first lesson consisted of the class making bondaweb samples, to help with this I made sure to stand around the irons to answer people’s questions. This was useful as the students had lots of questions and were asking for assistance when completing their samples. In this time I also sorted out and make sure all the colouring pencils were in their right places and sorted by colour. I also tried to combine two trays of colours but as there was so many pencils I couldn’t. I wanted to keep these still separated by colours but I couldn’t find any rubber bands and didn’t want to interrupt the teacher so I overcame this by using masking tape to hold the pencils together in a bundle. This worked well to keep the pencils together and it will be easy to undo and reseal. 

In the last lesson we screen printed so I got all the materials we would need and putting them onto the table. This process overall went well but a few times the students struggled to make the ink go all the way down to the bottom of their page so I offered some advise- for examples, adding more ink, holding the pressure all the way down the screen and changing the angle. After this I washed all the screens up and the other things we used up and put it away. Next the students needed to irons their hems to see in the next few weeks I stayed by the irons again to make sure everyone was confident in this. I was left with the responsibility of making sure all the glues and scissors where put back in the pots so I counted them up before the class left to check they where all there.  

After school I did a general clean up around the room and brought any spare sheets of work to the front in a pile so that the room will be ready for tomorrow. 

Tomorrow I want to make sure that all my samples have been handed back to the teacher and the instructions I left with them are legible. I think I have developed my confidence well with talking to students so I will make sure to keep this up tomorrow. 

Work Experience- Day Seven

 Work Experience 

Todays lesson started off by me continuing to make samples while completing task if the teacher asked, for example cutting up fabric or getting the teacher something. 

In the break between the lessons I made sure that the watercolors, paint brushes and water pots were out for the class to use them. In this lesson I continued to work in on the samples and made a layered slashed sample. I think this samples will work well as it was easier to make but still improves sewing machine confidence and skills which will be good for the middle school years.  

In the last lesson of the day I helped a student understand there pattern they wanted to use for the final piece. I helped her to understand the order she should sew the panels in and how to shift the fabric to make the shape better. I also cut fabric up for people. On of the students asked for my advise on some samples and she had run out of ideas. To help I shared some of my ideas with her and some of my previous works. This then started a conversation between a few of us about discussing colleges and what they want to do in the future. I found this really interesting learning what people want to do and which colleges they are considering. One of the students is considering going to this college so I offered some insight and my points on it- positively. 

I really enjoyed this lesson as everyone is really nice and talkative while still getting the work done. 

At the end of the day I stayed on and completed screen printing to be used for the teaching samples. This went really well as I managed to make samples after seeing what I could improves from the samples before. I also think this is really doable for the students as it’s a technique they learn in year 7 which they can then develop. 

I think tomorrow I will get the teachers opinion on the work I completed so I can then develop this in the way that she wants me to.