One week till the big night

So as you can see, I havn't exactly written a lengthy post in a while. Honestly, this is because I have been soo busy trying to get everything done I forgot completly about it! With only a week to go until the graduate parade, everything is mainly done, but of course finishing touches have to be done. On friday we had model fittings which went better than expected, although two of models for my group couldn't make it, so we have to fit them last minute. Not looking forward to this, but what can you do?

Seeing my outfits on the models has made me really excited for the parade, although I am still extremely nervous about the night and how everything will look, and what everyone will think yada yada yada..

Apart from finishing touches, I know need to take care of my own outfit! oh the drama.

:) See you all there!

Photoshoot sneak peak

 

Working with Jesse Price graduating photographer was great! 

Shannon our model from Finesse was a natural, she had lots of fun with my outfits, and was lovely to work with.

 

Preparing for the photoshoot!

As usual I have let time get the better of me and havn't posted a blog in a while. So I will try and redeem myself now. 3 weeks ago we met with the final year TAFE photography students who were going to shoot an outfit of ours to be put in the graduation parade booklet. In a rush we picked a model, set photoshoot, hair and makeup dates, and hoped for the best. All too quickly we realised that we only had a short amount of time to make our favourite outfits ready to be photographed. Of course I started with my bright bright bright swing coat. Did I mention it was bright?

Almost there...

Lace over wool crepe mini skirt. This lace was one of my favourite finds in Melbourne.

 Silk blouse in the making. Of course when almost finished I found a large hole in the back. This will set me back a bit.

 Beginnings of my floor length dress! I am in love with this shade of green! It was tricky placing and sewing down the trim perfectly. Here it is just pinned down roughly.

 After just finishing my swing coat and mini skirt I was over the moon about how must time I had left to make my blouse, shorts, and dress before the photoshoot. Just my luck I became sick and was in bed with antibiotics for 7 days....Somehow I still managed to get my two whole outfits completed in time for the photo shoot, but I hate the time that I have lost being sick, and now feel really really really stressed for time.

Successful hunting

After searching everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE in Adelaide, I was about to give up on finding a fur fabric. After searching the internet and still finding nothing, I came across a place in Melbourne called 'Bartfeld' which specialises only in faux fur, however they had no images on their website, so I thought 'what the hell' and gave them a call. I explained my situation and what I was after, and they were soo helpful! I sent them over pictures of what I wanted, they sent me back samples, and luckily there was one I actually liked. Communication is the key people. If I have learn't one thing during this design process it is certainly not to be afraid to pick up the phone and branch out! Believe it or not, most people actually want to be helpful.

As daunting as it was, I cut my first pattern pieces of faux fur today. I discovered that using a stanley knife was the best option as that way I didn't shorten the fur around the edges.

 My work space; as crowded as my mind at the moment ( and it usually spans over two..cough..or three desks)

EEEP

As of this week we have been so kindly reminded by our lecturers that we actually DO NOT HAVE MUCH TIME LEFT....

That officially means no more umming and ahhing over small decisions when patternmaking. My knew motto is 'get it done now, fix it later' (she says jovially with a clenched jaw..). I actually had a very productive week, and remembered to take a photo of my cape toiling in progress.

Getting the shape perfect and drawing in design lines

 

Trying out the design with different weights and colours of fabric

Holidays are coming up in the next week, and after them it is go go go time! Wish me luck!

slowly but surely

Patternmaking, toiling, patternmaking, toiling. It's all I think about when I go to sleep and wake up! Finally finished perfecting my patterns for my main coat, a skirt, a pair of short shorts, and I am currently working on a blouse. I still need to experiment with embellishment, but I think I would prefer to get the pattern making and toiling out of the way first. 8 more garments to start on, sigh.

The time we have to do this is rushing by incredibly fast, but I do have to say I am enjoying it, and am already getting excited and nervous for the end result and parade!

Photos of progress coming soon!

Starting pattern making and toiles stage

For the last two weeks now we have began the pattern making and experimentation stage. I decided to work first on one of my favourite outfits, the one which I would most likely use for our photoshoot come the beginning of August. This outfit consits of a lace mini skirt, blouse, and interesting panelled swing coat, which has been occupying all my time for the last 4 lessons. Hopefully tomorrow I will finally have finished my pattern for the coat, and will be able to toile it up early next week. If I ever remember to bring my camera to class I will be posting photos of my sampling progress.

So far so good :D

The catch up/ first freak out

I'm sorry to say that since I have been soo busy with this whole ordeal (as I am now starting to call it) that I havn't yet caught you up on my recent activities. So to get you up to speed I will tell you a short summary.


As everyone became busy little bees designing their collections, I was stuck.  I really wanted to mix unusual patterned fabrics together as a main focus of my range, but could find nothing that I liked in Adelaide, and without knowing my fabrics I couldn't design a thing! So I quickly decided that Melbourne would be the hot spot for great fabrics, and the week long road trip began.

Getting names of fabric shops in Melbourne from my fellow fashion student friend Emma, I had a huge list to get through in only three days; the fourth day was to go back and buy my final decisions.  Long story short, after many samples, freak outs, fabrics shops, late night designing, I found many fabrics that I loved, none of course that could work for my collection.  I was beside myself, kept changing my mind every ten minutes, but some how in the last three hours of the last day I chose my fabrics, and surprisingly was happy with them.

Back in Adelaide I was running out of time for the due date of our range board.  I thought that with my fabrics chosen designing would be a piece of cake! Instead many a piece of actual cake was eaten as comfort as still no drawings emerged. As a student designer your mind is always full of outfits and designs you want to make but don't have the time to, so how is it when you are allowed to design and make whatever you heart desires your mind forms a mental road block? Three words for why.

Life is cruel.
But you eventually get past it, and things get better. In my case it did, and now I have designed a wonderful collection of 6 outfits, 12 garments, and I love it! All in the nick of time might I add (only two days late of deadline).

Here is a preview of one of my fabric choices.

mmmm mustard wool suiting

Safari style cotton print

Inspiration time

To begin this whole process I needed to come up with an inspiration/mood board. Over the last few months I had already been thinking deeply about what I wanted my range to be about. My head was full and confused with so many ideas and options to choose from.  Anyone who really knows me knows that I don't have one particular fashion style. What they do know is that I want to look good and look different. Punk, vintage, girly, mod, glamourous, formal, tomboy, bright and dull colours, name it and I will wear it. However this doesn't mean that I will wear anything, as long as I like it, I will wear it.  The same can be said about my designs. So as you can see I had a bit of trouble trying to fit all these catagories into a mere 6 outfits.

I thought to myself what have I always loved and wanted to buy when shopping. The answer was interesting items with unusual patterns, girlish charm, and bright colour mixes. For about the last year I have also been obsessed with Mia Farrow since I saw 'Rosmary's baby'. It was more her short blonde hair style, petite figure, and how the late 60s fashion suited her that I became interested in. This mini short hair obsession also lead to actress Carey Mulligan.  From this I came up with my inspiration boards.

 Mia Farrow

Carey Mulligan

The final collection...just the beginning

By 'the final collection' I actually mean my last and only fashion collection I will have made during my time studying at TAFESA.  In fact this will be my very first fashion collection (being a person who manages to scrape so little usable time to sew each day, I don't have much to show for myself garment wise from the last 2 or so years). Since my wide-eyed first day of tafe I have been waiting for this very moment. The moment when I can stop worrying about different subjects, and endless assignments and instead finally immerse myself into to designing and creating a range I can proudly put my name to.

So if you happen to find yourself wondering across this blog one day, I will now explain what it actually is about! In short;
- 6 complete outfits
-22 weeks to completion
-Many expected tantrums

I will be using this blog as a nifty way to document the whole process from beginning to end.
Enjoy!