Locating Unit Week 3

This week I have focused heavily on the Fashion, Form, Fabricate live brief. We have had three workshops this week, which have really helped to kick-start the project, but have also made me realise that I need to plan my time much more rigorously, so that I don’t run out of time for my self-initiated project and end up feeling behind.

The first thing we did was a collar workshop, where we took photos of shirts and drew the collars from loads of different angles to get a really comprehensive understanding of how a collar is made and attached to a shirt. This was a particularly useful task, as I have never done any kind of garment making or pattern cutting before. Drawing a shirt collar was way out of my comfort zone, but something I’m very glad to have had to do, as it’s a skill I can now take forward, not only for garment making, but also when drawing and analysing any object. I think the drawing took me quite a long time, as I wanted to make sure I got as many drawings as possible, and did the technical drawings accurately. In future, I would hope to be able to do this much more quickly and allow more time for my other project.
 

My shirt ready to be drawn.
 

The group feedback session we had, in which we analysed each other’s mood boards and talked about our characters was very critical but beneficial. It was particularly useful to see the characters that the third year students had developed. Whilst I had simply chosen a picture of Audrey Hepburn as my character, seeing how to build up a character, so that you have a clear and detailed idea of what they would wear was so important. I have now done more research into who I want to design for, and though more about their personality, likes and interests in order to have a deeper understanding of what I want to design.

Learning to use the 3D design software was great, because it is such an important skill to have to keep up with current design trends. I plan to explore the programme more over the next week, as I envisage my final neckpiece design being very sculptural and curved – I think 3D printing will lend itself to this type of outcome.

One of the hardest elements of the FFF task for me this week was the unpicking of the shirt collar to then trace and cut out of calico. I found this tricky because I have never done any kind of pattern cutting before, as was anxious not to make a mistake. However, having done it I think I was overly concerned with getting it extremely neat and perfect, when in reality; the seam allowance is there so you don’t have to be perfectly precise.

 

Pattern Cutting.
 

For my self-initiated project, this week I have moved out of my sketchbook and started doing A1 drawings. I have really enjoyed this as I like being able to be a bit messy and expressive, and the point of my project is to allow more movement into my drawings. Having spent a while confined to my sketchbook, I feel my first few drawings have been quite constrained still. Over the next week, however I will continue drawing large-scale to loosen up my style.

 

Starting to do more large-scale drawings with interesting mark-making tools.
 

I have also started to explore the paper design side of my project. I envisage my outcome as paper based, wallpaper designs. I have researched bespoke wallpaper and have been especially interested in the work of Tracy Kendall, whose tactile wallpaper designs are both practical and exciting. I have started stitching into paper and paper cutting which I will continue over the next few days. After I have created some 3D structures I will photograph them from different angles to explore light and shadow and hopefully get some interesting shapes for print designs.