OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
I decided that I wanted to create a floral print on my shirt so I went out to take photographs to get some inspiration. I collected images of a range of flowers of different colours and shapes.
FLOWERS
I took three books out of the library to help me with my research. The first one was on Print Design so I could learn how to create and develop a print and the different ways I could apply it to fabric. This taught me a lot about the way colours go together and the combination of prints. It was mainly on floral prints so this was perfect for what I wanted to do. The second was an Yves Saint Laurent book for design inspiration on a mix of styles and illustrations. This book also had many hand drawn unique sketches in it. And the other one was on technical drawings to help me improve my drawing and understand how to do it better. This one turned out most useful as I needed a lot of help and advice when it came to drawing the figure, especially technical flats.
NEON LIGHTS
After looking at the spider diagram I created based on the brief ‘Light’ I decided that my favourite idea was ‘neon lights’ (in this instance I took the brief very literal). I gathered some photographs from the internet that I liked best and made a moodboard. I feel as though the bright colours and patterns in these images this could definitely appeal to a younger audience which are Supreme’s target market. My designs are quite simplistic but I focused more on the print rather the shapes and style of the outfits. I based these around ideas the research I had done into current male sportswear trends.
Today I handed in my final piece. I’m very happy with what I created and I’m looking forward to the next project.
This page was taken from my portfolio and refers to the making of my dress.
MOODBOARD
These two pages were taken from my portfolio and show some of the images that inspired my designs throughout the project and the ideas that lead me to my final piece.
FINAL PIECE
I captured these photographs of my completed dress with architecture in the background to reiterate my theme. Therefore, someone who may not know what my brief is could look at these images and have a good guess. I hope that my photographs intrigue the viewer and urge them to notice what inspired my design; particularly in the shapes and patterns. I believe this thinking process makes these photos even more exciting to look at.
TOILE
Now that I have finalised my design I’m able to start making my dress. But first I must make it out of calico to work out the shape and to ensure I don’t make any mistakes on the real fabric.
CIMENT PLEATING
Today, Matthew Weinert the managing director of Ciment Pleating came in to speak to us. Ciment pleating opened in 1925, making it the oldest pleating firm in the UK. The business may only consist of a small team but what they have accomplished is amazing! They are Number 1 in the country and export their services to Europe and the rest of the world; they have even done commissions for Queen Elizabeth, Lady Gaga, and a well-known television series called Game of Thrones.
Matthew brought in a variety of pleat samples on a range of a different fabrics and a couple of their unique cardboard molds. I never knew so many pleats existed! Using one of these molds he demonstrated the process of how they create the pleats but on a smaller scale:
- The fabric is sandwiched between two pieces of identical mold which is then folded and rolled up tight
- For the fabric to set into the desired shape it needs to be heated. This would usually be put into a steam cabinet but for this demonstration Matthew used an iron
- Once it had cooled down it was removed from the mold and we got to see the pleated fabric
Now I know the process I’d really like to try and create my own mold to achieve pleats like the ones I saw today.
EXPERIMENTATION
To get some further inspiration for my designs I started to experiment with felt. I wanted to find out how it works and moves as I haven’t worked with this material before and I plan to create my dress out of it. I used a small mannequin for this as I didn’t want to waste too much fabric. I tried recreating some sketches to see how they looked in 3D rather than flat on the page and I found this a lot more helpful than I thought I would.
MEGAN PRESTON 