More Pattern Cutting

Had some more pattern cutting today, what we worked on was skirts, getting the patterns done so they will be ready to use in one of our construction lessons. We did an A line skirt and then shown how to make circle skirt, i found these very useful and have realised that pattern cutting is actually becoming a bit easier=]
Pat came round to have a chat with each of us finding out how we find the course and if we like it, plus making sure we're up to date with the work.
I was quite glad as i'm really up to date and even managed to do two extras for the circle skirt=]
We even managed to finish early today=o

♥Tiffany♥

Another day of pattern cutting.. with surprises=]

Today was another pattern cutting lesson in the form of trying out different kind of darts, i found this lesson easier than the pervious ones which i was quite relieved about as i had struggled before. But i can not believe how much we had to get through today it was so jam packed i'm surprised we got through it all.
AND to top the day off and make it better, we found out that the trip that is going to be organised is to NEW YORK, i've always wanted to go there so yes definately putting my name on that list AND names were picked out of a bowl to see who'll go to London Fashion Week and my name came out so I'M GOING TO LONDON FASHION WEEK WOOOO=]=] So excited i never get picked for opportunities like this so i can't wait=]=]=]

♥Tiffany♥

Illustrator with Steve

Another Illustrator lesson this week but with steve, we learnt how to make clocks by using guides, i decided to play with gradient to give the clock a different kind of effect=]


Next we tried our hand at designing a garment, it was quite hard as sometimes the tool wouldn't do what you wanted it to do. After attempts i also tried text in a garment shape to see how it would turn out.



♥Tiffany♥

Illustrator with Jamie

In this lesson we used Illustrator again but i found this much easier to follow and to understand the use of the tools. It was great to be taught how to actually make our own shapes.
Here i've shown that we have made the symbols of suits in a deck cards=]=]

♥Tiffany♥

Chanel Spring collection 09

Whilst looking for more inspiration to go into my sketchbook, i was looking through some of Chanel's recent collection and came across this...

This really caught my eye as when i looked at the image i realised that the whole staircase was covered with paper decorations to complement the garment, and i am sure that the garment also contains some paper work on it, including the headpiece.

I think this is really effective as it looks like a paper meadow as the paper sculptures down the staircase are in fact to show flowers and grass. Very Inspiration i must say.

♥Tiffany♥

More Communicating Visions in Black and White

Was not feeling the well today but i got through the day, I really want to make sure that i don't miss anything.

Atleast we carried on from last week, but as i started off with my sculpture i thought that i'd work on my sketchbook=]

I love the amount of time given to get started on things like this, which is different from school where you have a hour or two to be able to get into a sketchbook, whereas at the AUCB you get a whole day to think through what to do in your sketchbook=]

Overall another productive day=]

♥Tiffany♥

Bodice Construction

In our construction session today we started to stitch together the pattern pieces of the bodice.
First thing of the day was to pin the patterns on to calico fabric and put them on in a way that is economical and uses up the least fabric. These had to be very precised and had to make sure that it followed the gradient line where possible.
The gradient is parallel to the selvage edge, and the bias is 45 degrees on the gradient.
This meant that alot of measuring had to be done to make sure that the pattern was exactly on the gradient, so had to measure from the fold to make sure.
Once checked i cut the patterns out making sure that they stayed exactly the same as the pattern.
After this we could start putting the bodice together, first thing first doing the darts, luckily i found this easy=]
The hardest bit was putting all pieces together and making sure the darts matched while also making sure that the garment had a smooth edge all the way round. On the seams we had to overlock which i was dreading as i had trouble last time, but... it wasn't that bad today i managed to get by it fine=]
Once the bodice was made i worked on the sleeves, firstly i steamed down the smaller edge, then overlocked this. Then i stitched the sleeve together.
Next week i'll be stitching the sleeves to the bodice. It was a hard packed day today but i was sooo glad i managed to get everything done=]=]=]

♥Tiffany♥

Listening to audio for PPRD

Yay=] I got the audio to work, so here is what stood out for me in this audio called can you cut it in fashion?

• Without the basic skills you'll be unemployable
• Hundreds of jobs in the fashion industry
• Hard Work
• Trust your instints and gut feelings
• Originals thoughts
• Don't write of a major part of the fashion industry- not until you've tried it.
• Have a full picture of how the industry works- have a skill in illustrator (computer skills)- crucial skills now.
• Learning how to answer the brief, understand what it is your designing, who it's being worn by, where they're wearing it, why they're wearing it. It's what the client wants, not the other way round.
• Good know-how, how to put stuff together can do things for TV.

♥Tiffany♥

Self Evaluation questions

FINALLY I have uploaded the self evaluation questions. I found that i had to think what sort of things are important to me and think how i actually represent myself. I found it quite hard to think of 10 things that are important to me, i guess i just take everything for granted, so i thought of the sort of things that i use every day and i guess some i can live without but some i can't. I also thought about the meanings behind them, like my boyfriend's bracelets as they make me think of him.

♥Tiffany♥

Illustrator

Today we had another illustrator session, which didn't start till the afternoon so it was really weird coming in, in the middle of the day, it was nice to have a lie in and i found that my boyfriend was off today so i could spend time with him this morning=].
Once on campus we found that the room number on the timetable was different than last week, so went round for ages looking for room C009 and once we found it there were other students from a different class in there, soo we obvisiously weren't in there today, so thought to go back to the room from last year and here we found our tutor and thankfully it was the right room, I think in future i'll keep going to this room than go around for ages looking for room we weren't going to be in lol.
What we did was first started of with creating a man and woman shape, I also did a retangle and oval shape then made them into one shape, so this meant that any lines touching will go into one like i've shown.

After that we were told to make a cloud shape that was made out of different sized shapes and then again the pathlines were joined together=] We had to create rain drops, this meant making an oval shape, then creating new pinpoints i was able to pull one bit to make it smaller while the rest stayed the same shape.

Then we had to make a sun, for this i used a circle and long retangles, by placing one in place i could then replicate and rotate the rectangles all around the circle.

We were also taught about gradients, where you can have more than one colour in a shape.

The last thing of the day we did text in and around shapes and also learnt how to make half the text transparent. Overall this was a productive lesson and i found it really easy, i really like playing around on illustrator.

♥Tiffany♥

IT Catch up Lesson

In IT today it was a day where we were able to catch up on any work and blogs, I didn't really have much to do as i have been quite up to date with my blogs and any computer-related work.

However it was useful time to have as it allowed me to be able to go over work and also manage to get the diver illustration up after having trouble with the format at home.

I am also going to do my self-evaluation later and may decide to pop it up on a post here, just need to print it out first=/

♥Tiffany♥

Colour in Black and White

Today was my favourite so far, we were given a brief to create sculptures which gives a 3D effect and a couture style.
I loved this lesson as we were literally given the brief and then given the whole day to work on a manikin and to create something from the research i had conducted beforehand.
I found the artist research very inspiring and it helped me to decide to use both fabric and paper in my constructed. I started of by putting things randomly on the manikin and eventually building it up, I was quite happy at how it started to look.
Also my lesson of the day is that 'sellotape breaks when under pressure.' lol.

♥Tiffany♥

Modelling Pattern Cutting

Ok today was such hard work and a lot of effort and time, what was in store for today was cutting the patterns straight on to the manikins. This meant using cailco and designer tape, we started out by marking the seams on the manikin with the designer tape: going down center back, center front and the seam underarm, also went round half the collar, half bust and waist (as shown in pictures below)

After the tape is all set up, i was able to start moulding the fabric on, starting at the front first I place the center fold on the center front where the tape had been placed. From here i was able to guide it over the shoulder and place underarm, there was alot of cutting to get this to fit correctly. Darts had to be added to allow the bodice to fit.

After the front was finished, we did the back. Using a new piece of calico i did the same as i did on the front piece, making sure that the darts on the shoulder matches.

After i'd constructed the pattern, we were told to take them of and transfer the pattern onto paper, this is where the sharp tracing wheel came in handy, as i could go on the seams i'd marked on the fabric and having the paper undernearth trace little dots into it by going over the marked seams.

Overall it was a verrrrrrry tiring day, glad day off tomo=]=]=]

♥Tiffany♥

ABC Illustrator

Today used another computer-based program called Illustrator, I definitely preferred this program to the photoshop one i used yesterday. I found this one so much simpler to work with and absolutely love all the effects you can do one it. (I might even buy one for home use=o)
And another good thing was that we used normal computers not the apple macs we'd been using before, so that's another reason why i found it so much easier=]=]=]
To get the full use of illustrator and how it works we played around with various effects and then was given an image of a driver to trace around, i could not believe how easy this was to do, then the way we could use the layers to put objects in front of others. Pure Genius i must say=]

Plus we were only in for the morning so managed to get some extra sleep when i got home=]=] (Hard life being a student=p)

♥Tiffany♥

The second part of the day

After some lunch we has PPRD (Personal Planning, Reflection and Development) which was taken by Sarah who gave us a powerpoint presentation explaining about what the courses requirements to pass are and what happens if you don't pass one of the courses....

I've decided to answer these questions given in the presentation on here=]
How is teaching different from learning? I don't think teaching is different from learning as whilst teaching you can learn something new and can learn through teaching others.
How do they fit together- why does one rely on the other? They rely on the other i think because you can't learn without being taught, and the one already taught would have had to learn at some point and still would be.
Why do you want to learn? I want to learn to develop my skills and be the best i can be
How can you make the best of your uni learning experience? Making the most of the resources available and finding a balance between work and social=]

Teaching= Inspiration, acquire the facts, inform research, feedback, assess your performance.
Learning= Self motivation, thinking for yourself, apply knowledge, read around topic, use internet, discuss with peers/tutors, ask questions make links.


We also did an exercise about who we thought was the most successful person....

***Rank in order of importance***
What did they do?
What did they overcome?
What skills did they learn/have?
What qualities did they learn/have?
What effect did/do they have on people?

1. My Dad- I put my dad as the most important, because he works hard in his job even though he's a engineer for Cool Tec for air conditioning etc, he is a director in the company which he has managed to work up to since beginning from a young age there. He's done a train to gain course to enhance skills and also sometimes has apprentices with him, so helps other people gain the skills they need.
2. Zandra Rhodes- Zandra Rhodes i find important because she is different and stands out, i found that her designs are very inspirational and have used her for inspiration many times back when I did GCSE and A level Textiles.
3. Sir Alan Sugar- Is a very successful businessman who gives the opportunity to others to train with him and become as successful. He is successful because he started out life in a council flat and started off with selling boiled beetroot when still in school and under the age of 16. He managed to work his way up and took risks which i think really paid off considering his background and this has helped him to become the millionaire he is today=]
4. Richard Branson
5.Chanel


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

S.W.O.T

Luckily I've learnt about S.W.O.T analysis in my A-Level Business class so knew exactly what was meant by it, its amazing how different subjects link together. So i am going to do a SWOT on me=]

STRENGTHS = Pretty well organised

WEAKNESSES= Can be too quiet

OPPORTUNITY= Being at aucb, having tutors to help etc.

THREATS= The competitiveness of the fashion world

.... TO BE FINISHED

♥Tiffany♥

Photoshop Perfect

After doing the themeboards yesterday by hand, this morning we had a go at creating themeboards using the apple macs and photoshop.
I've used these sort of programs before after self-teaching myself, but i found it harder using an apple mac as i'm still not used to them and the controls, plus didn't help when the keyboard i was using had verrrrrry sticky keys.
However it was good to learn how to use new techniques that i haven't used before.
Though i did a punk themeboard yesterday i thought i would try my hand at doing a military themeboard as it was the other choice i was torn between.
It was fun making it and in the end i got the hang of using the program. I would like to do some more to it, but i'm pleased at the out come so far=]


♥Tiffany♥

Punk themeboard=]

I can't believe how fast today went, i guess it was that we had something to do all day. We did our themeboards today that we were briefed about last monday, i did mine on punk=]
I really enjoyed it today as we could go at our own pace so gave us a chance to really concentrate and work out how to do the boards.
I choose to do mine on foam board as it feels stronger and you can press things such as pins in it or create a raised piece on the themeboard.
Im happy about how my board turned out, so now waiting for whats in store for tomo=]
Yay i managed to upload from my phone, after it didn't want to=] So here is my punk themeboard=]

♥Tiffany♥

The Maths of the fashion world- pattern cutting

At first i thought pattern cutting would be the easiest part of the course but its not. You have to make sure that everything is precise and fits together, let alone making sure there is enough seam allowance.
We learnt how to use a pattern master which is basically a ruler which has straight and curved lines and has seam measurements on it, and also has degree angles on it. After testing i got the hang of how to use this tool for pattern making.
The easiest part i found of my bodice pattern was the darts as i have attempted these before.
I can see why you need to take your time on the patterns as you have to make sure everything is so accurate otherwise the garment won't work.
We also used our paper patterns to test to see if they make a bodice (keeping in mind that it will only be half), this was done by placing it on the manik, by doing this we were taught home to place the pattern correctly on there so that all pieces would fit perfectly.
Finished of the day by doing 2D drawings to show what the pattern is. Then got let out early as everyone looked pretty much dead tired lol.

♥ Tiffany♥

First Construction Lesson

The daunting image of using those high speed industrial sewing machines became a realisation today as we were set tasks on how to get use to them.
Omg first try on them and you realise how fast they are its so hard to get control of them at first, you only need the tiniest amount of pressure, but by the end of the day i felt fine with them pweh that worry was over now=]
But the overlockers i still not quite worked out how to get them right. You have to be so careful not overlock the wrong bit as it could mess up your whole garments especially when it cuts too.
And ahh those steam irons i was so scared about putting my fingers to close when i steamed the fabric that would not be good at all, but by the end of the day i got used to using them.
I know i'll eventually get the hang of things, atleast i got to learn some new seam stitches; edges overlocked separately, edges overlocked together, edge, top and both stitched seam, the french seam (i found my hatred for chiffon here lol) and the run and fell seam (i loved this one, its the one you see on jeans=])
Overall though i enjoyed this day and loved finally getting to do some practical work=] now i'm off to my boyfriend's grandparents for dinner lucky me=]=]=]

♥Tiffany♥

The first two days with tutors

Tuesday 6th October
Another rainy day and horrendous amount of traffic, but was in a good mood though i was up early as i stayed at my boyfriends the night before.
Finding room H113 was hard though as i had no idea where it was lucky i followed someone else who who being shown where the room was so i made it to lesson on time=]
Today we were being taught by Jamie, about basic IT skills, plus we were using Apple Mac's. I have one at home and am completely useless at using it, but this lesson actually really helped me understand how to use the Mac and actually got me to like using them.
After being taught basic skills and how to get onto our emails, we were given memory sticks and then started up these blogs=]
I actually love the idea of doing blogs, as i'm terrible at remembering what had happened in past days. So i'm looking forward to see how this blog turns out at the end of the year=]

Monday 5th October
Managed to make it just in time today, terrible traffic this morning nearly took an hour. Plus it was pouring down with rain not good at all, especially with no umbrella=[
As i was in the first group we were first up for showing our holiday projects to Karen which was called Me, Myself and My Life So Far. To be honest i'd been dreading showing this as i didn't know what other people had done and whether i was on the right track or not, but looking around at other students work it made me realise that everyone has there own unique way of working and what to put in. I think looking at their work also made me think about a few stuff that i could have put in mine. Doing the project was hard though to think what to add as it is such a broad title that there is so much you can put in.

Two sketches from from my holiday project

I met two more of the tutors today Karen and Sarah they seemed really nice=] All the tutors seem nice and friendly and you have sense of support from them.
After a break we had Sarah where we were given The World of Interiors magazines to look at the swatches inside.
I love analysing things like this and it helps give a sense of presentation/illustrations, after doing this task i feel like i'm already really into the course. I've never felt so into a lesson before lol...
We were then given a task to research for a mood board to do the next monday, the choices are Pre-Raphaelitism, Military, Handmade, Punk or Random. I just can't decide between Military or Punk, but i have more ideas for a mood board for Punk so i'd better get researching=]

♥Tiffany♥

The first week at AUCB

Induction Week
Monday 28th September
After worrying the night before to my boyfriend about whether i'll find any friends and that i don't know whether i'd be good enough, he helped me keep my confidence and cheered me up.
So a nervous but excitable day for all new students on the FdA Fashion course, on a 1030am start. I was lucky enough to get a lift into the arts college year by a second year.
Walking into the library and finding the other students doing the course, it was such a nervous moment not knowing who you would meet.
After getting to know everyone we were split in three groups and given a briefing of what the course would be like and having a tour of the campus, i felt like i was never going to remember where everything is, it all feels so big. On our lunch break we were able to search through the freshers tents picking up many freebies and discounts.
There was also a welcome from the principal which was nice to know who it is.
We finished tired after a long day at 4pm, the day wasn't as bad as i thought it would=]

Tuesday 29th September
An earlier start of 945am as i was in the first group to have photos done.
At 11 got a bit lost of finding where we were meant to be for a Fashion DVD on pervious students work, but someone found us. I found watching this DVD was such an inspiration and just made you want to get started, it felt so unreal that i was going to learn how to construct clothes like the such that were shown. It was nice to know what sort of things i'd get up to in my first year.
There was lecture on proper use of IT and then went and did enrolment, where it felt like playing musical chairs whilst we were waiting.
Ended the day with Learning Styles IT scanning to find out what are best method of learning is, mine was visual, it was interesting to know what sort of method was best for me and what the best ways of learning are.


Wednesday 30th September
Had a library induction, which was helpful as it showned what sort of resources the library provided for use, such as i didn't know that they had DVD and videos that we could use.

Back in the studios we were given welcome packs that contained some essentials that we would need to use during the course such as scissors, patternmaster, layout paper, pins, etc. We also recieved lockers to keep our stuff in which was a relief from lugging around heavy bags.
A treasure hunt in form of answering questions was the next tasks to promote team building this helped to get to know other people in the group that we had not yet spoken to, I've found that everyone has been so friendly. This task also helped us get to know the campus a bit better and also a bit of bournemouth uni and what resources they have there.
This day ended with a student union talk and the answers to the questions from the treasure hunt.


Thursday 1st October
We had to met at the bus stop prompt at 930 to catch a catch to studland beach, i thought that it was a great idea for students who are not local to see what is around Bournemouth and Poole. We walked the length of Studland and stopped at a cafe at the end where in groups we had to figure out what designer or brand was in the clues we were given, the group i was in had Jean Paul Gaultier. This was a nice chance to get to find out information about designers and to know any we hadn't heard of. We finished off we a trip to the pub whilst waiting for the coach it was nice being able to have the chance to talk to people and get to know them.

Jean Paul Gaultier

Friday day off

♥Tiffany♥