Lingerie Development

After toiling my lingerie in white lace, I decided I was happy with the shape of the lace bralet and would source some pink lace to make my final one from to fit in with the pastel 1950s theme. Unfortunately, I couldn't source this lace so I decided I would adapt my pattern to be able to make the bralet from pink satin and add a white lace trim around the raw edges.
I began to adapt the pattern. I needed to change it as this pattern is for a stretch fabric and obviously this wouldn't work with a woven fabric.

 

pattern adaptations

 

I continued to make the bralet from the satin by cutting it out and pinning it together.

 

I cut out 8 of the half cups to then make 4 whole cups. This would then double up as a lining on the inside so that the raw seam wouldn't be exposed on the bust. I pinned these together and then stitched them into place. With the part that goes underneath the bust, I cut it out in satin and put this to one side. I then made some rouleux loops for the straps.

I began to pin this to the stand.

Own photographs

 

From the photographs you can see that I still need to do adaptations as it doesn't fit the stand. Cathy informed me that if I wanted to, I could use this as a big learning step and not make this one from satin as my final piece. I could use the white lace toile as my final piece instead. I am disappointed and I wouldn't have made this satin one if I knew that the colour of the lace didn't matter, as long as the shape and everything is what I wanted. I really like the lace one so I will now go and adapt that to fit the stand. The lace trim I added to the white lace made the bralet non stretchy and it restricted the movement of it so I couldn't get it on the stand so I will add an elasticated trim to enable movement.

I am disappointed that I couldn't use this satin one as my final as there was too much change to apply to the pattern to make it fit. I have learnt so much from this, even though I am running out of time now as the deadline is creeping up. I feel that this has taught me a lot that you can't use a stretch pattern on a woven fabric. This kind of thing has happened before with my jersey top.

Drawing before easter break

During another drawing session, we looked at some of the work by Matthew Barney, who is described as an American version of Damien Hurst.
One of his works called 'drawing restraint' inspired our tasks for this session. Barney uses mechanical workings to draw his pictures, sometimes being harnessed from the ceiling, using rods with pencils on the end to create sketches.

Image from google.co.uk

We took inspiration from this technique and created our own smaller version of this set up in the picture here. Using a small wooden rod, we attached a pencil to the end and this was our material to draw with.With the paper layed out on the floor, in Barney style, we sketched easels in front of us. Then using a shorter rod we did the same thing to see the outcome of using different lengthed rods. I found this technique quite hard as you couldn't be very accurate and it seemed like I didn't have much control over the pencil. I used the same technique and created another drawing on top of the pencil one of the easel and used a felt tip pen this time.

My own drawings

This was the outcome of using this pencil/pen on a rod technique. I am pleased with this. I think using thr feltip pen makes the shapes of the easel stand out more and they look quite like technical drawings.

In the next part of the session, we used a plant in a pot as out object to draw. I used a biro pen first and then pencil second. Then for the final drawing, we used two contrasting coloured pencils and created a drawing using both our left and right hands. this was quite hard to do, looking at the page then looking back to the plant.

These are all my own drawings and these are the final outcomes. I didn't really find the tasks this week very helpful, I don't think I would know how to relate this back to fashion that much. But however I do think it is good to always be learning new techniques and look at different artists not in my area of study to see what else is out there.

Self Directed Study for Drawing

In the drawing elective, we have to carry out some self directed study during our own time following on from the session we had. Following the work from several artists, we had to draw an interior space. I like doing these types of drawings as they are very linear which is a style I do like. I think my style of drawing is very linear too.

image of my own drawing

 

image of my own drawing

 

This is the first interior space drawing that I did. I really enjoyed doing this drawing and I feel it was very successful. As I said I think my style of drawing is quite linear so this was going to me my thing. The drawing underneath is the second interior space drawing. I feel this one was equally as successful as the first. I like the shading done in each of the drawings to make them stand out from the page and bring them to life. I took my time doing these because they're something I haven't done before. I don't think many of my furniture in the rooms area all equal and to scale but I'm sure this is a good attempt at this.

Following on from the session we had on drawing objects that evoke emotion, the self directed study from that was to draw the object we didn't get round to doing in class. I chose to draw a toy shark which I find a bit scary which evokes fear.

 

Image of my own drawing

 

I do think that this sketch was very successful too. I drew the outline first which is something I'm trying to steer away from, however, I thought it was suitable to do that for this drawing. I filled in the colour of the shark with a black pen using a crosshatching technique. Repeating these mark making techniques, I think it gives it a sense it is coloured in a block grey.

 

Finally following last weeks session on trying to capture movement, I created a page of three seperate sketches. Two of the sketches try to capture movement and the other one is just a sketch of the main focus object, which is a takeaway coffee cup.

 

Image of my own sketch

 

I love how this page looks. I love the lady I drew holding the cup. I tried to draw her when she walks towards me so I was kind of doing the drawing from memory really, however I do like it. The drawing of the lady tipping up the cup to drink I think captures movement too. The coffee cup on the side looks a bit boring but I feel it fits in well with it being the main focus object. Looking at it now, I do feel I could have considered composition of the page a little more.

 

 

Life Drawing Session

In our next drawing session, we had to do life drawing. Our model was a lady and I had never done any life drawing before so I was looking forward to a new experience.
I feel that the series of drawings I made during this session where quite successful, considering this was my first time in doing so. I think there is definately room for improvement with these drawings and just this session has helped me gain a better understanding of body proportion and shape.
The main key techniques we were trying to cover were line, tone and shape. So on some of the drawings, I used just shade to create the shape of the model instead of going straight in with an outline, then filling in all the details which is something I used to do before this drawing elective. It has taught me to use different methods in drawing to create specific shapes and moods that I never thought of using before.

 

These drawings are all my own that I did in the session. I feel that the ones where I used felt tip were better than the acrylic paint. I didn't particularly like both of the different medias we used today only because its something I'm not used to. I think I will practice using different medias to see how my work comes out, instead of sticking to what I know and playing it safe. I think that I prefer to draw objects rather than people in real life but I was proud of myself for giving it a go.

Portfolio Planning

At this point during the year, we have to begin thinking about our portfolio. I have done some initial research into what a portfolio is and what it should contain.

So a portfolio is my selling tool to communicate my skills to a potential employer. It is a set of pieces of work that displays my best work.

I used Adobe Illustrator to come up with the basic layout of my portfolio where I considered shape and orientation.

 

I chose to use a landscape orientation for my portfolio. However as I begin to gather pieces of work together, I might find that it would look better portrait but we shall see how this goes on.

 

I wanted to research into a little bit about book binding and being creative with the idea of my portfolio. It will then stand out from all the other black case portfolios that could be there at a job interview I may encounter one day.

 

Book binding is the process of physically assembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or other similar materials. It involves attaching a front and back book cover, resulting in the form of your own book.

 

Book binding technique

(all from tumblr.com)

 

 

 

For my portfolio, I would love to take inspirtation from these few gathered images here of other peoples work and develop this and come up with my own cool portfolio that isn't just a bog standard black case.

 

Lingerie Development & Toiling

For the lingerie project, I hadn't completely finished any designs but I know that my concept is 1950's lingerie. Its a shame we don't have the correct machinery to enable me to make a professional bra in the old 1950's style, so I'm just taking inspiration from the lace they used and the pastel colours seen around this time. I'm also taking some inspiration combined from both these images of old lingerie.

 

 

(both images from fashionera.com)

 

 

 I began to draft my own pattern from one I bought that came with a lingerie book. I changed the shape of the cup and added a seam down the centre front. It comes to the waist like the one in the top image here.

 

 

These are my own photographs of my work. The first too are the finished pattern. The second two are my patterns being cut out of the lace. The lace I've got is stretchy.

 

 

Next, I cut out and sewed together the cups and then pinned them on the stand. I loved how they came out, I think the shape looks really good. I chose to use a normal 1cm seam. As this is the toile version, I didn't overlock or french seam or anything so this is something I might practice before the real thing.

 

I then moved onto constructing the part around the body under the bust. With the pattern I had previously made, I cut it out of lace and pinned it on the stand and found it was too small so I adapted the pattern and then cut it out in lace to the correct lenth.

 

 

 

I am pleased with the shape of this. I thought I would have to change it as maybe I wouldn't have liked the shape but actually it works and I like it. It fits snuggly under the bust which is just what I wanted . The lace on the stand actually had seam allowence on it so when it is sewn, it sits exactly on the waist which is what I wanted it to look like, no longer than that. As you can see, I pinned the centre front seam together. I like the seam being at the front rather than the back. I think it suits the style of the bralet. I love the shape of it under the bust too.

 

 

 

Finally, I sewed eveything together. The first image is the final outcome. I am so happy with how this toile came out. I thought it needed a finising touch on the raw edges so I attached a thin lace trim around the edges of the whole thing. I think this looks good enough to be the real thing.

I am glad that I decided the toile the entire garment instead of just making the real thing first which is what I normally do. I wanted to understand how I'm going to put the garment together first and now I feel I can make the real garment quicker. On the real one, I think I am going to add some sort of straps to it. 

I have also constructed a pattern for some matching knickers so I will be making a 2 piece set of the bralet and a pair of knickers. They will be made from the same lace and have a matching trim around the edges. The following images are the outcomes of the pattern making.

 

I feel that this toiling development has really helped me make my decision on what I'm going to make and how I'm going to go about it. I think that toiling is definately worth doing before you make the garment so you can adjust anything, change things if you don't like the look of the garment, maybe if the shape or style isn't right. I shall toile the knickers in the correct fabric. The fabric I used in these images isn't what I will make them out of, its just what I had at home.

This is something I will definately continue on with in the final year as it will help me to get my garments in my final collection as spot on as they can be.

 

 

Lingerie Deconstruction

For the lingerie project, I began to deconstruct several bras and knickers to understand how they are made, how the seams are finished and just get a general knowledge for when I come to make my own.

I started to deconstruct this black bra.

I thought deconstructing the bra would be useful to see how many components there are so I know what I would need to make one. I didn't realise how many parts there are in a bra!
These following images are all of the components of this bra.

 



I did find this task very useful. When I come to make my own lingerie, I know the parts of the bra that I will need to make. Obviously mine won't be as advanced as this one and we do not have the correct machinery to make a professional one like this. I'll just take the basic knowledge and parts of the bra and make my own version.
I do feel that deconstructing is a really good method in seeing how clothes are made, not just in lingerie now but I know I'll use this method in future projects. I feel this helps me better than seeing a paper pattern for say for example a shirt or something. I think this is better for me as its more practical and I learn better this way because I've seen for myself how its made.
I also deconstructed two other different styles of bra and a pair of french knickers. These images are the final outcomes of this.