Another school week

Again last week we were finishing off projects. I did another sample, this time doing a reverse applique sample which I really like. Even the photograph of it looks interesting with all the dark and light areas. With this sample I took a picture of it and put it on the computer. Before printing it I edited a bit and changed the contrast so I ended up with 3 slightly different pictures of the sample. With this I created 3 design ideas using the shapes I would see in the sample. I created 2 dresses and a coat. I think this could looks really nice as a pint on a garment. Going back to my native american project I was working on my headdress and totem pole page. For the totem pole page i did a painting on tracing paper, just to try another material. From this I did an applique sample. I cut out pieces of fabric which I had backed them with bond-a-web. I then placed them all in position and ironed it together. Some sections where fiddly to place but overall I think it worked really well. All over a garment I think this applique sample would be really fun. I also created a kaleidoscope-like pattern using a picture of the totem poles which I think works really well. I like the geometric look aswell as the earthy colours. Also Last week I did a page on Native American Headdress'. First I did a pen and water drawing which turned out really well. I then created a sample using feathers, feathered cut fabric and strips of fabric. I layered it all together and sewed it down. I like how it doesn't just look like the headdress but you can see how it was inspired by it. From the whole page I also did a design idea. 

Lasts Weeks continued pages

This blog post is for last weeks sketchbook pages that I completed. I was still in two projects, the 'fashion meets art' project as well as my research/native american project. As you can see I've been doing drawings, samples and designs. I've had fun making samples with metallic materials including angelina fibers (shiny fiber strands that fuse together when you iron them). Because my tutor wasn't in lessons last week we got another tutor to help us out. She showed us how to make a skirt pattern with darts from measurements. I know a bit about pattern cutting but drafting a proper block with darts is something I wanted to learn. With this we made a small scale skirt using the pattern. What I made didn't quite turn out how I wanted but I was pleased with it. Will show you what I got up to this week very soon.

Latest sketchbook pages

Last week I was adding pages to my 2 projects, making samples and doing drawings. I love how my dream catcher research page has come together. The dream catcher thread sample worked really well. Going back to my art meets fashion project I came up with a few sample looking at geometric shape and metallic colours.

The Art Meets Fashion Project

Project Brief: British Vogue has commissioned you as an up coming fashion/textile designer/practitioner to collaborate with a contemporary fine artist to create a fashion outcome. 

This week were given another project, using a contemporary (artist who is still alive) artist/artwork to influence a fashion outcome which could mean a drawing,sample or toile. We went to the tate modern to find some inspiration from some contemporary artists. The museum was filled with inspiring pieces but finding a piece but someone who was still alive was tricky. However when I did find a piece I did find myself very inspired. The pieces that I did find where very different from each other and appealed to me in different ways.  Some pieces where quite simple whilst others were very decorative. I only had a couple of hours to find pieces aswell as draw some of them. I like that I got an arrange of artwork, from pieces made from paper to lead.  The painted canvas by Gerhard Richter was really interesting, it wasn't the shape but his use of colour in his painting. To recreate this painting I used oil pastels and coloring pastels, if I have time I will try and recreate his paintings using acrylic paint. Another piece that I drew was by Susumu Koshimzu which was shaped piece of wood. It was interesting that looking down at it the shading and shapes changed slightly. I drew this using charcoal, I think it turned out really well. I think it would be interesting to try and get that pyramid shape using different materials. Zarina Hashmi showed me that you can have one piece directly on another. She drew ontop of a sheet with Arabic on it which was beautiful in itself. She didn't draw anything intricate but it just nicely added anther plane to the piece. My faveourite piece however was the mirror piece created by monir shahroudy farmanfarmaian. She had created a mosaic using different shape mosaic pieces. There was something about it that I just loved. This has already inspired my to not only look at mirror but also geometric patterns. The visit to the tate museum was really inspiring and I cant wait to get me ideas/samples down. 

comment below if you wish to know the artist of one of the pieces

Independent Primary/Secondary Research Project

The brief for our next project was so find a place where you feel inspired and collect research to develop into ideas for our sketchbooks. I'd always been inspired by the Native Americans, the way they'd use natural resources to make clothes, jewellery and their equipment to hunt or cook. I looked for exhibits/collections in the London and saw the British History Museum had a collection on Native American which was great. I went around taking pictures and doing a few sketches. One thing I noticed at the museum was that there was alot of decoration in the things they made. It was interesting to read how they would make beads from shells, stones, wood and many other resources that they could find. Beading/Embroidery was an art form, a way to express their american culture. I like their colours, because they used what they could find they were limited but the brown/red tones were really inspiring. Their use of decoration has really inspired my to try their techniques of beading/embroidery/weaving/pottery etc. I found the whole room inspiring but what I loved most and cant wait to develop is their use of pattern in rugs and pottery. They use only geometric shapes quite similar to aztec and even islamic patterns. There was lots to see from pots to clothes and jewellery. This has really got me in the mode to do more research into this beautiful culture. It will be interesting to see not how they did things but what the meaning was to what they did. It makes me wonder if the same methods of doing things are the same nowadays or if they change it because they have more resources to use.

Shoe Project

  

Alexanda Mcqeen  - Jantaminiau    -     Blumarine     -    Van Herpen    -        Prada            -     Philip Treacy  -         Guo Pei

This Week in school we had an exciting project to decorate an old shoe.We looked at some shoes by famous designers which were very inspiring. I love the shoes designed by Alexander Mcqueen, it's decorated with texture and has a fantasy- like feel to it. As well as the actual shoe designers manipulate the heel of the shoe to create an interesting shape. To get more inspired I took to the internet looking for some decorative/crazy designs. There were so many shoe designs which were extraordinary, most which were used for art rather than practicality. After walking up Camden high street I found a decent pair for just £5. I really wanted to fill my shoe with something decorative and different. I came up with a garden inspired shoe. I found a nice picture of a garden with lots of colour and some elements that I wanted to develop into my shoe. I liked the look of the paving stone so I added that to my design, keeping it at the base of the shoe to give it that garden look. The vines covered in leaves and flowers looked really pretty, to bring it to my shoe I thought I'd have it wrapped around the shoe coming out at some places. To finish my design I added some flowers and bugs. I thought I'd be interesting to have a few textures/materials to experiment with. For the paving stone section I used paint which was quite fun. We didn't have black so instead I used purple paint to add a bit of a tint and I think that worked better. I used wire and green craft foam to create the entwining vines around the shoe. The parts where is comes away from the heel really gives it that look. At home using polymer clay I made a few bugs, I found this really fun I love how they turned out. To cover the shoe I cut out bits of paper sting which I found in a drawer. It really gives the look of grass, the texture also feels almost like grass. I used a glue gun to stick it down which was good because it dried fast. It also meant I had to work fast which was fiddly because I would have to hold a couple of pieces of the strands. Again I used a glue gun to secure my bugs In place. Unfortunately I didn't finish covering the shoes, however what I did so far im please with. To add more colour I would add some paper flowers around the shoe. Overall I really enjoyed this project, It was more creative and adventurous than previous projects. My next steps would be to design a garment that would go with this. 

Developing, Pockets and a Seam

I tried to come up with a catchier title but that was basically what we did this week rather than doing a week project. Last week we deconstructed/reconstructed a garment, at the beginning of this week we developed that garment idea. First we were told to draw what we had created from all angles. I used pencil and biro pen to draw my garment which I thinks looks really nice and defines the elements of my dress. The next step was to develop a small collection from our original garment we made. The elements of the dress that I kept was the frills, the piping (lines) and the black strip on the hem. I played around with the frilly strap, making it lager, having it go around one arm and changing the actual shape. I liked the defining feature of the lines so I added more of this detail to some of the pieces I designed. To develop my collection more I designed a playsuit which is really fun and cute. My favorite design is the one in the middle, because it uses two garments with the top layer being sheer. Another way of presenting my dress in my sketchbook was by collage. I had never done a collage for a garment before so I found this technique quite fun. I quite like how free and creative this looks, I may use it again in my sketchbooks.

After we had done that we looked at pockets which was interesting because that's something I hadn't been taught to do before. The first (top left) was pretty simple, it was a matter of cutting out a shape and stitching it down. The 2nd (bottom left) pocket had a flap which was trickier because I had to line the flap to finish it off. Rather that using the instructions I just looked at it and went along with what I thought I had to do and it worked very well. The last pocket I did was by far the trickiest. This one I had to plan on paper before I cut it out of calico. This one had a few folds and creases, making it fiddly to sew at times. For my first attempt I think I have done a very good job. The middle of the pocket opens up a bit so it would be interesting to see the effect of another fabric under it. We also learnt how to do a french seam which is a seam encased it another seam. This is used when using chiffon or any cheer fabric so the fabric doesn't fray and looks neater because you can see through it. This took a bit of time but it was easy to do. To finish off my sample I added some bias binding along the edge and this is to stop fraying and also give it a professional finish which I think looks nice.