Tuesday 28 December 2010

SEAM ALLOWANCE ON THE SIDE SEAM

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To create this side seam I created a seam allowance of 1.5cm to allow me to resolve any fraying and create a nicer finish. I used a measured piece of masking tape to make sure it was equally 1.5cm all the way round using a pivotal method to make sure my curve was identical to the straight line.

STITCHING THE PILL PANEL INTO THE PLEAT

To create this panel I sewed in different pills by hand into the quilted sections of the material. I then topstitched these panels into the back of the pleat so the kick would be effective and relate to my concept. I made sure the straight lines were as accurate as I could make them because the pieces of fabric were uneven and different sizes. I made sure I sewed right against the edge so then the stitch line was hidden in case the pleat was opened.

STITCHING THE TAPE ONTO THE DRAPED FABRIC

1. First of all I created a 1.5cm fold sewing in the tape inbetween two pieces of fabric so then it was secure remaining on the right side able to tie with the other piece of tape on the other side.
2. Then I arranged both drapes so they would cross over each other and stitched them into the side seam so the sttitches weren't visible on the right side of the skirt.3. I sewed in four pieces of tape all sewn into the side seam so then the stitching was hidden.The fastening of the tie back was inspired by a hospital gown using similar tape and replicating the same technique the manufacturer's used to secure the tape.
This is how the draped fabric finished with it starting at the hip and dipping lower overlapping and layering over the inverted pleats. I made them so they tied around to fasten at the same side on each of the front and back of the skirt.

CREATING THE DRAPES AROUND MY SKIRT

1.First of all I sewed a 1.5sm seam allowance all round four sides leaving one to allow me to bag it out.

2. I repeated the same process measuring 90cm but I thought I wuld vary the size so I alternatively changed the width of one piece of fabric so they were different.
Then I slashed up the centre of each of the 1.5cm edges after notching all the corners. This would be able to reduce bulk which I don't want due to the volume created by the inverted pleats.
This is what the inner layer looks like before bagging it to created the draped fabric that acts as a bandage on my skirt significant to mental health.

Sunday 19 December 2010

CHANGE OF MIND




At the start of this assignment I considered many different concepts to then finally narrow it down to two. I started to research into a circus concept as it owuld be bright, bold and fun to experiment with but then I realised it wasn't me and wasn't as widespread as I would like it to be. So I developed it to another choice of mental health and realised that the ambiguity of how the brain works and how unpredictable life is could be interesting for me to attempt to produce a garment on. I researched into depth with threads of crimes, symptoms, illnesses, family and health all having their individual symbolism.I realised that I could play with different inspirations to make them unique and complex with a challenging concept to portray. I brought in my own personality as I'm not attention seeking like bright colours and not loud and as fun as spots and stripes can be but I am quiet and observant and find disturbing and awkward things unique to life.

SAMPLES OF QUILTING

I definately wanted to both quilting and pills together as they link with my concept with recovery and healing the mental state of mind. I attempted the same hand stitching technique to secure all the pills and figure out which direction and distance they would be placed to make a balance. I attempted with different textures of lace, cotton, quilting. Also I wanted to see whcih colours and patterns would obscure the same finish of what a garment on the runway based on mental health would look like. Out of all these I preferred the quilting as it was original choice and first attempt but if gave a 3 dimensional effect and blended well with the colour of the calico but the pills uplifted from the 2 dimensional pattern.
HOSPITAL GOWN

LACE
QUILTING
COTTON

FINAL DESIGN FOR TOILE


For my final design I combined ideas of quilting, pillows and pills together to create the design most suited for my chosen concept. I developed this final design by sketching over egg shapes and took inspiration from each of the influences to have threads from all the catorgories that fall under mental health. All the different pills represent the different members of my family all sewn into the quilting to add texture and portray my concept obviously. The fastening was influenced by the tie back featured on the hospital gown incorporated onto the draped fabric portraying bandages and recovery. The quilting will be in a different material to give an insight of what the lining will look if it was made into a garment.
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CREATING MY TOILE

STRAIGHT BACK SKIRT
I made it easier for myself by cutting the back skirt on the fold as I wasn't inserting a zip or button and sewed in 4 darts creating a nice fit to the shape of the hips.

STRAIGHT SKIRT WITH INVERTED PLEATS
With creating this pattern I had to find the dart and pair up with the fourth notch and sew a dart in on both sides so they would be even. As it was cut on the fold I had to ensure that both sides would be equal so I sewed a vertical line 10cm downwards on either side and pressed open the darts. Then I had to match up and press as the paper pattern told me to reveal two pleats either side of the skirt.

PATTERNS FOR MY CHOSEN DESIGN

My chosen design uses a front skirt with inverted pleats and a straight back skirt. I refreshed my brain on how to make the inverted pleat pattern even though we did it the other day but it was quite complex so I thought I would challenge myself. This design suited my design very well allowing the quilting to filter underneath subtley revealing the pills captivated inbetween. It would give it a suitable shape given it a tight shapely fit with added inspiration from a mental health concept.

1. First of all I measured the dart and drew a pleat stitch line with halve of the dart amount on either side of the dart.
2. I then I separated the panels by slashing and traced the first half of the pattern. Then I added 4 columns measuring 8cm wide and attached the other the other panel. Then I folded the first pleat stitch line on the fold into the centre and the other pleat stitch line on the fold until they both meet at the same point. I finally added 1.5cm seam allowance on all sides except for the side cut on the fold.


FRONT SKIRT



BACK SKIRT
The back skirt will consist of a fitted shape with no adaptation to the normal skirt shape.This occured as I wanted the skirt to be balanced and more detailed at the front with an easier manipulation in the back. As the inverted pleats are fairly complex I didn't think I would be able to fit in time to do adaptations in both sides of the skirts.



Wednesday 15 December 2010

THE STORY BEHIND MY CONCEPT


In my design my plan is to obtain a front pleat in the front of the skirt with an inner lining underneath with a panel of quilting with pills sewn into each of the squares portraying the vision of a capsule and popping them out of the packet.


I would only do inside of the pleat just to give a minimal insight off what it could look like with material. There will be five differenntt types of pills to correspond with all the members of my family to make it more significant to me as family are an addiction just like pills are. Some research looked similar to bandages so I've decided to drape 2 strips off fabric round to tie at the waist and just below recreating a hospital gown fastening. If I had time I could instal a belt to create a straight jacket ointerpretation attaching it to the strips of fabric tieing at the back of the skirt to give restiction and volume.

Sunday 12 December 2010

BOX PLEATS AND INVERTED PLEATS

I created a front skirt with a Box pleat and had to model it on the mannequin to see how it would shape around a bodice. This allows the pleats to become visible to the skirt as it gives the skirt volume.




Similar I created inverted pleats on a front skirt which I found more complex to iron the notches in the right positions.


ENRICHMENT - ANTWERPEN

Bonkers style
Exceptional experience
Lots of laughs
Genuine people
I
nnovative ideas
U
niversal
M
oMu Museum

ANTWERPEN HERE WE COME: Monday 22nd Novemeber 2010 departure date to leave for Belgium. Family and friends had been to Brussels or Bruges but never Antwerp so I didn't know what to expect.I couldn't wait to explore the culture and adapt to their lifestyle but I knew there was a very long train journey ahead.

I arrived at Crewe station at the schedule
d time of 10:30am and realised all the second years had packed very lightly whereas my suitcase was prepared for a lifetime holiday. Then Libby arrived and her sized suitcase defeated mine so I felt relieved that I wasn't the only one with a huge suitcase. I knew that this college trip would be able to allow people to bond and learn new things about each other whilst fulfilling the most eventful experience together as a family.

We boarded the Virgin train destinated to arrive
at London Euston but there was some confusion about where to keep our suitcases safe which you could imagine for me I had to heave mine back and forth to finally place it somewhere temporary. Moreover, there was some confusion about the seats as the public passenegers had stolen our reserved seats, so me and Sophie had to find the nearest available seat to share the hour and a half journey with. We arrived at London Euston and then got a typical London bus (red doubledecker) to St Pancraas whereas the rest of the group had to walk but actually we arrived later than everybody else. How frustrating! We had to wait for about 1 hour and a half so we relaxed at a posh cafe bar and watched all the public passing by during rush hour.This architecture interested me with it's geometric shapes innovative structure.We then waited a while until the eurostar arrived ready for the 3 hours journey ahead. The next destination was Brussels where we were allowed to independantly explore the station. I was a bit peckish and luckily we came across a supersize vending machine. It was just my day! Lastly, we travelled on the last train to the chosen destination of ANTWERP. The time change had bemused the whole group and even though we had altered the times on our phones we were all unsure whether were an hour behind or ahead. We arrived at the hotel at about 6:30pm and adjusted to the levels of the hotel and where our room was waiting for us. Our curfew was 11:30pm so we had 5 hours to distinguish what could be found in antwerp and what they had to offer. Me Kathryn, Jess and Sophie came across a petite restaurant that served italien food. We wanted to experience the cultural food and try something new.We then discovered a 60s/ 70s bar which had a layout of bright block colours and disco features of lava lamps, glitter ball and structured interior.

END OF DAY 1

Tuesday 23rd November 2010 - Fashion walk around the backstreets of Antwerp.

We took the tram and commuted to the centre of Antwerp in time for the fashion tour. We met a well educated women that kn
ew the city like the back of her hand. We had some spare to time to assess and analyse degree students' work which were currently studying at the fashion college which appeared to be part of the museum. The standard of the designing and concepts within the garments was absoultuely mind blowing.The only word that described the work was WOW! All the constructed garments contrasted with individual stylistic qualities.I attempted a drawing whilst waiting for the tour to begin as the construction inspired me.
The group then proceeded to the main tour as we observed all the streets with influential widow displays and familiar ready to wear a
nd high street shop brands. There was a logic to the layout of streets ordered in similiar stereotypes of skaters, rappers, high maintanance and vintage. We progressed to entering the shops down the skaters street and looked in selected shops which the women picked as good examples for inspiration. One of them was claled "Fish and Chips" which was quite expensive, I would compare to Republic with american, English and Belgian labels in stock. Spray paints were bale to purchase for graffitti art as it was a popular design feature found down the street. The concept featured in their window collabarated human and and nature together to create unrealistic characters in the window. Graffitti was capitaliszed in the interior to make more effect for the customers.We then propelled to the main high street backbone.
What were they thinking behind this concept?
Throughout the tour we didn't have chance to visit all the
shops in antwerp so the lecturers gave us the responsibility to explore independently so me and Kathryn went shopping and spent alot of money on typical Belgian clothes and food.
We trekked around the city centre without realising that it all links so we revolved around in circles coming across the same shops until it was time to travel back to the hotel. We got given a specific time to travel back to the hotel by but it didn't go to plan did it. Me and Kathryn had a very chaotic way of getting back to the hotel. After asking the information desk and belgian citizens were found out that we were in the right lace but just couldn't get out of the station.

END OF DAY2

Wednesday 24th November 2010 - Stephen Jones exhibition.

We boarded the same tram as the day before and travelled
to Momu museum which was in close distance from the tram station. We collected our tickets and entered the weird and wonderful exhibition. The hats were ordered chronologically starting with the first theme. All of the hats were based on a part of his life and were all significant to him in particular. Stephen Jones appealed to my first on Britain's next top model and it was surreal to see the same hats that had features in that series. The detail, colour and time that would have been spent on his creations must be manic. I learnt that his concepts never die out as he gains inspiration from personal events and thinks outside the box alot. One of his concepts interested me based on HOME and he exerted many different features of public services and his childhood to allow the audience to realate to his designs. There was also a video playing ina dark room which allowed me to learn more about him and understand the way he thinks and works.The impression I got was was he was a kind, genuine man that is proud of what he has acheieved in his career so far. It changed the way I think and changed my proseptive on designing which has helped me with this current unit on ideas and concepts.
Afterwards me and Kathryn got the oppurtunity to travel further into antwerp with Jo Bruce and the second years to the more poorer areas and found it interesting in the home life and how all the different places contrasted, more wealthier than others. The architecture was incredible and the detail and structure was unbelievable with a 1920s look. The houses looked simialr to what would be featured in film sets with their dark presence and tense atmosphere as they tower over you. I was glad we got the chance to explore all assets of antwerp to educate me more in depth. The setting reminded me of old fashion films in black and white as they're presence was breathtaking.
END OF DAY 3

Thursday 25th Novemeber 2010 - Travel back home, leave Antwerp

We vacated the hotel at 13:30pm and had to prepare for the long journey home. We had some time to fit in some last minute exploring to then travel home.

How I would some up Antwerp would be and independent adventure. I learnt about the belgian style and how it never dates or grows out of fashion and changed the way I think and not to judge on the first impression of what people wear because they have a meaning behind them to reflect their personality. I would definately visit again in the future as I have come away with a lot more knowledge of the culture and would recommend it to any age catorgory as it is suitable for anyone who loves fashion as much as I do.