Katarzyna Anna Suchecka Decietful Web Pad

Katarzyna Anna Suchecka Deceitful Web Capsule Collection PAD E1 CA/CB Year 3 BA Fashion West London College

Grey matter My choice of colour is grey. The reason for this is while looking for inspiration for which colour to pick. I came across a catalogue entry by David Blayney Brown on the Tate website for Stormy Sea by J.M.W Turner. It reads, “In this drawing Turner captures the churning energy of a storm at sea. A sense of motion is created by the interplay of even fields of translucent wash and vigorous dry brush-strokes representing pockets of atmospheric disturbance. Curving brush-strokes and the pooling and merging of wash suggest the swell of the water. The fluid, swirling aspects of the composition are momentarily counteracted by a bold horizontal band of charcoal grey."

As well as the picture below Stormy Sea (fig 1) this sparked emotion and feeling by looking at the painting and his others such as Snow Storm. The brush strokes the mixtures of grey would make a beautiful colour palate and material pattern of a marble look of the colours running together.

Fig 1. Tate website J.M.W Turner

As well as these images I was intrigued by the grey texture and its shapes moulded together when lava has cooled into its grey form. Combing the both would be a very interesting to see what results it would create in a garment for material choices.

Paper sampling An initial start to the project into sensations was looking at lace. To depict lace pattern we cut out patterns and shapes into pieces of paper. Playing with these cut outs I created silhouettes on the mannequin. Moving the pieces around the body.

I didn't find this process helpful at all. Looked like cheep home made Christmas decorations. (Fig 2) It looked simple and I feel my style has developed into a layered, volume look. Using this method looks delicate and pretty which isn't a word I would want associated with my garments and collections.

This only is a preliminary experiment but it's not my way forward for development.

Fig 2: Authors own January 2015 I made a lot of samples to achieve different looks on the stand with these paper cut outs to try helping me. But as it did not inspire me I will be looking into Lauren Moriaty (fig 3) and her laser lace cut outs with rubber and Yiquing Yin and her garments of gathering and her technique.

Fig 3: Lauren Moriaty

As well I will be taken forward the best parts of my previous projects of recycling and in sampling having minimal wastage and not using as many new fabrics and pieces to sample. But old recycled materials then carefully selected pieces for my garments.

Fabric sampling Looking at my initial research and Pinterest pins I need to make small fabric samplings and play on the mannequin. The first image I used to fuel some creative inspiration was an image from the ZsaZsa Bellaigo blog of a 3D floral, spider web abstract design from McQueen. I love the different layers and textures of the shoulder piece. (Fig 4)

Fig 4: Alexander McQueen, English rose Getting scrap pieces from the material waste bin I ripped and frayed holes into calico. My second sample I looked at the lines of a web. With my title being Deceitful web and how lies build up a sensation of emotions and how lies unravel. I cut lines out in the shape of a web and frayed the fabric buy pulling at it to fray it.

Continuing my sustainability in all projects of recycling. (fig5). With the calico I did the same method with lace that I purchased from a charity shop that used to be a black lace dress. And cut it apart for sampling Now with both textures of ripped distressed material I layered them on different parts of the mannequin to see what it look liked and can more ideas to and start to develop a silhouette with the samples. (Fig 6)

Fig 5: Authors own January 2015.

Fig 6: Authors own January 2015

Referring back to my Images and mood board I felt that my samples needed for volume that they did not give me ideas for silhouette or how I could develop for garment ideas.

The image that I look at was from the Yiging Yin collection and Iris Van Herpen (fig 7)

Fig7: Iris Van Herzen collection

Reflection 29/01/15 I posted my Initial mannequin roughs and workings on social network accounts to get feed back in the way I was working. I wanted to see if they created excitement from fellow artists and people that followed me or if that my visions were to plain and uninspiring to people. Would I have to change my strategy in thinking? I really liked my ideas so I was hoping I gained a good reaction from people. As shown in (fig 8 & 9) I had an amazing response and feed back. Even though it was built upon the mannequin with old lace and calico. I had comments such as, “Wow, like it!� and "Amazing! ". This gave me a massive confident boost and also direction that my draping and layering that I took from my previous project was a good idea.

However. I don't want my garment to be an obvious appearance of the stereotypical lace. I feel I really need to sample more with different medias and materials. Push my boundaries and think outside the box and be more creative. Still referring back to my research and create mood boards so I have a precise vision of where to take my project next. Because all I have acid end now is samples nothing that will not help me construct a full outfit with different garments.

Fig 8: Authors own January 2015.

Fig 9: Authors own January 2015

Experimenting Development I've been looking at the colour of Grey for my colour board and fabric samples. I'm excited by the fusion of grey in marble and its intertwining colours running into each other. With a budget of under a ten pound for a meter I could not find this material texture in any fabric shops. The only type I could find was material on line for 20 pound or more a meter. I was really disappointed.

I merely did my next samples as a spontaneous moment at home while cleaning out my paints. I found black acrylic paint and silver and white wall paint sample pots. Placing bin bags down and mixed different grey shades into different bowls. Now I just had to find material to Paint it on.

I always have meters of scrap materials or unused materials that i bought for the future and never used. Remembering the cross stitching fabric I used for a small sample to feed lace through I realised I still had a large amount left in my design room. Grabbing the white material without any thought I painted and blended all the different grey together on the fabric. (Fig 9)

Fig 10: Authors own February 2015

Mannequin Development I’ve been working a lot twirling on the mannequin in order to create ten samples. So my next stage is to start making a pattern and a calico twirl. To achieve this I will be looking back at my silhouette board and samples to combine designs to make a first garment. (Fig 10)

Fig 11: Authors own February 2015 I like the idea of the top garment piece having slits across it so that material can feed through. I’m unsure on how to start this, so I asked which would be the best pattern to use. This was the bodice block. However the darts would have to be moved to accommodate the slits going across the bottom. I used calico out of the waste bin, so no new material was used creating more waste. I finalised my pattern adapting from the block and placing the centre front on a fold so no seam line is on the front.

After cutting the pattern piece out, I decided not to over lock it as it’s only a rough and this would waste time on my other garment developments. And my aim for the lesson was to get the top and bottom cut out so at the weekend I can attach to make the dress. After attachment I will build up the bottom along, making the patterns for these as I am placing them. This will mean I am organised and ready straight away with my final patterns to use on my final material.

Also for my top I can us the same silhouette in the capsule collection with minor changes to front details. Then create the jackets and skirt looking at my best digital drawings in my line up.

Reflection 13/02/15 Today was a good day even though I was working from home. I managed to complete my first garment twirl. (Fig 11) However the full effect of how the garment will lie can't be seen from the calico slits as they are limp. So they droop. But from my sample with the material I'm using. It's very firm. Plus the bottom of the dress material in contrast is very soft and floats. So once again the calico isn't expressing the silhouette how the final garment will appear. All in all it stills looks good.

Fig 12: Authors own March 2015

The strips were tricky to attach as when an the machine having to pull the material in and out to sew little lines was time consuming and the skirt was bulky. Maybe the top Strips can be attached on the top of the dress at the begging to make the making easier. And pinned to the side when the bottom is attached so don't get caught in the machine and sewn in the wrong place. And the calico frays easily so I had to keep trimming the parts that did not have the frayed effect.

My sketch book though is lacking creativeness and I need to work on it a lot on the following week where we are independently working at home. I need to do more drawings and start my digitals to show my thoughts, reasoning to getting to this stage. I need to manage my money more as this has been due to having no money to print so therefore I have not been pushing my sketch book. As printing is costly, when I do top up it is soon gone. But least this problem is resolved when I will be at home to free printing next week.

Garments With all my patterns cut and all my fabric purchased, I now had to paint my material for the top garments bodice area. So I didn’t waste time painting more material than I had to, I made the bodice tops and then painted after. This took a while to dry and was still wet in certain areas. However this problem was solved by using the hairdryer to dry them.

When it came to fraying, I found this very tiring; so that my garments are dramatic and stand out I needed to fray them so it was over exaggerated. I used mostly the blade which at times would accidently catch me. So I had to be very careful. After hours of pulling the material apart I finally had enough materials that were distressed.

As my distressed fabrics are all strips and in volume to build different layers (Fig 13) this all hand to be hand sewn to the bottom part of my dress garments as the volume of fabric

would be difficult to move around on the sewing machine and also large stitch lines would I feel make the garments look cheap. This is the only part of the pattern I did not write on until after I placed my final strips on, as the point where it would be sewn is dependent on how the fabric lays.

Fig 13: Authors own March 2015 Also I used grey thick elastic that was wide and long. This was great when fixing in zips as it lay on the zip on each side creating decorative panels through the collection. It was easy to sew and cut. Also giving elicitation when taking the garments on and off giving it stretch in the panel.

After completing my 5 garments of two dresses a top and skirt and waist coat, I know had to go onto my jacket. I bought white material and asked if it would take in dye. This wasn’t the case. So like my other garments I had to paint the fabric. This took some time as the jacket was a large surface area. Luckily I only had to paint the front as the inside won’t be seen as the lining will be in place. (Fig 14)

Fig 14: Authors own March 2015

How ever when it came to the lining I found the top difficult because of the fraying of the material, I had to keep cutting it as it would fall apart until the outside was over locked to keep it from unthreading any more. So when putting the lining together with the top it didn’t match up as I cut so much from it. However it was neatly put together with help and was beautifully done. This was a problem I experienced all the way through but was resolved by over locking the edges.

For finishing I used binding. As when sampling finishes this looked the most professional finish and were the most cost effective at only 25 pence a meter, which I purchased back home in Sheffield at the market.

Reflection 2/04/2015 I am ecstatic with the turn out of my collection. With a lot of hard work, coming into university early and staying late and working from home, I have created six edgy, full of volume, well made garments. The fraying detailing looks great as it flows through the collection so what the link between each garment is apparent. Also I feel that it was worth while distressing my own fabric rather than just buying it all ready frayed. It gives me a great sense of achievement and looked amazing on my photo shoot.

In future maybe I will not pick materials as difficult to work with as one point I ironed straight through my top and had to remake it all over again. Especially the unthreading of the top caused a problem as I said previously with lining. But it was amazing to gain the destroyed look and destruction of how lies fall apart, showing my title name Deceitful Web. My costing was kept low by buying materials back home in markets and with my ethics of using recycled fabrics. As sustainability I deeply believe in. Pieces that I chose carefully worked well as frayed strips, gathering volume together. Creating less waste, and helping both charities and the environment showing that we should reuse clothing and fabrics.

At times I struggled a lot, but with lots of samples, practising techniques and photographing my work I pulled through the tough times to come out with my first ever collection Deceitful Web.

Bibliography Books: 

Drudi, E (15 October 2010) Figure Drawing For Fashion Design (Pepin Press Design Books)



K, D (11 September 2012), Fashion



Press, Ammonite (August 2009), 100 Years of Fashion (Twentieth Century in Pictures)



Smith, Alison (2 February 2009), The Sewing Book



Worsley, Harriet (5 September 201), 100 Ideas that Changed Fashion

Electronic Sources: 

Brown, David Blayney (September 2014), this catalogue entry is part of: David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Available at http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-storm-at-sead17736 (Accessed January 13/01/2015)



Scott, Sir Walter, Scottish author & novelist (1771 - 1832), Marmion, Canto vi.

Stanza 17, Available at http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/27150.html (Accessed January 21/01/2015)



Retail Sales, July 2014, Office for National Statistic, Available at http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/rss.xml?edition=tcm:77324899http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/rsi/retail-sales/july-2014/stb-rsi-july-2014.html (Accessed 02/02/2015)



Westwood, Vivienne (2015) Women’s clothing prices, Available at http://www.viviennewestwood.com/shop/womens/clothing (Accessed 01/02/2015)



Bellagio, ZsaZsa, English Rose Collection, Blog, Available at http://zsazsabellagio.tumblr.com/post/58767344181/zsazsabellagio-com (Accessed

12/02/2015)

Exhibitions 

The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London (visited 25/01/2015)



Victoria and Albert Museum, London, (visited 16/01/2015)



Wallis collection, London, (visited 12/02/2015)

Illustrations 

Figure 1, for Stormy Sea by J.M.W Turner, Tate Website, Available at http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-storm-at-sea-d17736 (Accessed January 13/01/2015)



Figure 2, Authors own January 2015, Paper sampling



Figure 3, Fig 3: Lauren Moriaty laser cutting, Available at http://www.laurenmoriarty.co.uk/Products-LacePanels.htm (Accessed 06/01/2015)



Figure 4, Alexander McQueen, English rose, Available at http://zsazsabellagio.tumblr.com/post/58767344181/zsazsabellagio-com (Accessed

12/02/2015) 

Figure 5, Authors own January 2015, Charity shop receipt



Figure 6, Authors own January 2015, Mannequin development



Figure 7, Capriole by Iris Van Herpen, Available at http://www.yatzer.com/Caprioleby-Iris-Van-Herpen (Accessed 12/02/2015)



Figure 8, Authors own January 2015, Mannequin development phone shot of instagram



Figure 9, Authors own January 2015, Mannequin development phone shot of instagram,



Figure 10, Authors own February 2015, Finishing experimenting



Figure 11, Authors own February 2015, Sample development



Figure 12, Authors own March 2015, First Twirl



Figure 13, Authors own March 2015, Finished garment



Figure 14, Authors own march 2015 , Painted jacket