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!