Update

So it's been a little while since I have updated on this but it has been a bit crazy over the Christmas / New Year / Moving home and moving back to Derby setting myself up for the next semester.

Before the Christmas break, I completed my first version working drawings and production sketches, as you can see below:















I have been working on some designs for another project so the collection has taken slight a back seat.

When working on my collection I have been focusing on the shirt dress and have done three toiles in total now but it is still a work in progress. I am struggling particularly on the neckline and collar, the rest of the garment has progressed quite well and is at some kind of plato which means it is at a satisfactory point now.

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