Week 12 - Tues 29-11-11 - Complete 'wearable structure'

To begin with, after pulling off the mutton cloth from the chairs I simply just draped my fabric over the mannequin so that I could see what I had to work with.

My largest piece of mutton cloth I decided to use as the base for my dress as it has the most coverage. The wheels from the chair formed a really interesting shape that I really liked as the neckline.

I then added my smaller piece of mutton cloth as a hood and cut off the section that moulded around the wheels. I added this part as a skirt and moved the underlying layer of mutton cloth up, creating more volume around the chest.

This is a close up of the detailing on the skirt. This was formed by twisting the mutton cloth with wet glue and leaving it to dry. I really like this subtle detailing to my garment.

I made bias binding to neatly finish off the edges around the armhole. 

After sewing the hood and skirt to the rest of the dress, I got someone to model my outfit for me for inspection. I am quite happy with the result as I wanted to create space between the material and the wearer. 

I didn't like the idea of leaving the colour as it was (beige) as I felt it that it looked too much like fungai with the combination of the colour and shape. I decided to add some subtle colouring to my garment by spray painting it a pale green. I decided on using a pale colour as the detailing would have been lost or overlooked with a dark or bright colour. My wearable structure is now complete and ready to be worn in our fashion show which takes place Tuesday 6th at 2pm in the AVA building, University of East London.

Week 11 - Tues 22-11-11 - Begin making final garment

Today we began to make our 'wearable structures'. I decided that I wanted to attempt the mutton cloth as I was disappointed with my outcome the first time around, but felt that it had good potential for a final garment. 

I streatched my mutton sloth around an entire desk chair. It was very hard to do as it was a tight squeeze, but the tight it is, the more structure it will have after the glue has dried.

I decided to create a second sculpture so that I have more material for my wearable structure.

This one was much easier to do as this piece of mutton cloth appeared to have a lot more stretch to it. I was able to completely wrap the chair in mutton cloth. I then covered both sculptures in watered down PVA glue.

Week 10 - Tues 15-11-11 - Draping exercise

Today we created a bodice block directly from the stand and drew our pattern from that, rather than drawing the pattern first and then cutting out the fabric. It made me realise that with basic understanding of clothes, you can create a pattern for anything as long as you add darts in the right places. I enjoyed making my own bodice block from scratch.

Using the bodice block as the base, I then created a ruffled top. This is the correct way to drape fabric as it is pinning onto the bodice block NOT onto the mannequin, therefore you know that your design is going to work on a real life model.

Week 9 - Tues 8-11-11 - Pleating workshop

Today we had a pleating workshop that was carried out by Terry Weinhart of Ciment  Pleaters. He brought in many examples of different types of pleats that I didn't know were possible to create. Above are photographs of the card 'pattern' or 'mould' which once you've created, you can pleat until your heart's content. You have to make two moulds because you slot your fabric inbetween both of them and then feed it through a steam press.

Here are examples of some of the beautiful pleated fabrics. Terry said that polyester fabrics work the best as they hold their creases better than natural fibres such as cotton.

I had a go at creating my own pleats. I started off with a simple knife pleat to begin with.

I then tried something a bit more advanced and creative. I really like how structured this is and that it has volume to it unlike the knife pleat.

Ciment  Pleaters created pleated dress for the Cadbury Flake advert.

They also made Lady Gaga's LED winged dress for her tour.

Yusuke Maegawa incorporates pleating into their designs and at quite a large scale. The pleats create a very interesting silhouette.

Week 8 - Tuesday 1-11-11 - De-constructed jacket made from a chair

Continuing on from last week, we used our tailored jackets again but worked in pairs so that we had two jackets to work with.

We draped our jackets over a chair or stool, pinned them in place and then draped it over the mannequin.

We repeated this many times, coming up with original ideas everytime.

By draping the jackets over the chair, it meant that our design wasn't formed by the shape of the body, which creates interesting silhouettes.

I much preferred today's lesson to last week as I was not restricted by the silhouettes I could create as I had a proper mannequin and the body didn't determine what shapes I came up with.

Week 7 - Tues 25-10-11 - De-constructing a jacket

For today's lesson we were instructed to take some very detailed photographs of our tailored jacket in it's original state.

Using an unpicker and scissors, we then had to very carefully detach the lining from the outer jacket.

Using the lining at first, I experimented by draping it on the mannequin.

I quite liked the results I got from using the lining, I never would have thought that this originally started out as an ugly tailored jacket.

I then experimented with the jacket outer shell. I felt the sleeves created some interesting lines on an outfit.

I simply just turned my jacket inside out, put it on back to front and tied the sleeves around the waist, very simple but I think it works well. As I wasn't using a proper mannequin which I could pin my material onto, I feel that my ideas are very restricted, therefore my work could be greatly improved.

Here are some designs by Warot Subsrisunjai, they fit in perfectly with the work that I did today.

Also, I found some Chanel dresses that I feel are relevant to the work I carried out today.