35. development of design four

redrew lots of screws, arranging them closely to for a new shape which is quite organic amidst the geometric circles..
I picked the drawing pictured below on the left as the new drawing to work on


(sample19)`
tried using ultra long zips to sculpt the shapes according to the meandering lines to create something quite dramatic, inspired by designers who have been using a lot of exposed zips in recent seasons but particularly using it as a sort of embellishment to create new textures like this dress from 3.1 Philip Lim ss09 where its used to create fairly stiff sculpted ruffles.

images via style.com




(sample20)
tried stitching down the sandpapered sequin sticker to rid the metallic surface as well as introduce some kind of wear and different colours with shisha stitches , i intended to use it in the design but feel like the epaulet made of zips is cool enough.

(sample20.5)
experimented with washers covered in black sewing thread to conceal but to add texture to its otherwise semi matt finish after being spray painted. dmc sewing thread in silver to highlight the screwy lines. I think It's quite an effective way of translating the screws from the drawings and the combination of the heavy cold metal with the threads in different textures is interesting and the circular shape is not altered that much.


i made a second attempt at sculpting the zip so that its more even on both sides.

garment proposal
shoulder placement- adding a 3-d object on the sleeves instead of the shoulder pads that are reoccurring in recent seasons. having the zips on both sides of the jacket makes a woman feel like she's cool and strong.

___
continuation for project 4:
resolve the problem of the zip joint which is on the outside since the zips are of a certain length.


(final)
i kept trying to figure out how to get the joint hidden since the complicated meandering lines going back and forth was too complicated and wasnt initially done with a set way in mind and it was kind of impromptu which turned into something quite beautiful so having to work out the way the zip has to be reworked with a joint hidden was extremely difficult i tried it several times and in the end had to ask Suzie to help me since she does things in a more methodical way than i do. it was solved in the end with close approximation of measurements from the first piece i had done which was considered the better of the 2. i think this design looked really simple to construct since the zip is itself quite a nice thing to work with but i think this was the toughest one of the lot of embroidery work and well worth it. also, the issues the lecturers had with the first design about the way that it was rather assymetrical was kind of thrown out of the window they forgot it while i had been tryin to solve it to no avail so that was another issue i was trying to solve and they questioned why couldnt i just fix the joint issue.... haha i thought it was quite funny. anyway i think this piece is a highlight in my collection so had to have it whether or not it was fully resolved.

36. development of design five

adapted design from project 2


I tried to think about what size hardware I wanted for this piece of work but decided that the small washers are best since they would make a garment less stiff and because the are a true silver colour whereas the larger ones are in a true bluish tone and spray painting them all is not a feasible opion because he paint chips off easily and the nuts are a bit too chunky to be repeated it would make the strips of nuts quite stuff and because too heavy. its thickness also is a problem because when stitching down it is going to take a lot of thread to hold it down. the cost of the design above is also really costly, it costs about $26 for that row of "beads" i had sewn on which measured about 3 x 30 cm and is really heavy and these washers are comparably cheap at about $1.60 for 30 pieces.


experimented with different sized washers, tried sewing it down with just two thereads on each end but washer moves about so have to fix each washer down 4 times so its more secure.


(sample22)

(sample23)

final design on black cotton drill the way I've stitched the washers in a cross way feels almost spiritual which relates to the theme of protection and in an arrangement from another design in project 1

(sample 24)





use on garment- multiple rows of metal washers on cotton drill adds a lot of weight to an otherwise light singlet. light-reflecting qualities contrasts with matte texture of fabric



____
further experiment
suggestions to use washers of different sizes and contrast of matt and shine was given and i thought it was a great idea but couldnt find it in the shops since most washers any bigger than these ones i used tend to be bluish.. and awkward on fabric since the threads holding it down are the same as those ones used for smaller washers because threads anythincker cannot go thru the fabric. the finer threads do not hold larger washers so well and tends to be more messy since the distance from the edge to the inside of the washer is longer so it gets more messy. tiny ones are easier to control albeit more time consuming. i tried layering the washers but i think it didnt work out so well still uncertain about this.

(sample25)

37. feedback

from a pal not doing fashion:
she showed me a picture of a dress she was wearing and said i should try more variations in my designs, particularly the design with the metal washers. she says the one i designed would be heavy with so much of washers on it. she mentioned the designs should be wearable and light.

i think ive achieved the kind of hardness i want in my designs from her respond to them but about weight, i think most of it is semi weight and not "easy breezy" and sweet like what she has shown me so, i think what I've done so far is great and I'm off to sew a new piece.

38. development from previous design for last brief.

new design developed from 2 prints designed in project 1

this week i made developments from the two prints above that I had designed in project 1. and made photocopies of them to combine and play around with arrangement as most of my designs were described as "simple" from the feedback I received although I'm quite sure it was used in a factual, not particularly in agreement or disagreement. So with this, I hope it would get a little more exciting and it's also because I've run out of ideas about what I could do for development considering most of the designs in Proj 1&2 are not in anyway emblem-like although the colours ae quite right and related with the new moodboard from proj 3. I took some pictures of the elements that I had cut and arranged them in different ways.

Overlapping the shapes to get a new emblem whereas in the old design, the one with the circles were spread out





arrangment in a vertical way but with different sizes of screws on them so it gives balance and adds interest.


triangular arrangement - the large circle in the center made me think of some kind of cult symbol so I'm not going to use it :S

I decided this last arrangement was quite interesting with the paper grips turning up and outwards with loads of circles below, then decided that the elements need to be redrawn for they were really small when I had made it for the first project and I wanted this to be massive, and also to give unity to it.




at first I drew the screws in a similar way to those in proj 1 but they looked very spidery and ugly when big so i tried using a thicker pen and scribbled it on the insides but then decided that plain ones would be more effective because the idea of designing the print inspired by lace ZAP!ped into my head which I had kind of thrown out of the window for proj 2. I continued drawing the paper grips , changing its length and also the way those paper grips tend to bend in an awkward way on the back.



the different intensity of knit in lace was the inspiration for the fillers






fillers:
i drew four possible fillers for the shapes in different intensity of lines and direction.






then i put it all together using photoshop , rearranging the different filler for the shapes and decided to have the multiple circles just above the derriere and the long spreading paper grips extending towards the shoulders. its fun and cool and different from all my other designs. to scale on a3. I love it alot and this will be digitally printed for a dress or long singlet.

39. 8 designs so far

top left, repeat as border for vest front panel, hand embroidery
top right, zigzags???? placement across shoulder, mirrored at shoulder blade on blouse? tbc, machine embroidery
bottom left, placement on back of dress, print
bottom right, placement across chest on dress, machine embroidery




top left repeat on singlet, washers
top right placement on side seams, cording
bottom left placement on shoulders, manipulation
bottom right repeat on singlet?, print

40. development of new design and tests on fabric by digital printing and heat pressing

based on the rigidity of the other diamond like designs, i felt like it can be drawn in a more interesting way with more textures and give it a bit of softness so i redrew it in many different ways which i havent been doing (and regretting it at the moment)


i drew it freely without all that straight lines i was doing with it since the half drop arrangement is in itself rather firm,and added facets to them all, then introduced various textures, hatching and using dots to create something more 3diamensional.


i arranged it in the half drop manner





then flipped some of the shapes but it isnt obvious


can you spot where the repeat breaks?



changed it up with some white spaces between rows. but thought the spaces were a little awkward


i tried changing the rotation and having lots of them going in different directions but couldn't work out why i would want it in such a mess when it looks nice in a rigid half drop repeat.



i changed the background colours. the black kind of drowns out the shapes



but the grey is quite subtle, not as stark as white but doesnt fight with the outlines unlike in the black. so i got this printed by digital method on polyester which was quite the nightmare last week.




the final fabric after a couple of tries didn't turn out grey but slightly bluish since digital print is just such a complicated thing to work with and i thought print labs for paper were bad. problem on my part was that i didn't use 100% polyester fabric which i conveniently forgot and felt like a fool after the first print then got a massive problem with the way i had tried to change up the colour balance. i didn't know i had to make it more extreme on the colour balance on photoshop to get the grey for 3 of my designs. basically the dial has to move a lot more toward the cyan but i was changing the magenta and blue so it wasn't the right thing i did from the start together with the cloth issue.

(sample29)

the outcome was really brownish then i had it changed up but then time was wasted with the incompatibility issue of the disc handed over for another print test but time was saved as the week was ending and Natalie helped me to test out the different shades which i got printed on my fabric (this time in 100% polyester) before changing the original files to the shade i picked from the cloth sample.

(sample30)


(sample31)
i decided this is better shown on video since it might give you a better idea of how this polyester behaves and shines


these are the final pieces in the videos they are in a very bluish grey shade so ill have to add that into my colour palette






and this one turned out with a shade of green in it which was a surprise which at first i didn't know how to react to but then later accepted it since it was a beautiful shade and still a bit grimy so, yes :3