Week Twenty Five

Week Twenty Five

For textiles this week we worked together to create a mood board based of the one we designed personally so that we all had aspects we wanted in our group mood board. This was useful as when we started to create initial ideas we where all making designs based off of the same pictures and drawings. To develop our initial designs when we where at home we made sure to send our initial designs to each other to gather feedback an dhow to improve our design so that everyone had opinions on the developed deigns. Then in the lesson we designed the final designs for our group architecture projects together based off of the developed designs so that the collection would work cohesively and well together. I think that this process has worked well because all our designs work well together for example the asymmetrical lines or cutouts which will be shown even clearer with the matching fabrics and colours. 

In Pattern cutting this week to prepare for the deadline I made sure to print out all the pictures I need to feature in my bookwork and diary of making. I handed in my garment in this first lesson as I was happy with this being done after sewing the tags. In the next lesson I handed in my workbook for the deadline. To prepare for this I decided to slightly change the order of my pages so that the flow was cohesive and flow well. 9 tried to focus on my presentation in the newer pages of this book, for example adding lines to make the pages look more visually interesting which also link to my mood board. In this new section of the project, I want to continue working on my presentation and add colour paper around where I add annotations so that they're clear and add bolder titles so my pages are clear and obvious straight away. 

In our other pattern cutting lesson we had a talk by Lee Dawson from Samuel Brothers tailor which was interesting to learn what they handle in there day to day and how much everything costs. It was good to learn his opinion about CVs and how to put everything you're good on in the first paragraph and to never lie as if you're asked to do something and then you aren't confident in it then it doesn't look good on you. He said that a skill that is really important is hand sewing so I think that I shall try and use this skill more often so that this is something I can do quickly and neatly. This talk was good as it was good to get information on the industry and how to stand out a bit more in the industry and also get tips like how you should roll your tape measurers and how they can stretch. 

In Stretch this week I handed in my weave that I completed and then wrote up my analysis and plaque so that if my work is feature in the gallery the viewers can recognise what the purpose is and my global goal. 

In CAD we learnt about editorialistaion, which made sure think about how we can edit our look books that we will make so that only the best photographs are featured in our books. We started to think about the order of our look books and how we want our layout to be what was useful as when we put this into InDesign that process will be quicker in adding the photos. 

In Photography this week, we reviewed our fashion films that we had made and how we could improve and develop them. We received feedback to include more close up shots of the garments and snappier shots to keep interest while shooting the architectural shots. It was also suggested that we could create almost a loop, for example, start coming out of the bricks and then shoot the film an then end going back int the bricks. An positive comment was that the vibe and filter of the film matched the architecture and audio them.

 

                                                               

Week Twenty Four

Week Twenty Four

In Textiles we learnt our architecture groups, I'm happy with the outcome of this as I haven't properly worked with the people in my group and it will be interesting to see how we can work so peoples strengths are seen. We worked well to create a contract agreeing on our rules and to make a time management plan listing what we are going to focus on doing this week. We decided on our building of choice and starting to make mark making drawings of this, this helped to think about the areas that we can use in the budlings to inspire our designs.

After choosing our building we completed more experimental mark making to help us with our next stage of our project, initial ideas. I made sure that this and analysing each others book was all done for the lesson at the end of the week so that I was at a stage where I could move on for the next load of work and not be behind. I made sure to add to my time plan so that I know what needed t be done for the next lesson- mood boards. In the last lesson of this week we had a guest speaker- Roy Mehta which was interesting to learn about his collections of work and how old photographs had resurfaced and become popular again. 

In pattern Cutting this week, I started to cut out my big panier into fabric. At home the night before, I cut out and starting sewing the smaller panier together as much as possible before I had to stop as I was waiting for my cotton tape which is for the straps. I'm finding that the process of sewing these together has become quicker since making my first one as I am understanding and learning the process more each time. 

When sewing the dress together I came across challenges when sewing the facing. Firstly, I sewd the facing to the neck hole without adding the interfacing, so I had to unpick this and iron the interfacing on where I accidently cut it on the fold of the wrong side so it wouldn't fit the fabric. To fix this I cut it in half through the middle and swapped the position so I could iron it whilst fitting the fabric. After this I used the burrito method so that I could attach the facing as the zip would go in to side. Whilst doing this I got confused on which piece of fabric goes where when rolling the fabric so I ended up with the facing right side up inside out. This meant I had to unpick this and reroll it. This time I watched a tutorial a few times slowly to make sure that this would go right and this was successful. After making all the Paniers and the dress I made sure to steam my garment to make the presentation neater. This was my first time using an actually steamer opposed to an iron and I found it had to get out the deeper creases but worked well on the surface. This was useful to use as I'm sure its something I will use a lot in the future. 

When completing my garment I managed to manage my time well as I finished it the weekend before it was due so that I would be able to have three days after to complete bookwork and complete the diary of making and the evaluation. 

In CAD this week we learnt about look books and what they are which is useful as we are going to be making one based of our architecture project. To help this process I made a mood board, thinking about colour themes and fonts. This helped me to think about my theme I could have and how I could execute it. 

This week started with Stretch as of the bank holiday so I started with making my weave. Doing this made me think about the order in which I should put my materials in so that the colours could be spread evenly and it all be of similar quality throughout so that it would look consistent. I think that this weave is working well as I have tried to incorporate different textures with plaiting and it links to my theme well as this are not my first used materials but are scraps.

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.