Angle Change on 'Spouting' Sample

Today I followed on from my 'Sprouting' samples. I reworked the pattern and changed the angle that the fold comes out. It comes out to more of a point this time. I'm rather fond of this sample, and again I want to create a line of multiples of this to see how they sit together.

Tutorial with James

I had another tutorial with James today. We talked about what my plans were for the rest of the time before summative and what I can achieve within the time. We also discussed the problems I've been having with documenting my work and designing. I was recommended to take lots of photos. I should pin my samples onto a mannequin in places to spark ideas of where they could go and this will feed into my designing. I showed him my new samples and it seems like I'm really on the right tracks to something good.

Revised and Diagonal Tucks

I wanted to revisit my previous work of tucks and again create multiples all straight and uniform. This time when I made the tucks I didn't sew each fold, I folded it first and then sewn a line of straight flat fabric along the folded edge to keep the folds secure. Inspired by my 'Sprouting' samples I wanted to try two lots of tucks diagonally coming together into a point. I was interested by how it would form and whether it was possible to put two lots of tucks together. I was very impressed with how they came out its worked very nicely.

Sprouting Samples

Today I have been working on a new type of sample, moving away from the fabric cubes. Looking through the pattern magic books again I found a style they called 'Sprouting' or 'Nyokitto'. From looking at the images it didn't look like much. I just looked like extra fabric hanging from the body. However when I tried it for myself I was quite surprised and excited by what I had made. Using only two pieces of material I made fold that grows out of the flat fabric. From this one sample I needed to try multiples in a row, I knew that it was going to work so well together with multiple lines of folds. It was much more difficult to make a multiple line as the pattern curves round in a circle with too many of the folds. I think 5 or 6 would be the most I could do without the pattern going over itself. I could probably rectify this if i wanted more by cutting the pattern into pieces and having seams on the insides of the folds to be hidden. I want to play with this some more, move the folds around see how the fit together with other folds in different positions and change sizes and lengths.

Tutorial: James

I had a tutorial with James today where I got to show my first creative samples. He seemed impressed with my cubed samples and could see a lot of potential with my subject of working, saying that they are "visually playful". I agreed with him as we both could see them working while placing them upon a body form. On the other hand we also discussed about what I was to make with them, whether I need to make a garment or not. I personally have my mind set on making a garment piece over something adorning, but it is something i have considered and may reconsider on my next project.

Fabric Cubes

I've been browsing through the pattern magic books looking for some inspiration and techniques for forms within fabric. The first one I wanted to try was to make 'Lumps and Bumps' where they make fabric cubes come out from a flat surface. To make the pattern for this it works like making paper nets. I made mine with three pieces. I had one long piece that was to form the surface and would go up a side over the top and back down. Other two pieces formed the other two side pieces and most of the flat surface. I really liked my little lonely square sticking out of the fabric, I wanted to see if I can multiples side-by-side. I decided 9 square would be the perfect amount so i can see how one that was completely surrounded would act. For this sample it took a lot more planning. As they are so close together I had to use lots of pieces to be able to have seam allowance. This one took fifteen pieces. It took a long time to put together as it was rather complicated trying to stitch four pieces of fabric together in a cross and stitching the straight pieces of fabric around corners. However troublesome it was, it still worked out really well. I think possibly next time as a new sample I could have the cubes more spaced out so i have to use less pieces of fabric. I was also thinking about varying the heights or sizes of the squares. The multiple cube sample is really good when on a shaped surface as the mold really nicely to it by spraying out the cubes in any direction.

Notched Tucks and Fold Samples

During some time around my work experience I managed to find a couple of hours to think about my creative samples. I revisited some of the previous techniques I had done before. I considered my paper to fabric folds I did in my last project and attempted to redo it to spark some ideas. I was thinking about the lines of tuck I could do, that still relates to my linear imagery for this project. I wanted to retry it but instead putting in notches within the tucks to form shapes in the lines of folds. Putting in small triangle and long trapezoid notches that matched up to form triangles that together look like diagonal diamond pattern. However the quality of the tucks is some what lacking, a problem I've always found when making notched tucks. It's a process I'd not want to be using on my clothing.