Knit, purl and stitch

My shirt is finished!

Shirt on its own:

And the accessory:

I started work on the final shirt using the white shirting cotton we had all been provided with. The big break through however was making my own cover buttons.

I started by transfering my origami paper onto white cotton using Dylons image transfer paper (4 sheets for over £4 - apparently Tesco do a much cheaper version). This involved photocopying the image onto the transfer paper and then ironing the image onto the cloth for 5 minutes. The final cloth had an oil cloth finish and was really accurate although the pink did come out as more of an orange/red.

I then used a button kit that I had bought on ebay and followed the tutorial provided on the Purl Bee here. The kit included a couple of widgets that pushed the fabric around the button and ending up stretching the fabric round the button itself. This resulted in by far the best finish (people asked me where I had bought the finished buttons from!). I also needed some larger buttons and ended up using a different kit that involved doing a running stitch around the edge of the button and then pulling this tight. The buttons looked good from a distance but were not quite so smart close up.

I am really inspired by this technique and can’t wait to experiment with some other designs - perhaps using prints of insects, text or lettering to spell out messages…

No rest for the wicked. Having handed in the dress designs straight back to the shirt project. Feel like I made a big break through this week as I got my toile finished. Here it is:

My design includes a very prim peter pan collar and long bishop sleeves with lots of gathering at the cuff. The idea is that the bottom of the sleeve will hang over the cuff creating a very distinctive sleeve.

I then started experimenting with how to arrange my origami flower accessories:

And more flowers:

And all of the flowers:

At the moment I am thinking that an asymmetric arrangement will work best. I may also look at reducing the size of the largest origami flower as it just seems a bit too overpowering.

After a busy weekend I have now finished my 4 A3 presentation boards for the talk on Wednesday presenting my designs for a dress for Harvey Nichols Autumn/Winter 08/09.

Mood-board and samples:

Designs:

And Final design…

Just need to get the PowerPoint presentation focusing on the design process together and we’re on the home run.

My design process for designing the dress is based on looking at key trends for Winter 08

• Ruffle
• Pussy bow

Once I had the basic designs I scanned these and my fabric samples into my computer. This allowed me to explore different combinations and select the strongest designs.

Design 1:

Designs 2 & 3:

Designs 4 & 5:

Design 6:

I have been sampling like mad for the dress design for Harvey Nichols. My samples have been based on the patterns I have developed by playing with cropping and repeats of the photos I took of signs across the college campus:

We have been asked to explore a wide range of techniques. I have explored the following:

1. Printing using stencil & opaque ink
2. Printing using screen printing & opaque ink
3. Aqua suede applied using stencil and heat press for 1 minute
4. Foiling using bonda web
5. Foiling using adhesive applied through stencil
6. Flocking using bondaweb
7. Flocking using adhesive applied through stencil
8. Appliqué using bonda web
9. Machine embroidery and printing
10. Reverse appliqué

Some of the most successful techniques included flocking and printing with aqua suede printing ink.

Purple aqua suede:

Stencil printing:

Here are some of the samples which have been mounted in my sketchbook:

Over the last two weeks we have been finalising designs for our shirts and pattern cutting. I have gone for a very prim and simple shirt with peter pan collar and bishop sleeves. My accessory of the origami flowers will then sit on top - probably buttoned onto a detachable bib/tie. Photos to follow shortly.

On the design side of things here are some of my sketchbook designs in progress…

Shirt with reversible pussy style bow:

Oversized handkerchief bow detail:

Bias binding edging using print inspired from origami papers:

Shirt with origami flower accessory/boa:

As part of our professional practice unit, we also have a visit from Chloe and Mhairi at bebaroque. bebaroque design and make gorgeous printed and embroidered tights:

I was really inspired by them both and hearing them made the whole idea of having my own business a little less abstract and scary!

One of the key pieces of work that we need to complete this term is the graded unit. This project is to be completed in our own time as part of a self directed project to design a dress for Harvey Nichols.

I have made a start by researching a potential customer group (The Yummy Mummy) and looking at relevent designers and artists based on brands stocked by Harvey Nichols and designers that relate to the trend of Vigour.

See by Chloe:

 Pattern with Eley Kishimoto, Vivienne Westwood, Dolce and Gabbana and Moschino:

 Celia Birtwell and Chloe Sevigny:

 Orla Kiely, Totty Rocks and Concrete Wardrobe:

My favourite designer - Odd Molly:

Cath Kidston and Antoni & Alison:

Irish Avoca Anthology and Whistles:

Artist Julian Opie and photos of the Telford campus:

All of which will lead to my mood-board and designs for the dress.

This was a week to finish and finalise our shirt and accessory designs. I really got into my flow when I started experimenting with the origami flowers for my accessory.

I started off with a basic flower using white cotton shirting fabric backed with heavy duty vilene.

And going back to the original inspiration I tried using some super sized dollars - first in paper:

And then in fabric (using white spirit under the heat press):

Experimenting with different sizes and creating a scarf/ruffle:

And unable to resist gathering all the flowers together… Chelsea flower show?

 Really pleased with how these have turned out and all the possibilities of combining them - over sized corsages, ruffles, scarfs, boa…

Just back from wonderful trip to Barcelona having found super cheap flights direct from Edinburgh on Globespan. Barcelona was impressive for a large number of reasons including:

Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia

Attention to detail and knowing how to capture interest with a magic square where all rows add up to 33 at the entrance:

Other Gaudi buildings…

Mosaics…

Beautiful tiles…

And not forgetting the food markets…

The vibrant colours and rich decoration were also complemented by wonderful examples of combining new and old architecture.