Final Garment

After sewing the lining to the main body of the dress and general fraying of the fabric, my garment became too tight for the size 12 mannequin just above the waist. The following photographs are taken on a size 10 mannequin, which was slightly too small around the bust, however I am very pleased with my final piece. The garment is almost identical to my sketch and I feel it has been created in a professional way with a high quality, clean finish.
 

Snow inspired sketch

Just a random illustration from my sketchbook especially for the snow

Building up the layers

After wrestling with the net and stitching eight extra layers of gathered net in short widths to lift the longer layers around the middle of the dress, managed to create a silhouette that resembled my original design.

 

The weight of the organza caused the net layers to drop and distort the silhouette so that the bottom layers are hidden.



 















To lift the net and organza I again stitched short, gathered lengths of net in between each piece to lift layers. Finally I trimmed the fabric to create my desired silhouette.

The delicate nature of the fabric I have used, the amount of handling needed during construction and the unfinished edges did mean that the thinnest layers became over frayed and did need to be replaced.

Spacing of the net layers

I am really pleased that my dress is beginning to come together. This photograph is when the layers of net are 2cm apart. I have now altered them to be 3cm apart which makes each layer stand out more instead of drooping down. Unfortunately, due to the tundra outside college, I was not able to get as much done as I wanted to today! Fingers crossed for a full day tomorrow!

because I do love snow..

Final Garment Creation Continued

A little update on the development of my dress. The lining needs to be stitched to the main fabric of the dress so I apologise for the untidyness of the edges. This is a 'before' photograph of the skirt before all the layers of net are attatched and before it has been stitched to the lining to create a full dress.





There are fifteen seperate pattern pieces for each layer, which will be cut from white net, silver organza, grey organza and grey crystal organza in multiples of three and four. I have started placing the layers 2cm apart in the length of 30cm. This will allow me to see how the net will sit and if the spacing is correct. Then I can work out how many layers of fabric I will need inbetween to create a structured silhouette.

Final Garment Creation

I am really pleased with how my duchess satin corset with piping detail has turned out. The fabric matches perfectly with my theme. I did have some problems with the piping down the centre and front seams due to the fabric slipping slightly and making the cup seams un-align, however after a few attempts and a bit of help help they now look professional and of a high quality.

Toile Creation Continued and Portfolio Development

My final toile with one layer of net to see how it will be stitched onto the main body of the dress. Some layers of the net and organza will be creased and crumpled to add more volume. The fabric for the corset top and for the joined skirt will be in a silver/grey duchesse satin. The layers will be of a white and grey net, grey crystal organza, a light grey organza and a silver organza.

The research page of my portfolio, looking at the 'Swan Lake' story, the natural swan form, traditional costumes from the ballet and atmospheric imagery.

 

 

This is another research page, similar to the first but looking at traditional ballet silhouette, modern design and an abstract, atmospheric images and 3D details.

 

These are a few of my initial thumbnails, based upon my chosen 'Swan Lake' theme. I started my designs by sketching the way evening wear looks to me, then by taking influences from my research to develop my silhouette and to add details that relate to my theme.

 This is my fabric research page. I have added a silhouette idea and styling illustration help connect the images.

This is my fabric page. I have created small samples with lengths of fabric to give my pages more depth. I have added a styling illustration to make the pages relate and an abstract image to create atmosphere.

 

This is an illustration of my final garment and another design with some fabric samples to show colour.

Paloma Faith supported by Eliza Doolittle

Saturday 30th October 2010
Paloma Faith, supported by Eliza Doolittle live at the City Hall, Newcastle. Paloma Faith known for her eccentric fashion sense, flaming red hair and chart topping songs; 'Upside down', 'New York', 'Stone Cold Sober' and 'Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful', gave a fantastic performance. Her version of David Guetta's 'Sexy Chic', 'Sexy Minx' was a superb tribute to women. Her new song 'Me and My Cellulite' was humorous and brilliantly written and had the crowd clapping and singing along. Her stage prescence was throughly entertaining and her dialogue was hilerious. If this gig was anything to go by, I cannot wait for her new album! Her first outfit was a teal blue satin evening dress with meters of gorgeous fabric below the mid thigh. A heavily embellished corset and shoulder details and chinsese fan inspired Victoria Secret catwalkesque wings with cut-out detailed edging really made her stand out from her set that would have looked quite at home in an Alice and Wonderland novel. I must mention her gorgeous Bordello Teeze glittery blue platform shoes worn with a blue satin ribbon. Words cannot describe.





Eliza Doolittle is going far!Her high waisted patterned mini skirt and simple cropped white tee with a split back teamed with high top retro trainers created a cute and quirky outfit that matched her song style. She was entertaining and popular with the crowd which was of all ages, from girls and their mams to couples in their 60's. Her uplifting summer style is definately going to be huge in 2011.

Toile Creation Continued

This is a first draft of the beginnings of a corset style, made from scratch, for the top half of my dress.

After stitching the pieces together I have marked out where the cup needs to go. Upon reflection the cups do need to be altered. I have also noticed that the measurements are slightly off at the bottom and the seperate panels do not match up to create a smooth curve.

My first attempt at making the cups. The whole toile needs to be altered slightly to make it a tighter, more tailored fit. I tried the toile on a real person and found out that the cups need to be higher and I also need to add 2cm onto the top to cover the whole bust.

 

I have altered the pattern to make it more fitted. I have also altered the cup position, added extra fabric to the top of the cups and to the bottom of the two side front panels.

Toile Creation

I have created a small scale toile using duchesse satin and several layers of net and organza to give an idea of what the layers will look like. I then decided to make a pattern and create full circles so that I can work out what size the diameter of each inner and outer circle needs to be.

I used a simple equation to work out the size of each segment to create a full scale circle template.


The layers are alternated net and organza so that it created a more stable silhouette.

















I found that by folding the net below and stitching it allowed it to stand out more. The following layers are folded and stitched below the first.











The layers need to be cut and shaped into the ball silhouette but other than that I am happy with the way the piece has turned out. In the full sized dress, there will be more layers to create an impact.









The colour will differ from the toile; I am going to use white, silver and grey net, organza and crystal organza to compliment the swan theme.

Sketchbook development

This is just a little research on designer Anh Mao, who I am currently working with at college through a work based project. This page needs a little more work.








This is a double page giving a brief history of Haute Couture, which I have highlighted with sketches, flats and close up drawings of the fabric.

This page is part of the Marchesa s/s 2011 collection. I love the laser cut techniques used in some of the garments which adds a modern twist to the lace trend which will be revived this spring/summer.












This is a work in progress page looking into the upcoming trends in spring/summer 2011. I have looked at 'sheer' and 'lace', sketching some closeup details and creating fabric samples using varying shades of organza.

My theme is Swan Lake. I am taking influences from traditional ballet costumes, the natural silhouette of a swan, and the colours and the shapes of water.

This is a small sketch in my note book of a silhouette and make up idea for my collection. I want to create an evening dress that has  aspects of a traditional ballet silhouette but with my own modern twist.