EVALUATION

My final outcome is a halter top with a fringe trim, a jacket with pleated sleeve and a pair of flared trousers. At the beginning of my project I had no idea what I wanted my final outcome to look like or where I was going with it. All I had was a list of designers, artists, photographers and musicians who inspired me and they were going to direct my project.

My main of working has been through the use of my sketchbook. All of my ideas go in here and it has become a visual diary of everything I do from research to development to final designs. Have all of my work in one place has helped me to develop my ideas because they're all in one place so I can constantly look back on what I've previously done in order to help know where I want to go next. While using my sketchbook I tried to forget that it is something that will be marked and graded but examiners at the end. By doing this is helped me to express my ideas in my own ways such as collaging, writing little notes to my self and drawing. Because I was focused on how I wanted my sketchbook to look, not how an examiner might see it, I think this benefited me because my sketchbook now has a very natural, organic flow to it rather than a check list to getting a distinction.

Another method that has helped me develop my work is the use of my blog. My sketchbook is mainly visual so having a blog were I can write down all of my ideas and clear my mind has been extremely useful. Sometimes it can be difficult to visually portray what I'm thinking so my blog has helped me to explain my thoughts. It is also a way for other people to understand my thought process which may not always be clear from just looking at my sketchbooks.

I have found my one-to-one tutorials really useful in this project because it really helps to get a fresh pair of eyes to look at your work because they always notice things or have ideas that you wouldn't have thought of. One piece of advice my tutor gave me was about the models I was using in my collages. My project is on black feminism but for a lot of my collages I was using white women's because black women were harder to find in magazines. She told me that the collages were great but I have to keep my theme running throughout the whole project and stay true to what my theme was. Although it seems like a simple piece of advice it made me think that I always had to go back to my theme and my research because if I didn't refer to it there was no point doing any research at all. This is something that I tried to carry throughout the whole project which is why I was still researching right till the end.

One thing that I'm going to take away from this project and try to improve on is my time management. Although I made a timetable at the beginning of the project I only looked at it a few times. I was never falling behind but I think if I had continuously looked at the timetable I wouldn't have had to rush toward the end to get everything finished. I'm also going to try to become more organised with written task such as blog. I was on top of my blog till around week 5 when I became lazy and once I'd stopped doing it, it was hard to start it up again without think about how much I had to catch up. This is definitely something that I need to find a way to keep on top of.

The main skill that I have feel I've improved on in this project is to think of my designs as clothes not illustrations. By thinking this way it forces me to think about how this item of clothing will be made, what will it be made from, what kind of zip will it have etc. By having this 8 weeks I was able to have time to think about these things rather than push them aside like I did in the two week projects. Another thing that I think I was good at was the research. Having nearly a whole sketchbook dedicated to research was amazing for me because any time I was slightly stuck about where to go next I had masses of images, texts and drawings to look back on to inspire me. Doing extensive research before I begin to design is definitely something I will continue doing as it helps so much with the design process.

Next year I am going to study a degree in Womenswear Fashion Design at the Paris College of Art and I am excited to see my skills continue to develop in a new environment.

WEEK 9

I spent this last week putting together the final outfits for my final lineup. I used the Sam technique as I did when deciding on the colours for the outfit I made. I tried out lots of different combinations because even though I loved all the clothes the outfits could have a completely different vibe depending on how I put them together.

Once I'd figured out most of my colours I went fabric shopping again to get the specific swatches that I needed for my final lineup.

Then I experimented with different ways to draw my models and decided to draw them the way I'd styled the photo shoot, with a head wrap and smart buckled shoes rather than trainers like I usually do.

Finally I drew my final line up, flats and stuck the fabric swatches next to each outfit.

WEEK 8: DAY 3

Today I went through all my photos and chose the best ones to edit. I didn't change them too much because I wanted everything about the photos to be as natural and untouched as possible. I'm really happy with the outcome and I feel like the photo shoot perfectly sums up my project

WEEK 8: DAY 2

Today was photo shoot day abd from morning to end everything went smoothly. Luckily all the garments fit her and when I put the head wrap and makeup on her I was really pleased because the look turned out just how I had imagined it in my head, if not better. I'm really happy with how the photos turned out and there are lots of great ones for me to choose from.

WEEK 8: DAY 1

Today I prepared for my photo shoot by making a mood board of the look that I was going for and how this could be achieved through styling and props. I want the model to look quite ethereal and very calm and at peace. I knew I wanted to incorporate my research on flowers in the shoot so I picked some flowers the morning of the shoot to use as props. I don't want any accessories because I think they'll E just distract from the clothes but instead I want the model to have a headwrap as iris a very common hairstyle for black women to wrap their hair in a scarf. I found a really nice beige mesh that I bought a while ago which I think will be perfect because it won't stand out too much and overpower the model but I am also going to bring in some ther possible fabric choices which I could use. For make up I want it to be very simple because I want her natural beauty to shine through so I'm just going to put some orange eyeshadow on her to match the jacket and some mascara.

I also pressed all of my clothes so I don't have to rush to do it tomorrow morning.

Today was a very useful day because now I know exactly what I'm going to be doing at the photo shoot and how I'm going to create a look that sums up my theme in a subtle way. I'm going to show the photographer and model this mood board to give them an insight to my project which will help then to understand what I want to achieve from this shoot.

WEEK 7

I spent the whole of week 7 making my garments for the photo shoot. Luckily there were no complications, probably because I spent so much time perfecting my patterns. This meant I was already used to making the clothes so when it came to making the final garments I was already used to all of the steps.

Even though I had fit all the toiles to my model as a made them to make sure they were the correct size, I tried them on her again so that I knew I wouldn't have to make any adjustments on photo shoot day.

WEEK 6: DAY 4

Today I went to Shepherd's Bush to buy my fabrics. I wanted to get either neoprene or something similar to this for the jacket so it would hold the shape I wanted it to have but I couldn't find anything similar to this in the right colour. I decided to go for colour over fabric and found a really nice one which is fairly sturdy in a burnt orange. For the trousers I went for a plain navy cotton and for the top I bought quite thick fabric (not sure what it is exactly) but it is sturdy so will hold the shape and seems comfortable to wear.

After thinking about it a lot I decided that I didn't have enough time to do the print on the material and if I had wanted to it should've been something that I thought about a couple weeks ago. I spent some time redesigning the top using different weaving techniques that I learnt a couple weeks ago. I thought about making the whole top from a weave but decided that this would take too long. I decided on a halte top with a turtleneck and then a woven fringe trim along the bottom.

I also changed the design of my trousers slightly. I bought a really cool embroidered navy fabric last week which looks really good with the cotton I bought for the trousers. I also bought an amazing like green zip which is going to be the fastening for the trousers to match the green topstitching.

Then I drew out each garment that I'm planning to make and illustrated how they are going to be constructed and with what materials. Finally I cut out all the fabrics so I'll be ready to start sewin tomorrow. 

WEEK 6: DAY 3

First thing I did today was fit my trousers to my model and thankfully they fit her perfectly so I won't have to change the size of them. The only thing I'm going to change is to make the flare bigger and more exaggerated.

Next I drew the outfit I want to make for my final piece several times changing small details such as a pockets but mostly I focused on colour combinations and which one I liked most. It took me a while to find the right colours but it was good because it was the first time in the design process that I used
my colour scheme properly so it was good to see what all the colours looked like together and which how they worked together in different quantities.

This was useful to do for me as colour is really important to me because I think they can change the whole look of an outfit so I'm definitely going to do this again for all my outfits as it is the easiest way for me to see all the different options next to each other and then pick the best one.

I'm going to go fabric shopping some time this week and to see what types of fabrics I'll be able to get in the right colours and which will fit my theme. 

WEEK 6: DAY 2

Made a pattern for the top I want to make. It turned out almost perfect the first time, a little too big for my model so I need to make a bit smaller but that will be easy to adjust.

Made a pattern for the trousers and toiled. Too small for me but may fit model because she is smaller to will fit on her tomorrow.

Today I made the pattern for the top I'm planning to make and I toiled it. I want to get all of my pattern making done by the end of the week so I can make all my clothes in week 7 in one for the photo shoot in week 8.

The top is a fairly simple halter top with a peplum and turtle neck. This was really easy to make as I've made several halter tops before so just had to adjust one of my own patterns. I tried it on the model and it's a little too big for her but I'll fix this by adding more pleats around the waist. I love how the top turned out but I'm not sure how I'm going to get the print on there as I don't think I'll have time to trial printmaking techniques this week. I'm think about weaving the print or have some kind of weaving detail on there but I'm not sure yet.

I wasn't sure what kind of bottoms I wanted to put with this top but after seeing it marry definitely needs to be paired with trousers. Using an old pattern of mine I retraced them and made them into flares. I tried the toile on myself and another girl but they were too small for both of us. By that time my model had gone home so I'm going to try them on her tomorrow and hopefully they'll fit her as she is quite petite. I definitely want there to be more of a flare as its only on one side and I want it to be really exaggerated.

Tomorrow I'm going to think more about fabrics and colours so I can by my fabrics this weekend. 

WEEK 6: DAY 1

Today I did lots of weaving samples using the felting yarn that I bought the day before. Over the weekend I read a book on African texitles and I noticed that a lot of their prints and textiles were created by weaving so I definitely want to use weaving in the project.

I hadn't used this type of yarn before so I started of just doing simple samples using one or two colours. I really like this yarn because it has a lot of texture and is very chunky. It also seems like it would be very warm to wear which is good as I'm designing an Autumn/Winter collection. Once I'd become used to using this yarn I tried out one of my print designs in weaving. I really love how it turned out and I think I'd prefer to use this than digital print as it will add more dimension to the clothes rather than just being a flat print which could look at little boring.

I used this samples to draw new designs and I also redrew some designs that I already had but added these samples in as pockets and patches. I really like how these turned out and I want to experiment with more colours. This process is quite long so I'm not sure if it will be something I use in my final garment or just in my final lineup I'll decided that later. 

WEEK 5: DAY 4

Today I went to get more fabric samples which are more specific to my project and themes. When I started looking around I realised that when seeing my colour scheme in fabric I didn't like how the colours worked together as much as I had with pen and paper. So after a while I began to choose fabrics which I liked the look of and worked well together and slowly a natural colour scheme of earthy tones, lime greens and burnt oranges evolved. I like this colour scheme a lot and it relates well with the research I was doing on nature and flowers. I got fabrics such as suede as it is something that was used a lot in the 70s and lots of warm knits and wools as I am doing an Autumn/Winter collection.

Next I went to a yarn shop and bought some really nice chunky yarn which is usually used for felting but I'm going to use it for weaving instead. I want to do some more experiments with weaving after reading a book about African textiles and seeing that a lot of it was made through weaving so I think this will be good thing to incorporate into my final piece.

Tomorrow I'm going to carry on designing but I am going to use these fabric samples to help inform my designs so I can have a better idea of what these clothes could be made from. I also want to do lots of experiments with weaving and see if I can recreate some of my print designs into a weave.

WEEK 5: Day 3

Today I went back to design. I find it easier to work when I'm constantly doing something different so I'm going to keep switching between pattern cutting, toiling and designing.

I started off by going through all the designs is don't and choosing my favourites. I realised that I didn't have any dresses that I liked and although it's not necessary, I would like to have at least one dress in the collection. I tried turning some of the tops and jackets that weren't my favourite into dresses but I don't really like how these turned out and hey ended up seeming a bit forced as they hadn't come to me naturally so this will be something that I will go back to when the time is right.

I used today to develop my designs more. I went through them and changed them all slightly several times until I drew one that I really loved. I also thought about fabrics that I could use by putting fabric samples next to my illustrations and little details such as top stitching, fastenings, pocket shapes and how exactly things would be made.

I didn't manage to do all the designs but today was useful because I went through my designs and started to see motifs and details which were being repeated. There were also some clothes that although I really liked didn't really fit with the other clothes so I'm going to see how I can modify them to fit in or if I'll have to scrap them from the collection.

WEEK 5: DAY 2

Today I decided to give designing a break as it is something I can go back towards the end up my project after the photo shoot. Instead I focused on the jacket I want to make for my final piece. I used a book from the library to make the pattern because I'd never made something with a dropped should and was sure how to do it. I simplified the sleeve of my design so I could focus on the drop shoulder as this made the pattern easier to make and I could then add in the complicated details later. My first toile turned out well but I noticed that the jacket was restricting me from lifting my arm. I wasn't sure how to resolve this so I asked my teacher and she should me what to change on the pattern to fix this.

For my next pattern I added in the sleeve detail and did what my teacher told m so that hopefully I will have more movement in the jacket. My  next toile was a lot better, I like the sleeve shape although it could be a little more exaggerated and I was able to move a lot more. If I added a gusset or a side panel I would probably have full flexibly but this will be something I'll come back to if I have time because it won't make a difference in the photo shoot if the model can't fully lift up her arms.

Tomorrow I'm going to take pictures of my model wearing the jacket so I can see how it looks on her and if it fits her right because so far I have only tried it on myself.

WEEK 5: DAY 1

Today I went through some fabric samples that I had from previous projects and picked some that could be used again for this project. I like some of the such a faux suede that I had a and some sparkly wools but I definitely need to go again soon to get fabrics which are more relevant to this project.

Next I did some collages and illustrations showing different ways that text could be incorporated in this collection. I decided to use some lyrics from Queen Latifahs song U.N.I.T.Y which portray a strong, confident woman, the type of woman I want to be wearing my clothes. Text is something that I definitely want to use in these clothes but I'm by sure if I'll have to time fully develop it in a way that I really like. However, I'm going to do some samples of ways to put text on fabric such as digital print, fabric paints and embroidery and see how they turn out and if text will be something I want to use in my final piece.

After that I went back through my design pages and worked into my initial designs more. Using images that I had left over from my research stage, I expanded on my stand work. I did this because although my I liked my initial designs I wanted to develop them further and have a clearer link of how my research was informing my designs. I really like some of the ideas I came up with and next I am going to choose my favourite designs and develop these more until I have something that I love.