Day One
After collating images of my developed
stand work I began to design of them, my designs were quick only to experiment
with the different ways I could reinvent a garment. After this I started to
work towards making a final garment, I decided on using a pair of trousers and
making this into a top. I began by placing the garment on the stand upside down
and I then cut into the crotch seam to act as the top of the garment so the
trouser legs were now the sleeves. I liked how this looked however I thought it
wasn’t very creative and lacked in developments form the original garment. So
in order to develop the garment further I looked into different ways I could
alter its shape, in the end I decided upon having short sleeves. Once the
garments alterations were pinned into place I started to think about creating
some trousers. For this garment I liked the idea of layering and using the
garments inside out so the seams and interfacings were showing. I played around
with different ways of showing this in an interesting way. This lead me to the
idea of having many different trouser waistbands layered on top of each
other. To create this I got four pairs
of trousers and cut them along their waistband seam then I layered one on top
of each other. This turn out to be more complex than I had anticipated because
trying to match the waistbands up was not quick to do as I had to ensure that
the sizing was correct. But after I did this they fitted correctly. However to make this trouser garment I did
not cut the forth garment as in order to leave the trouser legs still on. This
meant that the garment had a larger waistband that consisted of 4 waistbands
and then a straight trouser leg. Again I liked how this looked but felt it
could be pushed further, so after developing different ways it could look I
altered the trouser leg by aging in a large dart in order to make the leg a
skinny fit. This worked well and gave the effect I wanted. But I still wanted
to add something to the trousers, so by gathering the left over fabric from the
other trousers I cute out their trouser leg seams, which had both edges
overclocked, I liked how this looked and decided to use it as a decoration. By
referring back to my collages I incorporated the foil effect onto the seams
adding the rose gold foil. I then decided to place these separate seams onto
the front of the trouser leg, however after realizing the problems this could
cause me such as sewing the seams onto the leg would not be possible I
rethought this. I still wanted to add the foil effect and liked the aesthetic
of the seams but understood that this was not possible.
Day Two
After considering my issue concerning the
trouser leg I had found a solution. Instead of adding the seam onto the trouser
leg I added it onto the shoulder of the top garment. Then as I wanted the two
garments to relate to one another I added the foil effect straight onto the
trouser leg fabric. This solved my problem and allowed my garments to be more
cohesive. Yet I still wanted to make a jacket to complete the outfit. For this
as I was looking at the insides of the garments highlighting the seams,
fastenings and linings, I took the blazer jacket turned it inside out whilst
placing it on the stand then I put it on back to front. I thought this made an
interesting look, by having the high collar at the front. I then began to alter
it, first I cut the sleeves off. This left me toying with what to do with the
sleeves I tried different things like placing the sleeves on the back or having
them pinned to the back but wrapping round the front. I felt that by
reattaching them to the back and having them come round the front made the
garment more interesting in terms of texture and visually. Additionally to
again reference my collaging I wanted to stitched into the sleeves so the
stitching was visible. When I sewed this garment together it was fairly
straightforward however my needle did brake due to the thickness of the fabric
in some places, but I ended up with a successful final outcome. The
constructing of the other garments were also straightforward as I did not face
any issues. But by taking the sleeves off of the jacket it left the internal
wadding and padding hanging out so I pulled this out further so it stuck out,
the raw aesthetic was interesting and I felt it worked with the idea of showing
off the elements that make a garment.
Day Three
After creating and finishing all my
garments I wanted to produce a photo shoot showcasing the garments. For this I
asked my friend to model for me, I styled her in a simple way, as I wanted her
hair and make up to simple and natural, I only added a dark eye shadow. In
terms of location I wanted to have an industrial feel to it, so I walked down
the riverbank along the river Thames and came across a Boat club that had high
metal fencing and metal chains in the area, I felt that this would be to right
location for the shoot. The shoot took about 40 minutes all together. Once I
had uploaded my photos onto my laptop I could have a better look at them, I
believe that the location was a good choice however many of them did not
portray the garments very well in terms of the garments colours and the
locations colours. However to solve this I chose the five best from the shoot
and edited them in Photoshop. In Photoshop I altered the colours by making the
background darker but the colour of the garments richer. I also added a purple
hue to the photo in order to make the photos feel more industrial.
Overall looking at this project I like my
final outcome but believe that I could have worked faster. Also I feel that for
this project I didn’t do enough work in my sketchbook in terms of illustrating
designs as most of my work was done on the stand. I think I will bare this in
mind for my next project so I can achieve an even mix of work in and out of my
sketchbook.
