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.