EXPLORE CREATIVITY - 29/11/11

FINISHING TOUCHES....

Todays lesson consisted of final tweaks and finishing touches, thankfully i had most of my garemnt finished, i just had the slightly boring job of sewing it all in place, which i chose to do by hand.

 Above are my successful pleating, i am so proud! i think it looks greatm the only problem is its the wrong colour :(!! The crispness of the pleat is fantastic but having put the coloured pva on my structure it has darkened it all and the brighter orange doesnt fit, so im not going to use it in my final.

Maybe, i'll frame it!?

Instead, Belgin and I agreed that although it was a massive struggle to get the thick jacket material inside the pleat if i could pull it off it would look exquisite, after many attempts i got it to stay and got it in the heat press and above is the results, happy!

 Above are all the details of my finished garment of which i am extremely pleased with from the button details and knotted, stringy tights that i intentionally set out to achieve to using the shoulder piece as a bottom pattern piece to recreate one of my favourite sketchbook designs, and of course my PLEATS.

 Let the show commence.....



INDEPENDENT STUDY

I came in and worked in the studio on the following friday night, when it was so peaceful and quiet! :) My tights structure had finally dried, so i took it all off the chairs and deconstructed my jacket

 

The were my first two attempts, i felt as though the neckline worked so i carried this forward in my design, the left design lacked structure and looked quite messy, after playing around for a while i felt as thought i was onto something in the right design.

I created a simple pleat on the right shoulder which draped nicely, i also added a small puffball sleeve on the left and i am happy with how my garment is developing.

 Furthermore, in my own time at home i decided to continue my battle with pleating this time i have blown up the scale to 4X4cms, i also bought some crepe de chine in orange to follow my theme.

Successful pleating!

EXPLORE CREATIVITY 22/11/11

THE END IS NIGH......

The next two weeks consist of us creating our final wearable structure in preperation for our first fashion show on the 6th of december.

I had already decided that i wanted to combine the deconstructing blazer with the pva tights excercise and maybe a little bit of cheeky pleating if i had time.

In preperation for the lesson i had been and sought a blazer, from the previous excercise i had learnt a jacket with some design on works better than a plain suit jacket as you can see the detail better.

I loved this as soon as i saw it, its unusual worn look and feel with the check pattern running through, it also created a ready made colour palette for me, with  turquoise and orange lines running through and dark blue overall.

Bad photo!

To fit in with my colours i brought in tights and mutton cloth to make my pva sculpture, i like the idea of carrying through the lines from the jacket to make the piece feel more whole, which is why i chose to use the striped patterned tights.

1.Cling film fun!

2.Sculpture in the making!

3.Coming together

I used a total of 3 chairs and decided on 3 parts water to 1 part pva to get a softer effect as i wanted to keep some of the stretch, i wanted to take elements from the first sculpture we made with the interesting knots and loose parts but this time keep a more solid, whole side too, which i think i achieved very well.

It was also decided that i should consider dying my fabrics inparticular the mutton cloth to again make the whole garment feel less 'bitty'. On reflection i wish i had thought of this before the class as i would have used a dylon dye at home but as i couldnt do this i used watercolour in with the pva.

I made these by stretching them over two seperate chair legs, with the intention of using them as shoulders but when i transferred them onto the mannequin the weren't stiff enough to hold there shape so i decided not to carry these forward in my design.



EXPLORE CREATIVITY - 15/11/11

Draping On The Stand

Today we created calico bodices directly on the stand, these would then become our foundation for us to drape on top of. We began with a demonstration from caryl then again worked in pairs, to create both a back and a front.

The bodice comprises of a front and back piece with darts coming in from both the waist and shoulder.

To begin:

• Fabric has to be 60X40CM
• Press it
• Measure 20cm up and 5cm in from the raw edge
• The 20cm Pencil line should sit on the bust
• The excess fabric will later form the darts
• Draw seam in shoulder, the side and the waist
• Draw neck and arm in
• Add 2cm seam allowance

 In the afternoon we began draping on the stand, i started by simply pleating the calico from the right shoulder allowing the rest of the fabric to naturally drape from that. Daisy then worked on the back simply pinning the fabric to create a parachute effect, which i think is a good starting point for shape design development.

My 2nd attempt again pleating but this time ive blown the size of the pleat up, i like the simplicity of this.

This again was mainly a design from daisy, although i helped create the
size/back, although i like the front i feel its a little busy as a garment,
to balance it out i would do a simple tight fitted back.
I really like the back shot and feel either side design would translate
well into ideas for 'puffball' sleeves.

This was my 3rd attempt, i tried to keep all my draping quite angular, encorporating pleats as i have done here, the basis of this works well, my idea was to create pleats starting in the centre and dispursing out, although i feel some work is needed on this.

A PLEAT A DAY...

'Adis Abeba 2012' by Karin Wuthrich




I find the two very different approaches to pleating interesting, i love the monochrome take by KarinWuthrich and how she has blown the pleats up to encorporate them into garment shapes, on the other hand Dion Lee's feminine approach is equally as successful using a pastel colour pallette and encoporating knots into the designs are simple but stunning.



Dion Lee's SS/10 collection

SS/10 RATNA HO

Pleats mixed with a tribal theme - genius!