Locating Unit Week 7

I started this week feeling anxious, as with two weeks left until the deadline, I was unsure how much time to give to each of my projects. I think that creating a detailed outline of what I needed to do before the last fortnight began would have helped me get off on the right track from the start. However, after a bit of agonising on Monday and Tuesday, I managed to get on top of things and at that point planned my remaining time so that I didn’t get overwhelmed. I began week 7 focusing on my Self-Initiated project, specifically understanding how to create repeat patterns so that I could make a screen to hand-print my wallpaper design. I found it hard to get my head a round how to make a repeat, but a workshop at the beginning of the week allowed me to practice the cut-through method which made the process much easier. In this project I have learned that for me to properly learn a technique I have to be able to watch someone do it and then practice it multiple times, so this is what I did for my repeat screen. Although it was a time-consuming process, it was valuable to completely understand it so that I can take it forward for future projects.

working on cut-through repeat designs.

Once I had done my screen I felt able to devote time to the FFF project. Having sketched out ideas for my collar I wanted to get mocking up and making versions out of fabric. I started by learning how to cut scalloped edges and layer them together and then made visualisations of the collar out of paper. Then I played around with how to attach these to a collar and stand. This was another thing which I couldn’t work out straight away and it took me a few attempts at constructing collars out of fabric to work out the best way to attach all the components. I realised that it will be important to establish what materials I want to use for the final collar soon, as I will need to practice with them a few times. When mocking up collars I often found that some fabrics were too thick to be double up, while others, like crepe de chine, were too thin and had to have interfacing. I want to use both sturdy and very lightweight fabrics on the final collar, as I’d like to achieve a contrast between sturdy tailoring and lightweight materials with lots of movement.

mocking up my collar design.

We had a seams workshop this week as well, which helped me to understand the importance of seams and how they can be incorporated into my collar. By simply making a collar, my design will automatically involve joining fabrics together, which constitutes a seam. However, it was interesting to learn some of the most important embroider seaming techniques, such as a French seam and Jeans seam. I have enjoyed getting a grounding in the basics of embroidery and dressmaking during this project, and I feel that having an understanding of French seams will help me when attempting embroidery projects in the future.

French seam.

It was exciting to finally be able to get some of my 3D samples printed this week. I got a button and some hoops printed which I plan to attach to my finished collar. Although they are very simple objects, they have helped me visualise my design much better. Also, just having actual 3D samples to incorporate into my collar is great because it’s not something I have ever used in my designs before. I am enjoying continuing to develop my 3D work on the Fusion 360 software, and even though I may not be able to get any more designs printed out before the deadline, I will be able to make visualisations of my designs digitally so that my ideas can still be seen, if not printed.

My 3D samples pinned onto one of my collars and a close up of my 3D button.

Working on digital wallpaper designs has also been a priority this week, along with continuing sketchbook work and mocking up as many collars as possible. In the final week, my aims are to get my screen-printed wallpaper printed and mounted, continue my digital designs and print them large scale, and to make my final FFF collar. If possible, I would like to try scanning my paper 3D forms. As usual the last week will also be dominated by visualisations and the seemingly never-ending task of mounting!