Live Project - The Making

We worked in groups during the making of our final garments. Below are a series of images that show the progress of the work leading up to my final garment being completed.

The top photo is of my group's samples, with my knit samples being in the centre. The other photos show the making of my embroidered fabric, with the bottom pictures in particular showing the construction of the dress. 

I really enjoyed making such big pieces of freehand embroidered fabric as I have only made small pieces previously. The knitted panels were made quite quickly. In the end I did not use a pattern to make my dress, instead I pinned the pieces of fabric onto the mannequin and sewed it from the measurements taken. It was not as easy as I had thought, sewing the stretchy knit to the silk embroidered panels, however I have learnt a lot from this project especially in terms of making the dress itself. I will definitely be combining embroidery into my future projects. 

Julian Roberts Dress for MOTHS

Here are photos of my final dress made for the Modelling on the Stand (MOTHS). To create this dress I used the Julian Roberts pattern cutting technique. I had previously tried this technique twice so I felt quite confident in making my final dress using it. Using the two fabrics for the dress was not an easy task as they were both light weight and difficult to handle. I tried to recreate the toile that I had made for the dress earlier in the project, however it did not work well with the lighter fabric so I changed and adapted my approach. I played around with different pieces, pinning them in different places, until I was happy with the result. 

Overall I am really happy with how this project has gone and how my final dress has turned out. It was good to try new techniques and to work outside of my comfort zone.

Drawing on the bodice pattern.

Cutting out the dress.

All of the fabric removed.

Me holding the shoulder seams together, before anything was sewn. 

The back view of my complete dress. 

The front view of my completed dress.

Close up of the hand sewn gather. 

Close up of the invisible zip.

Julian Roberts Toile for MOTHS

For my final garment for the Modelling on the Stand project (MOTHS) I made a toile. Below are a series of photos that show some of the stages of this process.

I used the Julian Roberts pattern cutting technique to construct my garment. I experimented with two fabrics of different weights that were slightly different colours so that I could see how it might work in my final garment. The photos that I have taken during the process will help me to recreate the bottom half of the garment when I come to make the final dress as this section has no set paper pattern. 

 

Fashion & Textiles Instagram Account

I have created a new Instagram account that will highlight some of my fashion and textiles work. It will act as a portfolio for my work that can be instantly accessed online. Below are some preview screenshots of the account featuring a selection of my work.

Sam

                   

MOTHS Workshop 4 - Julian Roberts

The fourth MOTHS workshop was the last of the sessions for this project. This workshop was given by a third year student who had particularly enjoyed this part of the project last year. The workshop covered a technique called Subtraction Cutting which was found by pattern cutter Julian Roberts. Initially I found the concept quite hard to get my head around but I was reassured that it would click eventually.

The process was: We had two metres of fabric cut in half which we sewed together to make a bag. We laid the bag flat on the table and drew out two bodice blocks at random points on the fabric, marking the darts too. We then drew a line connecting the bodice blocks together. Next we had to cut in to the top layer of the bag to cut out the shape of the lines that we had marked on, cutting around the bodice blocks too. After this was cut we sewed the darts into the bodice and then the shoulder seams together. It was at this point that I began to understand how this technique works. I pulled the dress up and could see how it was going to take shape. The next part was sewing the rest together however you liked to make the final dress. This is the technique that I have decided to use to make my final dress for this project.

All of our dresses that came out of the workshop. (mine's the one in the middle)

MOTHS Workshop 3

During the third MOTHS workshop we worked from a selection of handouts and chose a technique that we wanted to try. I chose to try the knot technique. This was easier than I initially thought that it might be so I decided to test the technique in three different types of fabric to see what the results would be. Below are some photos of the results.

Sam

MOTHS Workshop 2

For the second MOTHS workshop we learnt how to formally model on the stand. Firstly we had to mark out the essential lines using designer tape as shown below.

The next step was to get a piece of calico and pin it to the mannequin along all of the essential lines. We then pinned where the darts would be positioned. We did this for both the front and back. After all of the darts were pinned and the calico fitted the model perfectly, we then used tailor's chalk and marked along all of the essential lines and darts. After doing this it was then ready to be unpinned. When laid out flat onto pattern paper all of the markings can be traced off to make the pattern for the fitted bodice shape which can then used to make a perfectly fitted garment.