My final dress!... Goodbye year 1

6 MONTH PROJECT...

6 months of research, sketching, sampling, more sketching, toiles, spending money, stressing out, sketching, planning and constructing is finally over. Here is the end result.

2 WEEKS OF STRAIGHT KNITTING.....
Sat in the knitting room 9:00 - 19:00 bent over the knitting machine banging out a dress. The pattern itself was relatively simple but the fact that i had decided to individually place each strand of yarn in order to create a fluffy feathery texture turned it into a painstakingly slow process.

A little jolly to Castle Park for a photo shoot - courtesy of Photographer Hayley Brown

All for a 10 minute presentation!?!?

Barely even a flick through my sketchbook!

Final thoughts...... I feel slightly hysterical at the minuscule amount of attention given to my dress but at the same time i am glad to see it complete, and Even more ecstatic to not be sat in the knitting room anymore. 

I would like to give a special thanks to Flo Martin, Hayley Brown and Elly Peers for Photocopying, cutting threads, helping with knitting the last sleeve, modelling and photographing! Thanks guys!! mwah!

Alberta Ferretti - My inspiration

I would like to use this blog entry to promote a fashion designer that is a favourite of mine, Alberta ferretti. For my Textiles A-level i had to do a presentation on her work and at the time i had never heard or seen any of it, and out of ignorance just wanted to learn about the big names like Gucci or Chanel. However, now she has blossomed as a designer and i am totally hooked on her work. Below is a snapshot of her homepage www.albertaferretti.com

The fashion style i usually look towards for inspiration is never normally anything as pretty as this. I like dramatic, Avant Garde objects that wear the person rather than a 'dress on a clotheshorse' type look. However there is something quite admirable about her pieces. For example the dress above at the left has thousands of tiny pleats, or the green dress with hand embroidery on such a sheer fabric.

I would like to think that Miss Alberta Ferretti is a big fan of 'trendils' (look they're everywhere). I am contradicting myself here saying that i dont particularly like thing to be too pretty, however, i do like a good trendil or two. again note the layering and ruffling of the silk chiffon fabrics. The garments have a fluidity about them and are finished so emaculately.

I particularly like the cute brogues that the models are wearing giving the models a nerd-esque look. They also look extremely comfy. Overall, i think i admire her work so much out of jealousy, or a 'i wish id thought of that'. Her pieces are so sickeningly sweet yet magical and inspiring. They make me want to pay more attention to finishes and minor detailing occasionally rather than throwing things together haphazardly (i have even been known to use a stapler in my time!) Anyway, I hope you like the pictures and visit her Website!

wooaaaaah! Yep! Thats right another heres one i made earlier...

This one started life as a peachy coloured dress from asos, pretty but Rather ill fitting. It had a waistband which seemed to be made to fit a size 4 rather than a 10 and strange gathering going on which made you look like you had boobs on your back!?! Odd! Anyway, i decided to sacrifice this one in the name of art. Firstly, it was tooo long so i hacked of the 'pretty' edging and cut into the god awful waist thing. next i cover it in white paint, i firstly attempted to use bleach... a lot of it and whereas the blasted dress remained the untouched the college chairs will never quite looked the same... My bad!

Using a bucket and other random shit from around the studio i arranged the dress so that it would dry with a crumpled effect that i could still get into. Next i attacked the 'pretty' neckline and shoulders with black paint, some black netting and more black paint on the scalloped edging (i don't throw things away easily) stitched it all together and then here we have dress no.4! :)