Pattern cutting- 12

My finished shirt dress before I took the cheese greater and bleach to it! Also I haven't added the buttons yet.

FEATURES 

As Im interest in looking at the whole deconstruction/construction and distress concept I decided I would bring that through into this dress design. I have used hessian as a thread to put through belt loops I have placed in irregular places with plastic buckles to add an industrial and edgy feel. Also with the hessian thread I decided to add a cross square (the stitching) to each end of it as it gives it stronger support, this is a shape that you most commonly found on luggage bags! This also links to having the buckles as they are used in luggage as well. Im happy with the over look for the garment an how its coming together but just Im not sure on how the waist belt is placed on the dress (see on photos above) but I think I'm going to keep it then on the shoot and when styling I can play about with it. Ill keep you up to date!!!

oxo

All Saints spring 2013

Here are a few of my favourite looks from the new All Saints collection! Ive always liked this brand I think its very good quality, very contemporary and diverse for the high street. I love the way they put drape into there garments just for a causal look, I will defiantly be heading down towards All Saints next time Im out and about.

oxo

Maison Martin Margiela S/S 11 RTW

Victor and Rolf

Pattern cutting- 11

Cutting out

When cutting out the fabric I seemed to confuse myself an awful lot as I wanted to do it so different parts of the dress were in different fabrics but in the end I got my head around it and it turned out all ok.

The dress dart

This was the first step of manufacturing the dress

 The back

 The front

The bust dart

With the bust dart I had to shorten it by 2 cm as it was to close to the dress dart and it was creating a point which isn't what we want.

Button stand

First of all I had to cut out two pieces of interfacing to make it stronger for when the buttons are applied. The next stage was to iron down a 1cm seam allowance then join the notches at the top together.

As my inspiration for my dress is a pair of jeans I have decided to do a double running stitch to give it the same effect.

Attaching the shoulders

Sleeves

I have decided that I don't want to hem my sleeves as I want them fray so it gives the dress a worn and distressed look. This is why I have done a 1cm stitch along the bottom so that it doesn't fray further than there. 

 

Collar

Creating the collar is like a sandwich first of all you have to construct the collar and I have done another double stitch on top so it looks like a pair of jeans. Then the second step it so get one half of the collar stand and attach it right sides to right sides. 

With the other half you have to do the same but to the opposite side

When finished you have to make sure that it is all ironed down flat inside, so that no bulk is showing and is ready to be attached to the dress.

oxo

Giles Deacon display

In the main reception at college all of our Giles Deacon dresses are on display with the photo shoot images! It all looks really good together and we have all done a great job! The competition winner is announced on Monday so fingers crossed one of us wins.

oxo

Envy work

Here is some of my work from the past brief that i will be carrying through into the new one

Mood board for theme and inspiration

A couple of my ten designs

oxo

Spring sandals...

Although the weather outside is pretty freezing and the snow is still falling from the sky pretty quick! I have my eyes on these leather strap sandals from Pull&Bear. I think these are quite a staple piece that will see me through the spring and into the summer nicely (thats if we have a nice spring), they can be worn with almost anything as well which is a bonus. Now for the discussion of buying them or not, hmmmmmmmmm....

oxo

Giles Deacon concept

Since making one of Giles' dresses I have been interested in looking at his work which has linked perfectly with the researching designers task. His latest A/W 13 collection was inspired by Black Adder, yes my exact reaction what on earth is Black Adder???

Well heres your answer, Black Adder is an old BBC 1 sitcom which each series was based in a different time periods. Looking through Deacons collection you can really see this inspiration coming through as theres lots of over sized puff sleeves, tight bodices and flowing silk dresses which show different eras of fashion.  

oxo

SO what am I doing?

I feel as if I have a million things to do and say but I really don't! Im really unsure where to start as well so Im going to narrow it down and make a list...

1. New brief
Finally is my answer to that even though I did enjoy the textiles brief and I took a lot from it I feel that textiles isn't my strong point. But any how the new brief is exciting and its the final two of this year (wooooooooo!) so this means it involves making the final garment which I am super looking forward to.  Up to now we have only carried out a few tasks which were breaking down the brief, putting together a time management plan for the brief, a task list and critical path which is basically a list of everything you need to do in order with deadline dates by the side. Whilst doing that we also added to the side how each task fits with the fashion design cycle. And the first task of the brief is to research into contemporary and historical fashion designers and looking at there concepts for there collection and taking inspiration off them for my own work and research.

2. Samples and materials
Theres are two parts to this like everything I seem to be doing, so part one I have got my fabric for my shirt dress which I cant wait to cut out the pattern for! I chose to use denim for this dress as its pretty diverse to the other fabric I have used, but (theres always a but) I haven't just chose one piece of denim, ooh no thats far too simple... I have got two different shades to use. I have it all planned out in my head so fingers crossed I can pull it off. Part two, I have got to start collecting fabric samples for my final garment. I have started putting together a little note book with them in as I collected some when we went to London, so now Im on the hunt for some swatches. 

3. Work experience
This week I have got some work experience a head of me which I am really looking forward too! Its with a costume designer based in Manchester and we are going to be sourcing outfits for a Tv show that we will be filming at the BBC next week! So when I get all the info and goss I will inform you all! I am super excited and I hope it gives me a real good insight to the job role and the industry. 

Thats all I think, well what I can think of at the moment but yer I have a pretty busy/ non-stop couple of weeks a head of me which Im looking forward to! So I will report back ASAP haha

oxo

p.s sorry for the ramble

Pattern Cutting- 10

Shirt dress

Today I started patterning for my third dress and its a shirt dress! As its a semi fitted style dress we had to trace around the dress blocks to get the correct shape

Making sure all the correct details are labelled

I decided I wanted to move my dart so I drew a line where I wanted my new dart to be

Using the slash and spread method I moved me dart creating a new one under the arm line

As its a shirt dress we needed to a add a button stand and a placket 

Onto the collar, we followed a pattern from the pattern cutting book which was easy to follow. The first daft is drawn together like a rectangle 

I had to slash and spread the collar by 0.5cm in order to get the correct curve 

For the sleeve I decided I wanted to have a sweet heart styled sleeve, so I had to trace around the sleeve block and then make sure it fit into my pattern. It was a little big so I had to adapt it to fit

My sweet heart shaped sleeve drawn out

Final sleeve patterns

Final collar patterns

Here a faced the problem which was drawing them to close together as there wasn't enough room for me to add on my 1cm seam allowance

Finally final collar pattern

Final dress pattern with 1cm seam allowence

Now my task is choosing the material, I think I want to go for a more sophisticated look with this dress rather than making a statement. 

oxo