Evaluation

During this project, I spent too much time researching and although that research is essential and extremely important, I need to make sure that in future projects I manage my time a lot better. To do this I could have a time table with completion dates that is unique to myself and something I can understand and follow easily, that way I will be able to complete all work.

The dresses themselves, I am actually really happy with how they turned out, especially the black one. I think it has the right amount of material to make it look floaty but not too much that it looks bulky and unattractive. I also think that the finishing touched to both of them made them look a lot more professional. To add more unique qualities to both dresses I could have added a print of dyed them, but unfortunately I ran out of time due to being off poorly.

Even though I did a lot of research considering fabric, If i was to change anything about my dresses it would be this factor as using so much material for this dress meant that it was really heavy and it being made from jersey made it even heavier, next time I will use cotton, even though it doesn't drape as easy, I know I will be able to create some amazing textures, formations and shapes from it, without it being too heavy to actually wear.

I found this project really interesting and I feel like i have learnt a lot and gained many new skills that i can take forward and use in other projects. Making small samples as toiles is a great way of not wasting a lot of fabric and playing around with shapes really inspired me when it came to making the larger scaled dresses.

Overall I find it hard how the way Julian Roberts makes his zero waste pattern cut garments is actually saving fabric (however I know there is a lot more to the meaning behind sustainable fashion) The way I copied Julian Roberts theory made me actually use a lot more fabric than I would have for any other dress I have made, about 3 meters. If I was to do this project again I would focus more on how Holly Mcquillan uses this theory to make her garments as fitting them all together (pattern pieces) seems a lot more efficient.
 

Garment Manufacture

double top stitch

welt pocket

zip

bias binding 

overlocking

top stitching 

shearing elastic

open seam

Finishing Touches

The making of DRESS TWO

Learning from my mistakes with the first dress i decided to create this dress with a lot less fabric, which runs with the theme of sustainability.I used the same layout plan, but obviously the random line was different, giving me a different shape to work with and drape around the human form. I absolutely adore how this one came out and think my sewing on this one was a lot more accurate.I think the sash at the back gives it an ethnic feel, which to me starts to tell a story, I am going to finish this of with some biased binding in a contrasting to colour to hide any raw edges and make it even more unique.

The making of DRESS ONE

This is my first dress, after a lot of research I decided that jersey would be best for this style of dress. I laid my pattern that i had created out on the fabric and chalked round it, i then created a random line all the way around and cut this shape out.

I then over locked the shoulder seams and side seams so that I could put it on a mannequin and start to drape my fabric, remembering all the techniques I had learnt from my samples.

I added beads and safety pins to give it a thrown together feel about it and think it turned out well, however if I was to create it again I would be careful with the amount of fabric I cut out to use as this to me looks a bit bulky in places. I think it looks best from the side as it flows better, but from this I can take forward the ideas I now have to make my other dresses better.

MAKING THE PATTERN

1. Take dress block (top) and draw round it.

2. To take the dart out of the pattern cut down the dart itself and tape both sides of the dart together. This will make the pattern 3D, you now need to cut from the bottom to the dark, to make it 2D again, once you have done this, you have taken the dart out of the pattern.

Samples of shape work

Here is some more sample work, this let me experiment with the different shapes and formations I could create with the fabric. I used calico and cut triangles, squares and circles and then cut into those and sewed them up in different ways to create different shapes to what they started. I loved this experiment and feel it really helped me gain more knowledge of what i could make out of such simple shapes. It also gave me lots of ideas of how i could drape my dresses around the human body to create an attractive stand out part of the garment, whether that be the top or bottom. I would like to carry this on and try and create a whole garment in this way as i think it is really eye catching to look at. My favourite example I made was the corset looking top, as I loved the texture it added and think that its amazing to look at.