So over the weekend I cleared out my room so that I could focus on my midterms coming up. It kinda feels weird to put aside sewing for a while and after a few days of taking myself out of this sewing whirlwind, I've had time to reflect on my pieces. And man! I hate that the design process never finishes until you're forced to stop and show your pieces on the runway.
Looking back at some of my pieces I'm really unimpressed by how I wasn't really challenging myself to push boundaries more and how things didn't progress along the line. I mean they seemed to at that point in time but now they don't anymore. And I hope I change my mind again or see how I can modify things because I'm thinking of scrapping some pieces and putting new ones in. Which really agonizes me coz it would mean that I'd have to make more pieces with only 1 month remaining. There goes my weekend of fun and freedom.
Well, not entirely. I think I need a break.
Examinations and re-examinations
Model Selections
Today we had to choose our models from a pre-selected pool. It was such a weird experience as I've never been to one before so I had no idea what to do.
Essentially they had the models walk down a hallway to music twice for us to choose them. After that, the model coordinator let the designers go up to the models to talk to them or take measurements and what-not. There were designers who wanted to talk to the models as they only wanted to work with people they liked. And then there were those who came ready with their cameras and measuring tapes and were really professional. I felt so awkward so I just tried to get their measurements by asking them (oddly, so many of them didn't even know their own measurements!) and took some photos (which I want to post but I shouldn't without their permission). Awkward. Work on your small-talk michele!!
But I really felt bad for those models who weren't really noticed by the designers since everyone was just standing around in the hallway. Most of the designers talked to the same few models who had good walks and looked good and just looked past the rest of them. Man, would I hate to be in their shoes! I mean, they definitely were good enough to get this round but it's maybe just that their look or walk didn't suit what we wanted. Life.
Back to the designers. It's really cool - there was this girl who was making shoes and then there were many others. Some of them had 15 looks and I feel so amateur thinking about my 6 looks that I'm rushing. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm starting small and that simple designs are also good.
I guess today's experience was something that I was totally unprepared for and that kinda makes me feel so unstable about my collection. Hopefully I'll feel better bout it tomorrow :P
That one dress.
Today I got back from class at 11am and started working on my fourth piece. 11am to 7pm and I'm still not done. Here's why: silk chiffon that likes to move around, circular hems that run on for miles and too many layers. I wonder why I plan these things sometimes. But you know, silk chiffon feels so heavenly that I wanna just wrap myself up in it and call it a dress.
But this is what I managed to finish today, including the bottom half of the back too:
The inner lining typically isn't as shiny as it seems. It's more because my flash is extra bright. The top is still work in progress coz I intend for it to be a round-neck sleeveless top. Don't ask how that's gonna happen!
And I have decided that my dressform seems extraordinarily wide from the front view and thin from the side view. Hence most things look bloated and fat. Gah.
Oh and I tried on one of the other pieces for fun and realised it would look much nicer as an off-shoulder top:
I love this top coz it's so comfortable and you could wear it to the beach or for a fun night out and it'd still work! I might make a few extra pieces of this eventually because I fell in love with it after I tried it on. And it's generally free-size too! The neckline/collar sucks to make though. I might have to change it slightly. Anyone interested?
Slowly but surely
This weekend was crazy. I set out to make 4 pieces and I've only barely completed 2. I feel like I've been trapped in my apartment for forever and it's STILL not done! Okay, so I did go to a pub to watch South Africa beat England in the world rugby finals for a bit on Saturday afternoon with some friends, but that's about it.
This is what I've completed so far. I must say though, that I am surprised and happy that I managed to create these things considering I used to make jersey stretch dresses without drawing lines or making measurements.
This is the second piece in the sketch earlier. The blue thing sticking out in the center isn't meant to be there. It's part of another piece that I didn't unpin.
This crooked photo is a heavy sateen top that I'm making. Again, ignore, the blue thing inside. The black top is going to have a wide satin ribbon joining the middle. I wanted to put swaroski crystals all over it (dense at the bottom and spreading upwards) coz I feel my latin costume urges coming out plus it'll look good on the runway. But practically, who'd wear it out?
This is the back of the black top. I really like the tailoring involved in this and I'm really happy at the way it turned out. It took a lot more effort than it looks like it did because I had to do the interfacing and what-not on the inside.
The weekend is over and now it's back to studying and sewing only in the pockets of time I can get. Tomorrow: Japanese oral mid-term exam. Gambate kudasai!
Keep on keeping on...
So just when I was thinking I'd have lots of time to relax and spend time with friends, the email comes. Yes, I got into the Fashion Business Association Fall Fashion Show! It's not a huge show and nothing like the New York Fashion Week shows but at least it's a start.
So now (ahhh!!!), I have to churn out an average of 2 or 3 dresses in the next few weeks and hope the NYU models selected are actually sized like models. Not that I mind how they look, but more of that I don't want to be busy making alterations all over. The proportions I'm using for this round are 33-24/25-33 which is pretty reasonable I think.
Oh and design-wise, I've scrapped a lot of the sketches I made earlier. But I've gotten some really good ideas (at least I really like them for now) and things should be moving along pretty soon. Two days ago I had a mental "weather-change" and wanted to scrap my original color palette to bold and bright colors - think hot pink and bright orange and cyan. But thankfully a few days later I decided I can save that for another time and I don't have to redo my entire line on a whim.
Here's to a busy weekend sewing my guts out! I can't believe I'm actually excited :)
Making things final
So I'm trying to finalize my 6 pieces and I got home today after school to try to bang my designs out and be happy enough to stick with it. After all, I've been changing my mind every couple of days and it's much harder than I thought to make a small collection. Coz then I can't really let my mind wander and I have to keep it tight with around a maximum of 3 colors or types of things in order to maintain a flow.
So this is what I came up with today (of course, most of them are ideas that have been floating around in my head so it wasn't like a one-hour miracle) :
Yeah, I know my sketches are still not perfect but at least they're much better than what they used to be! Been learning a lot at my design sketching class where the ultimate goal is to make good 10 minute sketches. So I think this is going pretty well.
The first dress is the one shown in the post earlier and the last one obviously is undone and I haven't quite figured that out yet. I know it's gonna be black cropped pants like the second figure and gonna be put before the last dress to even things out and to be a transition between the two dresses.
I was meant to start making paper patterns today but at the rate this is going I think I'm gonna sit on it (yet again!) and look at it tomorrow to see if I still like the pieces. I think I'm happy with most of them except number 4 which I'm still feeling iffy about. Well, if I don't get into the show then I guess I won't be facing that much time pressure then I can expand the line and do some of the original pieces that I wanted to do that didn't fit into this. Or maybe I'll just try to get more sleep :P
Well, I try.
So I obviously haven't been as disciplined as I wanted to be. But I've been pretty good in terms of areas other than blogging!
Last night I submitted my application to the Fashion Business Association Fall Fashion Show at NYU. Admittedly it wasn't a highly professional application - imagine raw edges on cropped photos of me shooting myself in clothes I made in front of the mirror. But I did submit a photo of one of the almost completed pieces I wanted to be in this collection. And here it is!
I am especially proud of this piece because I've been thinking of making it for some time. I was really stuck on the collar part because I wanted that exact design but didn't want to have to sew the insides and find a way to make it seamless. So I decided to use my usual hand-stitching etc and it turned out nice coz it adds something more raw to the already chic dress body.
The blueish cloth is made of two-toned blue and beige/tan threads and is sateen I believe. I originally wanted to buy silk but that was like 25 bucks a yard, which I figured I'd save to use for the second piece if this design works out.
The theme for this collection of 6 pieces is basically nature - the water, sand, trees. The color palette stays simple with a subdued blue, beige, tan and some black. These pieces follow my general design aesthetic - clean cut lines, classic designs but with some extra detailing that is both different and fun. So... Let's hope the people at FBA see some potential in this collection!