Surprising News!

I have one a competition! I wasn't expecting to win so it was a huge surprise when they called my name, i think i was in shock! A film producer, named Darryl, came to us and offered my class the opportunity to design a red dress for a short film he was creating to hopefully be opening the Adelaide film festival. They had a specific look they wanted for the dress and they chose mine because it fit the "criteria".

Various things started to rush through my mind after they had called my name like how am i going to do this on top of my final range, thank god they chose the easy red dress, i still have so much work to do on my final range, i hope i can get it all done and what am i going to eat for lunch haha :P

In the end i really do like the design they chose! It's beautiful and elegant just like the 1940's!

Pondering

I decided to research a bit about smocking. There are two types of smocking, north American smocking and English smocking. I chose to use north American smocking because i thought it would look more elegant on the delicate fabrics that i was going to experiment with.

I have completed all my smocking pieces and surprisingly i finished them quiet quickly! I decided i wanted to use the Georgette fabric for my smocking pieces because it created the look i wanted. It is so beautiful and delicate but still holds the sheer opaqueness of the fabric. All 3 fabrics created a different look and i enjoyed reaching the end of each piece and holding it up and looking in wonder at the outcomes.

Silk Georgette

Silk Chiffon

Silk Organza

I then plonked my self onto a computer and continued on with putting my range onto corel. I only needed to fill the colours of each garment but i found it hard to find the right tone of colours. I decided i wanted to put my embellishment details on after i had printed because they are so intricately detailed. When it came to printing my range, the printer decided it didn't want to work for me which was rather annoying! Eventually it began to work but some colours didn't come out the same way they looked on the computer screen so i had to experiment until it looked right on paper.

Design/Experimenting/Corel

After completing all my final designs i began to draw the good copy of each drawing displaying the front and back views, and the correct shade and tone of colour i wanted the garment to be. I love drawing so i was in my element when doing each design, it makes me very happy and calm which is nice, seeing as if I'm going to be a crazy woman majority of the time during this year!

By the end of the week i had completed all my designs and had started to source fabrics. A group of us from tafe decided to organise an appointment with Alan Broadbent who sells wholesale fabrics. When we all walked into his shed and started to look at fabrics we were all like kids in a candy shop! I found some fabrics which i liked but the difficult decisions are based on what colours to get. I have unusual shades of colour which i want to get right to make them resemble my designs. Over the week end i went to Melbourne and my lecturers had given me fabric places to visit. Unfortunately i had forgotten the piece of paper that i ad written all the shops to go to! I managed to get to one called "Clegs" but they didn't have anything special or the particular fabrics i was after. However, i would like to plan another trip to Melbourne especially for buying fabrics and this time i wont forget to bring the sheet of paper with all the stores on it!

I began to draw my designs on corel as my range board was due the next time i was to have my meeting with my lecturers. I completed majority of my designs both front and back views within 2 days. I was very impressed with myself because computers tent to not like me! Now all i have to do is fill in the colour of each garment and put the embellishments on each design. Shouldn't be that difficult to do but we'll see how i go!

Today i went to buy some fabrics, silk Georgette, silk chiffon and silk organza. Over the week end i am going to be experimenting with smocking. I need to figure out which silk i am going to use for my smocked pieces in my range. My jacket and half of one of my skirts are going to be smocked so i am testing which silk fabric looks the best and will hold the best. Here's to a relaxing week end on the couch sewing!

Design!

I've had my first meeting and i think it went well because i've had a strong vision of what i have wanted to design and produce for my final range. After talking to Helen i began to draw page after page of designs because i was so excited! I was on a roll after i finished my first page and couldn't stop, it felt good. However, there was one thing that i was a little bit worried about which was taking what Antonio Berardi had created and making it my own. I loved everything he produced in the 2010 Spring/Summer range and there were particular garments which stood out to me, and i didn't want my range to look like i was ripping his work off.

The next couple of days i continued designing and started playing around with different silhouettes, shapes, angles, straps, lengths, necklines, everything! I had drawn 6 to 7 pages of designs and decided to pick the 6 that i was certain about having in my range. When i put the 6 together i didn't get the wow factor i was hoping for so i thought i would sleep on it.

I woke the next day and instantly decided i wanted to have a wedding dress in my fabulous range. It's always been a dream of mine because it is something that i have thought about getting into, its always such a glamorous day no matter what the weather!

I've continued to rip out pictures from magazines and so far, have come up with a lovely collection. I also went on my favourite website www.weheartit.com, it is truly amazing and you can find the most inspiring pictures on the website.

A couple of weeks ago a came across a competition that Dotti had on their website. It was a designing competition and the design brief was to draw a unique jacket of some sort. I was very intrigued so i started sketching a few and then decided to go to bed because it was late! I awoke after dreaming about a jacket with detachable sleeves and frills around the armholes, it was to me, a very unusual jacket. After dreaming of this jacket i knew i wanted to use it in my range because it was unique. Another unique design that i had drawn for another subject was a bolero with smocking on the back. I had always loved this design and knew i wanted to suggest it in my range, and i was intrigued how i would make it if it were to be chosen.

Inspiration!

My inspiration came to me in the Christmas holidays when i found an article on an amazing designer, Antonio Berardi. His ready-to-wear Spring/Summer 2010 collection was unbelievably inspiring to me and whilst reading the article i felt an immediate connection. It was as though he had taken the words right out of my mouth when talking about the female form and how you have to have a certain attitude to wear his clothes. When reading parts of the article to my mother, she laughed and said "he's like the male version of you Emma!". I felt there were parallels between the connection he had with his mother and the one I have with mine. In him stating, "my mother is like my soul mate".

As i read through the article i started to imagine beautiful long flowing dresses that accentuate the woman's body. I began to sketch a few ideas, one being a beautifully structured dress with a long detachable skirt that could be worn around the waist or as a cape. I continued to draw and collect pictures from magazines that inspired me.