Week Twenty-Twoooo.

Monday: In a way, I hate my parents for the genes they carry. I'm just over 5'7 and am the same size as the manikins we use in the stuido, therefore I'm a good 'model' for everyone at uni. This morning, as well as doing my own toile review, I also modelled for five other people. I guess it's kinda sneaky, 'cause I get to know how well some other people in the group are doing - not that it benefits me in any way. So, I had my review and I'm really pleased with how it went. As expected, I do have to change a few things, such as lenghtening the top and lowering the waistline on the trousers and changing the buttons I intended to use, but otherwise I think it went really well. I know for sure now that I can purchase the fabrics I am using, which is really handy too.
Wednesday: Buying & Merchandising deadline was today, forturnately I managed to finish this piece of work a week early, so I handed it in on Monday after my toile review. I'm not very good with essays, but I'm hoping that the work I have produced is suitable.

Unfortunately, I didn't stay at uni for the rest of this week to make the changes for my outfit as my Nan passed away and I had to travel back home for the funeral. I have done my best to rectify the changes that I needed to make for my top and trousers, without being in the studio. I do still have a couple of bits to alter, but I will do my best to make use of my time when I return after the Easter holidays.

Week Twenty-ONE.

Monday: Private study day, but I had to be in to model for some of the second years. Fortunately this gave me time to get a bit more work done in the little space there was left in the studio. I didn't get to do much, but every little helps.
Tuesday: Another private study day, and again I was in to model. This time I bought my laptop into uni to continue with the Buying & Merchandising essay, I'm pretty much finished with it now.
Wednesday: Final B&M lecture. I've grown to quite like John, even with his constant 'yeah'-ing. He found out today that I'm from the same county as he is, and he knows the hometown I'm from, so we had a bit of a chat about things back home. It was nice to talk to someone who knew what I was talking about for once. I've quite enjoyed these lectures and I think I've learnt quite a lot about Buying and Merchandising. I think I've come quite far in this area as I didn't enjoy the business side of things when I was in high school, and yet I got on well with this subject. I'm leaning more towards design for our second year, but I would take B&M into consideration.
Thursday: Lectra feedback today, I'm really pleased with my result. I thought that I'd only done enough work to scrape a pass and that the wording was all jumbled, but apparently I did quite well! Had a quite chat with Pat about the possibility of using Lectra for patterns in the future, which I think I would quite like to do. After this, I cracked on with my toile. My trousers in particular needed sorting as the length is miles too long. I think they'd fit someone my height in a pair of heels quite well, but they'd swamp anyone wearing flats!
Friday: Managed to sort my toile out completely today. As I was finished so soon I put a facing on my trousers and pressed it all properly. I've tried both pieces on a model and I think they fit quite well. The top looks like it could be slightly loose at the top of the bust, so I think I'm going to curve the seam so the shape fits better, I'll inform the tutors about this in my review as I don't see the point in making a third toile because of such a minor change.

Week Twentyyyy!

Monday: Sorted out the pattern for my trousers today. I thought it'd be pretty easy, but it took a while to remember how to do the facing. I've added on a turn-up to the bottom of the trousers, but I think they may be a little too long still, because the toile example is quite long in length already. I'm slightly confused as to how a turn-up actually works, but I'm hoping I've got it right. Because the actual shape of the trousers was taken from the pattern blocks I'm hoping the shape will fit alright without having to adjust it at all.
Wednesday: John bought in a load of his shirts today, which we had to discuss. The task was basically to define specific qualities about different shirts. For example, some of them were long-sleeved, some were short-sleeved. Some had prints, some didn't. Some were heavy-weight fabric, some were light-weight. And so on. It was quite interesting to see how many different qualities you could find in what may seem to be an 'ordinary men's shirt'.
Friday: Cracked on with my trousers today. Put them all together, they fit around the waist perfectly. However, as I'd suspected, the length is muchhhh too long. I thought they were going to be long, but not as long as they actually are. I'm quite happy with this problem. There could have been something much worse happen, at least shortening the legth of the trousers is nice and simple to fix!

Week Ninteeeeen.

Monday: Over the last couple of weeks I've been cracking on with designing for my CDP project, we have 100 designs minimum to achieve. I'm struggling with so many, as I like for the designs I produce to be good ones, not just any old design. Anyway, today we had to show our 'collection' to Karen and Pat, and chose which design I wanted to make. They both seemed happy with my choice, and also liked the fabric swatches and trimmings I have chosen for it. I went home a very happy bunny after this. Now to finish with the rest of the designs...
Wednesday: B&M lecture, today we all had to bring in some pairs of jeans and were talking about stock we'd order if we had our own stores and stuff. I must've not been myself 'cause I couldn't stop with the suggestions. I was annoying myself 'cause all I could hear was my voice! I quite enjoyed the lesson, it was nice to do something a bit more interesting than listen to John talking to us. We also got back our maths tests today. I didn't do fantasticly, but I would've still passed had it been real. I've never been great at maths so I think I did quite well.
Thursday: Started to create the pattern for my chosen outfit. Because the top is such a tight-fitting structured piece I figured it'd be easier to model on the stand use pattern pieces and adapt the shape. I think I've decided that modelling on the stand is my prefered way to pattern-cut. I tried to ignore the trouser pattern for the moment and am going to try that next week. I traced off the top panels and made paper patterns for it. I got out some calico and straight away got to making my first-draft top. As soon as I'd made it I put it on a manikin to see the fit and someone over my shoulder went 'that fits way to nicely for a first toile!' I was so pleased. I think the back needs to be slightly tighter and the bust section could do with being a little longer, but otherwise the fit is great!

Week EIGHTEEN...

Wednesday: B&M lecture, at first what was said didn't make all that much sense, because I missed the second half of last weeks lecture. I figured out which pages I'd missed, and I'm going to re-read them so that I can catch up properly. I managed to pick it up again and understood what was being explained throughout the lesson. I've started the research for my chosen store within my assignment, but I need to go into the store so that I can do some further research.
Thursday: Lesson on manipulating patterns in Lectra. The first thing I did was change the bodice pieces from the original t-shirt pattern into a vest. I made the shoulders a lot thinner, I lowered the front neckline and then lengthened the vest so that it was past hip-length. I didn't have any problems with this at all, I worked out which functions did what without trouble. After I'd changed the shapes, I tested to see if they worked by 'marrying' the front and back pieces together. I noticed that one of my pieces had a lower armhole because of the way I moved the shoulder in. I changed this little detail, and 'divorced' the pieces et voila, I had to perfectly fitting vest panels which I made all by myself! Although this wasn't technically part of the unit, I have decided to put the work into my folder as extra work.
Friday: Lectra deadline, I managed to get everything compltetly finished and handed in on time. Those of us who went to London Fashion Week were given an extended deadline, but I tried to work hard all this week so that I could get it handed in and not have to worry about it.

London Fashion Week!!

Thursday: Lonnng first day, had to be at Victoria House in London for 9:30am, then didn't leave until about 7pm. Basically what today was for was meeting all the other crew members and setting everything up. My gosh there was a LOT of stuff to be set up. Pretty much the entire area which we were in, was completely empty when we arrived, and then was jam-packed with stuff when we'd left. I found that a lot of the people who were working at LFW were from AUCB too, but on different courses. I didn't really talk to anyone I knew beforehand, I've already made a bunch of new friends. We decided on our lunchbreak that we were going to get lunch together so we could bond a bit, so off we went to Nando's. I really enjoyed getting to know each other better. And to top it off, one of the customers go arrested just as we were leaving! Very strange. When we got back after lunch we met all of the backstage dressers and carried on setting up. Some of the designers had arrived by this time and were putting their exhibition clothes on the manikins that I was setting up, this is when everything started to get really exciting for me.
Friday: Got in at 1:30, the place was packeddd! The final stages of setting-up had come together and the place looked fantastic. There had already been one fashion show on that morning which was Charlie Le mindu, where musician La Roux was seen front row, and there was another one due to start. At the beginning I was stewarding, pointing people to where they had to go for the shows and such. There were a lot of designers wandering around within the exhibition areas, so I got to meet quite a few interesting people. I also saw a celebrity whom I recognised, Megan Prescott who plays Katie in the TV show Skins <- I love that show, so I was really excited when I saw Megan. Jodie Harsh and Sophie Anderton were also seen front row at the Ashley Isham show today, where majestic couture pieces in molton bronze and deep violet set the scene for a victorious finale procession. Saturday: Most of today I was stewarding, which is getting a bit boring and I was on the doors with the On|Off umbrella for quite a long time too, it's wayyyyy too cold to be doing that! Anyway, today's main show was the J.Maskrey show which led on to an after-party which I stayed to help at. The J.Maskrey show was the first one I actually got to watch (even if it was from behind a wall!) and it was incredible. Skin jewellery adorned the models, which perfectly set off the sparkling futuristic, biker chic of the colletion. Once the show was over, everyone was moved through to the exhibition area and we had to rush around clearing up and moving benches ready for the party to start. Once the party started, the room filled up fast. Some were dressed up, some were dressed down, it was really interesting to see the contrast at a party like that. I spent some time near the front door, watching everyone coming into the party, I recognised a few of the people, particularly the Sugarbabes when the walked past. The Sugarbabes were the live act that were playing on stage, they did a fantastic job and had everyone singing and dancing. I got to speak to them as they were leaving, they were really friendly. I helped out by collecting glasses and litter, guarding the backstage doors (where some rather rude people tried to get past me) and welcoming people at the doors. I also had a chance to do a bit of mingling, I didn't stay for the entire party, because I had to travel back to Surry before the trains stopped, but I enjoyed my time while I was there.
Sunday: Today was a bit quieter than the past couple of days, there weren't as many people at the shows and everyone at On|Off were exhausted from the night before. The day was also shorter than normal and we got to go home early, which was really good for me as I was feeling really under the weather. The second show of the day was Falguni and Shane Peacock, their label, known for its bold and audacious prints, showcased a melting pot of colours, textures and vivid embellishment for its autumn winter collection. This would have been really helpful to us for our Melting Pot project, if only we hadn't done that yet! We decided that as we had finished early, we were going to go over to Somerset House where the rest of Fashion Week was taking place and have a look around. We got hold of some passes that let us into Somerset House where we looked around at some of the exhibitions, which were amazing and I wish I had lots of money to buy, buy, buy! But unfortunately not. Afterwards we went outside, as we knew Vivienne Westwoods show was due and we wanted to do some star spotting. We waited a long time, nobody showed up. So we asked someone about it and turns out we were in the wrong place, so we ran to another building (ran past John Rocha!) and found loadssss of paparazzi outside. Didn't see Vivienne Westwood, but we did see Pixie Lott, Kesha and a few other celebrities.
Monday: Whistles chief executive Jane Sheperdson was seen today at the Roksanda Ilincic show where fluid draping, floral embellishment and exaggerated lapels on outerwear were key features. Pam Hogg's collection was punk rock rebellion at its best, as outfits left little to the imagination! Thigh high PVC boots, huge net hair pieces, sheer cape jackets, plunging bodysuits with slashes of lace, PVC and leather and Pam’s signature catsuits sashayed down the catwalk. Pearl Lowe, Peaches Geldoff and Jaime Winstone were all seen front row. At the time of this show I was on the front doors, thus I didn't see the show, but I spoke to Pearl Lowe, Peaches Geldoff and Jaime Winstone to explain where they were to go for the show, which was quite exciting. After this I was put in the VIP area, where I hadn't been before. Unfortunately because there wasn't a show on or due for a few hours, there weren't many people around, but I enjoyed the chance to do a bit of bar-work instead of stewarding. The last show for On|Off was Ziad Ghanem. This was the only show which I managed to watch myself, all the way through. It was incredible. My absolute favorite outfit was the last one, where the model came out in a pink dress, removed the pink dress to reveal a green one underneath, the removed the green one to reveal a white burlesque-style outfit underneath. I was stunned, it was really gorgeous. One other thing I did finally get to do today was have a look at the Alexander McQueen tribute. On one of the walls near the catwalk there was a display imbedded with forty ipod’s. The ipods featured hundreds of images taken from Catwalking.com’s extensive archives, including McQueen’s own label menswear and womenswear collections and from his time at Givenchy. I didn't have time to look through all of the images properly, but it was incredible to see how much work he's achieved over the years. I thought this was a fantastic idea for a tribute, it gained a lot of attention and served it's purpose well. This evening we all stayed really late to de-rig the entire set-up of the On|Off fashion show, which was really hard work, but didn't take too long. Afterwards we had a little celebration, finishing up the alcohol left over from the bar and eating cake that was absolutely lushhh. There was a little awards ceremony, I didn't get anything as there were some people who worked a lot harder than I did, but we all got little goody bags. I also took home one of the helium balloons which are about half my height, which was really awkward to get back to Bournemouth! I'm not sure whether the whole experience was what I had expected, but I did enjoy the opportunity and would definately take up the chance to do it again.

Week Seventeen!!

Monday: Back in with our homework! I didn't colour in my illustrations, because I'm not great at colouring-in and I didn't want to ruin them - I like what I've drawn! I drew two models with designs I'd already created, and put a new design idea on the third model. We all shared the illustrations between everyone else in the class, there are some really fantastic artists in our group! I think I will definately use this magazine-style technique in the future because it makes the figures look flexible and free. Also today we looked at Oni, one of the assistants' old work. She was a student at AUCB like us, so she showed us some of the sketchbooks from her time at AUCB. They were fantastic, and if I'm honest, they've really scared me. My sketchbooks aren't exactly good in the first place, seeing these have worried me. I've got some ideas of things I could do in my sketchbook to improve the work that I do though, so hopefully I've benefitted from it.
Tuesday: Eeeeep, capitals presentations today! I'd prepared a few slides, my part of the presentation was based on the fashion within Australia. Not the actual designers and garments, but I looked into the fashion week and fashion festivals which take place. I tried to make my part of the presentation really effective with bits flying in from the sides and coming up as I talk, but I mucked it up while talking and got in a bit of a panic. I managed to keep my cool though, got to the end of my part and let the rest of the group continue. I also put in a video about the fashion week, which got us a few bonus points because I don't think anyone else in the group had used that idea. I think the worst thing was that one of the members thought we were doing Austria, rather than Australia and had to change her slide at the last minute. It was completely different to the others 'cause we didn't have time to put it together properly, I think this spoilt it a little bit. I'm just glad to have it out of the way, I don't feel very confident talking in front of lots of people unless it's something I'm confident I know a lot about.
Link to presentation, first two slides were created by me.
Wednesday: I only got to sit in for half of this session, as I had a train to catch for London Fashion Week and had to leave early. We were given mathematical questions to figure out the answers for, which I didn't quite complete, but I thought I'd done pretty well considering it's been about 4 years since I last did maths! We get the results next week hopefully, I want to know how well I did.

Week Sixteen.

Monday: I really weren't feeling well this morning and almost didn't go into uni. I'm actually really glad that I did, because I enjoyed this mornings session a lot. Karen asked us all to find some photographs in the magazines from the studio which we were asked to draw from. I tried not to choose any too difficult, but I didn't want the models to be stood in a boring pose. To help myself, I drew onto the image where I thought the nine-heads would go, this made it easier to plan my model. Some of the angles in my image, for example the legs, were a bit off and needed to be tweeked, but I think otherwise my drawing came out quite well. We were set 'homework' and have to draw another three illustrations, but this time adding our own designs to the model, rather than using the ones from the magazine.
Tuesday: Today wasn't a particularly good day. We got our feedback from Karen's previous unit, FDP, which I know I didn't do a very good job of. As I expected, this showed in the mark. I'd expected to fail, so I'm quite relieved that I managed to pass anyway, but I'm still quite disappointed. I guess it's my own fault, if I'd put more work into the project in the first place, instead of rushing it at the last minute, I'd've got a much better mark. I've taken some notes so I know what to improve within the next unit, hopefully I'll have learnt from my mistake!
Wednesday: Lecture, same old, same old. I think I need to start writing this essay we've been set. I've not really had a look at it yet. I should at least start making notes, I'm not very good with essays.
Thursday: Today was a bit different, we had the jersey workshop. We were basically showed the different equipment that we would need to use for it, what results we could get from what machines etc. Everyone made little samples from testing out each machine and different settings on the overlocker. We also had a mini-t-shirt sample to test out, which was the neck-binding and cuff. I actually found it quite easy to do. I'm not fantastic with the overlocker though, I'm going to have to make sure I have a steady hand and take it slowwww for the real thing!
Friday: We got to use the 'plotter' in our Lectra session today. I've seen some of the second-years use the plotter before, it's very loud! So easy to use though, you push a few buttons and hey-presto, out comes the pattern pieces. Then when the pieces have all been drawn out, you just pull them away from the paper because they've been cut by the machine too! Brilliant invention, will save sooooo much time in the future!

Week Fifteeeeen...

Monday: Another lesson in which we designed, I don't think I really benefitted much from today.
Tuesday: Today we made a working drawing in illustrator, for the t-shirts which we are designing in Lectra. I've got a bit of a cold, and Jamie picked up on it and gave me a sheet to work from, so I could get on with it myself. I wouldn't say I'm a whizz at illustrator, but I found the working drawings quite easy to do considering I worked alone. I think the first drawings I've done look quite stiff, so I've started another one which is supposed to look more flexible, with crease-lines and such.
Also today, we had feedback tutorials on our pattern cutting and construction unit from before Christmas. I didn't really have much to ask in the tutorial, other than 'what can I improve?' so it went pretty quickly. Fortunately, there were only a few things that I did wrong, and I'll make sure I correct them in future units. I am really pleased with the mark I have received, I've done better than I thought I was going to.
Wednesday: Another lecture from John. Considering I'm not great at sitting in front of someone talking at me, I think I'm doing a great job at paying attention. I find these lectures quite beneficial, I feel as though I am learning new things. I enjoy the fact that we can ask questions and discuss between us topics within the unit, so a lot of what is said makes sense to me, I don't leave the lectures confused. Yay!
Thursday: Lectra session today, which taught us how to create lay-plans. I think this is a fantastic part of the program. One thing I dislike about paper patterns is figuring out how to jigsaw them together for the most economical fit. The part of Lectra we used in this session showed us how to use the program to create a lay-plan either ourselves, or from the program. There was an option which meant that the program could find the most economical fit on the fabric lay which we set, and this saved me having to do it myself. I also had a try at figuring out the fit myself, I couldn't get it as good as the computer, but I thought I did a good job of it!

Week FOURTEEN.

Monday: Getting back into the swing of FDP, starting off with some stuff about colour swatches. It's quite cool to see how other people have sourced their colour swatches. One of the better things to do, would be to get a Pantone Color book, but on the website the cheapest one, with swatches included, was about £230! So I'm afraid there's no chance of one of those anytime soon. We also had split group tutorials, which was really handy as I still didn't really know what to do with the project. I've now decided on my idea, and even got a game-plan of what I intend to do with my designs.
Tuesday: I'm really annoyed about today if I'm honest. Got into uni, expecting to be with Jamie in group A, but apparently not. The timetable says 'split groups with jamie' so that's what I assumed. It turns out, we're actually still in Anoracks and Bomerjackets, like on Monday's lesson. If I had known this, I would've bought my Manifesto work in, but I didn't, so I left it all at home and had nothing to do. So I ended up spending the entire morning researching. Which there's nothing wrong with that, but I could've done something more important than that. I managed to get loads of images printed, so I've now produced a mood board and got loads of photos of relevant designers all organised and ready to go.
Wednesday: Buying and Merchandising lecture was pretty good. I'm pretty tired, so I thought I'd be falling asleep through it but I actually paid quite a lot of attention. So far pretty much everything makes sense to me, but I'm probably going to loose track soon so I bought John's book that I can read when I'm at home.
Thursday: Had another lesson on Lectra today, I'm really pleased with how well it went. I don't think I struggled with anything at all really, just a few things that went slightly wrong, but were easily rectified. I have a lot to learn though, all the different tabs and options we have, with all these crazy new words... a lot to get used to! Also today, I've been colour-swatching. Using some images for my Manifesto project I've selected colours to use for swatches. I also got a book through that I ordered which I think may help me. Inside it contains some tear-out swatches, but they're in coloured pairs which is a little annoying. I tried to get hold of a proper Pantone swatch book, but they're wayyyy too expensive for me right now.

Week Thirteen!

Monday: So, here's the first deadline of the year. Communications in Black and White, and the Melting Pot projects are complete and handed in. I think I've done ok with the Black and White one, but the Melting Pot isn't too fantastic so I'm a little worried about not passing this part of the course. We don't find out our grades for a few weeks yet, which I find a silly as now whatever mistakes I made with those projects, I'm going to make with the Manifesto's project too 'cause I don't know what I've done wrong! But ah well, not much can be done.
Tuesday: Apparently today was the date for the Fashion Capitals presenation we're meant to have done. I don't think anyone really knew it though, so the deadline has been pushed back a few weeks. I weren't really in a group before, so I feel better now that I'm in one and I can start with some proper research. Our group are doing Austrailia, which will be nice as I don't really know a lot about Austrailian fashion.
Wednesday: Our first proper lecture was today! I think our lecturer, John Maynard seems quite nice, he knows a lot more than I expected him to know! I'm not sure how I'm going to do with this unit, I'm not overally fantastic at concentrating on people talking at me, or being able to write essays... I just about managed with Business Studies at ALevel. So far, what's been said makes sense, but I'm not sure what's in store for the future.
Thursday: Another new unit, Lectra. I'm not entirely sure what is included in this unit, all I really know is that it's a program we use on the computer. We started off all together, learning stuff about the program and how to label pattern pieces and stuff, then we split into groups to do this thing on the Lectra board... I can't remember what it's called... digitising? Maybe... anyway, and we traced the pattern piece with this remote control and up on the computer, appeared my pattern piece. Very clever. I'm sure this is going to be a really handy tool.

Week Twelveee.

Monday: First lesson back after Christmas. The one and only lesson of the week, slightly annoying. Unfortunately, due to 'The Big Freeze' I have been unable to travel back to Bournemouth after the holidays. I know the lesson was based on customer profiles, for our Manifestos project. I will be sure to pick up the handouts and catch up as soon as possible.

Week Eleven!

Monday: New brief today: Manifestos! I have nooooo idea how on Earth I'm going to write my own manifesto. At first, I didn't even know what a manifesto was! It's a pretty open project, so I have a feeling it'll take me a while to think up some ideas of what to base this one on. The scariest thing is that we have to design a minimum of 100 outfits throughout this project, I don't think I've done that many designs so far in my life! I'm quite excited about how I basically get to rule this project with my own ideas right from the start, so hopefully I'm going to really enjoy it.
Tuesday: We were supposed to have a talk with Jamie about CV's today, but I'm pretty worried about the deadline for our Pattern Cutting and Construction units, so I decided to spend the day working on those. I've had a look through my folders and found that I've got a few bits missing, which has got me all of a panic now, I'm just hoping I'll be finished on time.
Wednesday: Private study day, I've been doing a whole load of bits. Mainly focusing on the pattern cutting folder, which is now complete apart from labelling the working sketches, and then I've done a little bit more for the construction folder, like re-doing a couple of my previous samples.
Thursday: The pressure is well and truly on. Quite a few of the other people on the course have now finished all the work they needed to do, so I'm getting quite worked up about the fact I could've been finished now. I am pretty much finished, thankfully. I've finished the shirt now, I think it came out quite well, but I made a mistake with the button holes, so I have lines of yellow chalk in the wrong place which has spoilt it a little as I couldn't wash it off. I'm pretty pleased with how far we've come, at the start when we found out we were making a shirt pretty much by ourselves, I was really worried, but working through it I realised it's not as bad as it seems, I guess I know more than I thought.
Friday: Spent all of last night making sure both books are 100% finished, now they've both been handed in. It's quite a while before we find out our marks, but I'm just glad to be done with them. They're all complete and now I don't have to worry anymore. Definately going to use the Christmas Holidays for a bit of relaxing.

Week Ten.

Monday: Trip to Somerset House in London. One of my favorite artworks shown was the video when we first entered the exhibition which was by Nick Night, where he pulled an outfit to shreads and covered it in paint and stuff. The expression in it was really interesting. I think the best bit about this exhibition was the photoshoot that we could watch. The room was closed off and we had windows we could watch through, where there were photographers from ID magazine taking photos for future magazine articles. It was incredible being able to see what the photographers do, how the models act and react and how the photos are edited.
The rest of the day was quite poorly organised in my opinion, as we were left as Somerset House to go off and do whatever for the rest of the afternoon. We ended up finding our way to the V&A museum to look at the fashion on show there, which, even though I've seen it all before, it's still nice to go back and look at things I may not have noticed before.
Overall, I don't think I personally got much out of this day.
Tuesday: Our debate on Eco-Fashion. I'm not much of a public speaker, so I spent most of the day worrying about participating in the debate. I had prepared a sheet of paper with some facts to bring up in the debate, but found out that morning a few others got their facts from the same sites, which worried me. Fortunately, the debate went really well. I don't think I managed to express many of my points, but I think that as a group we all worked together quite well.
Wednesday: First deadline, for illustrator. It seems like we've not really done all that much, and yet I've done all the work we were supposed to do. Looking back, I realise I have learnt quite a bit, but I'm quite pleased to be rid of it now.
Thursday: Cut out the shirt pieces today and started putting it all together. Got as far as the darts in the front and back of the panels. It's pretty scary getting on with something that I'm not being helped through. I know what I'm doing so far, but I worried about making big mistakes.
Friday: Yep, made a big mistake. Printed the interfacing onto the wrong side of the facing. Uni were also out of the fabric we were using, so I got a bit paniced for a while, but I found a bit of extra fabric luckily, so fixing the problem was quite easy. I got a bit behind, but I should be able to catch up alright in the end.

Week NINE?!

Monday: Felt like today was pretty pointless to be honest. The work I did, I might as well have done at home. Couldn't do any work for the presentation as I couldn't find a working printer anywhereee and I didn't really want to have to do the work on computer. I know I'm being a bit grumbley, but I wanted to do it my own way and couldn't, so I was in a bit of a sulk today.
Wednesday: Lesson in illustrator, good job I've kept up with all my work, we've got a deadline next week! We weren't actually told any sooner than this (which would have been nice) so it was a bit of a shock. I think I'm up to date with everything luckily, but I'm probably going to go through it all and make some improvements on the pieces I'm going to submit.
Thursday: I was notttt looking forward to today. Pattern cutting is not my strongest point, and we were attempting making a whole shirt pattern alone today. I was worried, to say the least. Saying that, I think it actually turned out ok in the end. I think I understood where I was going all the way through, until I'd finished the pattern and had to walk around the pieces and my collar was about 2cm bigger than it was supposed to be! I couldn't figure out what I'd done, so needed a bit of help understanding, but I figured it out and (after two attempts!) managed to get a perfectly fitting pattern. I'm actually quite surprised at how much I've learnt in the past three months.
Friday: Today we continued with our shorts. I really enjoy our construction lessons, even if I end up spending half the time unpicking! I feel like the mistakes I make are silly little ones, that I shouldn't be doing anymore, and yet I just keep doing it! Luckily, I must be pretty speedy because I spent most of the day catching up, but by the end of it I was one of the first finished. I'm really impressed with my shorts, but I feel like I need to put a popper or a hook and eye above the fly-zip because it looks as though if the shorts were being worn, that the top would pull away slightly and not look straight. I might consider this after being marked though, as I would rather submit it in the way that we made it in class.

Week Eightttt.

Monday: We started off the lesson spliting groups, our half worked on some working drawings. We've already done a few for our pattern cutting unit, but this time we looked at some ready-drawn working drawings to see what things you could do wrong in a drawing that would have effect if you were to send a drawing off for production. It's amazing how much can be interpretted wrongly! The next part of the lesson involved charcol... which I'm not overally fond of. We had some fabric scraps that we had to draw from, trying to get the right texture. I don't think it started off to great but I definately improved, I really like the drawings I ended up with.
Tuesday: Catchup session today, for all our IT stuff! I didn't have too much to catch up on, as I've pretty much kept up with the IT stuff, but I did have a few questions. I did, however have a lot of my blog to sort out, I can safely say I am now all caught up!

Wednesday: Illustration - blending objects together to end up with a gradient between a number of objects. I made a mistake trying to blend a couple of separate objects together - I just ended up with a huge mess! We also had a go at making shapes into 3D objects, which I didn't really understand for a while but now that I get it, I think it's a really handy tool to use! I also had a bit of spare time at the end of the lesson and tired using a bunch of these techniques to come up with a random design, which I think has come out really funky!
Thursday: Pattern cutting, this time collars! Our last demonstration, which scares me a bit as next week we're making a patter for a shirt, all by ourselves! But I feel as though I've learnt a lot so (hopefully!) I'll be alright with it, I thought the collars went quite well, but I completely messed one up and had to re-draw it a few times... I had a headache by the end of the day!

Week SEVEN.

Monday: Today we continued with the Melting Pot project. To start off with we learnt to draw models. To be honest, I'm not that great with proportions... and it really shows in the first stages of my drawing, but as the morning went on, I picked up a bit and I actually think what I ended up with was alright. I know I need to expand on what I've done, but I think with a bit of practice I will do really well with these drawings. The rest of the day I concentrated more on the project itself and tried to do a bit more researching. I have now found a few designers, who I hadn't heard of before which I think will be really relevent with theme for this project.
Tuesday: In this session we concentrated on our presentation skills. In a few weeks we need to have produced a presentation on one of the fashion capitals so we spen the lesson playing around with different techniques you can use in powerpoint. I started up creating a presentation on Vivienne Westwood. I tried to be really technical with it, I didn't want it to be too boring, but I think I tried too hard 'cause I didn't have many slides finished by the end of the lesson!
Wednesday: Peclers presentation today! Peclers is a fashion forecasting company in Paris, we had someone come in and tell all of the fashion students about the way they look forward to the future and predict what are going to be big trends over the next year. In the presentations there were 'stories' which involved different themes for trends. Each story started out with an explanation of what the trend would acheive, what colours, what accesories would be used, how the trend was influenced etc. I felt like I learnt quite a lot about how to look forward at trends.
Thursday: Between the last time I had construction and this lesson I had to join the facing pieces together, finish the invisible zip and sew the side seems of my skirt together. In this lesson, our aim was to attatch the facing to the skirt and put in a hem. Annoyingly, I didn't catch the hem properly and had to unpick and overlock it all over again, which I didn't have time to finish in this lesson. Once we'd done the skirt, we started a pair of shorts. We were given the pieces already cut out so we didn't need a pattern at all, we jumped straight in with a fly-zip. After the invisible-zip on the skirt, I wasn't as worried about this zip and I just decided to go along with it.
Friday: Catchup day, managed to finish the skirt! I am really pleased with my skirt, it functions all very well and looks just great! It's a shame I used red thread on it, but I know it's easier to see.

Week Sixxx,

Monday: Got a new project brief today: Melting Pot. It's based on different cultures, mixing some together. At the moment, I like the idea of mosaics. I'm looking into Roman and Greek fashion trends, new and old, and what is on the catwalks at the moment which could relate to my idea. In the lesson we also had a look at some artworks which could relate. I didn't find any that particularly related to Roman or Greek fashion, but I did find one which was beautiful and I think I can still work it into my project.
Tuesday: In illustrator we chose a trainer and had to trace around it with the pen tool. When we had a full tracing we had to experiment how to change the colours of the trainer. I tried a few with colours from the colour palette, but I also used a few images that I got from the internet and made some swatches which used colour and patterns. I really enjoyed this task and I think it'll come in handy in the future.
Wednesday: Continued working on logos and advertisement from previous lesson. I'm not sure I really like this task, I don't really know how to make an advertisement and it's not really interesting me anymore. However, I am happy with how the piece of work has ended up so far and though I know there are things I could do to make it better, I am happy with how it looks.
Thursday: In pattern cutting we learnt to make an ordinary sleeve piece into a puffy sleeve, by adding more fabric into the shoulder and cuff. If I were to make the sleeve, it would involve a lot of gathering. I think this would be really good to add onto a garment that is fairly plain, and add a bit of oomph. We also learnt how to put button holes onto a garment. There's no guessing about it, there are numbers involved, and unfortunately for me, I'm no good with maths! All I remember is that it's something to do with pi... good job I have my book to use as a reference!
Friday: Back to construction, we got our a-line skirt pattern out and started making it. For this skirt we have to put in an invisible zip, which was the task we worked hard on in this lesson. I'm not really a fan of zips... don't know what it is, I'm just scared of them. I'm actually really pleased with how well my zip came out though, which I think has made me more confident now. In this lesson we also worked on some stuff about interfacing. I've used interfacing before, but I never knew how many types there were! I've definately learnt a lot more about what types you use for what and where...

Weeeeek Five!

Monday: A day out in London! I really enjoyed this day, partly because I was a bit closer to home, but mostly because it was something I'd never got to do before. We started off in Shepard's Bush, looking in a few of the little fabric shops there, and gathering a few samples. We saw all sorts of fabrics in these stores as none of them were specialist stores. The fabrics were also fairly cheap fabrics, some of them really nice though! We then moved onto Oxford Street. Amazingly enough we managed to stay out of all the lovely stores and stuck to the fabric stores! We were supposed to be in groups, but me and Celia stuck as a two as it was much easier to go around the stores and ask for fabrics. I think we managed to get around most of the fabric stores. Some of the people were really helpful and we saw a lot of amazing fabrics. Unfortunately, a lot of them were quite expensive, but I will definately be bearing these stores in mind for future designing.
Tuesday: We had a look at designing flats in illustrator in this lesson. I followed well and I understand how to draw half a garment, reflect them and join them together, so I will find it easy to do this in the future. Jamie also gave us a template for some stitching techniques and zips etc. When we made our t-shirt we had to put binding along the neckline and the stitching along the hems, which at first I struggled with, but I now know where I went wrong with it and I've sorted out my problem!
Wednesday: Today we were asked to design a logo for a store, trace around a design and start to work these into an magazine advertisement. I managed to do a basic, but effective logo, and start my design, but not get any further.
Thursday: Finally a chance to carry on with construction! We continued with the bodice we were making, adding the binding to the neckline and attatching the sleeves to the armholes. I got this finished and I am so pleased with it. Ok, so it's not the best thing I've ever made, but I'm really pleased that I've managed to sucessfully make one! First garment I've made in a while, yayyy!
Friday: A catch-up session today, I mainly worked on my seams that we did in our first construction lesson. Looking back, I did a pretty poor job, so I figured there was definately room for improvement! I am pleased with how they've come out now, even though I did have to do a few of them more than once!

Week Four!!!

Monday: Continued with the black & white themed project, I don't think my end garment came out exactly how I expected it to, I had to change it a bit. I think it came out alright, but there are definately things I would improve. I've done most of the sketchbook for this project but there are still things that I want to add to it.
Tuesday: Using illustrator we made a set of suits (card playing suits!) to practice our techniques and experiment with some new ones. I tried making a couple of the suits look really cool, but I don't think I've got the hang of illustrator enough 'cause mine don't look nearly as good as I'd planned them to!
Wednesday: More illustrator, this time we made a clock. Something pretty simple, but we used different techniques to come out with the end result. We also were shown how to change the format of our images so that they are easy to upload into our blogs.
Thursday: A day of pattern cutting, not really my favorite day of the week. This time we learnt about different types of darts. I now know how to remove a dart, how to move a dart from one place to another place and how to put in a new dart! I'm sure knowing that is going to come in handy in the future! Today we also found out about London Fashion Week, which is an exciting topic. To make sure things are fair we pulled names out of a hat, and I was one of them! It's going to be a fantastic opportunity and I am really looking forward to it.
Friday: Another day of pattern cutting, this time we worked on skirts. Our next garment to make is an a-line skirt, which we made a pattern for in this lesson. We used the technique of removing darts for this task and luckily I remembered what to do. We also learnt how to make a circle skirt, which was really easy. I got really confused when we were shown about a 1/4 circle, a 1/2 circle and a full circle skirt, but I think it was just too much learning for one day!