Update

Had no time to update recently. Not going to be the best update today either.. just a couple of photoshoot pics... that's right, photoshoot is done which means garments are finished... technical work now underway!

Design Boards

I have been working on my design boards to make them fit with my brand but alos reflect the collection.

I am going to be assessed on four outfits, however have to make six for the end of year show so I have done two lots of design boards, one lot with the four assessed and one with all six.







Now I need to work on the faces, hands and feet of the designs.

Monday 12th April

Today I sent off the fabric for the logo embroidery. I recieved confirmation of a sample of the embroidery being put in the post for me tomorrow so will recieve that soon. I am expecting to recieve my labels in about a weeks time.

I have made my skirt today and simply need to add the buttons, button holes and zip. The only issue I had was lining up the back panels to ensure they marry exactly however, after a few attmepts I was able to rectify this problem.

After forming a make shift arm to enable me to press the sleeves I press and inserted the sleeves on to the shirts. I also attached the inner and outer sleeves on both the coat and on the jacket and turned through the hems on both garments.

I then began forming my technical and development files. I have followed through my brand image. The press pack is in line with this.

For my techincal file I have begun my sheets for:
Costings
Production sketches
Working drawings
Layplan
Method of make
introduction pages.

Logo

I have decided on a logo for the collection but also for my 'brand'.

After recieving some ideas from my graffiti artist, I played around with these and choose one which I liked the best and manipulated it to my specifications.



However following discussions with various peers I decided that using a logo which is more inline with my brand would be a more business like idea and would be more effective.

Therefore I used the same font as I used on my business cards and CV. I decided this was the better one to use so have subsequently sent this off for embroidering. The logo will be embroidered on to a piece of black cotton satin with white thread.

Saturday 3rd April - Sunday 11th April

This week has been a hectic week.

I completed all the garments possible without my printed fabric early on this week so the collection is beginning to come together and I can actually see it becoming a reality now.

I then began work on my press pack which includes:
Press release
Garment care pamphlet
Price list pamphlet
Look book

I have kept the layout the same throughout the whole collection and have made it so that it is possible to update for future collections easily. These items are now at a point where all I need to do is simply drop in the photo shoots and the working drawings to complete them.

I intend to put my press pack into a little paper package which hopefully I will be able to make the paper myself and have ordered some stickers with my logo on to fasten these closed, as well as some square badges to use as a promotional tool.

I have recevied my printed fabric and have cut out all this fabric and have begun to manufacture all the items. Every item has been started. I am still waiting on the plain white cotton satin but that should be arriving early next week. I am struggling slightly due to my lack of presser and on some garments a steam iron simply is not effective enough but this is easily rectifiable.

I have also begun work on my final moodboard but this is still in its infancy stages.

After speaking with the embroidery company I have bough the fabric to be embroidered (black cotton satin) and as soon as I have cut out the sizes I will be sending this off for manufacture.

I have also ordered all the shoes for the collection as well as the spray paint to stencil onto them.

I also thought it would be a nice touch to have customised zip pullers so have sourced some small silver metal boom box shapes ones which will be arriving soon.

Everything is slowly beginning to come together.

Tuesday 30th March - Friday 2nd April

Spent the last few days working on my actual collection, I have sewn all the cotton poplin (for the two shirts), the whole of the playsuit, including linig but minus the sections with the print, the grey section of the jacket, including sleeves, and the grey section for the coat on outfit five and the shorts including lining for outfit 6.

Monday 29th March

Today was a very productive day.

I started by cutting out my real pattern pieces today.

Initially I cut out my cotton poplin and my lining fabric. I then cut out all my grey fabric, aside from the trousers and their waistband as I am still a bit unsure as to whether they are up to standard.

I also had a tutorial today during which she signed off all my toiles and I am therefore ready to begin making my actual garments.

As a result of this, I ordered my fabric prints, which are going to cost me £650, which is very expensive but it will be worth it due to time constraints and quality issues.

However having sent all this off this evening, I recieved a cheaper quote from another company so am awaiting the complete quote with an intention to cancel the order I placed and redirect it to the cheaper company. But this is yet to be decided.

W/c Sunday 28th March

Sunday 28th March:

After booking in for my printing at the university printer, I realised that due to the date I was able to book for meant that I had 9days to make the whole collection due to the fact there is only one day a week available and on those days there is only 8meters available to be printed. And due to the fact that this is the only printer of this nature available to all studeents in the university, I began to look to outsource.

The only issue with outsourcing is that the cost increases greatly but the outcome and time factors prove that this is the best decision.

Today I worked on laying out my print for sending off tomorrow. I initially put together a layout on an A4 sheet and then I multiplied this and laid it into a half drop pattern on the size document I need to send direct the the printers which I intend to do tomorrow.






I also worked on the line up for the collection, including the extra two outfits today.

W/c Sunday 21st March

Very long and productive week this week.

Monday 22nd March:

I spent the day discussing with the tutors the final design features of the collection. I worked on the collar and the hood on outfit 3.

The collar shape is very simple and through measuring the neck line I was able to draft the initial shape and after testing this toile, I added on the v-shape to ensure that it would attach properly to the v-neckline on the shirt. I redrafted this accordingly and make the collar, ready to insert it.

I then began drafting the hood. I chose to only attach the collar around the back, upto the side seams as it would have become too bulky around the neckline with the hood and the collar if a full hood. The inital hood I made, was too shallow so I added on extra depth and redrafting. From this I shaped the hood to fit with the design lines. I then inserted the hood, then the collar then the facing to add a neatness to the finished garment.

After this I spent some time working with my tutor to figure out the best way to insert my panel in the back of the playsuit on outfit 2.

Tuesday 23rd & Wesnesday 24th March:

Working towards getting all my toiles at a complete point so that I could take them to my tutorial to get approval for the next steps.

Wednesday 24th March:

I spent time working with the knit technician today to work out the number of rows and needles needed to make the cuffs for the trousers on outfit 3.




I arranged a tutorial to ensure that all my toiles where up to scratch before my final toile critique on Monday.

There were simply a few minor adjustments which needed making, including facings and not using a waist band on my trousers.

Thursday 25th March:

I worked on all the amendments as specificed by my tutors to get everything ready for Monday's toile critique. I managed to get all the amendments made.

Friday 26th March:

I worked to ensure that all my patterns and draft patterns are ready to lay plan and ultimately to cut out the pieces ready for manufacture. I also completed the patterns for the extra two outfits and made toiles for the coat for outfit 5 and the shorts for outft 6 to ensure the patterns worked correctly.

Saturday 27th March:

I spent all day planning my patterns ready for my real fabric. I also worked out how much of each real fabric I require.

Saturday 20th March

Today I made a couple of decisions with regard to my designs.

Outfit 3 -

Shirt: I decided that I would remove the back insert on the shirt as I think it will be too fussy and bulky with respect to the hood and collar. As a result I retraced my draft and remade the shirt, complete with facing to test the fit and in preparation for working on the collar and hood next week.

Trousers: Through adding in the pleats for a more aesthetically pleasing front I have formed a problem with regard to the pocket as this will now not work in the place I initially chose. I am still debating whether to simply move the pocket or to make it into more of a swag style pocket, in line with the other garments. This is something I will need to consider and possibly discuss with my tutor. Also from my first toile and previous issues, I have lengthened the leg to ensure enough length for the models.

Outfit 4 - T-shirt: following careful consideration I have realised that a t-shirt does not fit in very well with the collection as it seems a bit random and not really in line the intended product. Therefore I have decided that a fairly standard and simple, collarless white shirt with printed sleeves woule be more appropriate. So I toiled this today.

I worked on my shirt bodices and sleeves today so that they are ready to work on them early next week to get everything ready for final toile critique.















Following this I worked on my trousers which is when I made the decision to add inserts, rather than the pocket.

Thursday 18th March

This evening was the second toile critique so I spent a bit of time this morning getting all my files in order, checking what needed to be done on each garment and generally organising my self.

Following this I was working on my shirt dress of outfit one, ensuring that the collar was up to scratch. during this I made a couple of mistakes but luckily they were easy to rectify.

one issues I had was the the back section of the collar was a little too large compared to the collar stand but I worked this in and changed it on my draft to ensure that next time I made it it would be more accurate.

I also discovered that the front two sections of the collar were too long and therefore I was unable to attach the bodice to the facing. I removed the excess and re-sewed the collar back together followed by sewing in the lining.

I then updated all my drafts.

I also worked on the leggings for outfit one. Following manufacturing the garment I made the decision to remove the side seam of the leggings because this will reduce the chance of mis-matching through the print.

Following removing this side seam, I re-made the garment and added a waist band. During the fit for this, I decided that they did not need to be at the waist so took them down to the hips and they were also too long so I reduced the length. Due to a lack of knowledge I made the waistband incorrectly so this is first job for next week.

The toile critique went well, with positive feedback from my tutor and a deadline set for me to attempt to complete all my toiles by the end of next week, which through careful planning, should be feesible.

Today I met my first year helper. Each third year is assigned a first year student to assist with any work they desire. I met my assistant and briefed her on whatI want her to do. Her roles included working drawings and production sketches, created on Illustrator and a personal design project based around bags.

Monday 15th March

Today I completed the Alternative Fashion Week outfit.

The fabric choices where made for us and I am not happy with the result as due to the nature of the fabric, manufacture was very difficult as the fabric moves a lot, even when pinned properly in place. However, my tutors are happy with the result and it will be on the catwalk in London next month. It will be accessorised with grey knee socks and white pumps.

Thursday 10th March

I focused on making that AFW garments today and managed to get about three quarters of the way through both of them.

I also recieved a selection of graffiti illustrations from my artist to pick from so I sifted through those and requested he send me fine linered outlines for me to manipulate and test colours with.

Due to having changed my stirruped trousers to leggings I have begun considering how to go about matching colour printed with transfer printing and digital printing so have a meeting on Monday to discuss with this with the print technician.

Tuesday 9th March

My first job this evening was to correct the skirt 'swag' pattern. Which I did by adding on the 2cm it was out by the first time around. The second toile was successful.

This evening I also cut out all my fabric for the Alternative Fashion Week garments.

Monday 8th March

Today I worked on my skirt for outfit four.

After my last toile, there was something off about the back measurements so I re-checked all the measurements and discovered that a couple of them were slighty out so I amended the pattern and remade the garment. This time it was fully successful but upon the fit, I realised there was a need for some kind of slit the ensure that the model could walk properly so I added in a vent.






After this, I began working on my swag for the back section of the skirt. I managed to get the right amount of drape on it but it was about 2cm too thin.




Following the submission of the toiles for the critique assessment evening, my garments were selected to go on the alterntive fashion week catwalk in London.

http://www.lth-hotels.com/london_events/alternative_fashion_week.htm

So today we were also assigned the fabric for this. The fabrics are a collection of grey/silver tones.

Saturday 6th March

Today I set about fixing the playsuit toile. Initially I tried it on the 'leg mannequin' which it fit perfectly, highlighting the sizing issue with the mannequins being outdated size wise.



From this, I amended the pattern by adding 1cm either side from the hip line and re-shaping the seam. I then made a toile of the lower half (effectively the lining) to see what the fit was like. This fit was much better.



From this fit, I made the rest of the garment again to check it worked ok. It seems to be fine, I need to insert the zip and have a fit.

Thursday 4th March

Today was a very long and stessful day.

I began by beginning my third toile for the jacket on outfit four whilst waiting for my tutor to come and advise me on outfit 3.

When my tutor arrived we assessed my playsuit and decided it would be beneficial for me to line the suit fully. So after recieving some direction, I lined the suit. When lined, I had a fitting with one of my colleagues. The fit was perfect, however upon showing my other tutor, she reminded me that the models will be around 5'11" rather than the shorter girl I was using so advised that I add in 5inches to the waist line and redraft the pattern. After trying the playsuit on a girl closer to the height of the model I will be using it became apparent how right she was. See below.




I redrafted the pattern and made a very basic toile to check the amendements.



From this toile, I decided the length was perfect, as was the fit however my tutor did not like the flared nature of the leg so I redrafted the pattern and am now in the process of making my fourth toile.

Wednesday 3rd March

After re-assessing my current point of manufacturing my garments, I realised that I am further behind than I need to be and became concerned that this might become problematic down the line. As a result I had a tutorial with my course leader to come up with an action plan.

The outcome of the meeting was that I need to ask for help and guidance from my tutors and the technicians to ensure that I am able to get back on target, rather than working off my own back and my own initiative and to use their experience and expertise.

I worked on redoing my designs with more appropriate figures to make them more appealing and aesthetically appealing.

You can see my updated designs below.



These are still not my final complete designs but they are progressing nicely.

Tuesday 2nd March

This evening I spent a couple of hours pinning adjustments to my tailored jacket on outfit 4 and readjusting the pattern ready for me to make a third toile for it.

Monday 1st March

This week I am mainly focusing on outfit 2 which is the playsuit. I made my first toile which was too tight around the leg area.




Following amending the patterns I made the second toile and the fit was spot on.

First Year Job Description

We are assigned a first year helper for the last month or so of the semester to aid with anything we need.

My brief is as follows:

Jennie Higgins:
Final Year Independent Project -
Urban Armour (2010)

First Year Job Description

Concept:

Copy and Paste from Learning Agreement

Job Role:

The candidate needs to be hard working, motivated and good at working from their own initiative. I require a student who is creative and innovative, is good at taking direction but also confident enough to correct me when I am wrong.

The job role will include, but is not limited to:
Producing professional standard working drawings on Illustrator.
Designing and manufacturing accessories, with a focus on bags.
Aiding with sourcing accessories.
Tracing and cutting out accurate patterns.
Good research skills with a focus on photo shoot locations.
General organisation assistance.

The skills/qualities required are:
A good knowledge and working practise on Photoshop Illustrator
Innovative accessory design and sourcing
Accurate pattern tracing and checking skills.
Accurate cutting out skills
Computer literate, Mac or PC, depending on personal choice.
Good organisation skills
Good time management
Confident.
Critical and accurate eye
Hard working

Contacts:
07949 33 2759
Jenniehiggins@hotmail.co.uk



Accessories Brief:

Shoes:
6 x black/grey heels - varying styles.
Sizes: Between 6 and 8
Prices: as cheap as possible; budget of £100 for all six pairs.
Some will be painted so think but others will be left as is.
Possibly one pair with laces that can be replaced with ones complimenting the colours of the collection.

Bags:
Original design
Colours to fit with collection colours - mainly black / grey with highlight colours of turquoise, pink/purple, orange, white.
Inspiration to be taken from items within the hip-hop / graffiti styles. Think spray cans, boom boxes, music, break dancers etc mix that with brief cases.
Range - large and small
Focus on the music side of the inspiration, the idea is to have something which looks similar to boom boxes with speakers in that can be hooked up to an I-pod / MP3 player.
Needs to be practical to either use for an event I.e. a largish bag to take supplies in such as press release / press packs - possibly approx A4 size.
Alternatively it could be a small item such as a clutch bag but needs to have a strap so it is not too fussy and the user doesn’t need to worry about putting it down and loosing it.
Colourful but not over the top so it clashes with the collection.
Think fun funky, unique and practical.

Jewellery:
To be discussed

Head Wear;
To be discussed.

Thursday 25th February

After drafting the pattern from scratch, I traced off the blocks and made the appropriate adjustments to correct the fit in line with my designs. I cut out the pattern pieces and constructed the garment. After constructing the garment and inserting the zip I pressed it thoroughly.




The construction went smoothly and accurately. However due to the age of the book, the fit was slightly outdated so I need to re-adjust the pattern and remake the toile. It was a challenge to connect both sides of the garment to ensure it was fully reversible.

Monday 24th February

After adjusting the skirt pattern following my initial toile draping to one side, I remade the toile.





Next I began to draft the ‘swag’ pocket section at the back. I initially tried to drape this section but found this impossible to do and ensure accuracy. So instead I traced off the back section from my draft and manipulated this by cutting into sections and adding extra into each section. The first draft of this section of the toile was far too small and didn’t draft accurately so I redrafted it.





Only when I attempted to attach this to my garment was it obvious something wasn’t right.

The toile seemed accurate until I inserted the zip which proved that in fact, the two back sections were not accurately matched.



Upon review of my draft, there was no more than a couple of millimetres out, however due to my inaccurate sewing the inaccuracies were amplified. Also the zip I used was incorrect and I made the decision to use an invisible zip instead to ensure a nicer finish to the full garment.