Week Seven of FMP

Week Seven of FMP Monday - I had a lesson on grading today so I learnt all about how to make my pattern larger and smaller based off the block. I started by learning the fundamentals like the pints of grading and how the shifting works. I then used a technique called “cut and slash” to grade my patterns up and down. I found this interesting as I want to be able to make clothes that fit both a larger and smaller model. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday - I focused on creating Initial designs. I started with going through my book and overlapping  models I’d printed on tracing paper and drawing in the shapes I saw just to open up my mind. I then took them digitally by taking a photo of them and drawing them on my iPad; I did the same thing with the designs I made from hand sewing. I also took my smocking and gathering samples and collaged them together into designs digitally. From this I continued to draw initial designs but using my earlier designs. Then colleges all my favourites and developed more designs from them. Thursday - I spent most of today focused on the fashion including making spreadsheets for the guest list, organising the raffle prizes and packing tickets to be sent off. Saturday, Sunday and Monday - this bank holiday weekend I was at a corset courses, where I learnt all about how to make a couture made to measure corset. I did this course because next year I’m going to university to study fashion contour at DMU. So I thought it would be interesting to learn a basic understanding of the subject and how to make a corset. What I really liked was being able to make something to my size that would fit me personally as we mostly make clothes that are a standard 12 and I’m just not a 12. This did take up a lot of my time as it was all day for all three days and it was quite full on with the quantity of learning but I do feel it was very worth it todo. We spent the first day making our toiles, having a fitting lesson and making pattern adjustments, then we spent the next two days making our finals including adding busks, cutting out the final fabric , adding boning channels, lots of hand tacking, adding the waist band tape and bias binding. I overall loved the process and class as it had my interest and I enjoyed the problem solving.