Millinery

I started my elective in level 2 millinery today and I’m really loving it - I’ve chosen the brief “Super Structures” so I’m looking at buildings and exaggerated proportion as inspiration. I’ve designed my hat and finished blocking the top and brim . Because I want my brim to sweep across the face at an angle it was difficult to block but I was pretty calm about it and I’m enjoying it so much . It’s really interesting and I really wish we had a chance to make more than one hat !! I am surprised about how much I got done today actually, at level 1 it took me about three days to block the whole hat and I’ve finished blocking already !! It should take longer to put it together and create the exaggerated detail though as I’ve chosen a more challenging design this year . I feel as though in level 2 you really build on your skills from level 1 and we have been introduced to sinamay as a material. Blocking a felt hat which we did last year we all began and continued with little instruction , it was good to see I could remember the skills I had learnt from last year.

final line up and illustrations

I finished my final line up and illustrations this weekend here are the pics ...

detailed garment sheets

We had to complete 4 deatiled garment sheets and we have been working on our branding and presentation in the last two days. Im quite pleased with them and Im excited to do illustration but i need to get on with the look book as well and my elective prep work ... so much to do !!!

It all seems worth it now !

Today I put the button holes in my garment which I was quite pleased with because I was really intimidated by that machine but Linn explained how to use it and it was fine, so at least I will be able to use it with ease if I need to in the future!
Also Andrew helped me use the embroidery machine so I could make labels to sew into our garments. I am quite pleased with them and they should be sorted by tomorrow.
It really made all the stress seem worth it when I put my garment with two other group members garments! I was so pleased with how it looked with charlottes and Kate’s, they all went together really well. We also plan to collaborate with some third year fashion students to get some photographs with the charge electricity theme for the presentation and look books. I never thought I would say this but I am actually excited about a presentation!!
Here are some photos of the day ...

Flat drawings ....

ummm well I have to say flat drawings are not my favourite things to do! you have to spend such a long time being really accurate ! which is not really me, but I have finshed them and I am quite pleased with how they turned out ....

batwing top nearly finished

update of garment .. just the button holes too do now ! I did have to unpick the top section a couple of times but I got there in the end !

Dolly mixture clothing is go !

We had our business enterprise presentation today and to be honest I was a bit nervous about what our tutor would think of it. It all went well and constructive criticism gave me quite a few ideas of what we need to research further to improve the business. I think the reason I was so anxious was because I’m really passionate about the idea and feel as though it actually could be executed for real.
Angie made a point that some of the business ideas were almost too complicated because we all didn’t want to make out ideas too simple. However it made me realise that innovative doesn’t mean complicated and some of simplest ideas for business are simple.
We played a game after our presentations to determine how much money we would get given to start up our business. It was between 1,000 and 400,000 and we got 1,000 which I thought id be disappointed with but I’m really not. I think it gives us the chance to be really innovative with out ideas and also it’s realistic. When I graduate from uni I won’t have 400, 000 pounds to spend on launching a business. It gives us a chance to be clever with the way we brand, promote and launch our business. Its really made me think about starting a business of my own being an option as before I felt it was all too unknown to even consider !
If anything I feel like this business is really close to my heart and I know its not real but the project is getting very exciting!!

a stressful three days .....

I have had such a busy week, we started pattern cutting our garment for application of design on Wednesday. I spent the majority of Tuesday night working out how to change a regular block into a kimono block to make a batwing top ! It was really difficult but I mastered it only to be handed a perfectly made kimono block from Hugo which I was very grateful for, but it was slightly frustrating!
I began working out my pattern and spent all day making sure it was correct only to go home after 8 hours in the studio to find the back and the front didn’t match up! In my panic and haste I cut the back of my calico garment to match the front …. Then I had a moment of realisation the back was supposed to be longer …. Again I panicked and thought I had just thrown away hours of work ! I got really upset and stressed !
So Thursday morning I had calmed down and found that I could sort my problem and carried on to finish my calico garment.
So the moral of the story is when u think there is a problem with your garment and you are very tired DO NOT under any circumstances cut what u have alreadsy created ….ALSO most problems can be solved if you do not panic !!

Today I began putting it together in my actual fabric I did have a stressful un-picking moment when I had threaded the machine wrong and the thread bunched up but I kept calm and all went well! I am actually really pleased with my garment so far in fact im quite proud of myself. I am getting much more confident with pattern cutting, a year ago the thought of even attempting this garment or one I made in the summer would have made me feel sick !


Thinking about it I have done well to stick to my action plan so far ….

• I now use the industrial machines and actually enjoy it instead of hating even the thought of using them and avoiding them like the plague !
• I made garments over summer to build up my confidence which was on the action plan list.
• And I now always spend longer on the pattern than constructing the actual garment because with a good pattern you mostly get a more accurate garment!!

Here is my calico toile and i will update later the beginning of the real one ....

PPD2 ...searching for a work placement

Today I finished my CV and postcard image and I even plucked up the courage to send an email asking if any work placements were avalible with an illustrator that I love ! I'm not holding out much hope but you never know!
This is only the beginning of the countless emails and letters I will be writing and sending to secure a work placement....wish me luck !!

designing and not drawing !

I’ve learnt so much in the past two days actually – we had a group tutorial with Angie and discussed how experimental uses of darts, seams and construction techniques in general can make the design process more interesting. She also told us to look at pattern cutting books and work on the stand because if you don’t know how you could make something or what fabric it is going to be made of then its drawing and not designing.
I had already thought about showing my construction techniques within my designing but I didn’t realise how inspiring it could actually be. I found myself in the library taking out three books on pattern cutting and being really inspired by what I saw. A page on cowl drapery really helped me as I started to experiment on the stand and create new shapes. I found it easier to mix this in with designing, instead of churning out design after design without thinking.

We had individual tutorials today and we discussed how our design work had developed, I had done some cowl work on the stand with rip stop fabric and Angie advised me to try jersey as it hangs better. Here are some photos of work on the stand from today …

application of deisgn ...

These are some of research pages and design work that I have created over the past week....

Application of design ...how time flies !

We started application of design on Wednesday and suddenly in about 5 days we have been put into groups, developed a market and concept for a collection, shown each other our summer work and chosen our favourite ideas, formed a mood board,
Completed extra research, discussed fabrics and began design development all with only three lessons under my belt! I’m kind of surprised how quickly this project has moved on but even though I have been so busy and stressed, it has made me realise what you can do in a short period of time. I mean I think I have churned out 40 designs in two days- which would have seemed a lot to me last year!
I went home this weekend and it was really nice to catch up with everyone but I was quite preoccupied with my design development – just got to keep working away at the CV and Cover letter etc and my PPD2 will be on its way!