Millinery Elective

In preparation for our elective we have been asked to research costume history, fashion designers past and present, paintings, prints shapes and fabrics.

When looking through numerous periods where millinery played a large role in costume I came across several images of 17-18th century fashion in which inspired me. I like how hats featured not only as an accessory, they defined the entire outfit. Working with over size proportions and details such as feathers, peals and decorative flower representation.

Today millinery tends to play a large role more on the catwalk. Outrageous forms and ideas help the customer to remember the designer, enabling them not to fade into the background.

I have noticed that several millinery designers today have used the origami technique in order to create an individual, structured, new form.

mariaelisa duque

Fred Butler

Alithia Spuri-Zampetti

Fernando Sierra

Dora Mojzes

Chanel Haute Couture

The models in Christian Diors haute couture spring/summer 2007 selection have also integrated the origami idea and have been made to represent a Geisha

Looking at Geishas in Japan I like the use of millinery. Flowers have been places in their hair. The way their hair has been tied back resembles a small black hat.

I like the ornate patten found on numerous Japanese artifacts.

Now I have put all my research together I have begun to generate several ideas. I definitely want to experiment with origami and see if I can work this idea in the form of flowers onto my final piece.

I'm looking quite forward to starting this project. I have not as of yet had any experience in this field and as the accessory is used widely on the catwalk today I feel it important.

I am a little apprehensive about how much we will be able to do with the supplied black felt hood though, as I thought we would have been given a little more freedom in terms of the materials that the final hat would be constructed from.

However once the week is over and we have been taught the relevant techniques my feelings will probably change as I don't know how the standard structure maybe be transformed.

Well Today was our first day of the elective.

Alison gave us a talk on what we would be doing over the next couple of days. She explained that as we only have the week to start and finish the final piece and that we really ought to make a start straight away, leaving any research to be done at home.

Although I feel I had gathered a substantial amount of research to take in with me today I believe that if we had been told that we were to select a basic hat block within the first hour I would have generated a larger selection a design ideas.

I selected a hat block in which contains a slight dip at the side. This will allow room for my origami idea to be incorporated. Back tracking through research will be hard. I do not like working in the way as it does not enable you to be as creative, it also places limitations and restrictions on the design process.

Once I had chosen my hat block I steamed the hood in order to recreate the shape. Alison's demonstration made this process look simple however when coming to do it myself I found it quite a challenge. Because of the shape in which I had chosen it was hard to flatten out the felt in order for it to lay flat underneath. It was also hard to pin to the block and the fiddlelyness hurt your hands when trying to iron out any remaining creases.

Photos of my chosen hat block

The hat needed to be stiffened and re pined to the block before steaming it again. I thought this process was over!!!

The hat is half way there now and i'm interested in seeing what tomorrow will hold as I can see it coming together...slowly but still coming together before my eyes.

One thing that I have learnt at uni today is that we definitely need more irons! The process of fitting the felt to the block was a long one and combining this factor with the number of people within the group, meant that people were sitting around just waiting. Which pretty much seemed a waste of time.

Once the felt had set to the block I cut away the excess fabric.

Trying the hat on I noticed that because of the dip in the crown it did not lay how intended. I asked Alison how this problem could be rendered and she suggested to make another little hat to fit inside. This would be half the diameter and would only lay around the dip.

As soon as she told me that I was like noooooo as the procedure took long enough before.

However because it was only to fit inside I chose a straight forward design and managed to complete the shape from start to finish in an hour. Which I am relatively pleased about :)

Placing the smaller shape inside the hat I tried it on and I am definitely happier with the direction the final piece if following. The design is more how I envisioned and lays on the left had side of the head. Leaving room for visible decoration in which I shall lay along the dip.

I found it a bit of a pain that the only lining fabric that was available for use was a metallic purple polyester. It would have been useful to have been told this previous to the start of the week. As I had to leave uni early today in order to go out and buy a black polyester lining, a factor in which could have been prevented.

If told, the fabric would have been to hand, meaning that I could have made my lining today rather than leaving it for tomorrow.

For the decoration I had already decided that I was going to work with origami. Through varied samples I found the fabric felt could be successfully manipulated, withstanding a clean and sharp structure. I experimented with a number of different representations and liked how the rose appeared in paper. However, due to the set folds, the fabric did not hold this structure. The butterfly was most successful. Each fold was pressed and when the shape was achieved I outlined the white felt with a black machine stitch and the black felt with a white machine stitch. Such techniques added a greater level of detail.

When attaching the decoration, varying their sizes, I laid the butterflies at different angles. Once finished I viewed the hat from a distance. I was not pleased with the overall image. The way the butterflies had been placed did not appear as intended so I unpicked each stitch and started again. Using fewer butterflies, I alternated between black and white and laid them more rigidly. This design worked more cohesively with my body of research and I am happier with the end result. Moreover, I stab stitched each corner in order to hold them down securely. This detail helped to prove an end result that appeared cleaner overall.

Today was the final day of our elective. I still had my lining to do. I don't understand why Alison didn't conduct a presentation at the begining of the week showing us each method in which maybe used. Teaching us the technique in the way that she did was pretty pointless and time consuming as it meant that the majority of people were left waiting around when they could have been carrying on with their work.

I decided to use the drawstring method for the application of my lining. I managed to attach the fabric in successfully, however if I were to follow this process through again I would have incorporated a pleated lining. Using this alternative would mean the hat might have laid more firmly on the head.

A photograph of the cap in which was attached to the inside

Below I have displayed a photograph of the inside to show how the lining has been attached. The image on the left is my hat and the one on the right is the cap placed inside.

To obtain a professional end result, Alison suggested I finish the hat off by stab stitching petersham into the inside. I decided on this application seeing as I wanted the final piece to appear minimal and clean cut around the bottom section. The small cap inside was different. In order for me to cover the top of the lining, I folded petersham over the raw edge and secured it with a stab stitch.

What have I learnt from this millinery elective? I now understand the stages involved in the construction of a hat. Although each process was easy to understand patience is important. Persistence while moulding is essential as it is hard on the hands and difficult to smooth out every crease in the felt. The end result was worth it and I now appreciate the complexity and the time taken in the production of numerous designs found whist conducting research,

Overall I am pleased with my final outcome. I believe it successfully meets the brief that was set, originating from a variety of different sources of inspiration.

Creative Design Practices

Today we visited Temple Newsam. What an inspiration!! I wasn't really looking forward to going I must admit as I didn't know what to expect from a place that I had never even heard of, that was situated in the middle of nowhere.

But once inside the building I was immediately overwhelmed by everything. Inspiration could be found everywhere from walls to ceilings. With magnificent prints displayed in an array of beautiful colours and textures I examined several of the shapes in which I felt I could possibly work with later on.

I like the idea of working with contrasting hard and soft shapes in order to produce an individual structure.

Objects in which envoke these ideas are-

. The columns built at the entrance of the building

. A stool in which was constructed from marble, using purple and orange tones (found in the chinese room)

. The ruff - worn by many during the Elizabethan period

. The clothing worn during the Elizabethan period

I was also particulary inspired by the draping of the curtains found at both windows and on four-poster beds. The way that the fabric fell could be reconstructed through drapery or interprited into a more rigid form.

From sketches I made and the photographs in which I took I must now begin to refine my ideas. Making sure that they relate to one another and hold enough information for me to work with later on, when producing a working line up. I don't feel doing this will be that difficult as I found so much material for inspiration in regards to structure and drape and even potential colour schemes.

Putting idea sheets together I have focused on the draping of the curtains and the structure of the column.

We have been asked to put together a trend board. This consists of fashion images combined with non fashion related images in order to provide a designer with inspiration. From the four spring/summer 2010 trends in which I researched I feel that 'Ode to Nature' collaborates most successfully with certain aspects in which I have invisioned. Constructing a variety of different draping methods to produce a new form.

Taking into consideration potential colour schemes I have begun depicting several colours from the column. Doing this I noticed that there are subtle tones of purple, blue, yellow and green..all colours found on the colour palete of the 'Ode to Nature' trend.

I had decided to design for the designer Burberry Prosum - A high end designer. I made this decision as I feel that it will allow me to be a little bit more creative during the design process. I don't feel that I could design for the lower end - budget market. When following through my shop report I felt uninspired. The garments all seemed relatively the same and lacked imagination. I surpose that is what you get when you are limited to the fabrics and processes in are available to you.

As well as helping future designers this trend board has deffinately helped me gain several ideas in terms of design. However if I had included a bigger selection of non related photographs on the page I feel I could have generated several more as at the moment you could say that they are designs generated from concepts in which are already out there.

Today was a hard day at uni!! we were asked to compile 30 designs, a combination of garments in which put together 3 complete outfits..I wish I was a fast worker! hopfully this will come with practice. I actually got the work done however I had to stay up the entire night in order for it to happen.

We had to take out initial designs into uni and show them to piers in groups of 4. I was a bit sceptical of this and how useful the information would actually be as everyone is so nice and doesn't want to give any negative feedback.

I hate it when people do that! I would rather them tell me exactely what they think instead of thinking it to themselves, so I know where I have gone wrong.

This proved to be the case until, Angie came round to the table and said what she felt about each design..she enabled people to be a little more critical so when obtaining the feedback we knew where we had gone wrong and which areas needed improving.

The feedback was more helpful that I thought it was going to be. When I had designed the skirts, tops and jackets my main inspiration had been from the draping, this proved to be to much so now I must introduce more structure along with several more simpler items into the line up.

I worked on the stand the entire day today! I didn't realize how many potential designs I had actually come up with until I printed them all off. There are a few in which I was not happy with but the majority I shall deffinately be taking further. I feel twisting segments in to the design and encorperating large knots of fabric in carfully decided areas works really well!! I took this idea from a photograph of a four poster bed. The ceiling consistered of a large quantity of heavily pleated fabric, brought to a point in the middle.

DESIGN DESIGN DESIGN! That was pretty much my entire weekend. Though I am pretty pleased with myself i've actually manage to conjure up quite a few ideas!! I did a little bit more stand work to and thought of placing ruffles underneith the twists of fabric. This feature would relate to several of the finishes found on a number of curtain drapes.

I found ruffles produced in the soft silk chiffon fabric worked really well. Because it is only a fine fabric the ruffles remain soft and relatively hidden. This was the look in which I wished to obtain as i did not want the customer to focus entirly on this aspect. I wanted it to be a feature in which is noticed once upclose.

I feel like I have chopped down about 50 trees!! as I have just photocopied all my designs so I can mix and match combinations quickly and easily. This was probably one of the best ideas I have had. I came up with some successful combinations pretty quickly. It also enabled me to see which aspects of design do not work well together without having to spend the time drawing them out.

I went to Bradford today to buy my fabrics. Wheleys fabrics seemed to be some well kept secret as both taxi drivers found it a struggle to get there. But the place was amazing and I managed to get exactely what I wanted even though I was getting pushed to hurry up and make my decision from the receptionist that worked there...sorry love you can't interupt and hurry creativity.

An error on my part! I wish I had bought my fabrics earlyer on in the day! Looking at them, observing how they drape on the stand and how they work with one another I fell I could have come up with so much more if i had been working with the fabrics in front of me from the start! I have deffinately learnt from the error of my ways and from now on will make sure that fabrics are bought from the word go.

The deadline is tomorrow and I have to put fabrics next to each of my designs...produce a working line up and several things need finishing off in my shop and trend report...It is going to be a long and stressful night!! god damn your slow ways charlotte

I don't have time for this! Stupid pantoon pens..I love you but you are bringing me down. They are actually amazing in the way they work on paper but I don't know what i've done with them. Half way through my working line up and the smudge effect one (the best one) has decided to run out..so I have the first half of the working line up that I am happy with and the second half looks rushed...Again if i learnt to spead up and not take so long over everything I wouldn't have this problem!

Handed In the projected at 1 and didn't actually go to bed last night. I knew it was going to be a long one but I didn't anticipate it being that long a night!! I felt and looked like an actual Zomibe walking around uni!

Overall I am pleased with my final working line up. I feel the garments placed together interact with one another successfully. I also believe that all 6 outfits work well together in producing a collection. Each aspect of design encorperates a tie feature, drape and structure.

However if I was to follow this module through again I would make sure to allocate myself a little more time to finish the working line up a little more professionally. I would also be a little more experimental with the design process. The rest of my project was presented in an exciting way however when it came to the rows and rows of designs that is exactely what they were, just rows and rows or minature figures. This looked repetative and a little boring!!

Creative Design Realisation

I believe that the brief was fully explained to us today for once!! I left uni knowing what is expected from me, understanding what I am required to submit and the date is to be submitted.

Angie explained that through out the project it's important that we are to keep our technical files up to date as this topic will be intense but well worth it.

After this week at uni I already understand what she meant! Its been an intense few days. With this being the first week that everyone actually remained in the building for the schedualed times.

I have learnt so much already as I have never previously worked with darts, facing and I have only ever sewn one zip into a garment before (and that didn't go to well)

The drawn stages of dart manipulation took a while to grasp but once understood they seem relatively easy and I have begun to experiment with the positioning. We were asked to include a minimum of 5 dart manipulation ideas however I feel the more I include the more it will help me later on in the course.

From the final stage I have decided to include a fabric sample for each of the darts. I feel doing this will help me through out my dress design process as it will allow me to see how the dart manipulations would lay and which one would be most appropriate for each garment.

I left the introduction to facing workshop thinking I knew what I was doing but since i've got home and looked at my drawings I am a little uncertain so I must as a tutor to go over this aspect again before I take it any further.

I understood the fullness and flair workshop that was held however by reading through a couple of books afterwards I feel a little more confident. Again we were asked to provide a minimum of 8 fullness and flair ideas in our technical file however the more I create the better. I managed to obtain a few ideas from the pattern cutting books in which we were asked to buy for the course.

I finally had my sewing machine induction. I was a little scared as I am a little used to my sewing machine at home and I had never used an industrial one. But after a couple of hours I gained a little confidence within myself and I can't wait to start work on the garment for this project!!

I also learnt a lot about seams. I had no idea there were so many different types. When we were shown the examples I felt they all looked pretty much the same with only slight differences. But after creating a sample for each I see how they differ and how they may be used successfully to provide different finishes.

Before producing a final working drawing I studied my technical file. I want to create a garment in which takes each of the requirements and combine them successfully with one another, without any particular area being over powering.

I believe I managed to achieve this as I decided that I wanted a relatively large amount of fullness and flare at the bottom section of the jacket. So the jacket didn’t appear to fussy I have decided to work with a basic set in sleeve, however altering the position of the dart from the bottom to the elbow line. Making this alteration will help to provide ease to a tight fit. It will also provide the illusion of greater flare at the bottom of the jacket.

I feel the shoulder seam line darts will be the most appropriate dart manipulation for me to work with. They will take in the entire jacket to provide a fit that lays closer to the body.

Along next to my working drawing I have provided a fabric sample as well as a colour sample in which would be used for the top stitching. Using a contrasting colour would help certain aspects of the garment to stand out.

For the dart manipulation, facing, sleeve and fullness and flare ideas I believe it is important to show how I intend each of the features to work. By providing manipulation ideas for each of these aspects it will help anyone looking through my technical file to understand exactly how I intend my final garment to look.

At uni today we compiled a basic bodice block and sleeve..So glad they are out of the way! They seemed to take ages to create and it took me two attempts on the bodice as I stupidly drew a 48cm line at the top instead of a 40..To many mathematical equations were for my liking. However I am amazed what you can actually do with the basic shapes we now have and how a design can be completely changed just by slashing and flaring them!

My jacket pattern in now complete. It was relatively easy to do and I definately feel that my technical file helped me. It showed me when and where I would add flare as well as where appropriate seam allowances would be required.

When it came to the collar I knew that I wanted to work with a stiff structure. One that stood up and away from the body. I wasn't quite sure how I would achieve this however so I asked adrian and working on the manaquine he helped me solve this problem.

As of yet I have not yet made a proper garment so I must admit I am a little dornted about the idea of having to construct this garment from start to finish in 1 day.

I was a uni 9-7 today in an ATTEMPT at trying to finish, but i'm going to have to go back in tomorrow. ( I knew I wouldn't finish in time ) I know where I went wrong though. When it came to the sleeves, I didn't take into consideration that the darts needed to be sewn at opposites sides to one another. This meant that I ended up producing two exactely the same and had to unpick one and start again. I did the same with the flared sections of the jacket (only noticing once I had hemmed the top section) so again more unpicking. But if I had actually sat down and thought the design through more thorougly before rushing to the sewing machine these problems could have been avoided!!!

Yay I've finished my garment!!!! I listened to my own advice today. Thinking each process through before acting on my decisions and doing this payed off.

I am pleased with the overall outcome. I believe I successfully managed to display fullness and flare, a set in sleeve, dart manipulation, facing and a zip fastening.

Photograph of facing

Once I had attached the facing to the jacket I pressed the fabric in order for it to lay straight, Although this process helped, I felt more could be done. I asked one of the assisting technicians and they suggested I apply a stitch in which lay close to the seam but held the fabric down to the seam allowance.

I am pleased I took their advice and followed this step through! the facing is held down and hides any rough seam edges.

From this photograph you can also see that I decided to press open each seam in which was created, doing this provides a more professional appearance.

Photograph of the zip fastening

I am pleased with the overall appearance of the visible zip fastening. It is clean cut and how I intended it to appear.

Photograph at the point of fullness and flare.

In my design I displayed a jacket, which held a point at the front, this aspect could have been displayed in my garment more successfully if I had cut away the top section of the skirt. I fell as the garment stands because I did not remove this top section, the opening does not lay straight, the way I initially intended.

I am pleased with how the two layers of fullness have been sewn into the back panel. This panel helped to exadurate fullness and flare and because of the lightweight calico fabric used it did not seem to separate the side panels. This final appearance could also be achieved in the silk fabric displayed in my working drawing.

With the front of the jacket I could have hemmed the two layers together in order to relate the appearance to the back. This process would be more favourable during manufacture as it would save time and money. However on the other hand doing this could possibly make the fabric of the jacket lay to rigidly, therefore disconnecting itself from the fluid lines created at the back.

I incorporated a stand up collar into the jacket. I am pleased with the outcome, it is clean cut and the appearance is exactly how I envisioned. However if I had used the silk fabric that was intended, because it is of a lighter weight than calico, the collar may have not laid right on the neckline. Introducing a slight curve into the collar pattern could render this problem.

Final garment

Front View

Back View