FINALY FINISHED

I produced a garment, print and textile samples based around the idea of obesity. I explored a range of textile techniques, experimenting with different materials and created a range of prints. I also designed a final line up with flats and made one of my garments.  

I mostly used my blog as I used it as if I was writing a dairy and used it to describe what I did on each day with the good and bad parts of the day. It’s a way for me to be reflective and help me keep to my time plan to ensure I finish in time. Creating the blog also helped me to improve myself as it allowed me to self- reflect. I also added pictures as a visual look on what I did throughout the week. I went back every week and went through how I felt on each day and what I effective or didn’t effective to push and encourage myself. I also used my sketchbook as if I’m writing a book as it tells a story from beginning to the end in a visual format and my blog helps to explain further how I got to each point. I think my sketchbook is my main source of expression and learning as I feel I’m a visual learner I prefer to work more in my sketchbook and spent most of my time on this.   

My aim was to explore both textiles and design which I think I did effectively, I created textiles and print samples and added print on to my final garment and final line up. I also managed to set up a interview for research purposes to explore the idea of glorified obesity in the African community.

Looking at the artist Victoria Reynolads’ oil paintings and drawings of raw meat deconstruct the idea of preparing flesh for the purpose of consumption and I created some responses to her work. This contributed in terms of colour and print design. Also exploring the idea of fatty tissue by stuffing tights which I then scanned in and manipulated the shape. I then looked at the shapes created and took the silhouette from this when designing. 

Some advice I found very helpful was one, during a one to one tutorial my tutor gave me a list of artist and may want to look at as she felt it related to my work and it was very helpful in terms of my development and inspired me with creating my final print which is shown in my final garment. The artist was called Victoria Reynolads as at the point I was looking at comparing the female body to animals. Another piece of advice I found very helpful was on another one to one tutorial where my tutor explained she felt like I should look more into the silhouette so I started experimenting on the mannequin by stuffing nude skin tights which helped inspire me during the design process. I felt like both advice was very helpful and had an impact on my development which helped me to produce the finals.

From this project I have taken away a lot of things which will help me in the future. I’ve learnt that I enjoy working in a certain way when exploring textiles, I combined my love for drawing and art by exploring my ideas and developing them and without me even knowing I’ve created a range of prints. By this I’m combining my love and skill for art with fashion which is something I’ve always wanted to master. I wanted to explore more into the textile aspect in design so I can combine both together. I have also learned how to develop ideas efficiently through mannequin work and research. Another skill I’ve learnt is how to present my work in an aesthetically pleasuring way to ensure I showcase my work in the best way possible, I feel like presentation is very important as it’s a reflection of your work and helps to show the story within your sketchbook. However I still feel like I need to experiment much more and take risk with my work, designs and materials. 

Pin It And Finish It

I came in extra early today to ensure i was able to secure a sewing machine, surprising the fabric was easy to sew with which i wasn't expecting as the fabric is so thick. I was trying hard to ensure i finished making my garment so i was able to photography my final outcome. Sewing the garment was easier than sewing the pockets. I found it difficult to make the pockets because of its 3D shape but one i made one the second one was a lot easier to make. Another trouble i cam across is when i was attaching the two top panels together i made a mistake twice on the front so i had to unpick it twice. Because of this it was causing the fabric to fray which was causing me to worry as i didn't want it to effect the print and also to show up. To help with this when sewing together the third tome i had to increase the seam allowance a lot more to try and stop the fraying showing and effecting the garment.

Time was running out and it was coming to the end of the day and i hadn't finished my garment yet, i still had my pockets to put on and also put in my zip. I decided that the best thing to do was the pin the pockets onto the garment inwards so that the pins cant be seen. At first i wasn't sure if i wanted to still at the pockets i asked the opinion of my peers and they felt like i still was not certain so i also asked the opinion of my tutor and she also agreed that i should still add in the pockets and pin it on to see how i like it. So i decided to pin it place in the way i wanted it to look. I actually really like the way it looked but i felt like the pockets was a bit too long so i cut off about 5 to 10iches off and repined it for the photo shoot. I actually couldn't get the model i originally wanted as she was busy as she had to look i wanted (dark skin and natural Afro hair) which went with what i was exploring in my book so i decided to go with someone else who id and excellent job. I pink my garment at the size as i hadn't added the zip yet, I borrowed a scarf from one of my friends which i felt would look perfect with the garment and use it to tie her hair up. I was very pleased with my photos from the photo shoot and these are some of my favorites. I decided not to add the belt and the under layer as I like the way it look as it was and i didn't want to over do it.

After the photo shoot i went straight back to finishing of my garment and surprisingly *not* the last to things i had left to do were the hardest. I didn't know how to actually attach the pockets to the garment, a few people gave me different opinions on how i may be able to do it. One of my friends suggested sewing from the inside from both sides then hand sewing the bottom but i decided not to it. After thinking on it i came up with an idea which i thought would work which it did successfully. I decided to fold in the edges inwards and sew on the outside as if i was sewing a hem. The only difficulty was because the bottom half of the dress is so full it it was hard to get the pockets at the right angle so  could see what i was doing it aside from that it stress free. Another thing i tried to avoided was the zip which i also hate doing but i was surprised at how well it turned out. Because i bought an invisible zip and the fabric i had i knew i was going to be hard to do so my tutor help show me the best way to sew the zip and without her i don't know how i would of sewn the zip in. But overall I'm very happy with my final outcome and the quality of my making.

Fabrication And Pattern Cutting

On Saturday I went fabric shopping which i have to say was a trip from hell, it took me such a long time to find what i wanted and was a very expensive trip to add to it.

I went to Shepard bush market as they have a range of fabric shops which sell nearly everything you need at reasonable prices. The main fabric i knew i wanted to buy was a thick and very stiff neoprene which is what gave me all my trouble. Not only was i looking for such a perspective fabric i was also looking for a difficult colour to find in that fabric which was a bright blood red. I went to a range of shops where some had the fabric but i was even not in the colour i wanted or not thick and stiff enough. After hours of looking I came across what i was looking for however it was not in the colour i wanted it was in white. So i thought to myself maybe i should buy it and try and dye it red however i didn't know if the fabric would take to the fabric, so i decided to take a fabric sample so i could go home and try dye it as a test batch. This was very annoying to me as i panned to buy my fabric on that day to ensure i could make my garment on time. On my way to go buy my zip i cam across one more shop where way at the back i found what i was looking for, it had the stiffness and the correct colour.It had the other little things that i was looking for like it being double sided and also having the tiny holes in it as i realised the smaller the holes the stiffer the fabric is. Because of my desgin the fabric had to be stiff in order to create the shape or i would have to but interfacing to stiffern the fabric to make sure  got the full shaping i wanted. I also needed to buy another type of fabric however i wasn't sure what type i wanted but i knew I wanted it to be stiff enough for my oversize pocket so it keeps the shape. I added up buying a thick cotton blend in red but i couldn't find the same shade of the neoprene but i thought it would be fine as it would much with some of the colours on my print. All my fabrics were very hard to cut up as they were both very thick and i also folded them as well. Because of this it took longer for me to cut out all my pieces than it should of done which set me back. 

Then on Monday i decided to go in to uni so i could pattern cut so i was ready to start making on Tuesday. I also made the pattern for my pockets which was very easy as i decided to change the shape last minute. I decided to keep it as and open pocket and because of this i felt like i had to change the shape as i felt to previous shape i had may look weird without the closing flap. It didn't take long for me to make this pocket i just used a measuring tape to measure up the size i want to pocket against my toile. I need to ensure I come in early so i can get a sewing machine and finish making my garment completely as my tutor as set up a photo shoot tomorrow. My surname starts with an 'O' so i would be one of the last people in the afternoon so hopefully that's enough time to finish making my garment. 

I also decided to print today as well so i could cut out  my top pattern pieces as well. I had some fabric i bought a while back and i actually cant remember the type of fabric it is. I pick my favorite print from the prints i and before by asking my peers on their opinion i went to the prototyping room to print on the fabric. The print came out much brighter that i want it thought it would look like but i really like the outcome. I think it came out better than what i expected. After printing, pinned and cut out my top pattern pieces and made a very silly mistake . I originally wanted the zip at the back but i forgot and i placed the back pattern on the fold so i decided to more the zip to the side as I had to more fabric left to reprint the design so i just worked with what i had. 

Pattern cutting / Toile

The past two days have been spent pattern cutting, I started off withe a basic dress pattern and adjusted it to my design and size in order to fit me model. I started of by picking the design that i wanted to make, i went about this by making a survey and asking people their favorite design as i was stick on a couple ideas. 

When making the actually pattern piece there was some problems i came across some problems while making my pattern piece but it was easily sorted with the help of Becca she was really helpful. One of the errors made was the catculations i made for the size of the waist which was too big but was easily sorted by subtracting some cms off the waist. I've also felt like its easier to take away than to add which work out to be the truth. It was all dome to trial and error. 

On Thursday I finished most of my patterns and made a toile on the same day, i did this to test the pattern  to ensure i prefect my design. After making my tolie and put it on a model to see if came out the way i wanted and to ensure it fits. After planing it on the model i realise they was a few things i need to change on was that the waist was on the dress was at the hips so to correct this i took a couple inches of the top pattern piece. The neckline was also a bit to high so i took about 3cms off the neckline. 

There was a few things that also had me worried aside from this, as you see in my design my dress bottom half is very 2 dimensional so to effective this i would need a stiff fabric so it keep the shape i intended. With the toile i use a cotton fabric which is very light and drapes well so it was hard for me to tell if i got the shape right. What was also helpful about the toile was it help me to think of the types of fabric I would want to use, I also didn't know where I wanted to place the fastening so with making the toile I can play around with where to put it. I decided on using a zip and place it at the back. 

 

The next step is picking the fabrics with this I'm going to take the my final design and tolie pictures with me to the fabric shop so i can test and feel different fabrics to effective the look i want. I'm going to buy my fabric on saturday so that next week i can print, pin and stitch all my pieces together. I still have one more pattern to make with is for my pockets. Next week is going to be a really intense but i'm going to ensure i finish of my garment so i can go back to my sketch book and refine it.

Victoria

When Sarah told me about the artist called Victoria Reynolads i was in love with her work, Victoria Reynolds’ oil paintings and drawings of raw meat deconstruct the idea of preparing flesh for the purpose of consumption. The meats stop being pieces of meat and become biological masses, alluring in their regular, almost crystal-like structure. The works elicit a visceral reaction of disgust, but after the initial shock, they pull the viewer in for a closer inspection of their meticulously painted details.

I felt this related to my work as i was at the point of comparing the human body to meat as the young girls are 'forced' feed without their will to become more desirable to males and how animals are treated to satisfy human demand. These are some of more responses to her work and intencially i made some prints which i really do like. I like the ambiguous meanings behind it. After playing around on Photoshop and exploring my drawings by flipping, repeating and changing the colour my favorite outcome is the top print. I like this one the best as from different view points people see different things and interpret it in different ways which is great way to get peoples imagination flowing and makes the print very iterative.  

RETHINK !!

I had a one to one tutor with Becca's today which really made me rethink the pathway i was going down. Originally i wanted to make a range of textiles for my final piece which she totally disagreed on as she felt my sketchbook and theme was definitely more design based which unsettled me. We also asked the opinion of one of my peers i asked her by going through my sketchbook I feel like I'm really not ready for this as i have not fabric and don't know what kind of fabrics i want i haven't picked a final garment or started pattern cutting so i feel like I'm way behind to start this and i don't know if i can finish in time and to a great quality. I feel like Ive got totally off stream and now I'm not sure where to start. I have a range of designs so i think i need to start developing my ideas so far. I've also bought a lot of materials for what i thought i was going to make which is now a waste however i can use it in the future. i bought a welt felting kit but i don't think I'll have enough time to experiment with this.  I'm feeling very stress right now but I'm sure I'll be able to do it, i just have a lot of sleepless nights to come.

yours, 

                      no sleep :(

One Out Of Three

Today I spent most of my day trying to prep for my final outcomes, I decided after speaking to Sarah that i was going to make a range of textiles including prints and textures.

 One of which was going to be textiles piece which consist of stuffed tights with cotton wadding from a pillow case which i deconstructed from a previous piece I made. Tights are also intimate,  yet cheap and disposable and abject. My aim was to produce something which looked like fatty tissue and portray the idea of being compared to animal and/or meaningless.  After this i want to work on top of it with acyclic print with a range of expressive colours to represent 'freedom'. Going back to the 'idea' of how the girls in the Mauritania's freedom is taking away from them and they are objectified and groomed like animals. Colour for me represents freedom, individuality and expression. 

I also want to buy more tights with a range of colours to represent both the western work and Africa as a whole. I wanted the tights to represent skin and as tights are cheap and come in range of colous i thought this would be the prefect choice. I've realised doing this is very time consuming so i have to ensure i have enough time.

Why Won't You Melt ?

This week I spent most of my time creating textiles samples. I wanted to explore with colours and textures with a fine art inspiration. The first sample I created was actually by accident, but I really do love the outcome it looks as if I had laser cut into pastor but it was actually created by intense heat causing the plastic to melt down in certain places. I love the texture it has created and how some colour has transferred. This was an off cut from the my second sample.  

 

I created this sample by making a tie dye like print and placed it into a plastic wallet and added ear blockers to create a little more burst of colour. I do really like this sample however I didn't actually come out how I wanted it to. I wanted the ear blockers to melt so that all the different ranges of colour and mix and merge with each other but that didn't work out. I increased the heat press to more than 200% put it still did not melt down. However the heat only flatten the ear blockers. I think it would of looked much better if it melted down but I do like this outcome.

For my final outcome in thinking of making a quadrivium textile piece and may try and develop this idea. A way in which I can develop this idea is by replacing the ear blockers with something else which will actually melt to down so I'm able to produce what I had inversion. I think this best thing to look for has to be plastic and colourful so the best place the look for this will be in a kids toy section as most kids toys are made from plastic and they are always colourful as that attracts children. 

Grandmas Knitting

After speaking to Sarah just gave me a few ideas on what direction I could go down. With this I got a knitting machine and started experimenting with ideas by creating samples. 

These are my favorite samples the first one is the one where I wove felt into the knit. The reason in which I like this sample the best is not only does it add colour it also added texture, the overall appearance reminds me of faux fur. I think need time I will add more colours in a row to brighten it up. I didn't do this these time since this was more of an experiment to so what I could achieve. Since my work is very colourful and free hand. I think by adding more colours to each row will give an abstract  brush Stoke effect which I have played around with already in my book. 

The second sample on the right is another favorite I like how 'rough' it looks and I also like it because I played around with a lot of techniques. I created a fringe affect my weaving in two types of yarn and I also made another fringe row with a thinner type of yarn which I think I like better. I also tried knitting with two yarns at the same time at the top to create a highlight / double coloured look. My favorite techniques overall was the fringing and the weaving of the felt. 

Designers Block

I decided to start my designing process with drawing initial design ideas. I first played with the idea of looking at a human skeleton so now I wanted to look at the outsized appearance of fatty tissue on the body and the shapes that may form. The actually designing process was not different and easily flowed. As fur as colour scheme I was looking at the bright colours worn in the tribe. 

However after a handful of drawings I was suck and didn't know how to move forward and I suddenly felt less excited about the project. I wasn't quite sure why I felt like this but I knew I felt uninterested. After speaking with my tutor and going through my work she cleared slot of things up for me and was very helpful. 

My issue was that I felt like I HAD to produce a garment when in felt my project was a more textiles and art based. I started of this way which will explain why I enjoyed it so much at first but later lacked the same energy during the designing process. 

I know have a clear pathway, so I'm going to start making samples next week. I'm going to explore looking at different mediums and colours. I'm very interested into wet felting, knitting and printing. I want to be very texture base with fine art influences.   

I Think You Need A Bit Of Meat

I've realised I've started to neglect the other side of my project which is looking at the western work and how being over sized is nothing to be praised. 

Shared article from the metro paper on obesity

In the western world obesity is looked down on both because of physical appearance and health reasons. Being slim is praised and they is a lot of controversy around the use of ' skinny ' models in the fashion world as people see it as a bad representation of what 'normal' people look like. I wanted to play with this idea and strip down everything and just look at the skeleton of a female body because rather you're a size 6 or size 16 you're skeleton will still look alike. I started to draw some initial ideas from this . I also included inspiration from the artists as was looking at before and came up with a handful of desgins. 

I'm Not A Piece Of Meat !

When stuffing my tights it started to remind me of the process of stuffing sausages and the way in which the meat I pushed and forced into a casing of intestine. Which can be compared to the way fatty tissue stretches the skin out. Which this I came across a range of beautiful art work which inspired me to created some which which included some textiles samples. 

Ruud Van Empel, Casey Weldon & Victoria Reynolds

The last artist was my main inspiration as her work is unbelievable beautiful. 

Satin fabric,  netting, heat pressed inside a plastic wallet with red water  & graphick pen with water.

What's Nude ?

nude

adjective: nude

1. 1.

   wearing no clothes; naked.

   "a painting of a nude model"
2. 2.

   of a pinkish-beige colour.

   "nude tights"

   

   Christian Louboutin

   
   

   
   

   What's nude ? I also try to be self-aware by questioning and challenging decisions i make everyday. Last week when i went out to buy a pair of skin tone nude tights so i could stuff them and create something which looks like fatty tissue. 
   
   

   Automatically i bought a pinkish beige colour as at the time i think that resembled skin tone.  This assumption clearly incorrect as i am not that skin tone and so are a lot of other people. I then  thought to my self why was this a naturally choice. I was especially surprised without myself as i try and make a point to included females of all colours (darker tones) in my work to help with the promotion of females of colour on the runway during all seasons ( not just summer). What made me think that nude has to be a pinkish colour as people come in a range of different colours. 
   
   

   I think my choice goes beyond the project as I'm looking at both the western word and Africa so i cant blame my choice on my project. I thought about it and i think it goes deeper than me just being in a hurry and picking up the first thing i see because 1. I wasn't in a hurry and 2. i set out intentionally looking for that colour. I think it's about the media and the world around me as the world has bought me up to believe 'nude' in relation to colour means a pinkish colour. Also the fact i have studied art for such a long time and when i teacher would say to me "Rachel make a nude colour" the 'correct' choice would be a pinkish and if i was printing lets say a 1o year old Indian girl they would refer to the colour choices as "browns". So you could see how this idea of the colour nude has been hammered into my head. And it's not just me i see people in my class using pink and beige colours when drawing  rather than colours that actually closely match their skin tone. 

Researching

I decided to research more into the African culture as a way to help me get started on looking at how obesity is seen. I will use this information to compare it to the western culture. I wanted to ensure I went about this in the current way, as in the African culture there is certain things I can say or ask someone who is older than me as a sign of respect. With this in mind I wanted to make one question which will help me answer a lot more, I wanted something that was straight to the point be was respectful to ask. After careful thinking I came up with the question of " what is the ideal size you look for in a women?". To make this easier I presented this question in two ways, one way was visually showing body shapes of different sized women to represent the categories. As for me I put them in groups of UK women size.

My results was as expected so I'm now going to compare these results to makes who live in the western world. 

Stuff It !

Yesterday after uni I went to Stratford to buy some cheap pillows so I could cut them up and take out the stuffing for today, I also bought a pack of skin tone tights from the pound the store. My aim was to stuff the tights to portray fatty tissue. 

I spent most of my time today creating this, by stuffing the tights, twisting, knotting and laying the tights, I also painted on to of the tights in certain places with water colours trying to make it look as realistic as possible. After this I placed the tights under the photo copier. I was inspired by the artist Jenny Saville when she painting humans pressed up against glass. 

 

I wanted to recreate this with the help of the photocopier by pushing and pulling on the tights while scanning it in. I made a range of photocopies which i then want to man illistructions from. The whole point of this is play around with shape and help my creative juices to start flowing. On Tuesday I also want to play around with the tights on a mannequin and draw from this. 

( Authors Own 19/03/2015)

I also printed some of the prints I created yesterday onto Neoprene using heat transfer, i feel like I've complete a 'good' amount of work today but I'm slightly disappointed i didn't have time to do mannequin work. I really wanted to forces on more textiles side this week and next week. I've even made a print that i really do like, I'm thinking of maybe incorporating this into my final outcome. The aim of these two weeks was to create a textile samples and prints, I have made some prints so next week i will mainly be focusing on creating samples. 

(Authors Own 19/03/2015)