Shirt & Silhouette

Photos taken by Jasmine Wickens. All rights reserved. 

These photos were taken by Jasmine from my class, these photos were taken for a look book that we had to create. I'll show you the full look book, when its finished.

Designed and created with my own to hands! 

/Hannah

Behind The Scene

 (Photos taken by me)

Here are some behind the scene shoots for the photo shoot we were doing for the Shirt and Silhouette project. We were asked to come together as a class/group to create this look book to showcase our shirts. We decided that we wanted an outside location rather than using a studio, but we still wanted something neutral, so it didn't overpower the white shirts. 

An underground carpark was suggested and we just fell in love with these concrete walls! 

Stick around to see the final result. 

/Hannah

Preparing Myself Mentally

After the second fitting it was time to pull myself together, double check my fabric samples, be sure of my decision of material, taking in the advise of Paul and Aya. Wanting to use two different fabrics, deciding which fabric should be used where - and then there's the buttons... and even though the fabric had to be white cotton and the buttons had to be white as well, there is still surprisingly a wide range of choice, when trotting around the shops of London. 

See you on the other side! 

/Hannah

Second Fitting

Admittedly I have been of the earth the last month, everything has been crazy busy and the blog has been neglected to beyond belief. But I have lots of stuff to share with you now. 

I had my second fitting on the December 3rd! This is the third sample of this shirt, as my second sample got ripped to pieces (not literally) by Paul (design tutor), so 3 days before having this fitting I was cutting out my pattern pieces for my third toile. That put me on a trail, because I had no idea if I would be able to finish a shirt in that amount of time,  considering that I have other lessons to attend to, turned about that I just about could! Thank heavens for that!

It turned out to be worth the stress and hassle, as there were only one or two things that I needed to change, which were minor things! 

/Hannah

Fitting

Last Monday we had our first fitting. And thank God its called a fitting and it's only made out of calico (plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton) ! As I made some mistakes, as my dear tutors were so kind to point out with a red Sharpie pen! We had a short discussion about what I could improve on my design and ask the model if there were any points were it was too tight or if it felt uncomfortable, the cuff were a bit tight! Apparently I have tiny wrists, as I used their measurement to go after. 

We also discussed finishings and other details, that probably wont be anything to you unless you know about seams and pattern construction, so I wont bore you with that. 

The final thing will be made in white cotton - not my decision, just wanted to point that out. Of course the main focus of this project is the silhouette and not colour or detailing. Although I always think that detailing should be a high priority it is what differs a good outcome from a bad, also if it feels cheap or expensive. 

At the moment I've been working on my second toile (what the model is wearing is called a toile, you could also call it a prototype), I've already made tons of mistakes on that as well. Kind of wanted to rip it a part and burn it on Tuesday, but I refrained myself from doing so. 

Now I'm strongly considering making a third toile, which is a bit daring, as it has to be ready for Monday, not sure I'm going to make it! Wish me luck!

Any thoughts on the design?

/Hannah  

Creating New Shapes & Silhouettes

Apologies for the lame updates lately, been really busy working on the new addition to the blog! Feel free to check it out anytime and comment if you wish to, either ask or add something! 

On Monday I continued my work on the Shirt and Silhouette project, we were asked to create new shapes and silhouettes inspired by our research. All these paper experimentations were done on a half scale, it was both fun and challenging. It was fun to have a look around every now and again to see what my fellow students were working on. We all did something complete different, eventhough we have all to some extend been looking at the same things for our inspiration. Interesting how we all interpret things differently. 

Which "design" is you favourite? And which was is you least favourite? Remember to explain why! ;) 

/Hannah

First Day

My first day at Middlesex University. My first proper day with lectures and actual teaching, last week was a bit of an icebreaker project (the Treasure Trail in London). 

As I mentioned in the previous post we were also given our first project that actually counts for module points, it's called Shirt & Silhouette. 

Here's the introduction to the project: 

"The Silhouette of a garment or outfit is one of many aspects to fashion that you have to consider in your development to become a successful designer. This could be in relation to how a shoulder, a hip or any other area of the body could be remodelled to create a certain 'look'. 

Look at designers such as: Maison Martin Margiela, Comme Des Garcons, Viktor and Rold, Junya Watanabe, Gareth Pugh, Ann Demeulemeester, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Yohji Yamamoto... 

For this brief you should visit at least one of the buildings from the list of interesting architecture in and around London below. It is essential that you have initial research and responses to bring to your first design session during week one." 

I had a look at the Clapham Library, Lloyds Building, National Theatre and Serpentine Pavillon. Above are some of my research pages that I brought to my first design session today - I have about 20 pages that looks similar to these. 

So what did I think about my first day? 

I met at 2pm for my first design session (I have two on the same day), during my first session I got introduced to industrial sewing machines! Gosh, they are a bit agressive, it makes your heart race! We just went through some basic training with the sewing machine; how to thread it, sew straight lines and curved ones as well. 

Our technician was super sweet, bless her, she was a bit nervous and kept apologising for being a bit all over the place. 

During our second session we met up with Paul Rawson, he's our design lecturer. 

He's a bit of a funny one, you just don't know where you have him... Was kind of throwing the wibe of: 'I'm only here because I need the job' kind of thing. Didn't seem to bothered about given us much feedback on our work. 

Asked him if he was going to be honestly and blunt with us in the future, so we know realistically where we're standing. Paul said yes - no fussing about and just get straight to the point, apparently he's just easing us in the week, as its our first. We'll see... 

Tomorrow I don't have any lectures, but I'll be keeping myself busy for some more research for the project. Paul like collages and everything has to be printet out for each lesson, he wants to feel and touch and rip and cut. Nothing digital like I've been getting used to... I feel sorry for all the trees I'll be killing the next 3 years. 

Over and out.

/Hannah