Monday, October 18, 2010

What makes me tick!?

Many things have made my little yet creative brain of mine tick over and over about fashion. Ever since i was a little girl i have always wanted to become a fashion designer. It has been a dream of mine and a vision to see my label up there amongst the other fabulous designers of the world. I remember writing 'Fashion Designer' on a piece of A4 paper with colourful pencils of little images and names of fashion capitals across the world back when i was 17. That piece of paper has been stuck on my bedroom ceiling for 5 years now and every time i go to sleep i look at it and hope one day my dream will come true.

My collection is all about the shape of a woman's body. I find that the curvaceous look is very feminine which i have sewn through each outfit. Each bodice is a soft pastel colour which is in crusted with Swarovski crystal beads. The structural skirts compliment the delicate bodices against there architectural shapes and soft de lusted tones. The two jackets i designed were to make an impact with manipulation of fabrics. One jacket has gathered ruffles protruding out of the top of the armholes and the other has a smocked back which is my favourite out of the two jackets. Some of my other favourites are the smocked skirt and the angled skirt.




Different things inspire me like the way a certain fabric will drape or a particular colour. Trends can make a huge impact on creating designs because if you want your designs to be trendy and "in" for that season. Some of my favourite designs like the silhouettes of Dior, the fit of Chanel or outrageous costumes of Galliano can create a wave of inspiration flow through me.

My inspiration came from a designer named Antonio Berardi, God's gift to woman. His work emphasised the curves of a women's body. He had a strong connection with his mother and always had an eye for passion. I found similarities with the designer and was instantly in amazement of his stunning work.

I would love to see my designs walking down the red carpet at any high end premiers, whether it be for movies awards, sporting awards, fashion shows and fashion awards, seeing my clothes in movies or just someone wearing out for a memorable night. It would be an honour to have well-known women who are absolutely fabulous in every way!

Two weeks!

Two weeks to go and i think i am making some progress! I have completed a number of outfits and have bagged them up so they don't get dirty. These outfit are as followed
  1. Skirt 1 (sew hanging tape and label)
  2. Skirt 2 (sew hanging tape and label)
  3. Skirt 3 (sew hanging tape and label)
  4. Smocked skirt (sew hanging tape and label)
  5. Overlay skirt (sew in hook and eyes, sew hanging tape and label)
  6. Frilled Armhole Jacket (sew hanging tape and label)
  7. Smocked Jacket (sew hanging tape and label)
  8. Bodice 1 (sew hanging tape and label, tighten back, fix centre binding)
  9. Bodice 2 (sew hanging tape and label, tighten back)
  10. Bodice 3 (sew hanging tape and label, tighten back)
  11. Bodice 4 (sew hanging tape and label, tighten back)
I have decided that when i have finished all garments i will fix the minor problems, insert the labels and hanging tape.

I now moved on to tackle the wedding dress! My lecturer helped me put the base pattern onto cad and we also worked out the three layers and the fullness of each skirt in cad. I had a gathering ratio of 4 to 1 which meant a lot of gathering! We also put on another pattern which was for my other skirt that i was waiting on starting as my fabric hasn't arrived!

I then put the patterns onto the plotting machine which marks out your patterns for you. A much more easier way when you have huge patterns! I then had to cut out my tulle for the wedding dress which is very tedious and annoying! After two days i had finally finished cutting out all of the tulle for the wedding dress and was ready to start sewing.

Sewing the wedding dress is a massive job! I sewed the first layer on to the base which made me realise how much time this is going to take me as it took me half a day to complete! I woke up fresh this morning and arrived at Tafe at 9:30am to continued with my wedding dress. As i continued sewing each layer on the dress it was getting heavier and harder to sew. I left Tafe tonight at 7:30 leaving my wedding dress with only one layer to be sewn on. However, the bottom layer was collapsing under the middle layer so it wasn't creating the fullness i wanted. I decided i would leave my questions until tomorrow to be answered, hopefully it would be an easy solution.

I still haven't heard anything about my fabric which i need for the other skirt which is a bit concerning. Hopefully it will be arriving on Wednesday which will give me all of Tuesday to complete my wedding dress!

Photos!

I decided to take some snap shots of my finished garments! Some show the details of the beading and the smocking, and other show the shapes of my structured skirts...

Frilled Armhole Jacket
Bodice 1 with Skirt 1
Side profile
Smocked Jacket
Bodice 3 with Skirt 3 (my favourite)
Side profile
Wedding Dress Bodice
Side profile
Bodice 4
Smocked skirt
Side profile
Overlay Skirt over Smocked Skirt

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

A Month!

Today is a month exactly until the parade and this information makes me slightly nervous! When i say what i need to do out a loud it doesn't sound like a lot but i know it is the beading that is going to kill me!

The rest of my beads that i had ordered have arrived which is fantastic as i was getting a little bit worried about them! I really need to start putting my wedding dress on CAD so that i can cut the patterns out and starts sewing that up. I have completed a smocking piece that needs to be inserted into the winged skirt and the tulle/georgette skirt i haven;t even thought about as i still don't know how i want it to fall yet! All these decisions which now i wish i had planned a little earlier because thinking is a time consumer as well these days along with ripping out my hair and crying! All i need to do is stay positive and then i know i will get it all done in time. I am very much looking forward to relaxing when the parade is done and over, and when all my work has been handed up.