SHEER by emmajean

I have finally chosen the name of my range. In one word it summarises the elegance, the romance and the beauty of six piece final range.

SHEER by emmajean

It's simply fabulous!

My work space!

I have taken over the living room table!!! And i am not sure whether mum is happy about that or not haha :P

I am very lucky and fortunate to have some space in my house where i can work! But i think i need to get a humongous bin for all the paper and scraps i am throwing around everyone on the carpet!! At least i have a lovely view to look at while I'm pondering about all the crazy adventures, frantic running around and tearful events to come!

Decisions continued!

I am still having trouble figuring out what fabric i want to do all my bodices in let alone my skirts! It's getting very frustrating because i don't want to get behind in my work! My lecturers are telling me to do it in organza and have a power mesh at the back which connects with hook and eyes. However, I'm not sure if i will be able to find the same colour in each of the fabrics which is going to be difficult to do and i know i will not like having two different tones of colour put together even though you wouldn't really be able to pick it up.

I thought i would leave it and continue to search whilst i pattern make the red dress. I had to get some help when it came to the skirt part of the dress so i went in to see the oh so lovely Sophie, who helped me out! I was surprised i finished the toile all in one day! I decided i wanted to get it out the way so i could fully focus on my final range.

I decided since i hadn't a clue what fabric i was going to use i would go see a family friend of mine who could help me out! We talked and talked about the different fabrics i could use to gain the similar effect Antonio Berardi had produced. It was suggested that i use either silk Georgette or a stretch tulle. However, the trouble with the stretch tulle is that i would have to use at least 2 to 3 layers and account for the stretch especially if i was embroidering on top! With the silk Georgette, i would have to use 1 to 2 layers but the fit of it would not be any comparison to the stretch tulle as to how t would hug the body. The only way i would find this out would be to toile up a bodice, one in the silk Georgette and the other in the stretch tulle.

I have done a toile in the silk Georgette and i feel that the stretch tulle is going to be more effective in a way that it will hug the body better and this is just by looking at it! I think i know i want to do it in the stretch tulle now and i also know that it is going to be a lot of work! How i am looking forward this so much :|

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

After printing out about 100 pages I had finally gotten the correct colours for my designs. I then went to Office Works and bought some card for my range board. I like doing collages so i bought lots of different sized card and unusual paper so i could get the effect i wanted for my range board. I decided to choose dark colours because my range consists of a lot of pastels and i thought by having a dark background my designs would stand out!

I scanned the fronts of my fashion illustrations because i didn't want to fix them up on the computer. I have always liked the "raw" look when it comes to presenting my work, I'm not sure why, i think its because i find art so beautiful because it is real and hasn't been touched up on a computer to look like something its not. My range has that raw beauty.

I began cutting out my pictures and laying them on the board to figure out what concept i wanted to display for my range board. I decided to raise my fashion illustration on a foam board and my trade sketches across from the fashion illustrations on this beautiful, charcoal, hand made paper. However, the one thing missing from my range board is the name which is still coming to me!

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!