Monday 3rd November
What I did:
-bought a second hand tailored jacket
-manipulated the jacket on my partner
-sketched the jacket from both my partner wearing it and the jacket on its own
-deconstructed the jacket
-started to resemble it
General reflection:
-it was hard to manipulate the jacket into different shapes in 3 minutes. This was because I had to pin down everything, then stand back from time to time to look at my "installation" as a whole, and this took away a lot of time.I attempted to solve this by working faster, pinning less accurately and standing back just twice - in the middle of the process and at the end.
-I enjoyed deconstructing the jacket the most today. This was because the elements of the jacket that are hidden to the general human eye and are only visible to the tailor are truly fascinating! For example inside the jacket, under the lining, I found so many new materials and shapes. In fact the inside is so much more detailed, complex and visually interesting, than the outside.
-I have not learnt anything new today, however practised draping, deconstructing and sewing skills, which I haven't touched for quite a while.
-The time management for today was not perfect. In stead of five draping outcomes I only managed to produce three. I am planning to improve this by working faster.
Project/Ideas development:
-the initial response to the project brief was to alter the shape of the jacket so much, that the initial shape would not be recognisable.
-however already as I started draping the jacket on my model I have not realised this ambition
-this is a point for improvement for future, that I need to keep in my head the initial response to the project brief, because it will channel the flow of ideas in my head and simplify the task, so I can focus on the draping itself.
-by the end of today I have made the sleeves into trousers. From this I plan to add extra fabric elements to the jacket and manipulate the way a model can wear it.
Materials and Methods:
-I selected a tartan jacket firstly because it was the only jacket in the second hand store which had an interesting textile - the rest were office black or grey jackets. Secondly, the style of the jacket - something that a lord/an 18th century frant/a military general would wear is one of my favourite. Thirdly, tartan in classic and timeless, and I love manipulating classics into contemporary ideas.
-I chose to dismantle sleeves and wear them on legs because I saw that they have the same shape as trousers (this was because the jacket was XXL and sleeves were big) and tried putting sleeves on legs in the first draping exercise. Furthermore I thought that this idea is quite unique (I did not see anyone else do the same, at least not in my group).
-This however had one big practical consideration - although the sleeves were big, they still required very skinny legs, so I cannot not model my reconstructed jacket on just anyone.
-I have not done reconstruction of a made garment or replacement of trousers with sleeves before, so this project was a completely new experience for me.
Points for improvement:
-do a lot of research before beginning the project
-come to the lesson with some ideas in your head
-plan any actions (such as the making of a garment)
-document every single step of making
Feedback from others:
-"sleeve-trouser idea is very original", "paint the tartan onto white fabric and use that as the second material to add on to the garment"
-agree with both, will try out the paining of tartan, because the contrast of perfect tartan print and hand mad tartan print may turn out very eye catching
Jacket manipulations and draping:
Jacket deconstruction:
Tuesday 4th November
What I did:
-more work on reconstructing the jacket
-more sketches of the model wearing the jacket
-started on making textiles samples based on my jacket
General reflection:
-most difficult I found textile samples. It was hard because I never came across the before and I was not told how to make them. I started off by sketching in pencil parts of the garment's textile. Got horribly told off by the teacher and basically told that I have no chance in Textiles. This really hurt me because Textiles is one of the big areas I am really interested in. I saw that other people went for making really colourful and 3D collages, in which I could not see a direct correlation with their garments. I did not want to do something like this. Firstly, I started exploring the stitches I made (they were all very different) and secondly, the layering I found inside the jacket.
-I enjoyed modelling my half-made garment on my partner the most. This was because I was amazed by how something which I reconstructed myself actually looked very cool and good on someone not related to my project!
-I have learnt about textile sample today - that they have to be things which toy want to touch and feel, pretty things and very eye catching
-my time management today was okay, I did not fall behind the allocated time frames, but I also did not speed over them.
Project/Ideas development:
-I now have to add another material to my garment. I have experimented with drawing tartan on plain white fabric but was not very pleased with the outcome firstly because the colours were different and secondly because watercolour spread very easily on thin fabric and the print looked messy.
-I thought about pleating the same white fabric. This is because I believe that white would look good in contrast with the tartan print (for example tartan suites are often warn with crisp white blouses) and pleating would add an interesting textural effect to the garment.
Materials and Methods:
-for textiles samples I have painted tartan on a white material, folded plain white paper, stitched on paper, layered torn masking tape, overlayed torn craft paper, hidden threads under masking tape, embossed card with tartan print using a pen nib without ink.
-I have further developed thread and masking tape manipulations, folding, embossing and layering manipulations.
-I chose these processes because I thought they represented my tartan fabric the best.
-in my textiles samples I could have focused on how I manipulated the material, but I didn't - point for impovement
-I did not pay any attention to any practical conciderations of the textile if I had to make it real life, I don't think I had to
-earlier experience of cutting into stripes in my fashion and textiles "everyday shapes" project has had some influence on this current project. I turned to cutting stripes, but slightly differenlty (cross-hatching).
-in terms of effectiveness, I do not think my textile samples are specially eye catching, however they are very dteailed and the viewer needs to spend some time examining and feeling the texture.
Points for improvement:
-think more abstarct about textile samples
-use fabric in textile samples
Wdnesday 5th November
Current work:
-created pleats out of plain white fabric using an iron and hair spary
-attached the white pleated fabric to under collar, side seems and side sections of the jacket
-created a bow tie out of the lining of the sleeves
-this took me the whole day
-whilist making it I have been thinking how it looked like something a lord would wear
-I did not have any specific intentions, I just went with how I thought materials would look nice
-I think the work is effective and looks well finished and something that can be actually sold in a store because it is perfectly wearable and practical, it also looks good on life models
-I could improve the accuracy of stitching and make the attachment more symetric
Thursday 6th November
What I did:
-finalised the garment
-did more textile samples
-curated my own work
-exhibited my own work
General reflection:
-I did not find anything difficult today, because all of my work was pretty much done and I just had to add little finishes
-I loved the exhibtion, when I could look at what other people did. Here I realised that everyone appart from me focused on either draping the jacket or reconstructing in into another garment. However, i was pleased with mine!
-I haven't learnt anything specifically new, just practiced curating skills
-my time mamangement was extra good today because I came to the lesson with a ready garment, so was techicallyt ready to exhibit at the starrt of the day
Project/Idea development:
-I have not fullfilled my initial intention for this project in any way. Instead of draping my jacket I turned to doing a finished garment. However I am pleased with the outcome because it looks finilised, and I am a fan of that.
-my ambitoins have chnaged unconciously I think, because I stuck with the idea of using sleeves as trousers and from there it became nearly impossible to do something abstarct with the body of the jacket as the two parts had to be attached to one another somehow.
Feedback from others:
-"I love the use of the marble shibori", "Do more fabric samples and incluse more examples, research and photos in the sketchbook"
-the first comment was made by a student on one of my textile samples. I have gathered material into circles by a thread and sthen stuffed the created pocket with cut up pieces, then titened the loop so the final visualisation looked like fungi. It turned out to have a name! Very interesting! One of the the reasons why I love how other students are such a big source of information!
-the second comment was made by my tutor. His first comment I completely agree with and it has guided my further textile sample development. His second comment did not really helpfull because it was abovious that I just YET have not included the printed photos in my sketchbook.
Finished garment:
Exhibition:
Friday 7th November
I asked my friend to model my garment for me to make a proper photoshoot. AN AMAZING DISCOVERY WHICH I ENCOUNTERED DURING THE PHOTOSHOOT - MY GARMENT CAN BE WORN IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS! wow!
Photoshoot of ways to wear my garment:
RESEARCH
