Evaluation

For this assignment I worked from my assignment before, where I designed dresses using ideas and concepts. I had a look at al my designs and I picked out pieces that stood out to me to create a new design.

Task one was to complete an A3 sketch book, I began my sketchbook by researching to different illustrations and imitated their work. I recreated their work in my own style. I particually liked the work of Casandra Rhodin, she inspired me to draw models for my illustration board.

Task two was to produce a colour board that linked in with my colour theme. I used magazine cut outs, books and the internet to help me get the best colours. I got brilliant pictures form a book. My images where strong and well pixilated. I didn’t come across any problems with this task, as I had all the sources I needed to find the perfect colours. I took my colour page when I was shopping for fabric, I was able to match them with ease.

Task three was to collect fabric samples with information such as price, length and availability. I didn’t realise that I had to stick with fabrics in the colour of my colour scheme so I have collected red’s blues and yellow’s. I was more focused on the fabric itself than colour. Fabric samples helped me choose my final fabric based on the propeties. My final fabric that I decided to se was tafata in purple and black. I was planning on the top half of my dress being pink taffata but it ended up purple, as the pink taffata didn’t look as good quality.

Task four was to record a toile diary of a step by step guide of how I created my garment. I sampled using calico to begin with, then moved onto using my actually fabric. Keeping a toile diary helped me with my final garment, because I had wrote down where I had gone wrong in my toile and how I had overcome it. I would usually start my final garment over and over, but this way I already knew what was going to be a problem and had time to overcome it before I re-done that mistake. I sampled patterns before I created my real pattern, and adjusted them as I went along and the toile didn’t match up.

Task five was to create an A2 board with the front back and side view of your chosen design. I drew my models with inspiration from Casandra Rhodin. I used black and purple water colours, and a fine line pink pen for the hair. I had several drawings for the models, as the media I was using wasn’t strong enough to put on my design board. I kept my board simple with no background, as I put a lot of colour onto my garment.

Task six was to create an A2 illustration board. I experimented with my media and used collages. I cut pieces out of magazines to create a bold block of black and white for the top left corner. I chose a model with a bright orange head scarf to bring some colour to the illustration. Then simply cut out un-detailed paintings of my garment. Even though I have done little on my illustration board it looks full.

Throughout my assignment I have uploaded a number of blog posts showing my progress and thoughts. For once I have stuck thoroughly to updating and produced good posts. I have found it useful being able to write about problems and my thoughts as they occur, because I usually forget and don’t do anything about them.

Making my dress took a while, it was time consuming and I thought I wouldn’t have spent less time on the smaller parts such as bias binding and cutting out. I ended up rushing the zip inserting and getting it wrong three times. I will not hurry my work in the future, as it usually results in having to re-do it to get it perfect.

If I was to re-do my assignment I would put more effort into making all the small things correct, such as a wonky line straight. I paid attention to detail more than I would but less than I though I would on my garment. I don’t think I looked into as many illustrators as I wanted to, however I got all the inspiration I needed, In the future I will travel to places to find inspiration rather than using the internet or magazines. I am very pleased with the outcome of my garment, I never expected for it to have this outcome. I feel more positive about making a dress and following a step by step plan now. I had a gut feeling that I wasn’t going to be able to finish with dress in time for the fashion show, but it was complete on time.

From this assignment I have gained confidence in myself and my work. I have realised that I can overcome the small problems and fix them, where as I would usually ignore them and it would make a huge difference in the outcomes. I am much happier now I have seen what I can achieve when I slow down and take more care.