Laser cutting

Monday 30th November
10-am: i had a silk screen printing induction with Jo Newton.

I then spent a small amount of time working on my toiles this morning but they weren't really going very well and I needed to progress with my laser cutting samples.

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon working on my images for the laser cutting then went to work with John Angus to figure out the appropriate settings.

I initially did a test for my jewelry / book cover, engraving onto glass. We had some troubles setting this up and there is a glitch in the program which meant when I converted the file from Adobe Illustrator into APS Ethos it duplicate it which meant that it was unable to fill in the engraving on the letters, so we had to play around with deleting and reconverting the image. Following this there was some kind of glitch meaning that it the laser engraved the outlines of the text but not the body of it, through re-converting into another document and adjusting settings John managed to resolve this.

Next I attempted to cut out the text as a logo for branding and adding on to the garment, the idea was to cut this from viscose leather and fablon. I had to heat press the leather to the backing to combat the fact that it might shrink and change shape. However when we set this up to cut out, the leather had too higher fat content and the power was set to high so it set on fire. John then had to go to a meeting so I had to break off at this point.

Moving Forward

After having the realisation that my toiles weren't great, or at the standard of development that I need them to be, I began to do some research into tailoring, pattern cutting and detailed designing...Some Ideas:

Simple / intricate tailoring
Attention to detail
Seams

Toiles

When I had cut out all my pattern pieces, I pinned my garments together and began sewing them and manufacturing my first toiles.

I began to re-evaluate my pattern cutting and the styles of manufacture as I needed to push myself and look into more tailored garments and better construction methods with regards to seams, darts etc.

Patterns

Following deciding on what I am going to make, I began drafting my patterns.

I began with simple pattern blocks and manipulated them to fit in with my collection.

When I drafted all my patterns, I then traced block patterns from this.

Following tracing out all my pattern blocks, I selected fabrics which were most suited to those I will be using for my final garments. I then layplanned all my pattern pieces before cutting these out.

Final Colourway

From my colour way developments I decided on a final colour way.

Colour Ways

From developing my colour pallet, inspired by this 'Ray Ban' advert, I then began to develop my different colour ways for the garments

Developed Line Up

Next, I moved onto developing my illustration style and worked on a more developed line up.



It was at this time that I came across a graffiti artist named Chin, who I bumped into as he was doing some of his artwork near my house. I contacted him by letting him know what I was doing and that I wanted to work with him. I sent him over some designs with my colour scheme and designs. This is an example of his work:



As you can see below I sent over the black and white images with the sections I wanted him to produce artwork for, coloured in block turquoise.

Initial Line Up

Following the selection of my design developments, I formed my initial collection line up.

Design Development

Following the selection of my initial designs, I developed these and then picked one from each development to move forward into my line up.

Designs

This is a selection of my initial designs:



Following a tutorial, I chose 7 of my initial designs to develop upon and take forward.

Mood boards

I have collated a large amount of my research into a number of focused moodboards as a means of directing my thought processes and aiding my development forward.

Introduction

I am a third year fashion student who is currently in the process of creating my final collection.
I am working towards a thorough and complete body of work which includes all research, artwork, technical aspects (working drawings, patterns etc), a collection, and photo shoot etc. The work is based around the Hip Hop influenced urban styles seen on the New York Subway, particularly in the Brooklyn area, along with the styles of Graffiti artwork seen around those areas, which is contrasted against and combined with the smart, work-wear, ‘suited and booted’ styles of dress seen on the London Underground. The collection will be urban inspired work wear which will be worn for work events such as conferences and launches when the customer wants to stand out and be noticed, all the supporting pieces in the body of work will reflect this.

Over my year in industry, whilst living in Brooklyn, New York, I experienced a large culture difference between England and America and I wanted to find a way to draw these together and find a balance between the two. From working in numerous offices, I found that it can be challenging to find suitable attire which expresses your personality so I wanted to offer an option to people like myself, in creative industries who want to be remembered whilst not pushing the boundaries so far that their superiors and peers would be offended. I am also greatly interested in the Hip Hop urban scene so I wanted to work on something, which I have an interest in to encourage me to push myself to work harder.

I included the graffiti aspect to my collection because I wanted to have something, which would require influence from an outside source and enable me to collaborate with someone else, making for a more realistic industry style experience and ultimately, product. This is the same reason for me taking steps to collaborate with a photography student, not only for my own benefit but also to provide some portfolio work for the other person.

I am looking into sustainable fashions and the reuse of materials as a way of incorporating my knowledge and awareness of current issues not only in the industry in which I am heading towards a career in but also generally in the world. This is also reflected in my choice of Graffiti artist as the one I am working with is very aware of environmental factors which goes hand in hand with the sustainability of my collection.v