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Deconstruction continued...2

For this blouse I have taken of the sleeves.  In the picture below I have turn the shirt upside down and created a collar by turning 10cm of the fabric back. Armholes are still used.

In the strapless dress I have attached the 3/4 sleeves at the front of the waist and used the collar in the band above the bust.

Deconstruction continued...1

After playing with this amazing zebra print skirt I am almost too tempted not to actually cut this up and just wear it as is, like a kaftan top. Oh too much fun!!

Deconstruction

Today I had a lot of fun. Playing with the mannequin dress ing up in the the garment I received from the Salvation Army.

Below is a lot of photos documenting my experimentation. In the first few pics I have taken my favourite skirt ( which has a beautiful batik and sequin beaded trim) and tried working with in the mannequin to see the different shapes and effects I could acheive with out actually cutting the garment up.

The two images above are one of my favourites.  Here I have used the skirt side zipper and had it the front feature of a short mini dress I have then pinned up the skirt hem detail at the front but aloow the fabric to ballon at the back.

This image above is a continuation of the first dress, however I have then pulled the ruffle hem up higher to cover the shoulders turning it into a blouse.

I do like this idea... 

Still very simple but I like it. What a cute little short dress. This project definitely makes me look differently at the clothes I could buy at an OP Shops.  Especially when looking at the emblishments on them. Such a great way to save money.

This one looks a little like a bush turkey to me.  hehehe.

I love love love this skirt fabric.  Can't wait to turn it into something amazing.  Today I was brave enough the cut the band of batik work off and will be wearing as a scarf over the weekend to a few drinkies!  Already received a compliment from my housemate about my new scarf!

On the up and over that hump!!

So this blog has been neglected for sometime now.  Mostly as I haven't wanted to pollute cyberspace with my frustrations and pessimistic thoughts.

So a very brief over of what has been happening since I last blogged.

Tedious changes were made to my pattern pieces to make the garment fit better. 

I started on my final garment nutting out problems as I went along.  Finally Finished!!

Problems addressed were;

Where the bust cup would sit?

Sewing my straps into place.

Because of the bandage like straps wrapping around the body I have found it essential to adjust them and pin them & then stay stitch them into position on  the mannequin. 

I am really pleased with the out come. Had I not constructed the swimsuit in this manner I believe the straps would not have molded into shape as well and there was the potential problem of the straps been sewn on straight instead on the curve.

Prior to this week I have been totally uninspired or enthused about drawing.  Problems with my garment construction have been my only focus in the last few weeks. I was finding it hard to focus on any other elements to my assignment.

My capsule designs are coming into my head thick and fast now that my garment is completed. I am now drawing clear decisive designs.

For my capsule collection I want all pieces to be interchange and able to be worn all together. Tying in my layer and interweaving concept for my swimsuit.

So far I have 8 strong individual looks which can then be layered and interchanged to make multiple looks.

I have experimented with layering as many as six individual garments into one look and am excited to see how many looks I can achieve for 6 outfits!!

Colour has always played a big part of my design aesthetic along with prints that clash. (print clashes is one of my most favoured looks.) I am still undecided if I want to throw some colour around or keep it very monochromatic. 

Who am I kidding - It will most likely be bright!! I'm sure the designs will still translate it boring grey and black ;) 

Happy days!!

Model Images

Here are some photos of the model wearing the swimsuit.

Still need to reslove the bust piece. For the fitting I had to sew in a scrap of fabric so she could model it.

Loviing the postive and negatives spaces created on the two sides and back.

Where am I

So Today was D-day for our toile. 

We were able to try our garment on a live model.

There is a lot of pattern tweaking still needed to be done. After trying it on the model almost every single piece was re-positioned and pinned.  I will have to redraw every pattern piece. 

16 pieces in total, that will be a good half day worth of work. Not even remotely interested in starting that today. I think i need to start it with a fresh mind.

This afternoon I'm going to focus my energy on my capsule collection. So far I have spent the afternoon reading through Grazia magazine, napping, blogging and tracing figure illustrations for my final drawings...

Tomorrow might bring more inspiration...

Here are a few things I've been working on....

CAD tech drawings for my final swimsuit. Front & back view.

Background image designed in Photoshop.

Image for fabric print.

For my capsule collection I want to include printed garments.  

The above images will be used in a print series.

They have also inspired my colour palate.

More on that tomorrow...