Last Week of Term!!!

This weekend was pretty good, i went and saw Pendulum in Brixtons Carling Acadamy which was brilliant! I was also able to catch up with some friends from back home, which was great as well! I also finished my current project, which was called 'Necessary, Unusual and Beautiful'. I based mine on the philosophy 'Tailored Elegance', where i designed a beige/camel coloured trench coat, with a wrap round white shirt and high-waisted black trousers.
This week consists of completing projects and my pattern cutting and garment construction folder. I also have to finish making my shirt and any un-finished ict work.
I have enjoyed my first term at AIB, and have learnt many new skills in my new course. I particularly enjoy pattern cutting and construction, as i think that design is my weak point. I am looking forward to starting the new term after Christmas!

Fashion V Sport Exhibition V&A Museum

London 1/12/08

Its been a while since my last post! However we had our second London trip last monday, which was fun! We first stopped off at the V&A Museum in Kensington, to look at the Sports V Fashion exhibition, which was very interesting. There were many displays of various types of sportswear garments, designed by a wide range of designers. Items included hoodies, tracksuits, skirts, dresses, surfboards and trainers. My favourite piece was the Chanel surfboard and i also found their fishing kit amazing as well. We spent about 2hours in the V&A, and after that Steph, Emily and myself went and grabbed some lunch from Pret A Manger. We carried on walking down the road which the V&A is located on, past Hyde Park, Harrods, Leicester Square and finishing off at Covent Garden. We stopped off at many shops on our way to Covent Garden, including the famous Harrods! I left London at around 4pm as i went home for a couple of days!

Pattern Cutting Update and Illustration

Last Thursday was our pattern cutting lesson and the aims for our lesson were to complete the hip block pattern from the pervious week, create a circle skirt pattern and a plain skirt pattern. I found the circle skirt pattern very easy and simple to do, and I even made one to my own measurements.

On Friday we had an induction to illustration, with Sam our illustration tutor. She gave us a short seminar on what illustration is and the different types of illustration. Sam also showed us examples of her own work, which gave me ideas and inspirtations for my own projects. I particularly liked how she created simple silhouettes, which turned a piece of work into something interesting, amazing and creative. Once the seminar had ended, we were given an activity, which was to pick out a quote, poem, rhyme or a clipping from a newspaper, and then illustrate the article. I chose 'Humpty Dumpty' and drew three small images to represent the rhyme.

R D Franks Fashion Book and Magazine Store, London

London - Fabric Sourcing Trip

Last Monday was our first trip to London so far on the course. We were split into groups and were given a certain type of fabric to look for. My group had to find natural fabrics, such as cotton, wool, linen and silk. When we arrived in London, we were all given a map of where the fabric shops were located, many of them were situated either down the same street or nearby elsewhere. The first shop that we went into was called the 'Cloth House'. The staff were very friendly in there and we were allowed to take upto two free samples each. I got samples of a very thin, pale green linen, and a white cotton that had been brushed on one side for a softer feel. As we carried on down Berwick Street, Soho, we stoped off at many other fabric shops, such as The Silk Society, Broadwick Silks, Textile King and Soho Silks. Out of all the fabrics shops that we went into, I found that Soho Silks was the best. The owner was very friendly and helpful and he managed to find us some interesting natural fabrics. He also allowed us to take a few samples and we bought a few pieces as well. My favourite fabric that we saw and bought, was silk chiffon petals on silk habotai. It was pale pink and very expensive - £39 a meter!
Once we had gathered enough fabric swatches and information, we were free to do what we wanted for the rest of the day. So Steph, Emily and myself decided to go shopping down Oxford Street and then we wandered around Camden Market. We also stopped off at R D Franks, a fashion magazine and book store, and Selfridges.

Pattern Cutting - Dart Special

In this weeks pattern cutting session, we were taught how to make two different kinds of dart, contour and deep darts. We were also shown two different ways of creating the dart, pivoting or by cutting and folding.
Our first task in the morning was to create a miniture block of a front bodice, and from this block we made miniture pattern pieces, which all had different placed darts in them. For example, shoulder dart, armhole dart, french dart and a side dart. It was interesting to learn all the positions for darts and how to create them. In the afternoon we were given a hip block, which we had trace onto paper, adjust and then seperate into panels. Tricky stuff!

Organic Project

This weeks project was to research the work of Dale Chihuly and various designers that have used ruffles in the a/w08 collections, such as Lanvin and Christopher Kane. Once we had collected our research and completed a themeboard, based on the theme 'organic', we had to used the models to drap and ruffle fabric to create a garment.
I was particularly inspired by Sonia Rykiel, who designed a collection called 'The New Romance' which featured many ruffles, frills and roses.
The photo to the right shows the skirt that i made. I used panels of knife pleats around the skirt and finished it off with fabric roses, which were pinned to the top of the skirt. I used chiffon to make the ruffles and roses look more dainty, feminine and organic.
If i were to complete this project again, i think that i would sew the pleats in the opposite direction and use a different coloured fabric, which wasnt folded, to make the skirt seem more delicate and flowy. However, i enjoyed researching into the different designers and seeing how they have used ruffles and pleats in various ways. I also enjoyed experimenting with drapping and manipulating different fabrics on the stands.

Themeboard Project - Classical

Our design principles project this week was to complete a themeboard about one of the themes listed below:

• Classical
• Rococco
• Spice
• Surreal

I decided to go with the theme classical as i felt that i could gather lots of research and receive much inspiration from the finished board. I collected many things for my themeboard such as magazine clippings of classical interiors and garments, buttons, beads, feathers, and various material swatches as well as lace. I kept to colour schemes of golds, reds, soft peaches and white. Many of the buttons had a lot of detail on them, pearls and coloured stones, to give the board a more rustic and classic feel. I also included pearl beads (inspired by 1920 Chanel jewellery), and black and white lace, which is used to make items of clothing seem more feminine and again classic.

I enjoyed making my classical themed-board, as i could picture ideas of what i could design from looking at this moodboard. If i were to design and make a collection with a classical 'theme', i would use a lot of light fabrics, such as chiffon, silk and lace. The finished garments would look very dainty, feminine and timeless.

Below is a photo of my completed themeboard:-)

FdA Fashion - The First Day!!

Hey Guys,

Well it has been a very hectic week for me, as I have just moved down to Bournemouth from Essex to study FdA Fashion at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth. I have moved into a house with four lovely girlys and have been having a great time so far. Las week was induction week and i gave us time to make new friends and to meet our course leaders. We were also informed of what projects and units were to come in our course for the fourth-coming year. It all looks very interesting and exciting!

Yesterday was the first day of my course and we were assigned our first project, which was to create a theme-board, and my theme is classical. The design tutors were very helpful and introduced the 'Design Principles' topic well. Alongside starting my course, it is also Freshers week! There was a themed karaoke night in one of the local bars, which was very fun! 

Absolutely knackered today, due to the late night last night! However, it was still interesting to learn another topic on our course, which was Personal Planning, Reflection and Development. Our afternoon consisted of our ICT Induction, where we created our own e-mail accounts and blog!