TOILE DAIRY

This is where I got up to on my toile dairy last week, its slowly coming together but there is lots of trailing out going on at the moment.. fingers crossed it falls into place!

oxo

TOILE DAIRY 

Today was the day when all the fun began! A few weeks ago I developed my final design further and had chose the right fabrics to use, so the first step was to sample all the difficult parts and my design not being so straight forward and simple (that would be boring) I thought I might as well circle it all ha ha but not I decided the structure and the shape needed further work, the yoke for the back of my shirt as I had never created one before, a hip pocket and a button stand. 

Further on down the line I started creating my pattern for the back part of my dress. I had to decide the length and measure the size of my cooper pole as there is no dress block to draw around. 

Sampling difficult places

Yoke with box pleat

When patterning for this box pleat I have decided I am going to place it closer together but I like the chunky-ness of the pleat at the back. Also I will add top stitching to the final toile.

Heavy weight button stand

Firstly I measures the width of fabric then divided it by 2, twice and followed it down the answers creating notches at the time making sure its all straight

In the middle of the folded fabric I placed a piece of fabric making sure two folders were on either side and I did a 0.5  top stitch 

When looking back at my design I have realised that I will not need a line of stitch at the bottom or top as I am leaving it with raw and frayed edges.

Hip pocket

I am happy with the turn out of this pocket but I think I might for it to smaller and see which I prefer. I think the way its raw around the edge as I feel it gives it a stronger effect rather than a neat and tidy look.

Copper shoulder structure

This concept took lots of thought process and finally came up with an idea that I think is going to work, so after a trip to B&Q I had everything i needed to create a copper dint in a straight pole. This is so that it rests on the models shoulders and doesn't strangle them around the neck. I am also going to try and create a feature so that some copper piping comes down the front and supports the models chest and creates the full effect of my design.

To bend the copper I used a metal spring and placed it inside of the pole in order for it to curve smoothly! I then placed it around the mannequins neck and applied pressure so that it bent slightly creating a soft and level curve, this was an easy process but I did need a little help as Im not that strong haha. 

Detail on felt

Firstly of all I was just planning on using biro on felt but realised that it slowly wares off which isn't what I want to happy also it making the felt go fluffy. So I problem solved this by testing different pens such as markers, biros and fine liners then decided to test of loose stitching on the machine and realised it was the answer to my problems! then came the colour of thread to use with I went for a middle of the chart brown but the stitching made the fabric curl which was another problem I faced which meant I headed straight towards the heavy weight interfacing and yes it saved the day and worked perfectly.

Pattern cutting

Back

Pattern for yoke and box pleat

Box pleat

Tomorrow I will be continuing with the pattern cutting as well!

oxo

Illustrations

For this brief we also have to research into illustrators, They have to aproreate for our target market mine being Visionary it needs be out there and diverse using different medias, I have always been a fan of collage and mixing medias together so I am going to try incorporate that into my illustration for my garment. I also like the idea of using a cork board instead of the standard illustration board as I feel it will convey the texture I am featuring in my design and fits well with my concepts and theme, I have yet to test it out so once I have done I will let you know how it goes. 

Here a few of my takes on others work...

Yoshikazu Yamagata

Elise Overland

Doo. ri

Marie O'Connor

Lisa Soloman

Eleamor Bowley

I found my inspiration for this on instagram as it mixes photography with illustration, I am going to continue to look further into this idea. Miles Donovan uses photography and college together.

Maren Esdar

Stina Persson

oxo

Catwalk model of choice: CARA DELEVINGNE

Cara D has taken over the fashion world and it was quoted that she was the 'star face' of the A/W 13 shows, which is pretty true she was everywhere. From strutting her stuff at the Burberry show to now being on every magazine cover possible, even taking the high street by storm from H&M to Zara. Cara is named to be the knew 'Kate Moss'. The reason I choose her for my ideal model for my garment isn't because of her fame and fortune its clearly because of her key look which is quirky and you don't find it in everybody! Her amazing check bones and eyebrows just define her edgy look. Its perfect for my design and visionary audience. 

oxo

Target customer

As I have been designing and developing my final garment I have had to come with a target audience for my garment. Now in my head I thought this would be pretty simples but as my garment is Visionary rather than Ready-To-Wear or Couture it proved rather difficult. Visionary basically means not an every day piece, whether its a statement piece for a collection or for a gallery or just purely to put a designers name on the map. 

This led me to decide to put two different audiences together as I want to use the idea of my garment being a statement piece at the end of collection on the catwalk. This would mean that the rest of the collection would have aspects of my design within it, so I can picture it to be very masculine and tailored, involving deconstruction and suits. 

So for the watered down version of my garment the audience I decided that my target customer would be is that she  would be working in the creative industry, she is aged around 20-30, is single and has no children. She has an annual income of £35,000 and lives in East London where it is very stylish and creative. She takes 2 holidays a year to somewhere like Dubai where stye is still key and wears clothes sizes 8-10. She likes to shop in designers concessions in Selfridges but also likes independent/contemporary boutiques, she is an impulse shopper and is trend driven but still adds her own twist to trends. When she shops she buys for work and social functions and doesn't have any body conscious issues. Her spending bracket ranges from £500 to £850.
She reads Another magazine as its quirky, TANK as it involves art and Elle as its full of fashion and trends. Her biggest dislike is 'Fast Fashion'. I can also see her to be very involved with social media such as Twitter and Instagram as well. 


























As I have come up with a customer for a watered down version of my collection I had to come up with a customer who I could see wearing my actual garment on the catwalk, I wanted her to be fresh and modern with strong features and a defiant look about her, I thought of Cara Delevingne instantly as that description basically sums her up! Most designers have commented on how fun and crazy she is which fits perfectly with my target audience, she is also very much involved in social media using Twitter and Instagram on a regular basis. She wouldn't have a spending bracket as she would more than likely get free stuff sent to her but as a designer I applied this question to myself  and came up with the costs of fabric at £50 to then sell the garment at £5000, I am able to use fabrics at any price as Visionary isn't about the quality its about the garment its self and the design. Cara also has the masculine edge to her style which is a key feature in my design also she is British born and grew up in London which is where I based my customer.

oxo