Year Two Week Five

 Week Five

In Pattern cutting this week I decided to make a ruff collar after creating my mood board for my white shirt project. I felt like this would match my inspiration of historical structure well as I was inspired by a picture of Queen Elizabeth the first with a v shaped hem and a ruff collar. I have decided to make my ruff collar go from either side of the the neck instead of going the whole way around as i felt this would work better given the ten hour time constraint. I still feel like this looks good with the garment as from the front it covers the whole neck but from the back you can see how it is structurally held t the garment and neck. I feel like he shape of the ruff also links to my structural theme as of the shape it makes with the curves. 

I found the process of sewing this ruff to be fairly straightforward in steps but time consuming taking about an hour, however this is a big part of my design so with the ten hours I feel like this is a good amount of time to take. When sewing the ruff you use three needles at one with a similar process to suing a princes pleater but done by hand. A few times the threads got twister when sewing, so I amended this by sticking the needles I wasn't using at the time to the table so they wouldn't get caught. I found this worked well as it meant the threads stayed neat and easy to work out the position for each needle to sew in. Overall, I like the outcome of this ruff as I feel like the shape is accurate and stands up well, next time for my final sewn shirt I will make the band on the inside of the ruff  long enough s that it can be tide round the neck instead of adding extra fabric to the band to do this, I'll do this as I think it will make this more sturdy and neater around the back of the neck. 

After doing this, I constructed a bib, which I found making the pattern for straightforward, matching up the front and back bodice together and working out the shape I wanted. As I made this experimentally I wasn't sue if it would lay right or work properly, but after making it I am pleased with ow it as turned out as I will be using this pattern for my final shirt as it lays on a person well and I'm happy with the length and width. This also didn't take long which is good considering the time limit. 

In Textiles we are sharing techniques with each other to experiment with. One peer started this off with knitting, as it hadn't been too long since the last time I had knitted once I had been reminded how to cast on, I got into the rhythm of kitting, but I did struggle on my first attempt with adding an additional loop when I was changing between needles. By my second try I have managed to create a long piece of knitting with minimal mistakes. I found it useful to have knitting demonstrated again as it meant that when casting on and especially off I did this with the right technique as this is what I usually struggle with. 

We also got taught smocking, which was my first time doing this technique and I found it interesting how it manipulates the fabric, however I feel for my wedding dress it may be time consuming to do enough of this to make a feature. I did like the they way that it made geometric shapes on the fabric, but I think I underestimated how much it will shrink the fabric down with the smocking so next time I will use bigger pieces of fabric. 

Within this, I also demonstrated a heat manipulation technique which I enjoy using a heat gun and fabric to melt through or using coins or other objects to leave their shape once the fabric manipulates around them. Our class hadn't done this before, especially with the molding so it was good they got to experiment with trying different fabrics and object to mold with. If my dress fabric allows it I think this would be a good technique to include as I like the way it manipulated the fabrics so it looks melting and burnt but also holds shapes which are bubble like. I found the experience of showing people this technique went well as I found this familiar to my work experience in the textile room at a secondary school. 

When working on my portfolio this week I decided to make the focus of my page photography, but still featuring designs on, as I haven't had a page with this focus yet. I feel like this worked well as to show I can also pose and photographing the skirt after making showing a wider range of skill. 

Year Two Week Four

 Week Four 

As I had been off for the last week before with illness, I started this week catching up on the pattern cutting and construction of the collars. When doing this I found watching videos helped me to understand the process and the measurements. I found making the patterns for the collars challenging still as of the many steps that goes into one collar and how you repeat and alter one collar multiple times to produce the top and under collar. However, the steps are becoming more recognisable as I go on.  

I then made these collars in fabric, bagging them out, and putting them on my mannequin. I think that these worked well as they all looked like my reference image and they held their shape well even though I didn’t use interfacing. The process of sewing these were simple as of the simple seams and I feel as though the corners have been pointed well from being sewn around. Next time to improve these collars, I would create more abstract and interesting shapes as they are quite similar with the rounded or squared corners. 

In Textiles this week I learnt about interlocking squares and how you can arrange them to make orang I like shapes. I liked how I could fold back pieces off the squares to make different designs and incorporate different fabrics and textures to make my designs more tactile. 

I collated my first year work to think about a portfolio page and I found that to show off my flower skirt I wanted to crate illustrations. I think this worked well as I managed to change my drawings from my book into interesting heads for my illustrations. I think this has elevated the page as you can tell it links to my skirt and the inspiration behind it. 

I also created weaves for my next page based on insects and I think it is an interesting way to show off my patterns mixing them and I like how the bright and darker colours contrast one another with the different directions of the designs.

Year two Week two

In Pattern cutting this week I learnt how to sew a pl for a cuff. I found this manageable as the steps wher broken down section by section so the information wasn't overwhelming. I think this was a useful skill to learn as I can now finish of a shirt properly with it looking neat.

This week I started my first portfolio page, looking back at my first project and pulling out work I thought would work well together and be of a good enough quality. I looked back at past patterns and decided to collage these.

As this my first page, I hadn't made a illustration before to this level so I learnt how to break down the process, starting with the heads and experimenting with shapes before deciding on the final head to start the process of my body. When doing this I found it useful to look at the shape of the fruit on which the garment was based on rather than a usual shape of a head to make it a more arty illustration. 

I learnt that my illustrations look good with the use of different media’s rather than just one flat piece, for example using oil pastels the make add colour details making it more interesting to look at. 

At home this week to expand on my sleeves,making it more historical and costume like I decided to make a Marie sleeve after seeing it in my 19th Century fashion in detail book as it really like the way that the sleeve bunches making volume. This also mixed historical and modern ways to make clothes as i made it to look traditional but used elastic to rough it in. If i was to do this again I would make the pattern longer to allow for the fabric to create the bubble shape when it bunches up. 

I also experimented with a circle/frill cuff but instead of flopping down this has stayed in the circle shape around rather cuff, which could be useful for a specific costume but was not what I expecting, this could of been because I lined it making it thicker for the weight or as it wasn’t gathered enough. 

Year two Week One

After a summer off, I am back for the start of year two of college. We have starting off by unboxing our new sewing machines and learning how to use them. This was useful as it meant that when it came to sewing my lessons, I would know what to do so I could start immediately. This was my first time using a sew machine with a touch screen, so it was interesting to see that I had so many stitch options and ow it was even able to embroider icons/ images onto fabric. We then constructed sewing machine covers for these so that we could hold the handle through the top and have pockets to store the feet. I found this a useful task to do as it helped to ease me back into the class structure. Whilst doing this ask it allowed me to practise my bias binding cutting and sewing as this is something I used to struggle with, keeping the stitches on he buas edge. I sew quite a few bias binding around the sewing machine backs in order to keep the edges neat and all of them went well because I made sure, they were pressed before sewing them making the bias tape more set in its position making it easier to sew it accurately. I also topstitched every machine cover when the handle comes through. This made me focus on accuracy and neat sewing as this is a part that is very seen. As I wanted them to be done in time, as once this was done others could add other parts, I made sure my sewing was quick but accurate, this helped me to understand these new machines and get back into sewing with a bit of a deadline.

 

We continued this into our textiles lesson, where we met the first years on this course, it was nice to meet the and o talk about what they’re interested in. When meeting them we assisted them into finishing off he machine covers. This was useful as it made me work on communication through teaching them how to sew with the new machines, introducing myself and explaining the instructions. I found this ask not bad as I was quite used to this from my work experience, as the students n the first year where in secondary school when I was at work experience, so I was fairly comfortable talking to the student I was with.

In our next pattern cutting lesson we made continuous strip plackets. I found the demonstration to be slightly confusing but when putting it into practice I found the technique to make sense. I had already made something like this when making skirt samples, but this was good to refresh as it made me learn how to use this as a cuff and my sample this time was more successful of my developed accurate stitching and how I managed to make the fabric lay flatter this time through taking more time to be precise when sewing it.

 

In textiles this week we started making portfolio work by firstly going through our old work, I found this helpful as it made me think about what I need to develop to be out in. To make this a successful portfolio page I took my fruit work from year one and started to design an illustration to make my design look more interesting. At first, I found this difficult to not make the face too literally or look too much like a face, so I decided on the pomegranate fruit to be the head. I experimented with what the style should be like using my left, right hand and continuous line or sketching. I decided on continuous line drawing the face as I like how to helps me to not get caught up o the detail of the face and how it makes it look more abstract. When drawing the body of this I found that it looked good with a log thin neck to contrast the large wide head to balance it out. I also learnt to keep the body longer to create fashion proportions. Over the weekend, I added designs to this through collaging magazine strips onto the body after trying to digitally draw the designs and not liking the outcome.

 

In my own time at home, I sewed a Marie sleeve as I saw this in my 19^th century fashion book and I wanted to test it out. When doing this, I learnt that using elastic works well to create gathers which once worn created volume. If I were to do this again I would make the sleeve pattern longer as the elastic and volume made it further up the wrist, so I should add more length. I really like the way that this turned out as I like how it creates the bulb shape throughout the arm. 

France’s new law on ultra- fast fashion.

 “France has passed a law curbing ultra-fast fashion brands by banning advertisements (including paying influencers to promote) and putting a tax on each item sold depending on how environmentally destructive it is.”

I think that this is going to positively affect how many people are exposed to the ultra- fast fashion brands as the advertisements are banned. Whilst it is a good thing that France is taking a step to reduce the use of ultra-fast fashion this does not stop people from accessing it and still being able to buy from these brands. If advertising is banded it will stop influences from showing new clothes and collections from these brands stopping new short lived trends which lead to mass brought fast fashion, effecting the environment. I think adding tax on each item sold depending on how destructive it is will help to stop people from buying from these ultra- fast fashion brands as freely. Adding more tax on should also encourage people to shop at charity shops and second stores making shopping keeping shopping affordable and good for the environment. I think this will help to reduce the amount of  destruction to the environment, however, there are larger countries that need to also take this initiative and more for the impacts to be substantial, for example, America who have one of the largest greenhouse emissions in the world, which fast fashion exploitation and buying contributing to. Overall, I think that this is a good step in the right direction and should encourage behaviour changes in other country’s towards fast fashion and how it effects the environment. 

Week Twenty Nine

 Week Twenty Nine

To start this week after half term our group had a chat and we saw where everyone was at. We had all mainly finished our garments with only small parts to finish. I needed to sew mine and a couple of Amy's three dimensional structures on with hand sewing, I also sewed mine and Liv's labels onto the garments. When putting Liv's design on the mannequin we struggled with the bottom fitting over the shoulders, she was thinking of replacing the zip with a longer one but we then had the thought of unpicking the bottom of the seam up to near the zip to create a split which meant the fabric could stretch and open around the shoulders. This will also be beneficial for our models as it will be easier to get onto them. 

After I finished this I continued to make my diary of makings digitally. 

Overall, It think that my group has worked well together and it was great to work with people I havnt worked with before. I think that our design have worked well together with clear links between them with our 3D structures and the same fabrics. 

In Photography this week, I finished making my tabloid/zine finalising the title and the final few pages layout. I have now ordered this off of Mixam printing which will arrive soon. 

In Stretch this will I finalised my designs by combining designs and colouring them with similar colours to my initial/ developed designs. I think my designs have worked well as they have bright colours trying to keep the mood positive. I also chose to do three separate subjects on my murals to try and relate to more people and  to hopefully interest people. 

In Cad this week I continued to work on my look book and I also made sure my photography zine was accessible on other computers and added it to a usb stick. 

Half Term break.

May half term.

Over the start of the break, I looked around Plymouth Arts University. I really enjoyed the Campus and it felt welcoming with lots of spacious rooms and linking buildings. As this wasn't an open day but an open tour event I didn't learn a lot about the course but I did see a few costumes that students had made an found them very inspiring. This was a student guided tour so it was nice to hear about her perspective and experiences and how they are more than welcome to try different subject and techniques than hat they do as a degree, they are even encouraged with weeks where you try about different areas of creative arts. I was pleasantly surprised with the Plymouth area as well as I have never been but I found the Marina and the Docks a nice place to be. Unfortunately the costume graduation show wasn't full out but I did see the textiles show which looked great and a few fashion garments where displayed in the hallways which where nice too see. 

I also visited the Falmouth open day the next day which I learnt a lot about the course and what they offer. I found it interesting how they focus on the design and making this into costumes. For example, instead of manly making the outfits, lots narrow down on the buying of clothes and then adapting or distressing it to make it suit their design and character. I was surprised by the grounds of this campus as there are large gardens and an old house which I learnt is used a lot as the backgrounds of photoshoots of film. In this course you also work a lot with other students, like film you would help supply the costumes. They also have a very large costume store that gets used for films or television. When visiting I also had a look at their textiles grad show which looked very interesting. 

In half term I made most of my designed garment for the group architecture. I started with making the pleats which went well but was slightly more challenging than the toile as I couldn't draw the fold line the whole way down as I didn't want to stain the white cotton fabric. Sewing this into the trousers went well as I was confident in the angle and how to arrange the pleats so that they create a curved shape which start going in and out from the seam. This time the trousers came together with no problems as I now knew how to sew the pieces together to get the trouser legs facing the right side up. 

When sewing the waistband, I firstly sewed across the waist but I wasn't happy with the result as the line wasn't neat or straight and the side seams created bulk. To fix this I decided to cut the fabric to create a straight line so all of the fabric was the same height. As one of the seam seams was higher than the other, doing this meant they where evened out and the bulk was smaller and less noticeable. As I cut the fabric the amount of extra fabric that we left to fold over was reducing this meant that I couldn't fold this as many times but it was still enough to fold the fabric under making it neater. This also meant that the elastic was slightly too big so I trimmed some of the top and then it fit, this didn't affect the elasticity so this wasn't a problem. I added bias binding to the hem of the trousers which was challenging as the front and the back meet at a point because of the asymmetrical curve. 

When sewing the top together I didn't come across many problems. However, where the thread is held at the top of the machine it would sometimes wrap around that metal stick and causing less thread to go through the machine so the tension was affected, making the fabric bunch up. At some points it was necessary for me to re-sew this so I had to unpick parts of this and re-sew them so the fabric wasn't tight. I think the piping I the seam of the top has turned out well because the zip foot managed to get very close to the piping itself. I think it also looks sleek in the seam as I firstly pinned it the one side of the top and then pinned the seam together entirely so that the piping is securely in the right place bending correctly around the curve of the top. 

To attach the hood and the collar to the zip I sewed them together first. This worked well as it meant they wouldn't move apart when I attach the zip, attaching the zip was simple as all I had to do was simple sew a line near the zip teeth. 

Once I sewed the zip on I thought that the collar and hood fabric went past the zip a bit too much making it look messy and occasionally get caught in the zip teeth. To amend this I decided to trim the fabric down so it wouldn't been seen with the intention of seam neatening again after. This was a problem though as the fabric that was left over was too thin for the machine foot to sit on and sew along, I decided to try different feet for example also a zip foot which still didn't work. As you can't see this it isn't much of an issue but next time I would think about this is advance so this is neat and looks good. As the fabric is shorter it sometimes still catches in the zip but much less and only in certain points.  

In the Half term I also started a new way of writing diary of makings, I started to do the digitally. I arranged the photos and scanned a photo of the brown paper that I use in my sketchbook to be the background of my writing. I think this has worked well as it's a similar format to my book and when scanning the brown paper it has come up a bit lighter which has made the writing on top of it easy to read.