Button Hole......

Domestic Machine.

Last week I discovered a new machine, it was a domestic sewing machine that could create button holes. I was very confused at how it worked at first because there was a lot of buttons and pictures. My Thursday group worked with the technician Gemma to create a button hole. Well it's now my new favourite machine as it does all the work for you because it has an automatic setting. I really enjoyed doing this, I got a little scared as I thought I almost broke the machine and they are very expensive.

Creating My First Garment.

The first garment of many...

Finally I have created a garment, this garment was a skirt which firstly I had to make a block for. The block looked simple enough to make, until it came to it. I had to create the whole card block from scratch following instructions from my lecturer and a handout. I had a lot of help from Trish, she really does make life so much easier ( who knew there would be so much maths involved in fashion ). Then after I had created my skirt block I went on to cut out my pattern in fabric and manufacture my skirt. It took me two lessons, I really struggled with it, but with Trish helping me I got the job done and it wasn't as hard as I was making it for myself. So by the time my skirt was completed I was really pleased with the outcome.

This is my front and back skirt block.

The front of my skirt.

The left side of my skirt.

The back of my skirt.

The darts on the back of the skirt.

The right side of my skirt.

Lapped Zip.

Second task of pattern cutting : I was told to create a lapped zip, I found this a lot more difficult than the centered zip. Here is a step by step guide to make a lapped zip.

Step 1- Mark out exact length of where your about to stitch. Stitch up to the bottom zip placket with a regular stitch length, do a back stitch. Then do a machine tack, and press seam open.

Step 2- Place zip face down, make sure the edge of the coil is along the seam line, using zipper foot place to the right and machine tack.

Step 3- Place zipper foot to left of needle make sure the zip face is up. This creates a fold, bring fold close to but not over. stitch through edge of fold.

Step 4-  Turn to the right side, stretch fabric till it's as flat as it will go over un-stitched zip. Hand tack across the bottom of the zip, then up along the side from the seam line. Put zipper foot to the right of the needle, top stitch close to tacking across the bottom of the zip and along the side. Do not go over the tacking and remove hand tacks.

Step 5- Open the zip by removing the machine tacks, and you will have created a lapped zip.

Creating What I Thought Was The Impossible...

Who ever said fashion was easy, you couldn't be more WRONG !

Well pattern cutting Thursday, the day we get down to business. This is my groups day for pattern cutting, I could say my favorite day of college, although if you saw how stressed i got in that lesson you wouldn't believe that for one minute. I must say things look easier than they really are to make, like the zip's we had to create.
Here is a step to step guide on how to create a zip :

Step 1- First things first you need to get 2 strips of material, when you have these strips you need to over-lock one side of each piece.  

Step 2- secondly you have to change the stitch on the sewing machine from 3 to 4.


Step 3- Thirdly you will need to change the foot of the sewing machine to a single foot. To do this you need to get a screw driver, losen up the screw until the foot that is in already drops out, then get your single foot and screw that in its place pushing it up and to the right till it's tight.


Step 4- Now you will need to sew a 1.5 cm line from the edge of the material.


Step 5- Then you need to open both sides of the over-locked peices  so that its all folded out and place the edge of the zip exactly in the middle between the over-locking and the material.


Step 6-  Then you close the zip up and do exactly the same on the other side.


Step 7- Now you have gotten this far you need to iron it all out so that it keeps it shape.

Step 8- You then change your stitch size back to number 3 on the dial.


Step 9-  You now sew a straight line between the zip edge and the right hand space, without being to close to the zip. Then when you get to the end you pivot and do 3 stitches to the middle and then do exactly the same on the other side.



Step 10- Finally you unpick the stitches where the zip will unzip and zip up, and you will have a complete zip which you can put on to anything you like.

London Fashion Week...

London Fashion Week...

I have heard of London fashion week, but never really looked into it until now. I would love to watch London fashion week live, it looks amazing some of the designers are out of this world...

Vivienne Westwood is my ultimate fashion idol ! she is showing the Vivienne Westwood red label at the London fashion week She will be showing at 18:00 on Saturday the 17th of September.
I have also decided to follow and report on a new label that i have never heard of before called Fashion East they will be showing 12:00pm on Sunday 18th September. I have purely chosen to follow them based on their name.
I will be sure to post an update on these two collections with my opinions and thoughts.
http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/catwalkschedule_SS12.aspx

Elsa Schiaparelli, created this very well thought out shoe hat, its an amazing design, which looks very unique and quirky.

Else designed some of the most beautiful evening gowns, her work it different but its also very beautiful and inspirational.

Else Schiaparelli, the flamboyant designer of the art decs period, is wrenched for her fabulous eccentricity and innovations. She changed fashion and peoples attitudes to it  with her scandalous dresses and colourful personality. Her legacy of spectacular designs and an entirely innovative approach to fashion design has marauded contemporary fashion and inspired fashion designers, including Galliano, McQueen, Gaultier and Yves Saint Lauren. In short Elsa Schiaparelli was the women who shaped fashion as we know it today.

RUDI GERNREICH.

 

This is the male version of the topless swimsuit.  

I love the design pattern on this garment, it is really funky and very 60's.

 

This is the ladies version of the topless swim suit, its not everybody's cup of tea, but it really is an amazing design.

Rudi Gernreich, is a new designer to me, he created the topless swim suit. He is a very insparational designer. He takes very big risks with his fashion, people may not agree with how explicit some of his garments may be, he takes these risks and  the outcome is incredible. His designs are edgy and out there. I personally think he has amazing work and he is now one of my proffered designers. I am excited to do more research into Rudi's work and to get ideas and inspiration from it.

Prom 24th June 2011...

I loved my prom, all my friends looked so beautiful and the guys all very handsome. I decided to go for a very unique prom look, I really can't stand the normal shiny or puffy prom dresses, so I went for a Greacian style dress, truth be known it was my step mums wedding dress, and I added my own Greek twist to it. To start with i just had this plain ivory dress and somehow needed away to make it me, one of my favorite styles is Ancient  Greek. This then inspired me to do a lot of research into the Grecian look, I bought myself a gold cuff for my arm, a 4mm strand of gold thread and a necklace, from this I used the gold thread around my waist, the gold necklace was to long so i pulled the chain off and added ribbon, and had my grandma take it in for me and shorten the length. This was the outcome and i was very pleased with the way everything had turned out, not one person had the same dress or style, so i felt great about my dress.

Here is me, this is my beautiful Greacian style dress, I was really pleased with how it turned out.

These are some of the girls, they all looked absolutly BEAUTIFUL... Don't you agree.

This is my beautiful bestfriend Pippa, i was really naughty and stole this off the website, silly copyright.

Here is everyone who was in the humma, they look amazing and the humma was a great expiernce.

This is a good friend of mine carl :) he was the best looking guy at prom.

This was our third task set, as you know we made paper dresses, well now we had to produce an observational drawing, it didn't have to be of our own work, so I chose to do another dress which was named ''Chanel couture'', I was scared to attempt this drawing at first, I just couldn't get my head around it, but then my tutor Nic showed me new techniques, this helped me to get the best possible outcome, by the end of the day I was really proud of myself for attempting this drawing, and for it to turn out the way it did, also that I have learnt new techniques to help me through the next 2 years.

This was our second task set, we were told to get in to a group of two, we had to produce a garment made of paper, we were all given a shape to make it from, and the shape i was given was a triangle, me and my partner Hannah thought a triangle would be an easy shape to work with, but when it came down to it we were very limited as to what we could do. It didn't quite get finished, but this is the work that was produced by myself and Hannah and it was a completely new experience to create a garment made of paper.

Mariano Fortuny...

This is the first blog I have ever created :)
My first taste of fashion collage, we have all been set a task. We had to research a designer, who we had never heard of before which inspired us. I chose Mariano Fortuny.

Mariano Fortuny, was one of the great creative minds of the 20th century. He created he 'delphos robe' in pleated silk, designed in a revolutionary shape, inspired by Ancient Grecian gown, the long dresses were simple and loose, shaped to fit a natural women's body silhouette. Before being manufactured, the silks were dyed in every colour imaginable, with different designs or color combinations, changing according to light and movement. Fortuny rebelled a lot, the fashion before him was very tight corsets and big heavy skirts, they didn't show the natural beauty of women's silhouette, were as his style was very loose and fitted the body perfect. His fashion style really inspires me, as my two favorite style's are Grecian and historical.