Final Evaluation

Declaration of Authenticity; I confirm that the attached assessment is all my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself and sources have been appropriately referenced.

Evaluating my Research & Experimentations:

Having been given the theme of Data for my FMP, I decided to focus on the concept of space. In particular looking at rovers and Mars.

Before I had decided my concept of space within the overarching theme of data, I created a Mindmap of initial ideas of everything that links to data this included different forms of data and the dictionary definition of data.

One of the thing I wrote on my Mindmap was NASA Perseverance Rover as it was very current and it’s mission was to go to Mars and collect data in many different forms. Once I had settled on that concept I created several moodboards to visualise my ideas, the theme and also the colour scheme. I found these initial moodboards really helpful to look back on throughout the project and also to base and develop my work from.

I have tried to develop my ideas within all aspects of my research, I have especially focused on my secondary research through moodboards and photos.

I have found moodboards very valuable throughout my FMP as they are a good way to visualise ideas and look at different techniques.

I personally don’t think my work changed much throughout my FMP, I just developed on my previous work, trailing a variety of techniques and undertaking more research working towards creating a final piece.

I have looked at a variety of different artists and materials. However, other than Chesley Bonestell’s work and style and Tomoko Nakamichi‘s pattern magic work none of the artists I looked at had any particular influence on my work other than giving me some inspiration. I also took inspiration from watching the film, The Martian as it was set on the planet Mars and it gave me quite realistic understanding of what the planet Mars is like, the colour of the planet, what the surface is like.

Chesley Bonestell is artist who has made some incredible space paintings including ones just looking at the planet Mars, I struggled to find what exactly chesley bonestell used to create his paintings.

Tomoko Nakamichi has written a series of Pattern Magic books, which include a range of her own pattern making techniques.

I think I have done well on the practical and practical blogs as most of my time in college work was solely focused on that and the experimentation process. I personally found the practical blogs easier than research ones as I am writing about what I did, the process, what went well, what did not go so well and then at the end writing a small evaluation on the techniques and the final outcome and if I am happy with it.

I probably could improve on my artist research and taking more influence from some of the artists I have researched. For my initial research I looked at 3 artists, from the brief and then I also looked at a collaboration of an artist and a clothing brand. I did take inspiration from these initial artists research but It had no further influence on my work and I did not do any experimentation in a similar style using my own theme.

Looking back at my FMP studies I don’t think that there is anything I wished I had explored further as I tried to cover as many aspects as possible within the time given for my FMP.

Evaluating my final piece:

I have included formal elements in my design such as shape, colour and texture.

I have included shape with in my bodice with a 3-D pattern magic cube, I have used colour within both my bodice and my skirt, on my skirt I have used a variety of shades of red, yellow and orange. When my garments are worn together there is a contrast of light and dark colours between the garments. Finally, the Suffolk puffs and french knots add texture to the garments.

For my final piece bodice I used black cotton jersey fabric and a shiny metallic silver Lycra. I then used white embroidery thread to add my french knots onto the bodice. I also stuffed the cube with toy filling and used a small bit of netting to hold it in place. As well as cotton thread to stitch the bodice together.

For my final piece skirt I used calico, I then ice dyed the fabric with ice and powdered dyes and for the Suffolk puffs I used 3 different cotton fabrics for the outer circle and for the inner circle I used fabric from a t-shirt and a shirt as well as another grey fabric. As well as cotton thread to sew the skirt as well as the Suffolk puffs.

The techniques I have used to create my garments are pattern cutting, construction, French knots, Ice Dyeing and Suffolk Puffs.

The design of my final piece garments is trying to show the NASA Perseverance Rover heading towards Mars for its mission to explore and collect data on the planet.

The black fabric used in my bodice represents outer space and the french knots represent distant stars, the 3-D pattern magic cube on the bodice created using a strip of silver fabric is an creative interpretation of the NASA Perseverance Rovers. Once I made the bodice I stuffed the cube with toy filling and cut a netting cube net to stop the stuffing falling out.

The ice dyed bubble/balloon skirt with suffolk puffs was inspired by the planet Mars, with its colour shape, texture and craters.

I hope that the theme and link to data is clearly conveyed through the design of my final piece garments.

I am very happy with my final piece bodice and skirt I think they are effective. In particular I like the the Suffolk Puffs on the skirt as it adds another layer of texture and design to the skirt they are all 3-D. I also love the cube because of the 3-D aspects and french knots as they have a texture.

I hoped that my design and final piece would be reminiscent of a costume and I think that I have achieved that effect.

I don’t think that there is anything I would change about both of my final piece garments, the only thing that is a little bit annoying is that the skirt is slightly too big but this is not a major issue. This happened when you gather the fabric at the waist and at the bottom of the skirt and you are trying to gather the waistband to the right size and if you gather it too much it would be too small and you cannot amend it.

I have done a photoshoot to style my finished garments I took photos of both of the garments on a mannequin in front of a ring light. I also got a friend to take a few photos of myself wearing the garments as I made both the bodice and the skirt to my size. I did have to pin the skirt at the back so it fitted me for the photos. I managed to get quite a few good clear photos of my final piece. After I had taken the photos I added a couple of photos to the NASA Perseverance Photo booth and that created a few interesting and cool images.

Overall, I am really happy with how my FMP project has gone and the final pieces I have created.

Constructing my Bubble/Balloon skirt – Final Piece

I have previously created a practice toile for a bubble/balloon skirt and wrote about how I constructed in a blog called Constructing my Bubble/Balloon Skirt – Toile.

For my final piece bubble/balloon skirt, I have already cut out my calico fabric and Ice dyed it. I wrote about Ice dyeing the fabric for my final piece in a previous blog called Ice Dyeing Fabric for my Bubble/Balloon Skirt – Final Piece.

Next I turned the stitch length to 5 on the sewing machine.

I then sewed along the top and bottom edge of both of the pieces of fabric for the skirt with a straight stitch length 5. This will allowed me to gather the fabric.

Once I had sewn the lining and the larger outer skirt, I laid the fabric out on the table so I could easily gather the fabrics.

I then began to gather the top of both pieces fabric to approximately 35cm.

I then began to loosely gather the bottom of both pieces of fabric bigger than 35cm.

After I gathered one of the linings and outer skirt panels, I followed the same process above for the second lining and outer skirt fabric.

I then turned the stitch length to 2 for more of a normal stitch length.

Next I pinned the bottom edges of the lining and outer lining together for both of my panels.

I then sewed the bottom edges of both panels using a straight stitch with a stitch length of 2.

Once I had sewn the bottom of the skirt I turned it inside out so that seam was on the inside of the skirt. I then pinned the top edges of the lining and outer lining together of both of my panels.

I then sewed the top edges of both panels using a straight stitch.

This is what the two panels looked like once they had been sewn along the top edge.

Before I could continue constructing my skirt, I needed to sew my Suffolk puffs on which I did and wrote about in a blog called Sewing Suffolk Puffs with Bondaweb and sewing them onto the skirt – Final Piece.

Below is a photo of the Suffolk puffs sewn on the front and back panel of the skirt.

Once the Suffolk puffs had been sewn on, I then laid the outside of the front and back facing each other.

I then pinned together one side of the skirt aligning all 4 pieces of fabric together, leaving a gap at the top to sew in my invisible zip later.

I then sewed down that side.

Once I had sewn one side I moved on to pining the other side , this side had been pinned all the way down one side aligning all 4 pieces of fabric, I then sewed all the way down that side of the skirt.

I then turned the skirt the right way around and tried it on to see if it fitted and it was a bit too big so I made some tucks on the top edge of the skirt to make it smaller.

This is what the skirt looked like once the sides had been sewn and tucks had been added into the top edge.

I then drew and cut my waistband 10cm wide using the measurement of the skirt at the top where the waistband will be attached with an extra 2cm seam allowance around all the edges.

I then pinned the waistband to the top of the skirt before sewing it.

So once sewn it looked like this.

Next, I changed the sewing machine foot from a normal one to a zipper foot, I then tacked the invisible zip in the skirt and waistband with a longer stitch.

I then sewed the zip again as close to the teeth a possible with a normal stitch and stitch length..

I found that tacking the zip to the skirt first, really helpful as when you sew it down with just pins holding it down it usually slides a lot and moves out of place.

This is what the zip looked like when it was sewn and the zip was done up.

I checked the zip at this point, before moving onto the next step to check that I had not sewn on the teeth of the zip otherwise it would not work.

This is what the zip looked like on the inside of the the skirt.

I then sewed the hole at the bottom of the zip closed.

Next I want to fully enclose the zip within the waist band.

I started by folding the top of the zip down to one side before folding down the top of the waistband and pinning it in place.

I then sewed it so I looked like this, I then turned it the right way around so you can see the zip and the seam is on the inside.

I then repeated the process for the other side of the zip.

This is what the skirt looks like with the zip fully enclosed in the waistband.

Then later on a different machine which I am going to use to sew the waistband down and fully finish the skirt.

I then turned the dial pictured below to 6 which is a straight stitch with a small stitch length.

I also threaded my machine with an orange thread that matched the skirt in hope that the stitching won’t be visible.

I had previously considered using bondaweb to hold the waistband down but that did not work.

I then folded the waistband down and pinned it in place before sewing in the gap where the waistband meets the skirt.

You can slightly see the stitching below but it is barely visible in a close up photo.

This is the stitching line on the inside of the skirt.

Below is a photo of the front and back of my fully finished bubble/balloon skirt.

I am very pleased with how my ice dyed bubble/balloon skirt with Suffolk puffs has turned out. I think it looks very effective and I really love the photos of my bodice and skirt I think the two garment go together really well.

I have taken clearer photos of both my bodice and my skirt in a blog called Styling and photographing my final finished garments.

Sewing Suffolk Puffs with Bondaweb and sewing them onto the skirt – Final Piece

In a previous blog called Suffolk Puffs with Bondaweb, I made 5 varied sized Suffolk Puffs and they were the perfect size. So to create the Suffolk puffs for my final piece I am going to use the same objects to draw around. This will allow me to create exactly the same sized Suffolk Puffs.

I have chosen 3 different coloured fabrics to make the outer Suffolk Puffs from and 3 different fabrics for the innner circles.

I am going to cut out 21 outer circles, 21 inner circle and 21 bondaweb circles this will create 21 Suffolk puffs in total.

For the first fabric, I drew around 7 different sized circles using a black biro pen.

I drew around two sized 1 and sized 2 circles and then only one of sizes 3, 4 and 5 as they are larger circles.

I then did then followed the exact same process for my next two fabrics.

Once I had drawn around all of the outer circles, I moved onto drawing the inner circles using a template and a white dressmaking pencil. There are 4 inner circle templates size 1 and 2 have the same sized inner circle and size 3, 4 and 5 have slightly larger circles.

There are 2 grey and 1 brown fabrics, I used an old T-shirt and shirt as well as an old grey fabric. I used fabrics I already had rather than buying more just for a small circle of fabric.

I did the same for all three fabrics drawing seven circles on each.

I then used the inner circle templates to draw 21 circles using a black biro on the Bondaweb. There are 12 circles the size of the template 1 + 2 and for size 3, 4 and 5 3 circles of each size.

I then cut out all of the circles using dressmaking scissors, the outer circles, inner circles and Bondaweb circles.

Below are photos of all the circles cut out for each of the Suffolk puff sizes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

I then ironed all of the outer circles to try and remove the creases.

These are one of the outer size Suffolk puffs once they had been ironed and there still are a few crease in the fabric from where the fabric was originally folded.

After I had ironed all of the outer circles of fabric, I got a tea towel and dampened it under the tap to use when fusing the Bondaweb to the fabric.

I started with getting one inner circle and one bondaweb circle and placing them on the ironing board side by side.

I then made sure that the inner circle fabric was laid with the inside facing up, I then placed the bondaweb on top with the rough webbed side touching the fabric.

I then placed my damp cloth on top of the circles and then placed the iron on top of the circle for 10-15 seconds to fuse the bonaweb to the fabric.

Once I had ironed it for 10-15 seconds, I removed the damp cloth from the circles and allowed the fabric to cool slightly.

When it was cool I got some scissors to remove the excess Bondaweb around the edges of the fabric, I then slowly and carefully peeled the paper off leaving the layer of glue fused to the fabric.

This is what the inner circle of fabric looked like once I had removed the paper.

I then got my larger circle of fabric with the inside facing up and laid it flat on the ironing board board before placing the inner circle with the side that has the adhesive on facing down.

By ironing the inner circle on the inside of the fabric this means that when you sew your Suffolk puff the pattern will be visible on the outside.

 I then covered the circles with a damp cloth and ironed the circle for 10-15 seconds.

After that I took the damp cloth of the circle and left it to dry leaving the inner circle adhered to the larger circle.

I then repeated the Bondaweb process for the rest of the 20 Suffolk puff circles.

The photo below shows all 21 circles with the second fabric fused using Bondaweb in the centre. I layer them out in there sizes and colours. Size 1 is the smallest and Size 5 is the largest.

I then choose three different orange threads that matched the orange fabrics.

I then got my sewing needles and scissors to cut the thread.

I started by threading my needle with double thread of the matching colour and making a knot in the end. I then hand sewed a even running stitch all around the edge before carefully pulling the thread to gather the fabric. Next I evenly spaced the gathers before tying a knot in the thread and finishing the Suffolk Puff.

I then repeated the sewing process above 20 more times to sew all of the Suffolk puffs.

Below is a photo of all 21 fully finished Suffolk puffs.

I then got my partially constructed skirt with two separate front and back panel’s and pinned then to my mannequin before arranging and pining the Suffolk puffs on the skirt randomly where I wanted. I tried to make the amount of Suffolk puffs on the front and back even.

I only partially constructed the skirt before sewing on the Suffolk puffs as shown by the image below, there is a gap between the lining and the outer skirt. So if I sew them on now, you won’t see the hand stitches as they are on the inside of the skirt.

I then carefully hand sewed the Suffolk Puff to the front of the skirt, the stitches are on the inside of the Suffolk puff so they are not visible. The stitches in the right photo are on the inside of the skirt.

After I had sewn the Suffolk puffs onto the front of the skirt, I pinned the skirt onto the mannequin and I realised there was quite a big gap at the front at the bottom of the skirt that did not have a Suffolk puff on. So I took a small Suffolk puff of of the back panel, which I had not sewn yet and I pinned it on shown in the photo on the right.

I then sewed that one Suffolk puff onto the front panel of the skirt.

I then moved onto the back of the skirt and I sewed all the Suffolk puffs on and I then pinned it onto the mannequin to photograph.

Below is a photo of the Suffolk puffs sewn onto the front and back of my bubble/balloon skirt.

I am so happy with how the Suffolk puffs turned out and look on the skirt. I think they look really effective and looks how I envisioned it within my design drawings as the suffolk puffs represent the craters on the surface of Mars.

I then finished constructing my skirt in another blog called Constructing my Bubble/Balloon skirt – Final Piece.

Styling and photographing my final finished garments

Once I had finished my bodice and skirt I wanted to take some photos of them together.

A friend took photos of myself wearing the finished garment and I printed those photos of and put the in my folder.

I tried to make both garments to my size and the bodice fitted well. However the skirt is a bit too big around my waist so I had to pin the skirt with a safety pin. I also had to pin the skirt when it was on the mannequin as it was also still slightly too big.

The mannequin has a silver wig to match the silver strip of fabric.

I used a ring light to try and get as clear photos as possible.

Below is a photo of the front and back of my garments on the mannequin.

Below is photos of both sides of the garment on the mannequin.

The next photos are of the bodice and the skirt.

The Mars Perseverance Photo Booth, has a variety of different background options and you can upload an image and it will add your silhouette to the photo and then you can save this image.

I used my front photo of the garments on the mannequin and uploaded that image to 4 of the different backgrounds.

The first photos are of the mannequin on the surface of Mars.

The last photos is of the mannequin on the surface of Mars stood by the NASA Perseverance Rover.

I really love the photo booth photos as this links incredibly well with my theme.

I am so happy with how my final garments look in the photos.

Bibliography

Mars.nasa.gov. 2021. Mars Photo Booth. [online] Available at: <https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/participate/photo-booth/ > [Accessed 26 May 2021].

French Knot Moodboard

I have used the embroidery technique of french knots previously at GCSE and I am interested in creating a sample using embroidery so I created a moodboard to visualise my ideas.

I have gathered the images below from Pinterest of french knots as inspiration and saved them to my Pinterest board called Final Major Project – Data, Pinterest Board.

The images in the moodboard below are not my own.

I really like the bottom photo on the left where all the french knots in the middle are condensed and then they spread out more and more as they are further away from the centre.

Ice Dyeing Research and Moodboard

As I am interested in potentially trailing this method in my FMP, I thought I would do a little bit of research on the technique and create a moodboard to visualise my ideas.

I have gathered the images below from Pinterest of ice dyeing as inspiration and saved them to my Pinterest board called Final Major Project – Data, Pinterest Board.

The images in the moodboard below are not my own.

I really love the moodboard I have created, Ice dyeing looks a very interesting technique.

I then searched how to Ice dye and I found a website called Tie Dye Your Summer and they had a very informative step by step with photos and videos on the Ice Dye technique. I will probably loosely follow there method to create my own samples.

Bibliography

TieDyeYourSummer. 2021. Ice Dye Technique. [online] Available at: <https://www.tiedyeyoursummer.com/ice-dye-technique > [Accessed 24 May 2021].

Dyeing Fabric with salt research and Moodboard

Dyeing fabric with salt is an unusual technique that I may experiment with, so I did a little bit of research and created a moodboard.

I have gathered the images below from Pinterest of dyeing fabric with salt as inspiration and saved them to my Pinterest board called Final Major Project – Data, Pinterest Board.

The images in the moodboard below are not my own.

I could not find many Dyeing fabric with salt photos on Pinterest but I am still happy with the moodboard with only a couple of photos.

I then found and watched a YouTube video by TulipColourCrafts called Tulip Tie-Dye Salt Resist How-to. I will probably roughly follow this method.

Bibliography

Youtube.com. 2021. Tulip Tie-Dye Salt Resist How-to. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4CFdZWGtns > [Accessed 24 May 2021].

Steamed Shibori Moodboard

I am interested in potentially using this technique in my project so I decided to create a moodboard on the technique.

I have used this method in a previous project and also in the last project I created a research post called Dyed Shibori and Steamed Shibori Research.

I have gathered the images below from Pinterest of steamed shibori as inspiration and saved them to my Pinterest board called Final Major Project – Data, Pinterest Board.

The images in the moodboard below are not my own.

I love that the photos of the shibori on the moodboard look 3-D.

My Final Piece Design Idea Drawings

For my final design I have chosen to do, I have done drawings in various different styles inspired by the techniques and methods I have learnt in my previous project which I wanted to explore further.

The first drawings of my final design idea I decided to do are inspired by the drawings in my blog called Fashion Illustrations – Method 3, Series 3.

For the workshop I previously watched a YouTube video called ‘Method 3: Drawing Exercises for Loosening Up’ by the London College of Fashion. This video showed you how to create drawings with a continuous line, tone, negative space and drawing with two hands at the same time.

I thought it would be really interesting to use these 4 methods for my own design to create some final design drawings that are quick to do and also effective.

This is my negative space final design illustration.

This is my continuous line final design illustration.

This fashion design illustration I created using tone.

This final design illustration I created by drawing with two hands at the same time.

I then decided to move onto creating a total different style of final design drawing inspired by the work of Edgar Artis, I have previously created my own layered fashion illustration inspired by his work in a blog called My layered fashion illustrations inspired by the work of Edgar Artis.

Edgar uses a range of different foods and objects to create incredible illustrations.

To create my own layered final design illustration, I started by drawing an outline of my design in a HB pencil on a plain piece of paper, I used this to layer the food and objects on top off.

I then gathered my objects to layer on top, black turtle beans, orange peel and tin foil.

The black turtle beans and tin foil are for the bodice and the orange peel for the skirt.

I folded the tin foil to create a cube shape to represent the pattern magic cube, I then used the turtle beans to create the rest of the bodice by standing them up on their side with the white dot at the top representing the stars which will be made from french knots in my final piece.

I then got a bit of orange peel and cut it into a rectangle to create my waistband. Next I overlapped the large pieces of textured orange peel, that represents my orange bubble skirt. Then my finished 3-D layered illustration was complete. I couldn’t find any objects or food that would look effective for the Suffolk Puffs so I left them out of the illustration. Unfortunately because I made my illustration out of perishable food I had to put it in the bin after I had taken the photos below.

For my final main design illustration I used watercolour pencils to create a colourful bodice and skirt. Once it was dry I added the french knots using a white pen.

The bodice is a black pattern magic bodice with a silver section of fabric for the cube and white french knots covering all the black bodice pannels.

The skirt has a variety of red and orange tones to represent the ice dyed fabric that I am going to create my bubble/balloon skirt from.

I then created a callout from the skirt to draw the suffolk puffs in. The Suffolk puffs will be varied sized and covering the front and back of the skirt. I drew them in a call out instead of on the watercolour skirt as they are such an odd thing to draw and they don’t look very good drawn.

The inspiration for my bodice design has come from the NASA Perseverance Rover which is represented by the silver pattern magic cube. I created pattern magic samples in a previous project and was inspired to incorporate it within a garment.

The black fabric of my bodice will represent outer space and the french knots will represent distant stars, the inspiration for the french knots came from Chesley Bonestell’s Mars paintings, he added white dots to his pantings to represent the stars you can see from that planet and I then took my own photos of the stars at night that you can see from earth.

The ice dyed bubble/balloon skirt with suffolk puffs was inspired by the planet Mars, with its colour shape, texture and craters. I researched into styles of skirt and I liked the style and volume of the bubble/balloon skirt. The inspiration for the colour came from my initial moodboards as well as the Mars survey I made asking ‘What colour do you associate with Mars’ all the votes were in the colours red and orange. Finally the inspiration for the suffolk puffs came from the fact that Mars is covered in at least 635,000 impact craters and I had used the textiles techniques that I had previously used at GCSE and I thought that they look very similar and it would be a good representation of the craters on Mars.

Together I hope that it will be effective and look like the Rover is heading towards the planet Mars to start its exploration to collect data.

I am happy with how all the final design drawings turned out using different styles for the exact same design, my favourite illustration is the main watercolour one as it its very colourful and the closest representation of how my final piece will hopefully look and my least favourite drawing was with tone as it is a bit messy and I just don’t like it as much as the rest.

Below is a digital colour palette which I have made based on the colours, I have used in my designs and plan to use in my final piece.

Bibliography

M.youtube.com. 2021. Method 3: Drawing Exercises for Loosening Up. [online] Available at: <https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=24&v=PzlCBVUJsLA&feature=emb_logo > [Accessed 21 May 2021].

Texture and colour moodboards – Primary Research

For my I am looking at the topic of Mars within the overarching theme of data, I thought it would be interesting to take some primary research photos.

I took photos of different colours and textures that maybe similar to the colour and texture of the surface of Mars.

All of the photos in the moodboards are my my own.

The moodboard below is a texture moodboard of man made and natural objects, I decided to use my bubble wrap photo as a background to link in with the theme.

The next moodboard below incorporates both colour and texture moodboard of man made and natural objects, I decided to use my stones photo as a background to link in with the theme.

I really like how both of the moodboards have turned out, I can now refer back to them in the project as inspiration.