Denim

Before our CAD project we had a quick skills for making project when we were thought the basic skills on a flatbed sewing machine and produced a calico shirt and a pair of shorts. I really enjoyed this module as it was on the machines which are where I feel I have a natural talent at. So I was extremely please to hear that we would be doing another making project and it was all based around denim.

 

To start us off we researched into the history of where the Denim jeans first came from, and I’m sure everyone knows all about it so I’ll not retell the story of Levis Strauss, and how they turned from work year to a modern day can’t live without trend.

 

So after the research it was time to design to choose what type of garment we were going to make. Of course the first things that came to mind when starting to design were the obvious ones, jeans, a jacket or a pair or shorts but as we had just done shorts and a shirt (which is very similar making process to the jacket) I thought that I would try and challenge myself to see how far I would stretch, and strengthen my abilities.

 

After a long thought process I had decided to make the jumpsuit design. Just like other projects I made a toile before my final garment to check that all of my measurements from my pattern pieces where correct and that it lay and looked the way that I desired. To start my toile I laid all my pattern pieces out along my fabric making sure that all the grain lines where matched up and were straight. After I had checked this I cut out my entire lot of pattern piece.

I started with the top of my jumpsuit, so first I had the collar, edge stitching along the ‘wrong’ side, leaving the inside of the collar left out.  After this I attached the front two parts of my top together down the front seam. Just before I was about to attach my collar to the top I realised that it was too long so would been trimming down and the collar pattern would need changing too.  Also while we were thinking about how we would attach the collar to the top we realised that I would need to cut a ‘lining’ for the top so that I would be able to bag out the collar.

 I then came across another problem. Even though I was going to bag out the collar the part that goes around the neck would be still left open with a raw edge. And yet another problem that I faced was; how was the person going to be able to get it over their head.

When overcoming this problem I made a ‘peter pan’ collar and added extra to be like a button wrap to be able to add a little hoop and button to allow the user to get their head in and out. I then attached my collar to the top bring the lining up and bagging in the collar securing it and hiding the rough edge. I then folded the other rough sides on themselves and edge stitched the side together. When making my real collar and top I have to remember to make sure that the side of the collar with the edge stitching should be hidden this is the ‘wrong’ side.

The next part to do was to measure how long the top had to be to be able to fit onto the pants it left me with 4centimeters to gather 2 on each side under the bust. Now the top is ready to be attached top the pants.

After I had finished the top I moved onto the pants. Firstly I attached the pocket bag to the pants stitching along the top, I then turned the bag over and top stitched top of the bag, so that it would lay flat. I next added the pocket lining by sewing it together to seal the pocket. That was the front of the pants done; next I added the darts in the back of the pants and joined the side seams of the pants and the inside leg. After I had joined these I realised that they did not match correctly at the bottom so I would have to go back to my pattern to check that they go to the same length. The next thing that I had to do was pin together the body rise indicating where my zip would go, using the invisible zip foot I added the zip and closed up the rest of the pants, and removed pins. 

 The last thing that I had to do was attach the top to the pants. After it was finished I tried it on a class mate to see how it fitted.  I used pins and drew on the toile to indicate any alterations.

 

 

I was really impressed with myself with my final garment, it looked like I had wanted it to and although there were some small challenges along the way I think that those were the best ways to help me learn to make mistakes. In the past I had used an embroidery machine before but not the same size as I did for my leg piece, it was great to be able to use other machinery available to me to try to come up with different effects and styles, and not have the piece solely focused on the design and cut. I also thought that the jumpsuit looked very professional and think that it gave me a confidence boast to try bigger and better things for the next time I have a making project. Obviously my grade reflected how confident I was with my garment as I ended up with a distinction.

 

CAD

OOOPS!!! do I deserve a slap on the wrist!!! The last six months have been so manic I feel that I have been neglecting you blog, so to say im sorry heres an entery…..

 

So I’ve just started my second year of FdA Fashion and have been looking back on the other briefs and projects from the last year and boy do I have room for improvement the first one that I looked back on was my first attempts at CAD…..

 

Apart from a couple of doodles on paint or a bit of photo editing I had never designed or illustrated digitally on the computer before, well that was until I was handed my second brief of first year which stated that I would be taught how to use the program Adobe illustrator to make my designs digital.

 

Our first task was to look at existing digital designers and see which style of work that we liked the best to help us find inspiration when coming to create our own images. I seemed to have picked up on the basic skills quite easily and enjoyed the simple short tasks that we were given to get us used to how the program worked and what tools would give a different effect. Along the way I took constant screen shots so that I could annotate the images so that I ended up with my own reference file, so if it were to do it again, or could not remember how to use a certain tool I would have my folder for backup to remind me.

 

I feel that I did learn a lot on this project and felt rather confident to have a good play around with it and explore different tools even if I was not going to use this effect in my final designs at least I had a greater knowledge of the program then before I started with it.

 

I really liked this effect, so even though I did not use it for my final illustrations it would be nice to go back to this and play around more and find a way to make my design rather than using one from the internet.

 

 

 

When it came down to my two final images I was not 100% happy with how they turned out. It could have possibly been that I tried to use too many different skills, effects and tools on the one image that it looked like there was too much going on. Although saying that I now feel more confident to have a try at doing more designing work on the computer, and I’m sure the more I do it, the more time I spend on it practising, my illustrations should improve over time.

 

I did really enjoy this module as it was something new, that I had never had a go at before. I have learnt new tools and skills which I can take forward and use again in other projects. Although they are very time consuming I believe that the images can look very professional and effective.

1st year.

It is crazy to think that just September gone I was nervously starting the first year of my degree and now it’s nearly over. Looking back at the projects that I did at the start of the year I can see how I have advanced already just over a few months. I like the fact that I can look at my own work and see that there is a change enabling me to see my own progress, it’s a really nice feeling rather than just been stuck not leaning anything new or excelling in an area that I possibly didn't start out so well in.

The first project that I had to do when I first started the course in September was all about illustrations, doing the right research to produce image boards for our portfolio, which a designer could work from easily seeing which market level they were looking at and the type of client they were design for. But luckily for me, I was the designer aswell as teh researcher and we had to go on to create a capsule collection from our research.

The theme that I chose to base my project around was water; I looked at different aspects of it and it in different forms. I also looked at the ordinary things such as sea life and the ocean. I used the colours that I found fitted most which were greens and blues and got the best effects when I used water coloured paints.

I will admit illustrations are not my stronger point at the minute; it is definitely an area that I aim to focus more on so that I can become stronger and more confident with it. Regardless though I felt like I had gave it my best shot and I had picked up a few helpful tips that I could use again.

We had to draw our own body blanks too; I did find this a bit challenging but was proud with the overall outcome of them, as they had improved massively from whenever I had tried to do my own in the past.

I also got to try my hand at drawing flats/ technical drawings. Again I had never drawn in this style before but I really enjoyed it, and found that I felt more relaxed and happy with them, a bit more than what I was with my actual designs.

For this been my first degree project I was happy with my result and felt that it was a good start to the year. Clearly from this I can see where I did well and were I need to pay more attention to so that I can do better again in upcoming projects. I also enjoyed working in this style having a go at a little bit of everything allowing me to see which areas I work best in and enjoy the most as in industry I highly doubt I will be doing it all.

Inspiration

While I was at work the other day a women had come into the shop with the most beautiful/ unusual necklace on I think I had ever seen! As I got talking to her she showed me a bracelet that she had  which matched the necklace. She told me that she was called Leigh Patterson and that she had made the jewellery herself, she explained that it had just started out as a hobby but she now sells some of her pieces on the Internet, although every piece is one off I imagine that there will be some disappointed people if they don't get to it first. The more that I talked to Leigh she told me that she is constantly finding new environmentally friendly materials to use.
 I think the large beads used are absolutely beautiful and all very inspirational, as I would love to be able to incorporate it into a garment or bag ect as I feel it would make the most unique piece of embellishment. I really love the fine detail that Leigh has put into every little part of the jewellery and I find the colours used so interesting and definatly eye catching.

Before FdA Fashion

Currently I am studying for my foundation degree fashion at Newcastle College, but before I started this I attended a college at Ashington near where I live where I studied very hard to get myself a Distinction in foundation diploma fashion. I like to regularly look back at my older work as it can show me how much I have moved on, and where I have found strengths.

This garment was made from paper, and the theme was body size and image. It was very interesting that we had used newspapers to make theses garments out of because this is were people get their insecurities about their bodies from whatever is printed in newspapers or magazines telling people how they should look.

This image was taken from the little black dress project that I did, I really enjoyed this project as it challenged me to do something  different and unconceptual. This may not be the typical LBD that can be dressed up or down but would make anyone turn their head.

This way taken from a project were I looked at different periods, I really enjoyed the researching that went into the project and when showing older family members what I had found, they would have their own stories for me on the memories they had had around that time or with a piece of clothing.

These images came from my FMP at the end of the course, I had made a panel skirt and made a video to showcase my work at the end of year show. I felt that this project by far was my best as I had so many different idea and I had just used trial and error to see which would work best. I really enjoyed that course as it gave me a small glimpse into what I should expect while doing a degree course it certainly gave me a few valuable skills.