Week 3 Trouser(1) Linen

Linen Trousers

This was my week to buy the groups material which was Linen. I went to shephards bush for this because I heard it was good for fabric.
Whilst in shephards bush I found that the prices of linen where £6.00pm-onwards. the group budget was £4.00pm so I had to keep looking. finally i found some linen in the market for £4.50pm but the quality of it was reallly bad. It felt more like thin calico, although this was the neares towards our budget I would not of been happy with this. I went to tony textiles who where selling black linen for £6.00pm I felt the quality of this and it was indeed 100 times better that the cheaper one.
I called the group members to confirm the new price which was agreed that it would be ok to get it if it was good quality. I brought more than 12m of linen and I managed to bump down the price to £550pm which saved each group member £1.00 which was a total of £7.00 which I felt was really good.

When I attempted to start my trousers I foze " I HAD NEVER MADE A PAIR OF TROUSERS IN MY LIFE" I did not know where to start. I kept imagining them coming out completly deformed.
Maxine mentioned to me i should use a pattern to do my trousers, I explained to her i have never used a pattern before and would not know where to start, She stayed with me after class in the week and helped me cut a Trouser size 12 block the explained to me where darts go and how much seam allowance to leave and where these go. It took around 2 hours before i got the hang of it. I was actually amazed and felt like doing cart wheels "I LEARNT SOMETHING NEW AND UNDERSTOOD IT"
We have had pattern cutting lessons in the class but somethimes i feel that because the classs is so big i can not get all the 1to1 i need.

I cut out my pattern on card and then traced it on to some spot and cross.

(tracing pattern onto spot and cross) added seam allowans of 1cm all round and 2cm on the cruch

Cutting out patter (Grain line marked)

Both patterns cut out with seam allowance.

seam allowance for the bottom of my trousers. 

Trouser Pattern cut out

Darts in place

My first leg stiched :)

Amazing: my trousers are starting to look like trousers

Week 2- Dress(1) pvc

Week 2 we worked with clear pvc. We all got the fabric a week before the fashion show which gave us time to work with it.

I did not really like the clear pvc at all. When Nathan said he was getting pvc for week two i did not imagine he would get the group clear pvc, i find cleara bit boring and unusual but then i rememberd the module 'EXPLORE MATERIALS' so thats what i did.

I did not use a dress block for this i simply just explored the material trying to suit best my style of working. I like the more modern funky look and i did not feel i could achieve this with just working with pvc alone.

I found that the pvc would not sew it was getting stuck on my machine and ripping, i was furtrated and so close to changing my material to somthing more simple, but i decided to keep going and do my best. When sian explained to me i should have used a plastic foot on my machine so that it can smoothely glide it made more sense .

So i hand stitched gold and black netted material and pages from a newspaper just to explore and see how it could look .

Overall i was quiet pleased with my first ever attempt of a dress. I did not like working with the material but did learn right and wrongs from this.

Week 1- Skirt(1) calico

Week 1 skirt we used pink calico 1.50 pm. I found working with this material simple. The material gave me no problems and was good quality for the price.

My First skirt was not one of the best looking skirts in the world, it was not made with a pattern block because i did not at this point understand how to use a block. I did not understand what seam allowance was, i felt a bit stupid and didnt feel i could ask.

I was experamental with  the fabric and jus played around with it for a bit the started stitching.

I stitched peices of the calico on the skirt to give it a bit of a pleated look.and used a peice of another material underneath to make it stand out.

Overall for my first attempt on the skirt i was actually starting to like it. Sian said she liked it which made my day because compared to the other class members i felt a bit low about my skirt.

MY TRIP TO THE WESTEND!!

West End

This outing was a good experience, i had the opportunity to veiw loads of fabric shops i didnt know existed. As we where out in groups i learnt a lot about what th west end has to offer for fashion students.
Before this outing i did not know that liberty existed. I found good quality materials and accesories but the only disadvantage was everything was a bit pricey. When my making skills get better i will consider buying a few materials from Liberty.

  

One of my favourite west end shops where Broadwick silk shop. They had a huge variety to choose from with outstanding visual mechandising on the front windows which was the reason i went in.

Majority of shops would not allow pictures inside but if you where quick enough you could snap a few without being cought.