THOM. WC PAD DOC
2051 autumn//winter 2015
2051 process a n a l y s i s document
Are we, as humans, truly autonomous in the face of propaganda? Exploring Orwell’s 1984 in depth, the relevance to today is incredible, a totalitarian government may not govern us however the way companies attempt to manipulate our thoughts is evident today in a multitude of forms. In the book Winston even forgets how the world used to be before the Party, much similar to forgotten traditions such as those in Japan to Westernization. Another parallel which is rather profound today is the language youth use in simple “text speak” is incredibly similar to Orwell’s Newspeak, many which would argue this is dumbing down the youth and making them illiterate. In context, are we then dumb to marketing ploys? To answer the question we need to define autonomy, according to the Oxford Dictionary it is: “The right or condition of self-government”. However there is a more relevant description to autonomy in accordance to Kantian ethics (in regards to an individual) saying that human autonomy is that which grants an individual the capacity “to act in accordance with objective morality rather than under the influence of desires”. Pushing this into the context of media and propaganda, can we be objective? American artist Barbara Kruger would believe not. Her graphic art is a constant battle with consumerism and autonomy with incredibly aggressive notions; her work says that our bodies are “a battleground” and even questions, “Who is free to choose?” Companies are shoving media in our faces 24/7, finding ways to get into our minds to force us into buying their products. They have adopted aggressive approaches knowing that we will simply give in to our desires by using just the right fragrance in-store or by using specific colours in their marketing schemes. On this point I go back to Kruger and a piece of work in which she quotes George Orwell: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever”. Is this what companies are doing to us in just a less literal form of pressure? Titled ‘2051’, my collection explores this idea of autonomy, delving into the notion that we are not individuals and that we are part of a larger herd being led by a sheepdog. Inspired by a poster for the play adaption of 1984 whilst in London, the head had faded away and became replaced by the bold, red lettering of the title, I could see this thoughtlessness depicted so vividly, days later I was on the train and picked up a copy of City A.M. On the cover was an ad for Mr. Porter, the face had been faded out black and had been chopped off around the eyes; are we as brainless as this media reflects us to be?
//Research Propaganda Japan Designers
//Concept //Development Garment Design Textiles
//Sampling //Production //Reflection
contents
RESEARCH PROPAGANDA JAPAN DESIGNERS
Imperfection
dystopia Propa- ganda
Animalistic
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face for ever"
" B i g B r ot h e r is watching you"
Wabi-sabi + EnsO
Y. Yamamoto
i. miyake
Japan
"abrasive" W. van Beirendonck
PROPAGANDA “Nineteen Eight-Four” by George Orwell is an incredible source of inspiration for my collection. My favourite book, the setting and mood gives for a rich story which continues to hold relevance today. One particular noteworthy piece of imagery I used for my collection was the references used of sheep. The manipulation of Goldstein’s face during the Two Minute Hate which was used as an aggressive use of propaganda. The poster created for the West End show only adds to the exceptional imagery that Orwell portrays in his book. I see the head being almost chopped off and vapid at the same time, insulting the intelligence of humans by the replacement of the brain.
This idea is not new however, we often see faceless and emotionally detached mannequins in store windows, and in a recent MrPorter.com ad in City A.M. they apply the same technique of having a head chopped off, in a more obvious but likely less symbolic manner.
PROPAGANDA
THE HUNGER GAMES + BARBARA KRUGER Other methods of propaganda had surfaced in recent media. The latest Hunger Games film, ‘Mockingjay Part 1’ had used propaganda posters as promotional imagery. A particular favourite is of Felix Stam, in which he is described having been “raised amongst the herd”, his resemblance to the goat he holds is also something of note lending to the imagery of Goldstein’s image being distorted into that of a sheep. I want to take this idea of sheep further, looking into how sheep follow regardless and in relation into how people follow trends without personal thought or ambition.
As a result of such research, Barbara Kruger became an artist I looked at in reference to such media followings. She delves into the idea of consumerism and autonomy and that we, as humans, are no longer autonomous. This has resulted in what seems as some rather aggressive imagery with bold slogans. This near offensive nature is something I feel could be an appropriate take when taken into context alongside propaganda.
"If you want a PictuRe of the futuRe,
imagine a boot stamping on a human face - for eveR"
JAPAN To create a contrast with such aggressive propaganda and ideals, I had looked into mixing Japanese aesthetics into my development and although the implementation of this hasn’t remained as strong as initially intended, the inclusion of this aesthetic is still seen in a more subliminal and symbolic manner, alongside other elements. Minimalism is key to the Japanese aesthetic, most notably being wabi-sabi. It is surrounded by the notion that nothing is finished, nor can anything be perfect or be permanent. In relevance to design, it is to enjoy the aesthetics of something unfinished and to examine the beauty of decay of something once considered to be perfect and complete.
This has applied itself in the application of the textile manipulations within my collection, in a rather symbolic manner..
designeRs
YOHJI YAMAMOTO + ISSEY MIYAKE Yohji Yamamoto is one of the most influential Japanese designers today. His wide skill set allows for his collections to be truly diverse, from his wellknown heavily draped garments to the rigidity of sharp tailoring, and thus a master of constructing a collection. The wabi-sabi aesthetic can be seen throughout his work, seen often in slightly unfinished garments, whether it be through frayed edges, asymmetry of prints or other means, it is well applied throughout each collection produced, including the Y-3 collaboration with Adidas, making each of them clearly identifiable to him lending to a strong identity as a designer.
Issey Miyake is also one of Japan’s best designers/brands. With a wide range of lines within the company overseen by Miyake, it still holds his strong aesthetic despite his ‘retirement’, focused deeply on fabric technology. It can also be noted with Miyake that the wabi-sabi aesthetic is also investigated and applied to his designs, exploring various avenues, most notably, the void between the consumer and the garment and thus, more often than not, spacious garments are widely seen throughout his collections, not too dissimilar to the massive jacket that can be seen to the right.
designeRs
KENZO + WALTER VAN BEIRENDONCK
Kenzo is another major Japanese brand, however I have taken very different inspiration from them. I was watching a SHOWstudio livestream in which someone had described their chosen colour schemes as “abrasive”, which I found rather as a rather unusual and inspiring description despite their vividly colourful palettes. I also love their clear imagery which is so identifiable to the brand. This iconography is so strong and memorable, it is hard to not envision Kenzo when it is a similar print/icon (such as the eye or the tiger) from another company.
Walter van Beirendonck isn’t a direct inspiration for any parts of my collection. I do not intend to include sexual imagery or strongly invest in the culture his brand fits so well into, however more so of the symbolic concepts and applications to his collections that I have gained the most inspiration from. One particular symbolic application he applies into many of his collections is the use of red thread to finish off garments, this is in reference to safe sex. His reference to political issues is also inspiring and is done both in a direct and symbolic manner, seen best in his “Crossed Crocodiles Growl collection.
concePt
SILHOUETTE Constricting garments will be seen throughout the collection, in reference to the constricting and limited media/trend environment. It can also be seen that funnel collars are an important feature, incredibly symbolic for how media is simply funneled into our minds and filtered out after. COLOUR Throughout my research, certain colours kept appearing. Red was extremely visible from 1984 to Kruger and can also be representational of Kenzo’s “abrasive” colour schemes. I have taken navy into my scheme as a clear reference to workwear, and Lilac plays an important part into hyper trends of recent seasons and menswear using purple shades.
Grey helps to mix these colours together throughout. FABRIC Instead of going typical sheepskin, along with my sheep print, I have recreated this look by knotting yarns on the outside of the garments as a form of quilting, creating a unique and interesting textile unique to my collection. PRINT In developing this idea of following trends like sheep, it only seemed appropriate to translate this directly into a print. I have envisioned a mad sheep, with a crazed expression and rough and wild wool, hidden within are messages of propaganda, media tactics and insults.
develoPment GARMENT DESIGN PRINT TEXTILES
garment design My initial research had begun in the creation of my own trend reports, with source imagery discussed earlier in this document. This research developed in the creation of a wool boiler suit with orange boiled wool highlight panels, a colour seen extremely common today, despite not being a common choice for men. It had also featured an intricate Japanese inspired print on the reverse of the garments with subtle words hidden to influence men into purchasing the garment. This initial research and development, although useful, needed a lot of work. Through the use of more current and in-depth research into my chosen topic areas, I was able to take this initial development into a more useful direction. This had led into reconfiguring the original silhouettes and details and mixing in new fabrics. Symbolism is something wanted to include in the collection and I kept this in mind when designing Although further developing the
silhouettes and details, I found I was struggling to create a collection from the designs I was producing, as a result I refined my designs to the basic silhouettes and nothing else; as to define a look for the collection. In doing so I was able to identity a large, padded silhouette with rounded shapes, symbolic that humans are soft to media tactics and absorb it like a sponge. A caged and constricted silhouette was also identified as another reference to autonomy and self-awareness.
In response to identifying these key shapes and silhouettes from my initial designs, I went back into featuring details within them. This allowed for a more consistent look to the designs I was drawing, making it easier to pull together an informed and decisive collection. Similar lines were pulled from these shapes, particularly the rounded shapes had continued in various panels. There are various elements that had been designed but were not taken any further as they would have been lost too much in translation. Taking some of the initial devlopment I added workwear elements into pieces that seemed far too polished in regards to the concept I had in mind, whereas certain designs needed elements removed as they were worked into a bit too much. Having done this stage of development I was able to produce an initial lineup for my collection to be further worked on, whilst always referring back to my initial research stage.
As can be noted, the main shapes identified originally have made their way into the lineup quite clearly. There are obvious rounded silhouettes that can be seen through a variety of the looks as well as the through some of the details such as pockets and panels implemented into the designs. Similarly the caged/constricted silhouette that has also made an impression in the lineup through dropped sleeves, joggers and garments without arms at all. Through describing the garments in note form, I further identified from this lineup things that didn’t quite work, needed adapting or could be implemented further in stronger elements. One particular element was the use of a funnel collar; similar to the symbolism applied through other elements, this was symbolic of a metaphorical funnel that people have that allows media and propaganda flow into us to make our decisions for us.
Some of the rounded shapes were toned down as they seemed far too distracting, whilst other garments were also toned down such as the Look 5 cage being simplified. Other garments had elements added such as more panels (Look 1) to explore into the workwear elements of my research and concept. This second lineup can be seen on the following page.
It took one more iteration of my lineup to get it to a place that I was happy to go into my walkthrough and into the workshop to start the production of my collection. Having identified my master piece, which is Look 6 of the collection, I was able to ensure that when it came to the other looks, I was able to make them cohesive with the final look. I had created a few more pages of designs taking the pieces I had already designed, and altering the panels featured on them, this included panels running along the shoulders continuing into the sleeves which became an alternate to obvious workwear styled panelling. The funnel had been applied to other garments in subtle and obvious effects including the shaping of the collar in the Look 1 Boiler Suit and the Look 4 jacket, as well as the sweatshirt featured in Look 3.
Similarly, I had altered elements of constriction, the Look 5 sweatshirt had remained unaltered, however on Looks 1, 4 and 6 I had altered the sleeves so as they sat lower on the body which in turn alters mobility within the garment. There would be further alterations in the following weeks which was discovered through the toiling process, however the collection has not changed vastly from this stage.
textile design PRINT
Print is something I really wanted to include into my collection, particularly hand-painted as it works really well with Japanese aesthetics. When it came to developing a print, I really wanted propaganda to feature in it somehow, and in reference to my summer work print, hidden messages within the print seemed the best route to follow. Taking the research I had culminated and the concept that was developing at the time, I had created several paintings and drawings involving sheep, and it became obvious that this would be a bold print that would be truly striking within the collection. In result, the print opposite was formed. At first I wanted the print to develop throughout the collection, however the application of the print was toned down as it seemed over the top and would detract from the collection as a whole and thus was reduced to just two garments,
regardless the print still has a strong presence within the collection, featuring the wild humanoid sheep.
textile design YARN
I had originally sourced sheepskin as being part of my collection. Having seen this as perhaps being too literal alongside a sheep print, I had thought of potentially developing something different. Wadding was already involved in my designs to create the large shapes and so it had been suggested that instead of stitching this wadding into place, that perhaps ties of some sort be implemented into the garments as to keep the shape of the garments, but to create an interesting and unique textile. Initially I made a sample of pulling strips of fabric through, however this was too bulky and wasn’t very visually appealing. Alternatively I had gather 5 lengths of yarn at a time and pulled them through the fabric which was far more appealing and significantly reduced the bulk being pulled through the garment.
samPling
look 1 BOILER SUIT
look 1 BOILER SUIT
The construction of this garment had extended from my original boiler suit pattern that was developed as part of my summer project. I had to reincorporate several elements, including a strip along the shoulders as well as readapt the front so it had the centre front running all the way from the neck down through to the crotch. To create the shape of the arm I cut retraced the piece and pivoted it at 70° and reshaped the underarm to curve more gently into the main body. This is how I was able to create the initial rounded shape in many of my garments as well as adding constriction as necessary. I redeveloped the neck to create a slimline grown on stand. Having developed the curve from the edge of the shoulder it was too tight to fit around someone’s neck. I then returned to the pattern to add the necessary extra width into the pattern as well as a more appropriate point in where to start
the curve into the stand. When cutting the pieces for the shoulder, initially I cut them with opposing grains, so when they were fully implemented into the garment, the arm twisted rather extremely. Thus I recut the pieces straight along the arm instead of curved with the body, this gave the garment a better shape without twisting and meant that I could develop both the front and back pieces along the neck and sleeve so that they no longer had combating grain lines.
look 2 KNOTTED JACKET EX. YOKE SHIRT SMART TROUSERS
look 2 KNOTTED JACKET
When it came to the pattern of the Knotted Jacket, I followed the instructions in Winifred Aldrich’s “Metric Pattern Cutting for Menswear” to create the ‘flat’ kimono block, with which I used the Casual Jacket blocks provided. I then applied the panels to both fronts and backs as the garment is asymmetric. I ensured the length of the CF remained straight enough to insert an 80cm long zip before curving the garment into the hem, this was to ensure that I was able to get a zip at the length desired rather than having to alter the pattern and garment so as to accommodate a zip. The construction of the garment was relatively straight forward, however I had complications in making the right underarm panels for the front and back meet at first, but having unpicked and made another attempt, ensuring that both pieces matched appropriately.
Initially I had not noticed in the creation of the toile, that the panel on the left side that curved up into the shoulder had sat significantly lower than in my drawings. However during review, when this was pointed out, it was obvious that this needed to be developed to more closely match my drawings as not only was it more dramatic, but it followed the shapes of the garments throughout the collection far better than where it was sitting almost perpendicular to the opposite side of the garment.
look 2
EX. YOKE SHIRT SMART TROUSERS I had already developed a pattern for a shirt from one of which the fit was something similar that I wished to achieve, and I unpicked the pieces and traced around them.
yoke, it cannot be sewn along the back as it makes it uncomfortable to wear along the shoulders, as well as creating bunching of fabric. This in turn made it difficult to finish the hem of the yoke as I had sewn it The shirt initially was rather basic, after to avoid overlapping too many so as to develop it, I added more stitch lines. It was not an impossible panels into the garment, all of which task, however it required a lot of care that would be sewn with sturdy flat and attention when getting close to fell seams. I also wanted to recreate either edge. the idea of the panels that run down my other garments, but not so much as to be obvious yoke and sleeve panels and also not having to turn it into a raglan sleeve. After some research I had found that an extended yoke would give me that desired effect, without being too blatantly obvious. This itself came with a few issues. It is simple enough to attach the piece along the neck and down the front side of the extended yoke, however when attaching the back side of the
As an articulation piece within my collection, it was important to have the trousers fit well within the collection as well as be a contemporary piece on their own. I slimmed the trousers gradually down to them hem creating a softly tapered silhouette. I also reduced the hem so that the trouser break would simply lie upon the shoe. To continue the rounded shape I panelled, into both the front and back, a curved shape that resonates throughout the collection in different forms.
look 3
BOMBER JACKET FUNNEL SWEATSHIRT DROPPED JOGGERS
look 3
BOMBER JACKET
Styled on a bomber jacket, I adapted the typical silhouette into a kimono sleeve in a similar way in which the sleeve was formed for the Look 1 Boiler Suit. I examined the final pattern for the Boiler Suit and applied the shape to the front and back of the Bomber Jacket, instead of round the shape into the main body, I applied more constriction by having the arm at a sharper angle. However when it came to sewing these pieces together it bunched together too much fabric at the underarm and was by no means comfortable. To combat this I added a straight strip to the underarm much similar to the panel seen running along the sleeve which helped to give more volume to the garment but also allowed me to mitre the edge when sewing around the corners and reduced the bunching in the garment significantly.
Initially I had the jacket fasten with a button placket, however after consideration I realised that since the garment slightly restricts mobility, it would be more convenient if the garment would feature a zip instead of the consumer having to fasten buttons.
look 3
FUNNEL SWEATSHIRT DROPPED JOGGERS With similar construction to the pattern of the Funnel Sweatshirt to the Bomber Jacket, the sweatshirt features a dropped sleeve which connects to the lower part of the main body and a funnel that stretches to sit on top of the face (over the nose). The main challenge in comparison with the Bomber Jacket was the stretch fabric. I wanted a better fit around the body to explore the stretch capabilities of fabric. Thus I measured around the body including the arms (140cm) to get a more accurate fit. I also raised the hem in relation to that the joggers in the outfit are high waisted. When it came to designing the dropped joggers, with the same curved silhouette of the Look 2 trousers, I realised that I could adapt a larger shape/panel around the outer silhouette of the joggers,
for both the front and back, whilst still having the crotch run down the of the inner panels. To create the angle at the hem of the trousers, I angled to point to 70째 for 10cm, and then aligned the outer edge with the hip of the joggers to ensure the shape was did not become too loose at the waist. Having toiled these garments in a rather lightweight jersey, it was clear that a thicker fabric would be required as the jersey was too loose and lightweight in regards to drape,. Thus, I looked further into fabrics including sweatshirt materials, scuba and neoprene and had decided that to achieve the quality of drape that I so desired, that I would likely be needing one of the latter two fabrics to achieve that effect I desired.
look 4
CAGED JACKET ROUNDED TROUSER KIMONO SHIRT
look 4
CAGED JACKET ROUNDED TROUSER
In creating the pattern for this jacket, I retraced the Bomber Jacket and adapted the sleeve to meet even further down the body. I then further adapted the collar to create a streamline funnel with the neck, ensuring there is enough room for the full circumference of the neck. With the panels altered so much I was able to use the same piece that I had adapted for the front I was also able to use as the back panels, with the sleeve panel keeping the shape. The arms for the jacket were too thin to fit a man’s hand in, so they were adapted to give more room.
Following the same methods to create structure with my other garments, I created the initial silhouette that I had wanted to achieve, from there I added the side panel, a straight panel, to keep the silhouette desired. I also trimmed a little off the front and back, evenly, so that the trousers didn’t become too large around the waist nor at them hem.
look 5
CAGED SWEATSHIRT KIMONO SHIRT SMART TROUSERS
look 5
CAGED SWEATSHIRT KIMONO SHIRT
At first, the Caged Sweatshirt seemed relatively simple to draft the pattern of. However I didn’t consider how to properly curve from the block down to the hem at the shoulder. Initially I took it straight from the edge of the shoulder seam and curved further out and down as if to fit the arm, however this added extra fabric that came out from the shoulder as can be seen on the image opposite. I went back to the pattern and adjusted this since to fit more firmly around the shoulders, similarly to the other stretch garments, I found it necessary to use a heavier stretch fabric for the garment.
When designing the Kimono Shirt, I wanted to make a similar effect as the trousers from Look 2 (which also features in this look). So I examined ways to combine different panels together. Continuing the kimono element from other garments it would have been too similar to have separate front and back panels that would resonate from the other shirt design, so in the end I decided to join all those panels together, emulating the shirt yoke on the back and the fit lines from the other shirt. Originally I also had the underarm panel on the straight grain, however it did not work with the curved panelling as well as other garments had, and so I made them two separate panels instead. A short sleeved version also appears in Look 4.
look 6
FUNNEL JACKET EX. YOKE SHIRT DROPPED JOGGERS
look 6
FUNNEL JACKET
This jacket required a lot of attention into the pattern. Initially I drafted the sleeve onto the main body the same way I altered the sleeve on the Boiler Suit from Look 1. Unlike the Bomber Jacket I ensured that there was a curve on the underarm so that it would be easier to sew and would avoid bulk. I then curved the panel along the outer edge in a similar shape, I measured all the edges trimmed off to apply the same width to the straight panel so as there was enough room to fit a body in the jacket. I had also drafted the funnel ensuring it wasn’t too small much like the issue with the Boiler Suit, however the length of the funnel was too tall. Also the width of the sleeve was too small and so I evenly added extra room all around.
PRoduction
look 1 BOILER SUIT
The construction of the final Boiler Suit was relatively straight forward. As can be noted for many of my garments, topstitching features heavily in reference to workwear. Some seams are sewn open, whilst others are sewn to one side, all thread matches the fabric it is sewn on. The main body fabric is a navy boiled wool, whilst the lavender pieces are a cotton blend bonded onto the boiled wool. Sewing on the pocket had caused a little struggle as I had sewn the entire side seam/underarm first so as to sew over the seam and turn the pocket through, since the pocket was also bonded it was rather thick having several layers in one section, however after pressing and sewing slowly, it became a far easier task to handle.
look 2
KNOTTED JACKET
The main body of this garment consists of a 100% wool in grey, contrast panels are in a 100% wool in a red and black herringbone, contrast red zip, wadding and blue lining. Yarn consists of 50% Merino Wool, 25% Alpaca & 25% Viscose. I faced similar problems with the final construction of the Knotted Jacket as I did with the toile, particularly the underarm of the right sleeve in matching the front and back seams, however being precise with notches and extra pins to ensure they matched as closely as possible. Before sewing the outer shell to the lining, I had to attach all my yarn to the jacket, using tweezers I stretch open the fabric and pierce through the wadding, I then wrap the yarn around the tweezers and pull the fabric through, I do this at either end of 1 set of yarn and tie them both on
the outside of the fabric so that the yarn does not move out of place or detach entirely. At this point I then attach the lining. When turning the garment back through the added bulk of the yarn made it quite difficult, however it was not an impossible task.
look 2
EX. YOKE SHIRT SMART TROUSERS
The shirt consists of a grey wool suiting fabric with contrast panels in a blue wool suiting fabric coated in an iron-on vinyl. The trousers consist of a lamb nappa with metallic coating in navy with panels in a 100% grey wool. Upon review of my fabrics it was clear I needed more interesting fabrics, I liked the idea of tortured/ worn looking fabrics within my collection and thus I explored into iron-on vinyls. Using it on the panels of my Look 2 shirt really gave it a more contemporary and original feel. At first I sampled the buttonhole, however after trying it on several times the vinyl can tear away a little from wear, thus wearability would need to be considered such as a separate button stand. For the trousers I incorporated another new fabric in the form of
leather. This also helped to give the trousers a more contemporary feel to them as well as complimentary to the vinyl on the shirt.
look 3
BOMBER JACKET
The Bomber Jacket is constructed of a navy lamb nappa with metallic coating, with contrast panels in a red/black wool herringbone structure. Wool yarn was used to create the knit cuff details. Yarn consists of 50% Merino Wool, 25% Alpaca & 25% Viscose. When creating the Bomber, I initially only formed the back, this created a simple surface on which to paint on without the whole jacket being constructed. Using leather paint, I hand-painted the sheep onto the back of the jacket. Sewing the jacket I used a teflon foot, leather needle and sprayed the bed of the machine with a silicone foot. Stitch length was set to 4. At first the tension on the machine was good for sewing leather, however when returning to sew the rest of the garment together, the tension was off and skipped stitches appeared. In attempts to resolve this I tried to
ensure that I went over the stitch holes I had already made. Similar to the Knotted Jacket, I pulled the yarn through the jacket where appropriate. When it came to lining I anchored along the neck and partial parts of the underarm as it was not a typical sleeve pattern on which to anchor the lining to the main body.
look 3
FUNNEL SWEATSHIRT DROPPED JOGGERS Both Sweatshirt and Joggers are made of Scuba (with reverse in black). The joggers are streamlined along the outer edge compared to the toile constructed. Ensuring to use a 4-thread overlocker, I was able to put together both of these pieces relatively quickly. I overlocked with thread closely matching colours where possible. When attaching cuff details, I overlocked them onto the garment and followed up with using a twin needle cover stitch to finish the garments. The sweatshirt cover stitch was relatively pain free, however on the waistband of the joggers there are two points where the pockets attach which are considerably bulky and required to be fixed a handful of times. This made it incredibly difficult to go over the overlocking on the reverse of the fabric, although was attempted several times so as to cover/get as close as possible to the overlocking.
look 4
CAGED JACKET ROUNDED TROUSER
The jacket and trousers have the main body constructed of a 100% grey wool with contrast panels in a lavender cotton blend bonded to the grey wool. To apply the print to the jacket, I had sewn the front pieces, including zip, to achieve and even print to connect each side. As the front and back panels attach at the underarm and then separate, when it came to drafting the lining pattern I had to measure the exact distance so that when the lining was being sewn, the same distance was covered and that the facing was long enough on the hem of the jacket. The trousers of this outfit were relatively straightforward in their construction for the main body. I traced off the hem of the trousers to create a facing, overlocked the
edge and then have sewn a blind hem by hand to keep it in place. I had forgotten to sew belt loops into the waistband so alternatively I had sewn them on top.
look 4 KIMONO SHIRT
The main body is composed of a lavender cotton blend coated with iron-on vinyl with contrast grey wool panels. I further applied the iron-on vinyl to this look as it really pushed the lavender cotton in a different direction. When it came to sewing around the curve of the panels it was too difficult to sew with a flat fell seam, so instead I had overlocked the edges where the lavender was used and had sewn them down as an alternative. Similarly with the button stand of Look 2, it would have been better to do a separate button stand for the longevity of the garment, however I do like the look of the grown-on button stand in the coated lavender.
look 5
CAGED SWEATSHIRT
The sweatshirt consists of contrast colours of scuba. Having altered the silhouette of the sweatshirt from the original toile so there no longer was any excess fabric sitting out at the shoulders. All parts attached with a 4-thread overlocker, I was then able to cover stitch over the hem and collar with relative ease as unlike the joggers of Look 3, there was little to no bulk within the construction of this garment. The change of fabric has definitely made my stretch garments more consistent with the rest of the collection and no longer drapes unnecessarily like the jersey fabric initially used.
look 5 KIMONO SHIRT
SMART TROUSERS
The shirt consists solely of a navy wool fabric. The trousers consist of a different navy blue wool suiting fabric with contrast panels in a grey wool suiting fabric. In comparison to the other kimono shirt featured within the collection, this was more time-consuming in that all the seams were constructed in as flat fell. This required trimming one of the edges down by 5mm and then turning over the larger side to enclose the trimmed down seam as well as the raw edge. The trousers were also finished to the same standard with flat fell seams, however the inside leg was left with an open seam so as to allow the fit to be further altered in necessary.
these garments, the flat-fell seams became tricky, however after taking my time and ensuring the fabric was pulled either side softly, it ensured that the seam lay as flat as possible As there were curves on both of with little pressing required.
look 6
FUNNEL JACKET
The Funnel Jacket consists of a 100% grey wool with contrast panels and pockets in 100% red/ black wool herringbone weave and a metal tooth zip. Yarn consists of 50% Merino Wool, 25% Alpaca & 25% Viscose. When constructing this jacket, I started with the zip and worked my way around the garment, whilst stitching all the seams down. When attaching the pockets I left the back seam open so as to allow the pockets to go on with as much ease as possible. Before starting the lining, I had to attach the yarn, the same as the previous jackets that feature the same textile design. When attaching the lining, it was different to a typical jacket lining. I attached along the zip, ensuring the zip guard was on the correct side, and attaching all aroud the collar. At this point I turned the garment through to the other side. I pinned
the hem of the jacket to ensure that it was not twisted, I then proceeded to go into the lining, pulling the hem through and sewing it closed. I had hand sewn the vent to one side and then had sewn the sleeves into place.
look 6
EX. YOKE SHIRT DROPPED JOGGERS
The shirt consists solely of a grey wool suiting fabric. The joggers consist of contrast panels of grey and blue scuba. Both of these garments are based on garments previously seen in the collection, as articulation pieces. The shirt is a short sleeved version of the shirt from Look 2, in a more commercial format however still is strong in its aesthetics within the collection, featuring flat fell seams throughout and topstitching. The joggers to this look have the same shape as the original toile. The same problem with bulk occured in this garment, as with the Look 3 joggers, when applying the cover stitch around the waistband, particularly at the front pockets.
Reflection
In reflection, there isn’t a lot I would change within my collection as overall, I am rather pleased with the results. When it comes to the shirts in Looks 2 + 4, I would be likely to produce a separate button stand in the contrast fabric, as wearing of the buttonhole and the fabric is only something that could be seen with time I did not have. I would perhaps examine the silhouettes of my trousers as there is a lot of repetition between their lines, but I am happy to see the potential of variety within individual garments such as fabric ways, colour ways as well as altered fit/ silhouettes.
THOMAS WILLIAM CHALMERS H00107509 PAD