We started by looking at darts, which I found incredibly hard at the beginning as I couldn’t understand the steps but after having put this into practice it made sense and made it easier. It was also interesting creating and experimenting with my own darts. We then were taught how to do zips properly which was exciting as I had never been taught before. I liked the edge to edge zip as I didn’t realise how easy it was going to be, however the concealed was much neater but harder to do as you need a special zipper foot and to make sure its in perfectly.
The next thing we did was try out fullness and flair which I enjoyed as I liked how you could create so many different sleeves. I loved being taught all these things as I just couldn’t wait to try it out. The thing I found the hardest was the skirts because it was just so confusing but after it was explained I managed to do and when it came to making my pattern I found it easy. I enjoyed doing the sleeves the most as you could really play around and change it a lot and I felt confident in doing the sleeves but with the skirts I felt like I couldn’t really experiment.
We had to do eight designs over christmas and I found it weird designing from nothing with no starting point and I found my designs were much more basic but i was pleased with the design I decided to make. It was simple but I liked the idea of the dart going all the way from the shoulder to the skirt and the big puff sleeves were my favourite part.
We then made our blocks which was scary and complicated as it was scary making something we are going to use for three years. We had to use a lot of maths which i wasn’t expecting but I was satisfied when I finished it and then we begun to manipulate the block to make our individual patterns. I was so excited to start making my dress although the first thing we had to do was to do our lay plan, which was so important especially in the industry as the fabric can be so expensive. I also practiced my sleeve as this was the hardest point and I didn’t know if it would be too puffed but it turned out perfectly and I was happy. I didn’t manage to finish my dress on the day as I really struggled with meeting the princess dart up and the shoulder line and with the sleeve, for some reason I couldn’t get it to gather the sleeve properly which was weird as i was fine when I did it before. Therefore I finished my dress off at home and I was really pleased. However, now seeing it made I wish I had done a gathered tighter skirt instead of a more full floaty skirt as it would have fitting in with the puff sleeves more. I wish that I had maybe done a more interesting dart but I probably should have explored this more when first looking at darts. However, I feel that my design was good for me as i may have found it more difficult and not been able to do it but I could have done with more of a challenge. I feel that the bit I am most disappointed with is the facing as it wouldn’t fit right and did not join up right on the shoulders but it looks ok from the outside but it is annoying me that it isn’t right so next time I will ask for help and learn how to do it properly.
I really enjoyed looking at fabrics as it made it feel a bit more real as when you are working in calico it feels unfinished because it is only the toile.
I am really pleased with how I managed my time and am pleased with the look of my file as it is neat so I feel I will be able to go back and use it without getting confused. I absolutely loved this brief as I felt like I wouldn’t be able to achieve these tasks in such a small amount of time but I did and I really enjoyed learning how to pattern cut and making my own pattern and I felt like I did really well so it has given me confidence.
Today we showed our designs and decided on a final design and then made alterations and had to do a working drawing which i thought would be easy but it turned out it had to be so specific and i found it hard as my two teachers kept on telling me different things but after many tries i got there.
