8. Eighth Week

8.1 Labels and Swingtags

The final label idea (top right)

We continued to make labels and swingtags between us. Rachel and Eryn were in this week so they worked on ideas for the labels. Bobbi printed her label idea onto iron on paper in order to put it on the garments and over the Easter Holidays Noor sent over a great swingtag idea.

Noor's Swingtag idea to be used in final garment

8.2 Photographing the Garments

We had arranged to take photos of our garments later on in the week but some of the members of the group went to the fashion show that was being held in our student space so it'll have to wait until we go back. We'll need to go in early to get the photographs before we have to hand it all in.

8.3 Finishing off

This week was really all about finishing off the project as well as the time given during the Easter Break. The blog posts are all being saved during our Easter Break so they can be published in order. Bobbi still had to finish her garment with the fine overlocker. Our lecturer was really great in changing the colour over from white to black although over the course of the class she had to change it back and forth at least five times.

We have to present our projects when we go back in individual A4 folders with everything that we have done over the course of the project.

Thoughts for Final Week and Easter Break

Bobbi: I have really enjoyed this project even if I have got panicked over deadlines and stressed that we all won't get it done in time but I have really enjoyed working with the others and I think I have found something I really enjoy doing. The others have been so nice and are a pleasure to work with and I would gladly work with them again. I enjoyed putting together the blog and documenting each stage of the design process with both words and pictures.

Noor: It has been great working with everyone in the group! I feel I have learnt so much which will be very useful for me in the future. I enjoyed designing and creating the collar and have gained useful skills throughout this project.

The Garments

Noor's final garment modeled by our friend Chloe

Bobbi's final garment modeled by our friend Chloe

Rachel's final garment modeled by Rachel herself

7. Seventh Week

7.1 Making the Label

At the start of the Seventh week we were given the task of making our own swingtags and labels for our garments. We started by thinking about our name and the different ways we could write it both on the sewing machine and on the computer. 

Bobbi started making her swingtag design on the computer while Noor looked at machine embroidery and Nicola started experimenting with inking the fabric  to create the labels and swing tags.  

Noor looked at using the zigzag stitch around the edges of the tag and experiment with dying the fabric with ink and working back into it with white machine thread.


Nicola worked into hers with ink, Experimenting with using two colours and offsetting the design then creating the same effect with machine embroidery.

Bobbi took the name into photoshop and played around with fonts and gradients to create the swingtags and labels.

7.2 Starting the Blog 

At the beginning of the project we were told we had to write up a blog. Our lecturers were taking us out in groups to show us how blogging worked and how we could start our own blogs. However both Nicola and Bobbi already had blogs and knew how they worked. Bobbi had her laptop in and started to look at different templates and such for the blog and set up a google account which the whole group could access. She also made up a plan so that each section of the blog was planned out and we could spilt the writng of the blog easily between them.

7.3 Thoughts Overall about Garments 

Bobbi: I like how the garments turned out especially Noor’s embroidery. I think that the garment really work as a collection now and I’m proud of how they turned out.

7.4 Thoughts for Seventh Week

Bobbi: I'm nervous about getting everything done on time but am looking forward to writing up the blog.

Noor: I really think that everyone has done a good job on their collars, they all look great! Its really exciting to be writing up the blog.

6. Sixth Week

 6.1 Making the Garment 2

This week we were given time to finish making the garment this week. We all managed to get our garments finished except Bobbi who has to wait on the fine overlocker. Our finished garments work as a collection.

6.2 Costings

We also worked out our costing for the project. They all totalled to under budget but the predicted cost that our garments would be were huge. We were all really surprised.

6.3 Ideas for photographing final design

We have thought about where to photograph our neckpieces and as the theme is gothic we thought we would photograph them in the cemetery next to the college.

6.4 Thoughts about Sixth Week

Bobbi: The deadline last week really panicked me as I didn’t think I would be able to finish the project in time but this week has calmed everything down.

Noor: We were able to complete all the collars on time. I feel everyone did good and worked great as a team!

5. Fifth Week

5.1   Production of Individual Collar Piece

The aim of today’s class was to produce a collar piece in the space of our four hour class. None of the groups managed to stick to the time constrainst and so we will have to finish it next week.

The previous classes of thumb nailing and sampling helped us do this. 

Rachel

Rachel began cutting her collar shape which consisted of four panels one of these panels where inked up with black ink and cut into where as the rest of the panels where made with black cotton and had beading embellishment separating the panels, She also added lace detailing to the neck of my collar piece as well as hand painting and machine embroidering onto one of the panels. 

Eryn

Eryn went on to hand paint onto her black collar piece with white fabric paint as well as adding embellishments such as lace and beading. 

Noor

Noor went on to machine embroider into her black collar piece in great detailing to finish her collar piece off she added beading as well as lace trimmings around the edge of her collar piece. 

Bobbi

Bobbi designed a smaller collar piece that she had drawn straight on to with black pen as well as adding beading as an embellishment, to tie in with the rest of the collection she added black material to the back of her collar piece to make it larger as well as adding lace trimmings to the edges. 

Nicola

Nicola’s collar design was similar to Bobbi’s with the collar piece been drawn onto as well as beading embellishment. During the production stage the group would stop and discuss what designs are working and forming a collection, when we realised a few of the shirts weren’t working together as a collection we would discuss how we would sort the problem such as adding more embellishment such as lace and beading. 

We also got to look around the other groups to see their collections.

5.2 Thoughts for Week Five

Bobbi: My collar didn't really work as part of a collection with the others and I was disappointed that we didnt manage to get the collars finished by the end of class. The other's collars look really good. It was interesting to look around the other groups collars and see which ones worked and which ones didn't. 

Noor: I feel everyone created great collars and overall I'm happy with my collar design.

4. Fourth Week

4.1 Sampling

The aim for today was for each of us to create two fabric samples before we designed our final collar, last week we had narrowed down what techniques we were planning to use – this stage of the design process turned out to be very effective as we were able to see what techniques worked best.

Noor was off ill this week and so did her samples at home.

Rachel and Eryn began to incorporate cutwork into our samples however, the problem we had was that the fabric began to fray and rip, to prevent this from happening again Rachel fused her fabric which solved the problem.

Nicola also used cutwork into her first sample and then drew a very detailed pattern straight onto her fabric.

Eryn decided not to continue to cut into my sample – Eryn thought drawing onto the fabric was a really effective technique even though it was simple, so Eryn decided to use this as well.

Embellishing beads and pearls was a factor that each of us used in our samples, Bobbi embellished her sample quite heavily and was advised to draw onto her sample as well this created a connection between her sample, Nicolas and Eryns. As a group we laid our samples on the table, we were able to critique each other.

4.2 Thoughts for Fourth Week

Eryn: I think the sampling stage was tackled well by everyone even though some of us didn’t get to finish them this week.

Bobbi:  I enjoyed sampling even though I still have one to do. I think I'll do a crochet sample next.

Noor: Even though I was absent this week I still managed to catch up! I feel everyone did well with this task.

3. Third Week

3.1 Thumbnails

This week we started our thumbnails. Rachel wasn’t in but Noor, Nicola, Eryn and Bobbi all started drawing out ideas for our final designs. It was tough to come up with designs but we decided between our designs on what we would do for our final pieces. We did this by passing around all of our designs and ticking our top two designs that we wanted each other to take forward. We felt this would be a good way of insuring our designs formed a cohesive collection.

3.2 Dazed Dorothy

Dazed Dorothy is the name of the company owned by one of our lecturers. She gave us a talk this week on how to start our own business as she had started her business, making leather bags, from scratch. She also used to do the course we are doing whie at the same college as we go to and she now lectures at.


3.3 Collection of Materials

Wool and Chain

Beads

We also brought in the materials that we had planned to bring in last week. There was wool, pearls, lace trimming, feathers and many other things. This really helped us when it came to designing our thumbnails.


3.4 Thoughts about Third Week


Bobbi: I found it slightly challenging to come up with lots of ideas that would form a collection with the other and I’m not totally convinced that my piece adds into a collection but I trust in my team’s judgement.

Noor: I feel we overall produced great collar designs and hopefuuy they will look like a good collection.

2. Second Week

Mood Board

2.1 Mood Board:

At the start of the second week we prepared the mood board. Each member of the groups brought in six relevant images relating to the theme of luxe and the Gothic and elegant style.
We all contributed well and successfully produced a clear mood board. We were all able to agree very quickly with the design ideas, trends and materials we liked. As a group we worked very well together and finalised the style that we were going to aim for.


2.2 Presentation and Preparation:

Our Colour Palette

After we completed our mood board we were told to do a presentation front of the whole year. At first it was not what we were expecting and it felt like a huge challenge for us. Nevertheless we quickly gathered as a group and spoke about how we felt about the sudden presentation task. Due to our good team working skills we were able to quickly sort out the different things everyone in the group was going to talk about.

As a group we were able to talk about the colour palette, the materials, plans, design ideas and costing as well as the budget. At first it was difficult to choose who was going to talk for the presentation, therefore we all contributed and successfully presented our plans and ideas to other teams.

Later before everyone left to research and buy materials, we planned and created a list of materials we were going to use to make the collar.

Due to good communication and good team working skills we were able to organise everything before we began to design.


Thoughts about the Theme and Style:

Noor: I feel we have chosen a strong, elegant yet Gothic style. There is so much we can do with this theme and hopefully create bold and exciting collars.

Bobbi: Although I wasn't sold on the gothic theme last week with our images and our plans to bring this forward I am confident that we will do well in designing our collars.

Thoughts For Second Week

Noor: I feel everything went well - overall we worked great together as team!

Bobbi: I am feeling very good about this week and I think if we stay this organised we should do really well.