Starting to lose the will....

So you saw my first 4 designs, now I only need another 4, but things arn't going so well, I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board and come up with some new motifs.  Which is a bit of a pain because it's slowing down the whole process, but being snowed in with a foot of snow helps, means all I can do it my work!

So after spending hours on work I'm not happy with I'll set to on drawing tomorrow.  I'm exhausted and frustrated, but this work is definitely not going to get the best of me!  Nothing Desperate Housewives and my bed can't solve.

Here is a few Patterns I came up with, but I'm not sure if I can use it becauseI need this to not be in repeat, and it doesnt work if assembled like the previous patterns.  Which is a bit of a nusiance, but I like this design regardless.

Change of Plan

Trying to get my two collections together (4 designs in each) and keep it to the specification (which they've made more complicated than need be), all this talk of positive and negative cuts and repeat and non repeat patterns.  So I've had to rethink one of my designs to fit in with all of that.  I can't remember which type of cut is positive and which is negative, but I've made the collections opposites, so I'm just hoping I've got it right.

Well here's what I have so far:

Collection 1

 The Design above was origionally the one below, but I had to change it so I had one collection in repeat and one not in repeat. 

 

Collection 2

So do the designs work? I still have another 4 to come up with (2 for each collection), Let me know if they work, if they look good, or if they need any improvements.  Any feeback would be great! Thanks!

3 down 5 to go!

Here's my 3rd design, I'm churning them out, the only problem is I will proberbly have square eyes by the end of the weekend.  The amount of hours im spending on the computer!!
Im pretty pleased with this design, it's definitely my favorite so far, I'm a bit of a perfectionist so spend hours playing around until I'm completely happy with the final design.  If I wasn't I'd proberbly have had all 8 designs done already.

Let me know what you think

 And here it is, my final design.  As you can tell I go through a lot of experiments before I get here!
The thought of doing it like I have done just came to me, the annoying thing with degree work is you have to explain where it came from and how I got there.  Most of my designs are just a spark of an idea.

Work with 2 weeks to go!!!

Quick update of my work so far, let me know what you think! because just over a week i'll be cutting them out of fabric with the laser cutter!

Below I've put a series of patterns which all came from this vine motif, I used photoshop and Illustrator to work up the patterns, I need to decide which to use as my final designs.  I'm going to cut out the black part from my choice of fabric and then bond it to a background fabric to make it stronger. These will then be used as a lacey dress fabric.

 I've then put this into repeat so its a continuous pattern.

The difference between the pattern above and the pattern below is the one below I've dropped every other column down a little on the image below. (Just incase you couldn't see the difference, I was a little confused myself when I first put them on here haha!)

 I thought the images above were almost a little too busy, but used in small quantities as decoration on a bodice or part of a garment would be quite effective.

 These designs look much better because the gaps and white space make the intricate designs stand out much better.  So in this case less is more.

 This is going to be one of my final designs, It'll be cut out and bonded to another piece of fabric. I have a feeling it's going to be incredibly delicate which is why I'm bonding it to a backing fabric so it can be used to make garments.

 Please let me know what you think!

63 charity shops later......

I know its been a while! but 2 weeks, over 60 charity shops later, hour upon hour of worrying about the costumes, and I managed to get them all ready for the show!  The show went on last week so now I'm worrying over my work instead...it never ends.

The old dears in the charity shops now know me by name, I visited them that often!!  I'm happy to say the show went amazingly well, no problems and everyone seemed happy with the costumes.  I've got a couple of photos to show you, they arn't amazing quality and I need to get hold of some better images, but you can get an idea of how they looked.

I can't think of any entertaining stories to tell you, apart from I had to help with a quick change for one of the girls and she forgot to tell me she'd be changing back again for the next scene, so I was incredibly close to walking off with her clothes, lucky she caught me.

I'll get my Textile designs updated to show you too, not long left now!! 2 weeks until hand in!

Costume Update

A quick update to show you some dresses I found in charity shops for the Spring Awakening production next week.  I've only got a week left now! The pressure is mounting, but I'm quietly confident......very quietly.

With a week left I need to get a move on, but having to wait for the cast to get back to me with their sizes they're leaving it a little late.  I have a feeling this weekend and definatly next monday and tuesday (dress rehersal is on tuesday night!!) will be more than a little hectic.

Here are the dresses I rooted through 15 charity shops for, well at least the money is going to a good cause, better than hiring the clothes I reckon.

 

Let me know what you think, I also found a white nightie, quite an old style, but when I took the photo it was slightly seethrough, so..........didn't think it was appropriate to put up on the internet.  I'll definatly have to look into correcting that, otherwise the poor girl wearing it might get a bigger encore than she expected.

Project on the side

A couple of weeks ago I joined a Backstage society at the uni to try and get some experience in costume design because I've thought about going into that field of work in the future.  After joining I signed up to be the assistant to the costume designer for the production Spring Awakening, thinking i'd get some experience and work my way up to designer, but seeing as though no-one else seemed to want to be it, amazingly I got landed with the Costume designer role.  I've been thrown straight into it, but sometimes thats the best way for it to happen and it's definitely a challenge I've been looking forward to!

At first it was daunting being in charge of getting all these clothes together in two weeks.  I was told I had two assistants, but after trying several times to get hold of them and getting no reply I set about planning what I needed to get sorted and contacting the cast.  Thankfully I've now been told I have another assistant, who's ready to help me!! Thank Goodness!

I have spent this week trawling around charity shops, as many as I could find, and with the help of my mum we really got into our stride today where I picked up 2 old dresses, a white nightgown and a waistcoat.  The massive task of all these clothes to find is becoming more managable, and the old dears in the charity shops were happy to help.  One such lady found me a white shirt but when I umm'd and ahhh'rd about it she went on to shout through to her friend 'we'll put it on the rack, it'll go really fast'.  This only ended in my mum and I in stitches and having to leave the shop with the lady still yelling it behind us.  I think she wanted us to buy it.

Onto the style, Spring Awakening is a story set in the 1890's in Germany, it's about girls and boys maturing and growing up.  If you want to read more about it this is the site to read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Awakening .  Oh yea and did I mention its a rock musical!  So with a live band on stage and amazing music it's going to be pretty good!
The dresses are dark and drab, quite heavy and with a dropped waist, the lads are in schoolboy uniforms, shorts and long socks, blazers and waistcoats.

Below are some previous Spring Awakening productions, so you can see the style.

I need to have them all collected by the 16th of November, so fingers crossed.  I'll keep you updated and get some photos of the production.