Coming To An End

There it is; the end of a project, which then will lead to an ending show which will be on the 7th of June, which leaves us the graduates rather than students. The next generation will step into their foot steps and one day; sometime next year I'll be stepping into theirs. 

I've had the pleasure of working with not only one, but three 3rd year students, seeing their creative ideas come to life, be first hand to learn from the new generation of designers. Fiona, Nadia and Amy, three very different girls, but one thing they have in common besides fashion design is they all have great ideas to creating their own textile. Printing, laser cutting and other ways of manipulating the plain fabric. How timing is key, that you can never be too prepared and that old habits die hard (how many times have Fiona been late?). 

I've also come to discover that I like punctuality more than I already new, that I should explore more with what I can do to the fabric, rather than with the fabric. That it's about time that I take all those inductions to the different workshops on the ground floor of the Grove, that I find someone who can teach me how to knit. That I should spend more time playing around with Photoshop and master Illustrator, as these skills will enhance my portfolio and my creativity. I should also embrace technical skills such as pattern cutting and sewing as these things can make your designs go from good to really good. But also remember to take a break, take a deep breath and relax, but most of all enjoy what you're doing. 

I can't wait to see the Truman show, to make all the hard work worthwhile and to watch the 3rd years faces after the show. Relief? Happiness? Perhaps even a little sadness, as its come to an end? But most of all I hope they'll be proud of themselves, because they should be. They've all done an amazing job and its been truly inspiring to get to work along side them. 

So The Works Continues.

Printing out Amy's portfolio a few hours before hand-in, was nerve wrecking to say the least. Please, please remember this, technology and Middlesex University does not go hand in hand.  

 

Amy sewing up the shirt I prepped for yesterday. Slowly seeing the final results coming together, exciting stuff! 

Super neat stitching, attention to detail is key! This is what makes it high end and quality design. 

Creating quilted trousers is any easy thing, but a time consuming thing. I've never really thought about integrating quilt into my design, so it was really enlightening getting introduced to this design detail and technique. 

Something Interesting

 

Learning magic or just a few interesting techniques, that an inexperienced 1st year perhaps wouldn't have thought of. 

 

Nylon, £1/metre nylon from Shepherds Bush, these trousers are going to be quilted! 

So even though I'm a sucker for Berwick Street when it comes to fabric shopping, Amy has been pushing me to appreciate the wide variety and choice at Shepherds Bush. But also the fact when you're going to be a poor 3rd year student, you might not have much of a choice as the budget just won't stretch to Berwick Street prices. 

 

Shirt. Originally the shirt was going to be made out of nylon, but as this is a thing nylon, it is see-through, which isn't the desired effect. So what does Amy come up with? To put a cotton poplin underneath. Not as a lining, as I would perhaps have thought, but it's a shirt, so you don't have linings. 

No, cut the exact same pattern pieces in both fabrics, and then you layer them onto of each other and overlock them together. And then Amy gets the desired effect, with out an major complications. 

Tadaa - magic! 

Chilling

 

Today I spend my day hanging out with the cool kids in the studio, working on some more  toile developments of Amy's designs. Amy also gave us a 1:1 masterclass in pattern alterations and her massive love of masking tape and a 90's TV programme called Art Attack. 

In Amy's masterclass she mainly focussed on quick and efficient technique to alter the patterns and the designs. Such as the length and placement of the trouser pocket. Or the fact that it should be a slimmer or perhaps wider leg?

Minty and I were running around in Amy and Stevie's designs in an attempt to motivate them.
Stevie is playing around with the idea of layering fabrics, as you can see in the design, first layer is a nylon, second layer is a lace and third layer is a more translucent nylon. And suddenly you have created your own textile, how clever! 

Long Day Part 3

As we were nearing the end of the day. We needed a little fun and one of the third years came up with the idea of making a apron for Gulsom. So a few of us help out and Gulsom loved it! 

Having a break is key, even during time pressured moment, and the best way of doing it is by having some fun and getting everyone involved!

Long Day Part 2

 

Luke Anthony Rooney asked if I could help do some pattern alterations to his skirt pattern. So the original skirt pattern, as one he used for his pre-collection. So the reason for doing alterations, where to change the design slightly so he could quickly add an additional piece to his final collection. Is the tulip skirt going to be a signature of Luke's? 

I've seen quite a few students doing that, what is key in a collection is cohesiveness, so altering pre-exciting patterns to make something new isn't a bad idea, especially considering the time limit. 

Long Day Part 1

 C

 Amy got me to run up this wadding jacket. This wadding will be put inside a bomber jacket to create structure and volume, and under the wadding there will be a lining to case it all in. 

A quick fitting on fellow student Lawrence.

 

Sandwiching foam in between two layers of calico, creating a cool 3D effect. This a really cool concept, I've found that in my designs I have a lot of shapes, but I usually take those shapes and create them into panels, perhaps I could include some foam into my next project. 

Pattern alterations after fitting.

 Creating a pattern for quilting on the trousers.

Technical Drawing

I spend most of the afternoon drawing this design on Illustrator, creating a technical drawing. It turned out to be more difficult than I excepted to get the proportions right. I've come to discover that it's really rather difficult to find a good male template for creating technical drawings. Key note to self: spend a good amount of time finding the perfect templates for technical drawings, it'll be worth it in the end! 

A Desperate Phone Call

What do you do when your design tutor rings you at 10:10am asking where you are, because he is an desperate need for your help. I would call it lucky that I was even bothered picking up the phone, usually I don't pick up if I don't recognise the number. 

Anyway if you haven't guessed it yet, Paul asked me if I could be in Hoxton by 4pm to assist dressing the models for the 3rd year look book shoot. Lucky for him I don't tend to have a full blown social life. 

I've got no idea how it happened, but here I caught the light perfectly! 

I'm was surprised how quick the team worked. Literally not spending more than max. 5 minutes on shooting each look. I suppose if you have 101 (not even kidding!) looks to go through and 2 days,. there's no time to waste.

When an opportunity arises it is a good idea to take up the offer, the more you experience, the more you will know how to handle different projects on your own. 

I twas a good experience, met some good people, listened to some great music and had a few giggle on the way. 

Amy Stevenson

Now that the fashion show is over and the top 25 students have been picked to go to the Truman Brewery show. It was time to pack my sewing kit up and say my farewells to Fiona and Nadia, as they didn't get through to the next round. 

Although turning up on Monday at 2pm is appreciated, it was not needed  and I got sent back home, as no 3rd year students were in and the tutors were too busy doing their assessments. 

So after my tutorial today I swung by the 3rd years studio to say my congrats to the students who got through to the Truman show. After closely following Amy Stevenson these past few weeks and have seen her work and passion, I decided to offer my services to her  and she accepted. 

Getting right into it - no time to waste, I was put on unpicking duties. 

I did make me a little sad that I had to unpick her hard work -  as this was the work Amy submitted for the internal show. 

But Amy had her feedback back from Paul, Richard and Gulsom. 

Gulsom, whom is a technician is a hard critic when it comes to sewing. 

While I was unpicking duty, Amy was working hard on developing her next 3 outfits to go into her already 3 outfit collection. 

To be continued...