It's been a while...

And it most certainly has.

So today I'm going to give an update and an inside look on what I've been up to.

So I guess I should start with my drape project, not going to lie I haven't done anything like this before so I am struggling in some areas such as the construction and creating a pattern piece.
Although it doesn't entirely help that my designs aren't exactly simple to make or recreate on the stand for the matter. But I must say I am enjoying what I am doing so far.

Some of the designs that I've made on the mannequins do look quite complex due to the way the fabric falls. The fabric that I had used in these images was hard cotton, grey which was a thick fabric that didn't entirely fall like silk instead it kept it's shape and created a 3D like effect.

I did experiment with a softer and lighter fabric which I didn't really like the feel off. Simply because I thought it made my design ideas look cheap and tacky So I decided to scrap the fabric and stick to the hard cotton.

My main inspiration for my designs were Gareth Pugh and Tainted Wool because they use a lot of over sizing to their best ability so I decided to use them in my designs.

In further posting I will show progression on my sketchbook and the collection that had inspired me with my designs.

Sampling denim - Threading styles and experimenting

click on the images to enlarge ^^^^  >>>

So we finished our last project and started sampling with some denim. I first started with some top stitching, edge stitching and quarter stitch as well as decorative stitch. I then moved on to making a placket as displayed ^^ as well as doing a zip sample.

After covering the basics again like I had done when starting the construction of the shirt, and experimenting with denim. I then moved on to experimenting with what I used as my theme, experimenting with floral embroidery and using different techniques.

I started off with embroidery thread, going from dark to light and then coming out with a method on how I could create a flower for my garment. I experimented with creating it from free hand to drawing it out using tailors chalk. In the end I thought that drawing the flowers and mapping it out using tailors chalk was better than free hand, I also experimented with creating a full flower as well as an outline. I then realised that it took me one hour to do a small full flour when it could take me the same amount of time to do an outline of three flowers. So maybe when it comes to the garment construction that I would use the outline of my chosen flower (pink carnation) rather than a full flower. With the outline I was also able to create smaller and larger flowers in that space of time.

With my embroidery placement  I decided to do a small sample of a pocket with a full flower (which took me an hour to do), I thought the out come for that was okay but it could have been way better then again it is a sample and not the official thing.

Next week is pattern cutting... should be interesting.