HAND IN!

So todays the day for handing in Innovative Cut - how exciting!
I feel like since my last post have have really pushed myself to get more research/designs done. I've found this project inspiring and enjoyable. I feel like I've tried my best....so I'll just have to wait and see what the result is! It's been quite difficult at times just because I'm working quite a lot at Urban and I've had a lot of personal stresses, but I managed to get on with it ehich is the main thing!
I'm just glad its all done now!

Not enough effort....

I got my Jewellery elective mark back, which was a poor 56%....I'm a little disappointed with the grade but theres nothing I can do about it now!
As for innovative Cut-I've got a lot of research done I just need to do some more designing (i dislike designing A LOT) I will get it done eventually though. I've bought my fabrics for my final garment, I'm making a collar/hood piece that relates to the effects of smoking on the body...so basically I'm burning most of it!It should all work out fine,just fine!
Today, we managed to find a lovely house for next year so thats one worry out the way, and I also managed to get our enterprise presentation sorted for Monday...another weight off my mind!
I feel a little bit like I should be pushing myself more in second year, I eman I am working hard and I also have a part-time job, but when I see people making garments for their own stalls and already doing work placements it makes me feel rubbish. I should be working harder, but I just feel like I have no energy or time to do it. Thats just an excuse because if Jess and Nicole can manage it with jobs and work placements and stalls then why can't I?!
I think I've lost my love for Fashion....my passion is dead! I want to do more and really do well but I just can't be bothered.
I wish I was more motivated or just naturally good!
Oh well...life goes on

No woman, no cry

65% that was the result from application of design....I’m really chuffed because I know that I didn’t put my all into the research and spent far too much time on my garment! I’ve learnt though and that the main thing.
So we have started our new project innovative cut-mixed feelings on this, but it always takes me a while to settle into a project so hopefully it will all fall into place soon. I’ve started researching but I just feel something is missing- I don’t know what it is. I might try taking more of my own photos and have a look in the museum for a little more inspiration. There’s a lot of independent study with this project and it’s a real test....I just hope that I manage to keep up the pace!
So far so good...I just hope I can keep it up.
On the work placement front I have heard off another company but they just said they don’t keep CV’s on file, so I need to send them another nearer the time! Annoying! To be honest though I haven’t sent any more off-so I better get on that soon!
Right now we have:
Innovative Cut, PPD 2, Enterprise and finding work placements....right now the most important to me is innovative cut but I know I need to manage it so I’m doing a bit on everything. I find it quite difficult to think about more than one project at once, but I shall have to see how it all goes-otherwise I’ll fail and drop out....JOKING! It’ll be alright it always is in the end.
STRESS IS A FORM OF WEAKNESS that is what I always tell myself whenever things get tough! So, so true!

done done doneeeee!

For some unknown reason the latest posts haven't been publish-PAIN! Oh well, let me try and recap...I managed (despite all my worring) to complete application for fashion design and hand in ON TIME!Wahey. So, there was one huge stress over with. I also completed my Jewellery level 2 eletive and will be handing in on wednesday-thank god. And I have received the new project-inovative cut. It all sounds very exciting and believe it or not I have already started researching...someones clearly learnt from their mistakes!

I don't know if I have previously mentioned this-but a while back I started contacting companies/design teams etc about work placements...I must have already emailed about 10! I have had 1, yes 1 reply-RUDE or what! But I suppose thats what Fashion is like! This 1 reply was from a company called "fame will come later" and the woman said she would "pencil" me in for a placement and that I should contact her early next year. Obviously I'm chuffed, but at the same time I know what these people are like so I'm going to keep on looking and instead of just emailing them I'm going to send them all letters...they will be sick of me by the end!

So this was our group moodboard for app of design!This was our swing tag/invitation for our brand called "les garcons m'aiment" (boys like me)This was my final garment...I created a shirt fro matt satin!And this was my final jewellery piece (modelled by a not so happy Crystal)

THE BIG SMOKE!

During the summer I went to London to look at various fabrics shops and came across this little gem. "Cloth House"-I love it! The staff are so friendly and helpful and the fabrics are good quality and fairly priced. I'll have to remember to pop in if I'm about again.
They sell lovely vintage fabrics and buttons....there's just a good vibe about the place! I also went to the Royal College of Art's exhibtitons at the V&A-
Here are some of my personal favourites:

Loved the volume in this and the silhouette...

This was amazing...at first glance you think its a printed knit pattern. Once I've read up it became clear that in fact it is knited but instead of doing this pattern in the typical "3D" way they had kept it flat and obv used the right shade of wool to trick the human eye...very clever indeed!

The luggage was amazing too....really professonal and beautifully made.

I just loved the use of unconventional fabrics....I'm all about the unconventional!

Overall I saw/learnt a lot about fabric stores and interesting deigns while in the big smoke!

2nd Year Blues

Not the best of days but, boy oh boy, have I learnt a lot about patterns. We started making our final garment the beginning of this week and although I couldn’t (and maybe still can’t) see the finish line I was pleased to get on with making the garment! So, today I had basically finished my toile just needed to do the button holes, when Hugo made me realise that the my shirt wasn’t sitting on the body properly! SHOCK HORROR! I had to re-do my bodice block in order to achieve a more professional look. Although I was devastated that all my late nights at uni had all been for nothing I knew that deep down it was for the best and in the end, (hopefully) I’ll have a much better shirt. Despite all this I did cry a hell of a lot at the thought of being back where I started 3 days ago! But as Hugo wisely said “its sweat and tears that teach you” - and yes I have definitely learnt….the hard way! Today, I wanted to try the new pattern with added princess line and new collar out in calico first just to make sure I don’t cut anymore expensive fabric for no reason! I also updated my CV and have even started emailing some companies regarding work placements over summer/Easter…unfortunately I haven’t had any replies and its been about a week. Oh well, keep on at it!I feel like I’m really getting the most out of studio time and after college hours…I’ve stayed til about 8pm all week and come in on days we’re not in. I think its just because I’m worried about how little time there is to do SO MUCH work! That’s 2nd year for you! I’m just hoping I’ll get used to it and organise myself better for the next project.At least my enterprise is going alright at the moment, we have an idea, a website, an online survey and we’ve completed our presentation for Monday-Phew!Oh and I’m really loving working for Urban Outfitters the people are so nice and it doesn’t really feel like work, I’m hoping now I have some experience in clothing retail it will help me out with work placements. I could even ask for a transfer to head office if I can’t find anythingNow I have got all the tears out, I’m feeling a lot better about it…surely things can only get better?

Old to New!

My garment pre-tears and redesigning:
Being modelled by the wonderful Nyah Clarke:

My newly designed garment (without sleeves and collar, still underconstruction) with princess line and pleats.....yes it fits better!

Why there is no need to be upset.....featuring Ella Griffiths's lovely batwing jumper toile!

2nd Year-maybe the toughest?

The 2nd year is tough and its only just begun! I think its because we are working in groups and your actions don't just affect your own grade but others as well.
The groups I've been put in aren't the best-just because they both have people who are leaving the course or might as well be leaving as they never come in!But you have to just look on the bright side and just get the best out of what you do have...the rest of my group are fine and I know we will do alright in the end!
I've had quite a productive day as I met up with Stubbs and we came up with our enterprise idea and even made a website-I'm well impressed at our skills! We've basically sorted out all the details just need to research into finance and our typical customer. I'm pleased we sorted it because its been stressing me out A LOT!
And as for application for design-its going good have the research just need to start to design...we need to get together as a group and think about our logo for the swing tickets and how we intend to sell our garments etc.
I'm feeling a lot better about it all. At the start I was so overwhelmed by the work I just felt like giving up! But I'm basically half way through the degree now and I would feel much worse if I was to just give up on it all!
So I just hope that tomorrow I get as much work done as I have today!
We shall see....

Roll On 2nd Year!

So, here we are back at uni after a long, hot and slightly boring summer! I spent my summer doing office work for a temp company - good money but boring work! Oh well, you can't have it all.
So the first day back we met our new 2nd year tutor Gemma who seems really nice- we also received out VERY PACKED timetable! I was quite shocked at how full it was, I don't know why though because I knew that things were going to start getting tougher.
We are not in now until Friday for PPD2, I'm looking forward to starting back properly and getting back into the course again.
My week won't be wasted though as I've recently got a new job with Urban Outfitters, which I am really chuffed about-Start tomorrow!Wahey.

The Best Bits

So here are 15 pieces of work from my 1st year that I feel are my best pieces so far!




I really enjoyed the shop report and felt that I learnt a lot. I learnt about how the finish of a garment, the quality of fabric and even advertisment of a brand can be reflected in the price of the garment.

I feel the trend boards are one of my best pieces, as I decided to use CAD because I wasn't very confident with it. And In the end I was really quite pleased with the results.

This research page is from one of my favourite projects "Creative approaches to fashion". I achieved my highest grade so far on this project and really liked using collage as a form of drawing.
I learnt a lot outside the Fashion discipline in Fashion,Art and Culture and I think this is why I feel its one of my strongest pieces. I was able to experiment with unconventional materials and be completely free with it.
This is my final photoshoot for Creative approaches to fashion and I feel that it really captured the caption "it fell from the sky". I've always enjoyed photography, which is probably why I liked this project so much.
This is a research page from Container Culture. I feel its one of my best as I was able to use quite simple but effective shapes to get my design and ideas across.
This is one of my final pieces from my Jewellery Elective, and although at first I didnt enjoy it towards the end I really started to get into it. I was pleased with the outcome and feel its one of my best as I was able to create a Jewellery piece based upon the art deco era within a week with no previous experience.
Another page from Container Culture but this time its showing design development, I like this page as it is clear where I got my ispiration and ideas from. I had never really done any proper design development before and so was happy with the grade I got for this project.
Another exciting research page from Container Culture. I like it because there's so much going on and it includes different textures where I have sewn into the research to create more ideas.
Design Ideas for Container Culture, taking one object and changing it into something different and wearable.I feel like the layout of my pages have really progressed over year, which is why I'm so fond of the research in this project.
I feel like this is one of my best pieces of illustration work as I really struggle with drawing, but after an intense week of drawing I felt a lot more relaxed about it. I used marker pen to create this image and am really pleased with the result!
As I had development a slight fear of drawing I decided to use CAD and collage to create some of the final images for our first project, this is one of the best.
This is one of my research pages from creative approaches to fashion, this project was a lot like how I worked on my Foundation course. I was able to lay-out and research well in this project and it is one of my best this year.
I find working and experiementing on the stand really helps me to get my ideas flowing. I created this piece for out latest project and was really proud. I havent done much pattern cutting and I was able to create half a garment in a day with no help!
I love this final garment as its innovate and I found the project really exciting. I was able to use moulage for the first time successfully and create something I'm really happy with.
So here are 15 pieces of work from my 1st year that I feel are my best pieces so far!

So that sums up my first year nicely!

Well worth it!

So, with metamorphosis handed in all that’s left to do now is my PPD presentation. I have to say, all that I’ve done is chosen 6 of my 15 best pieces of work, Ian is right about the sunshine being a distraction, I’m well and truly burnt! I will crack on with it though; it shouldn’t take long as everything has basically been done. I’m not sure now I’m going to do my presentation but I want to do something that’s a bit different not just another boring slide show! I’ve been jotting done a few ideas for it “The Life Cycle of a Dawn Shindler”….I think it would all be quite entertaining! We’ll see how it all goes.
I got my results for fashion, art and culture and was quite disappointed with the 61% that I got because I really enjoyed the project and learnt a lot from it. I suppose deep down I know that I rushed into my final piece, but I think that’s because we had a crit about a week before the deadline and I was advised to change my outcome which I had basically made by this time. I think crits are a really good idea and they help everyone out loads but I just don’t think it’s a good idea to have one so close to the hand in date because it makes everyone panic. The feedback really helped me to understand why I got the grade that I did, and I suppose as long as I know I can improve on it.
This time next week I would have finished my first year….*sobs*, I’ve really enjoyed it and although its been difficult at times, its been well worth it in the end!

Body Design

So here are some photos of the moulage work I did in the session about a week ago. I worked with Victoria on this as there weren't enough stands to go around- but it all ended up quite well and I learnt a lot from it!

In the end I decided to moulage my final design as it was be the best way to achieve what I wanted. My final design is based around the body, organs and tissue etc-now you may be thinking how does that have anything to do with metamorphosis? Well, I looked at how the body changes food into energy, taking minerals and vitamins from it-therefore changing it.
I chose to do my final design in jersey because of the way in which the fabric fell, and then incorporated knit around the neck line. The back of my garment mimics the spine by using elastic to gather, creating a spine-like shape, the front is a mixture of pin-tucks and knit based upon tissue and arteries.

I’ve almost finished my final garment just a few final touches, but I think I’ll be done by the end of the week! Wahey! Then its just binding my sketchbook, illustrating and evaluating-but we’re doing that in class tomorrow, so that’s alright.
Working with my 3rd year is going really well and I’m having a great time. I’ve done a lot of different things while working with Jennifer such as sourcing fabrics, sewing tags, tracing patterns, I think is a very good experience. Its basically like being a studio assistant and would look great on a CV.
A few days ago I received my elective result and I got 66%-which was a shock. I’m doing better in Jewellery than in Fashion! Uh Oh! I also got my crit essay result and I got 58%-I was a little disappointed with the grade as I put so much work in, but my tutor explained why I didn’t get any higher and so now I know how to push my grade up, so that’s okay.
Oh and I’ve bought my tickets for GFW, which I’m very excited about.
This year seems to have just flown by!

Dawn Hurry up!

So I now know how to moulage and then pattern cut my moulage! I dunno if I'll actually be using this technique but its good to know. I think I have a final design now and I'm trying out some different samples with knitwear and dropping stitches etc etc. As regards for my 3rd year things are going well but I still feel like I'm really slow and if anything I'm holding her back!I had to trace some of Jennifers patterns last thursday and it was such a struggle and took me about 3 hours-oh well!Hurry up Dawn!

More timed tasks!

Here are some of the photographs from the Hussein Chlalayan exhibition I went to see at the Design Museum.

I absolutely loved seeing Mr Chalayan's work in the flesh, I think he's a really talented and unique designer.
Today we were set another task, to create one side of a garment from our design pages. At first I was thinking “oh dear, how an earth is that even possible?!”, but after I got started I realised that a lot of it is just logical thinking. I managed to get it done in the time allocated but I feel if I could I would do things slightly differently in order to create a better effect and save time.

If I was to re-do this garment I think I would stuff the arm slightly instead, as I found it difficult to find wire or boning that would support the shape I wanted to acheive. Although, in the end I used both boning and wire I feel it is far too delicate and could only be worn for a short period of time.

It was a brilliant exercise to do though and I learnt a lot about translating drawing/designs from 2D into 3D. Tomorrow we will be continuing to work on developing ideas but I think I’m going to try out one of my other designs and see how and if it works successfully.

Bank Holiday Weekend

Jennifer Read is the 3rd year I’m working with every Thursday until the end of May. I think we were put together as we both came to Leeds from Exeter and I think she may have been in my life drawing class. Anyway, I absolutely love working with the 3rd years, I imagine it’s a bit like being a studio assistant. On Thursday I had to go and find 5 pairs of white denim trousers and then unpick them, I felt like I was really slow it took me nearly 2 and half hours!!! It’s all good practice though and I really enjoyed it.
On Friday (our private study day) I went to London with Ella and visited the design museum to see Hussein Chalayan’s exhibition, he’s one of my favourite designers so it seemed only right to go! I thought it was amazing it was quite small but I suppose that’s because there was a lot to take in. I’ll upload some photographs once I’ve found my camera!!
So it’s been quite an eventful weekend so far and I’ve also been working on the metamorphosis project and now I feel I’ve got my head round it. Everything seems a bit clearer!
The rest of this bank holiday will be spent doing more samples and designs for metamorphosis...well that's the plan anyway!

Hardcore, but almost over!

This first week back has been so hardcore and it’s only Wednesday! Yesterday was our first proper day back (as Monday was hand-in for Fashion, art and culture), and we were all set a task to complete by 3pm. I found it difficult to get started at first but after a while I was alright, I feel I work better under pressure. Some of my research pages for “metamorphosis” are quite poor so I’ve decided just to push the good ideas! But I’m finding this project quite difficult, I’ve done more research on the concepts I’m interesting in, so hopefully this will help me out. I like that we are being pushed to the limits, I feel its more realistic for the fashion industry, and it makes everyone work a lot harder and quicker!

This is some of the work I've been doing for the latest project

Tomorrow we will be meeting our 3rd years!! We will be acting as there assistant helping them with their final collection-I’m quite excited about it all!
I can’t believe how quickly the year has gone! All that’s left id metamorphosis and PPD and then we’re done!

Catch up!

Yes, yes I know I've been neglected the old blog a little....well lets get on it then!
I researched the role of a fashion PR all quite interesting really, it’s a busy job then what job isn't?! The roles of this job include getting samples and outfits ready for studio shoots, magazines, clients etc. Also arranging meetings and may include dealing with the press it’s basically the organization behind a company-well that’s what I like to think anyway! Very office based. Working along side senior Pr, Directors of the company, visual merchandisers, fashion photographers and press. Everyone relies on you to get jobs done promptly...the pressures on! The pay starts at about £14 k, and the hours are normal office hours but obviously you will have to do the occasionally extra like any other job. I’m quite interested in going into PR work-well at the moment anyway that would change, after all I’m only a 1st year! I’ve still had no luck with the work experience and few have been interested and offered interviews but then never got back to me-oh well their lose I’m sure. That hasn’t stopped me though I’m still emailing companies but I’ve changed my covering letter and altered my CV a little incase that’s what is causing the lack of interest. I doubt that’s it though-I’ve contacted about 25 companies; someone is bound to take me up on my offer of FREE LABOUR!! We are experiencing a recession after all!

I decided to use this image (above) for my final, I saw it as the strongest out of my favourites.
One company that did take me up on a day of free labour was Arrogant Cat, I worked a trial day of 9-5:30pm for nothing and didn’t end up getting the job! I’m quite disgusted actually, not only that I didn’t get it but that they didn’t have the courtesy of contacting me to let me know! Unbelievable eh?!
Since then, I have nearly finished my fashion, art and culture and I have to say I’ve really enjoyed it, it’s a shame all the ones I love are only 10 credits!!! I’m just finishing my evaluation and struggling a little with it- but I’ll get there eventually! The photo shoot for my final image went well I changed it a little to my original idea but it worked all the same.

We’ve been given a new project called “metamorphosis”, well we were given it before Easter and have to have 15 sheets for Tuesday….yeah about that-so many distractions at home…but I am on it and I’m sure I’ll be ready for Tuesday! One hopes so anyway. Better get on with it!