Evaluation for LIVE Brief: Moo Designs

In this project I was set  brief by a local boutique Moo Designs Barnsley to create samples which would then to be created into a avant-garde garment for S/S 2014, the designs had to be based around under the sea invertebrates. When I first received the brief I was excited to learn more about what I was going to be creating, I was even more excited to develop my skills especially in the fashion sector. I feel this project has really challenged my skills, on both creating samples that I experimented with colours and mixing my own colours, I also had to challenge myself with my own time management skills.

I gathered lots of research which was mainly secondary, however I did collect some primary research from The World Museum in Liverpool on a class trip, I feel this was a good help especially seeing the different creatures and plants the museum had there. I mainly used Pinterest for my secondary research, printing out photos of invertebrates that had lots of pattern incorporated onto their bodies or plants, this helped me when coming to creating my tracings and samples. I firstly created two mood boards, one purely based on fashion based on under the sea and the other  on under the sea invertebrates, these both helped me and played a huge part in inspiring me when creating further sheet work, I feel my sketchbook helps me the most in the design cycle as it featured a selection of research both primary and secondary research and sketches,  I also researched current trends and colour themes.

Artist research gave me huge inspiration when creating my tracing design, I chose to research a fashion and costume designer who I had never heard of before but have grown to love the designs the designers create, the collection I chose to research was a under the sea themed collection with a huge amount of embellishment and detailed parts of the designs, I then also researched Chanel S/S 2012 this collection was also under the sea themed and used a beautiful fresh colour pallet using pastel shades mainly of pink, blue, green and orange, I created this sheet by collecting images and creating fashion illustrations of the outfits on show.

It was then time to create my research into visuals, I focused on pattern and shapes, I wanted to make both of my visual sheets extremely bright using vibrant shades and tones using gouache paint. My first visual sheet I created a background using batik and brusho inks, at first I was really happy with the effect this gave but once painting on top of the ironed away batik wax I found that I had to paint several layers of gouache over the top of it to cover as it was quite resistive, once this sheet was finished I was quite happy with the outcome but wanted to base my second visual sheet on heavy pattern. As I started creating my second visual sheet I started by drawing circles to create pattern inside of the circles, I chose to do this as I felt I could accent the pattern better than if I had have included it on a shape. Once I had finished this sheet I realised the background was still very bare but there wasn’t enough room to draw anything else in detail, I therefore chose to draw simple bubbles around the existing items, I feel this worked really well and made the other shapes and pattern stand out really well.

I then started creating my development sheets, at this point the client, Moo Designs, came into our class to talk about the brief and the work I had already created, they were really impressed by my work, sketchbook and choice of colours, as they had mentioned they really liked the colour turquoise that I had chose to use on most of my sheet work, I had then decided to carry this colour through and develop it further. On my first development sheet I used a light blue background and painted on top of this using different shades of blues, turquoises and purples I then also chose to use pinks and oranges just to break the amount of blues up I had already previously used on my sheet. I started to feel like my development sheet was looking very similar to my visual sheets so I chose to create another development sheet using only one colour and a monochrome background, I didn’t want to use a typical monochrome design for example spots or stripes so I chose to stretch myself and create a monochrome tartan design this was extremely time consuming and difficult to do especially with all of the very straight lines, once this was finished I decided to draw shapes of starfish and shells, and use only one colour of turquoise once I had done this I carefully cut out the shapes and stuck them onto the sheet, I am very happy with how this sheet has turned out and feel it is very effective.

The constraints that the client had set for this project had a huge impact on my work, I feel like this project matched my style of working very well , as in previous projects I have documented that I prefer using one colour or one colour in different shades on its own,  however I feel it stretched my skills in the fashion sector, I was still unsure about whether I wanted to pursue fashion studies or interior studies but as this has been a fashion based project I think it has helped me realise where my passion lies, in fashion studies. I feel with the constraints that were set I have challenged myself with the colour scheme we were given but I am thrilled with how everything I have created has turned out.

Creating my tracing was probably the worst part of this project for me, when creating my tracing as two of my three screens were going to be the tartan background, one screen the grey squares and the other screen the black squares and black lines to create my design I had to make sure the straight lines matched up exactly with each other as if not the tartan design would not work, once this had been completed I had previously decided I wanted to have a design of a starfish with two shells either side of it, this was the easiest part of creating my design as they were simple shapes which just had to be fitted around the tartan background. The only problems I had with my screen was that some of my lines at the bottom of my design didn’t expose properly and therefore rather than a long clean line I ended up with a broken line, this happened because the lines weren’t thick enough, this won’t happen again as I have realised the problems and how to avoid them in the future.

As in the constraints given to us from the customer, Moo Designs, it mentioned that the garment was going to be made into a garment for Spring/Summer 2014, therefore when choosing materials to print and sample onto it made sense to use light and aired fabrics. I used a mixture of, cotton, azeta, silk and chiffon, printing onto cotton was my favourite fabric to use as it picked up the colours I was using to print with well and the fabric didn’t move about on the table in comparison to some of the other fabrics. Silk, although my designs on this fabric look beautiful it was the worst fabric to print onto, I had to make sure I taped the material down along every edge and make sure it was pulled tight as when wet with the pigment the fabric shrunk and sometimes became miss-shaped. I mixed all of the colours I used my self and wrote every mixture down, therefore when my design is reproduced it shouldn’t be hard to do as my notes are detailed and easy to follow. I decided to come in on all of my days off to use the print room, I feel I got a lot more work done on my days off as the print room was a lot of a nicer environment, calmer, quieter and less busy!

I used several technical processes during this project, screen printing, dying up fabric, devore, puff binder and fabric manipulation.  When I was in the print room it was crucial to follow the health and safety rules given as if not this could result in both injury to yourself and damage to your work.  The first thing I did when entering the print room was to sign in, this is in case of a fire it is clearly documented where your whereabouts are, I then go and get gloves and a apron as some of the dyes and pigments used in the print room are extremely irritant and can also stain clothing, it is also very important to be careful when using the heat press and heat gun as both of these pieces of equipment reach very high temperatures. Once I had created my samples I then decided to fabric manipulate a selection of them to make them look unique and different to other samples I had also created to go along side with them when presenting, it is important to make sure hair is tied back when using the machines and keeping fingers away from the needles as they are moving at very high speeds.

Once the project had ended Moo Designs came into class and I had to present my work to them, I presented to the whole of my class, the customer and my teachers, I always enjoy doing presentations of my work as I feel it has made me grow in confidence. I explained my work in chronological order starting from the very first things I did to my final samples; I felt confident when presenting my work and got a feel that they were also impressed with the work I had created over the project. Once all of the presentations were over I was given a break as they decided the winner or winners of this brilliant project and great opportunity. The winners were chosen and I was one of them in joint first place with one of my class mates, I was ecstatic with this result and I feel very proud of myself as I have proven to myself that the standard of work I had created was clearly of a very high standard to be proud of.

If I was to do this project again I don’t think I would change anything apart from working a little bit more into my sketchbook as I feel I focused more on sheet work and getting all of my samples to a brilliant presentable quality of work. I also feel as though I have managed my time extremely well and got everything I was asked to do on time of the deadline and put all my time and effort into this project.

I am very pleased with how I have performed in this project and coming joint first place gave a great feel to the project ending, this has most definitely been my favourite project to date as I have really enjoyed working for a company as it has given me a insight into the working life of a textile or fashion designer, I would have liked to improve my sketchbook work but I will take this self criticism into my final major project. I have loved working for Moo Designs, it has been a great opportunity and a fantastic insight into working for a company to their own constraints.