Construction workshops at uni...

At uni we have construction classes where we made a Bias tube dress. I obviously chose the light weight sheer chiffon to make it harder for myself as I tend to do, not out of choice. 

It was very easy to construct, apart from the fabric being silky and moves all over the place when cutting it, but overall I really like the design...Id recommend wearing something underneath as it would be a naked dress!

                                                                   Front of the dress

                                                    Back of the dress with the bias tube

Pattern Magic - Hooded shirt, this was quite fun to make and construct as it is completely different to anything I have made before, its not something I would wear and looks really silly with just a face popping out the face hole, but can be worn as a normal top. I gathered the seam in the back which drapes the fabric. The fabric is an awful colour and horrible to worth with it was like a silky jersey.

                                               Front of the hooded shirt with the face hole

                                                             Side of the hooded shirt

Back of the hooded shirt with gathers in the back seam

I love drawing and painting

Some images of my hand drawings over the last few years of studying at uni. I really love hand drawing, I feel as though my drawings have improved, I especially love drawing with pencils and charcoal to create shades and depth within the drawings. 

                                             Drawings of leaves from Hampton Court gates

                                                      Oriental Watercolour quick sketch

                                 Oriental floral and bird sketch using pen and watercolour

                                       Oriental flowers - using watercolour, pastels and pencil

                                                       Bold oriental flower watercolour

Another brief I looked at butterflies, taking one wing of the butterfly and repeated sketches of the wing in various scales and placements using charcoal.

My most recent sketch looking at Leonardo Da Vinci - Muscle sketch using charcoal

Ciment Pleating

David Linnell, the owner of the company, came into uni today to explain the history of the company and what they do. Bringing with him so of the most amazing pleated fabrics. The company has produced a lot of pleated fabrics for the royal family, Lady GaGa, for films, theatres and has done work for Alexander McQueen and Zandre Rhodes.

Laser cut pleated fabric, I'm not too sure if I like this, because the pleats hide the laser pattern.

A tube of pleats, gorgeous colour all polyester though. Would be interesting to use loads of these tubes of pleats on one garment.

Shower curtain material, with fabric inside, very exciting!

David showed and explained to the group the process of pleating fabric, which is all hand made. The different scales of cardboard, some small scale and the large scale in metre sizes, is all hand grooved and can take around 60 to 80s hours to produce. The fabric is then placed on the pleated cardboard rolled together and steamed.

 Examples of cardboard that has been grooved to make a pattern

 Not seen very well, but this pleat has been made with the use of shower curtain material, like a clear plastic. This is very much like the style that was used for Lady GaGa.

 This pleat I love when the materials bunched together rather than spread out to show the pleat pattern, this is a pleat that I am considering using within my garments for my final collection.

The pleats David has produced are stunning, especially when you know all the hard work that has gone into producing them. David explained his wishes to retire within a few years time and is looking for somebody to take over the business, I can imagine it may be hard as it is a very specialised craft which the person will need to have a lot of knowledge on the subject of pleating. 

The pleats David has produced are stunning, especially when you know all the hard work that has gone into producing them. David explained his wishes to retire within a few years time and is looking for somebody to take over the business, I can imagine it may be hard as it is a very specialised craft which the person will need to have a lot of knowledge on the subject of pleating. 

I found the pleats very inspirational and believe I will look into visiting the company in Potters Bar and look at using some of the pleats for my final collection this year.

Ballgown Exhibition at the V&A

The ballgown exhibition at the V&A.......

For my final collection I knew I wanted to design an evening womens wear collection,

I have always been a fan of Couture Gowns, so I thought it would be perfect for me to design something that I love. 

The ballgown exhibition held gowns by Alexander McQueen, Victor Edelstein, Sybil Connolly, Worth London, Cindy Beadman, Hardy Aimes, Elizabeth Emanuel, Giles Deacon, Erdem, Mary Katrantzou, Felicity Brown and Many more. It was really nice to see the gowns up close and not behind a glass box, this way you could see the craftman ship in each and every gown.

                                                              Giles Deacon - 2007

                                                            Alexander McQueen - 2011

                                                                 
                                                                     Marchesa

                                                               Gareth Pugh - 2011