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.

Thursday 11th February 2010

After a tutorial with my tutor I began to ‘grow on’ the stirrups to the standard legging pattern. Following adapting the pattern I manufactured a sample of the ankle and stirrup to test the pattern.




These adaptations were accurate so I manufactured the whole leggings to test the whole garment. The garment now has an accurate fit and looks appealing.

I manufactured the tailored trouser toile.

Upon construction I realised that the garment was high-waisted rather than on the hip. I reduced the waist to take them down, closer to the hips. They were also too long and too wide so I made the appropriate pattern amendments.

After re-tracing the pattern blocks, I manufactured the modified toile.

Thursday 4th February 2010

Working from the book “Winifred Alrich Womenswear”, I took direction in drafting my own tailored trouser pattern from scratch.

After drafting the standard pattern I manipulated the block to tailor the legs closer to the ankles and to insert pleats into the waist band to add an extra design feature. After I adapted the draft I cut out the paper patterns and manufactured a toile.

Monday 1st February 2010

After making some readjustments to my design line up I chose to change the printed tailored stirrup trousers into printed stirrup leggings to add another fabric and extra skills plus a different style of garment to the collection. I also decided to change the plain trousers on outfit three into tailored trousers with a pleated waistband.

I used the block patterns to make simple leggings patterns and had a tutorial with the technician to learn how to use the cover-seamer and made up an initial toile of the leggings.