Toile Diary; Inverted Darts Long Dress

Inverted Darts Long Dress;


I started off by firstly tracing out the front and back of a basic dress block. I then had to look at my dress design and decide where the main adaptions were taking place, this was the shoulder and neckline area of the front and back.

I started by adapting the front of the dress. I had to make the neckline angled and straight, rather than smooth, and totally take out the shoulder altogether.

Here I have blocked off the part I will be cutting out with white paper. I closed the top dart and reopened one just under the arm which is where I wanted the dress to fit into the body slightly more. On the right I have angled the neckline to make it straight rather than rounded, and then on the left is the shoulder and underarm hole which here I have taken away the shoulder and drawn a straight line from the top of the shoulder seam to straight under the arm, taking out the shoulder completely and making the seam angled and straight like the new neckline.

This is the back piece, I have taken out the small dart at the top by taking off the same amount as the dart measured which was just over a center meter off the right side. Then, i kept the back neckline rounded and the same height as on the pattern but changed the direction of the back piece totally so that each point of the neckline on top of each shoulder was meeting in the middle of the back and then spreading out to the underarm seams, this totally took out the shoulder again. 

I then had to add the length onto the bottom of the pattern to make it just sweep ankle length. I found someone at an average height in my class and then measured them from the knee to the ankle, as the pattern stopped at the knee and I wanted to make it ankle length. I then took my measurement of about 35-36 cm and added it onto the bottom of the front and back pattern.

As I was having inverted darts on the front of my front piece, I had to work out where and how many I was going to use. The dart on the front of the front piece I decided to take out and re work into the front evenly by measuring the original dart and then dividing it up by however many darts i wanted in the front of my dress, I opted for 5. So then I measured the original dart and split it into 5 equal parts and spread them out evenly making sure the middle one was going to be exactly in the center front.

The next part of my patterning was the add the crystal shaped panels onto each side. I decided with advice from my tutor to do the panels so their was a seam in between them, so 4 pieces were cut out rather than 2 to see what effect this gave. I drew on the panel shape starting from just above the knee point and going all the way down to the bottom, to get the same shape on both the front and back piece i traced the exact same panel shape onto each. 

Then I had to cut out my patterns. I firstly decided to cut out the panels and I did this by tracing them onto a separate piece of paper and then adding a 1cm seam allowance all the way around each one. Now I had traced out the panels and I had the correct patterns with seam allowances, I could rub out the panels on my main patterns so they didn't confuse me or get in the way when I was putting on the seam allowance. The back pattern wasn't cut on the fold as it has a zip in the back, this patter had a seam allowance all the way around, the front pattern was cut on the fold, so the center front line didn't need a seam allowance but everywhere else did.

BACK PIECE

FRONT PIECE

PANELS

Now I could place my patterns onto my calico and cut them out, there was 4 panels, two back pieces and one front piece. I firstly started the manufacture of my dress by adding in the inverted darts to my front piece. I did the exact same thing I would usually do when placing in darts, although this time instead of putting right side to right side together and sewing in the dart on the wrong side, I did the total opposite and placed wrong side to wrong side and sewed the darts in on the right side to give this effect;

I was really happy with the effect of the darts on the front of my dress. There were also some normal darts, one on each side of the front under the armhole, and one on each side of the back at the middle top. 

Next I started on the panels, as I thought it would be best to get those sewn in before I started on putting my main dress together. I made sure I had the right panels for the back and for the front, and pinned them in one by one and sewed them in with a 1cm seam allowance. 

They fit really well and I was pleased by how they had turned out. 

I did notice hear as seen in the above picture, that the two panels sewn onto the front piece were significantly shorted than the length of the dress, after speaking with my tutors I decided this could be corrected by the hem which was planned to be at about 3cm. 

I then decided to insert the invisible zip into the back piece.

Now I just had the 2 pieces, the front and the back. I then sewed the 2 side seams together with a 1cm seam allowance.

I was really pleased with how the dress went together, especially the panels, I thought they fit in really well and looked very symmetrical. 

I then sewed the shoulders at the top together and my dress was properly put together. As I looked at it on the mannequin though I decided I wanted to make some changes. Mostly to the neckline and shape at the back, the darts and panels and length of dress was fine. I drew on the toile where I would like the changes to take place.

I also wanted to take the dress in slightly by making the dart under the armhole a bit bigger.

I then drew the changes onto my pattern and re-cut the pattern out.

So now when I come to make my final garment, I know that the front and back will be just how I want it. I also made my interfacing pieces as I am going to interface the neckline and top of the back piece. I did this by tracing off the top of the back and front piece and making sure they were the same height and went down to the same part so that they fit together.

I will cut these out of the interfacing and attach them to my final dress.

Imovie presentation

Trend Board

I have completed my trend board, but I decided to re-do my board from the first time I did it. Here is my first board.

The reason I decided to re do my board is that as you can see on this board, there isn't a wide range of pictures and I don't think that the layout is appropriate for a trend board. I also didn't like the way I used the ink as I thought that it could have been used in a 'less is more' type of way.

Here is my new trend board. I think this board looks so much more professional and presentable, the images are a lot stronger and show off my trend so much more, the use of colour shows off my colour palette and the use of ink is a lot more effective. I have also placed a few fabric samples on my board as well which also adds to my trend and theme and shows patterns and textures off a lot more.

Story Board

Here is my story board, on it I have my influences, colours patterns fabrics and my target market.

I have started off by adding in some of the inspirations and where my whole collection started. I also added in words to show where I got my main inspirations from, the texture of and colour of the beetles, the silhouettes of the crystals and patterns and movement of the planets oil and northern lights.

I also added in my target market. My target market is high street, not low end or high end, just simply in the middle. I added images that to me showed the type of person I am hitting my collection at, students, graduates and people who have just started out into the world of work, that are on 18-25 thousand a year and ages 18-25.

Spare time consists of socializing, going to bars and clubs with friends and shopping on the high street. I have also put in a colour palette showing the purples greens blues and blacks I am going to feature in my collection. I have also placed on some fabric samples showing the colours patterns and textures I am going to use.

I think my story board is quite successful and features all of the key aspects within my collecton.

Design Boards

I have just completed my two design boards. On each board, I illustrated two of my chosen outfits, front and back.

I chose poses that I thought were edgy and reflected my chosen target market. This is my favorite board as I really like the poses and the first outfit is my favorite out of the 4.

I specifically like the dress on this board as the texture of the galactic material really shows, I used ink and white acrylic paint.

I like my style of illustration and inks, I also used a skin coloured marker pen to add a bit more texture to the bodies of the fashion figures, just a line or shadow hear and there really adds a bit more mood and personality to my illustrations but without making the boards look too messy or busy which is where I have failed in the past.

I think to improve, next time I would maybe use some different media, maybe a different media on each figure to make the board look a bit more interesting.

Toile Diary Short Jacket

Toile Diary for cropped jacket;

Firstly I started off patterning. I traced out a basic front back and sleeve block and then looked at my patterns and worked out how I would have to change them. My design shows the shoulder extending into a square shape and with the sleeve a right angle shape.

I decided to trace my patterns again and complete the changes on the second cut outs and stick them over the top of my original patterns so I could clearly see the changes.

Here it shows where I have drawn out the original pattern and then stuck the adaptions over the top.

Here is the front piece. I took out the dart at the top by slashing it and s[reading it open and adding it into the left side as shown. I also lifted the top by 1.5cm by slashing and spreading, and then lengthened the shoulder out by 3 cm and attached it back into the arm hole. I added a 1cm seam allowance all the way around.

I did the same with the back piece, but firstly I took out the dart at the top by rubbing it out and lengthening the shoulder by the same amount as the dart.I added a 1cm seam allowance all the way around except for the left long side which will be cut on the fold.

I then adapted the sleeve by making the sleeve head slightly higher by about 3cm at the top, and then taking the sleeve shorter up by about 10 cm making it a 3/4 length sleeve, but leaving about 3cm for a hem. I also made it slightly slimmer by taking an equal amount off each side and taking a diagonal line from the top of the sleeve to the new points at the bottom.

Then I cut them out of my calico. I started by taking my two front pieces and sewing in the darts.

Next, I sewed the two front pieces onto the back piece by the shoulder seams, making sure that I matched up the seams properly taking the 1cm seam allowance into account.

Then I sewed the two side seams together so that the basic body shape was put together just without the sleeves.

Now I had to start on the sleeves. Firstly I had to differentiate between the two which was the left and which was the right sleeve. Once I had done that, I sewed down the underarm seam on both sleeves with a 1cm seam allowance.

Now I had to pin my sleeves into the correct sleeve hole sides and ease it in so that it fit properly and all of the notches were lined up.

I then sewed the sleeve on removing each pin as I went and carefully made sure that the notches were matched up and the sleeve fit with a 1cm seam allowance. I did this on both sides.

With the sleeves sewn on, my toile was now looking like this;

Now I had to add the zip in. I am not going to use a concealed zip on my toile as I want some of the zip to be seen as a feature.

I open the zip and using a zipper foot, sewed the correct side of the zips to the centre front.

Now I had to add my hem onto the bottom of the garment. I folded up the bottom 1.5cm and pressed it, then I repeated rolling the hem up another 1.5cm. I then sewed across the bottom of the hem on the wrong side as cole up to the line as I could holding the hem securely into place.

I then did the same to the sleeves although this time I folded them up 1cm and then another 1cm so 2cm all together, pressed and sewed in place.

I completed all of these steps in my final fabric, which because of the thickness actually proved a lot harder than I thought it would be. I top stitched around the seams a lot to hold down the shape and the seams into place.

I had to make sure that on my final jacket, the inside was faced so that the sides and collar were neatly finished. I cut out my facing pattern using my original pattern, i cut out a shape to go around the collar, and both sides of the zip.

i literally sewed them onto the jacket right sides to right sides with a 1cm seam allowance.

I top stitched the seams to hold them down and also tacked the collar facing to keep it down. I haven't yet hemmed my jacket as I'm waiting to fit it to my model.