Sherry Hill Dresses

Although this has nothing to do with my current unit I cant get over how fantastic Sherry Hill dresses are! After visiting a show room of the current season dresses in Manchester I cant get over the quality! Each dress is made to very high standards not like you would see in normal high-street stores. The dresses are made for particular special occasions mostly stocked in the USA however rarely you can find stores that stock this brand. So easy to find a very cheap fake however so hard to find the real thing...


Here are some of the dresses that I have seen...

Creating Toile...

Before starting to create my toile I needed to decide how

much fabric I would need. I came to a conclusion that I will need 1 m.80 for my pleated skirt. Because my skirt fabric will not be wide enough I will have to cut the fabric into three strips and sew together at the selveages.

Picture shown below...

-From my pattern pieces I created I had created I marked on the seam allowances (1.5) and used my pattern pieces as a guideline. I made sure I overlocked the sides of my fabric to stop it from fraying.

-I Put a blue mark where the material needed to be ironed. I then pined the material in place creating the pleats.

Creating a waistband

- I measured a 8cm waistband as I wanted my design to have quiet a big waistband almost like a feature to make it stand out.

- I got my 8cm waistband from my dress block, I then took a draft from that block and marked a dart.

The top section of the dress block I marked off with pattern paper in order to get the correct markings.

- I then removed the dart from the first draft and created a second draft.

- After that I then removed the dart from the first draft and

created a second draft making sure I had a 1.5 seam allowance to create my final pattern of a waistband.

- I then did the same thing but for the back block waistband.

- I began to sew the front and the back waistbands together at the side seams and fitted my waistband to the skirt. The darts shown above where I fitted my skirt to the mannequin and then added darts to the waistband.

Problem?

Whilst attaching the skirt to the manequin I cam across a few problems...

1. -Is the length of the skirt going to be to long?
2. - I must consider the price and the costings and not waste fabric so my outcome will be cost effective.

- Although I have manipulated the pattern for the waist I need to reduce it by 4cm at the front and 2cm at the back in my toile design I will also put darts in although for my final garment I will not.

- I then ensured I created new pattern pieces in order to fit my final design.

Pictures of the front and back of the toile

This is how the front straps will look once cut out of fabric.

Back of garment shown below...

Front of garment...

- I firstly attached my paper pieces to the mannequin so I had a idea where and how I am going to attach them to my final garment.

I then cut out the straps for my final garment, I used interfacing and cut it with a 1.5 seam allowance because it reduced the bulk.

The picture above shows how I sewed around the edge of the interfacing to reduce the bulk, I felt by reducing the bulk by half it would give the straps a neater effect once they were turned inside out.

I then attached the straps to the skirt with a retaining row attaching them to the garment.

The picture below shows how I have attached the straps.

Once this was done you can now see the front and back view of my finished toile!

Front view...

Back view...

.. I did not attach a zip in the back of the toile for the reason I will have to adjust this on fittings week depending on the models waist size.

Creating my pattern pieces for my toile!

To begin in the making of my toile I had to create pattern pieces so I would get the correct measurements in my material. Firstly I began by measuring the length of the of the skirt which was 50 cm. I then measured the hip line which was 22.5cm from the waist. I then measured the pleats by 5.5cm each as shown below in picture.

After creating my pleats 5.5cm in W I folded the pattern to create pleats. This will end up being the final effect in my fabric.


Above is a picture of my pattern piece on the mannequin.

- From doing I then measured the hips of the mannequin which was 99.5cm. I then measured the waist on the mannequin. From this I could work out the ease that was needed (25.5cm)
The picture above shows I didn't have enough pattern paper to fit around the body of the mannequin. However....
I overcame this problem by adding a extra panel so the pleats fit around the hip and now need to manipulate the waist to make the area fit. Problem solved! This now fits !I then created more pattern pieces by separating my originals and masking taping the pattern piece to a new one so I could add a 1.5 seam allowance around the outside and where the hip line was.

Pattern Cutting Lesson !

As part of me catching up with pattern cutting and handing in my final yearly project I had to complete a dress on the straight grain and a dress on the bias. I have then wrote a few notes comparing the differences so I can have a refernce of this If i ever need to come back to this in future.

Comparing a dress on the bias to a dress on the straight grain…

Basic notes on the differences between the two dresses…
- The dress on the straight grain was easier to sew than the dress on the bias.
- The dress on the bias was difficult to sew because the fabric kept moving under the sewing machine this then made it difficult to match up the seam allowances.
- The dress on the bias goes over the body in a more fluent manner where as the dress on the straight grain is more constructed.
- The hem on the bias dress is more wavey to the straight grain dress.

Looking into fashion buying...

- As we had a stylist in yesterday I felt it was important to start looking into my future career of being a fashion buyer. I read a interesting article in the Independant newspaper that gave me more of a insight into the world of fashion buying.

It's all about sourcing a selection of clothes that will be put into a clothing store, it involves alot of hard work as you have to be the first to forecast fashion trends and know your customer.

The article was written by Clare Dwyer Hogg she talks about the best routes to go down when going into fashion buying, all most any employer would employee someone with a fashion related degree. Work experience is vital and anything you have on your CV that your competitor does not puts you above the rest. ' Even if it's tea making in a buyers office it can be really important because you make a good impression' which was just as the stylist that came in was saying almost every person has to start some where even if it is at the bottom.

With this type of career it really is expect to work all hours! About a quarter of the job is traveling visits to key fashion cities like New York, Tokyo and London for the height of new trends. Being a fashion buyer is not just about being able to shop there are lots of elements you have to get right for e.g:

- Working with a design team and the suppliers to put together a clothing range

- Sourcing inspirations (mostly from the catwalk) and from the key items of the season

- You have to know what these key items are the right fabric, shape and price

Carrying on from this I looked a various quotes from experienced fashion buyers..

' Its all about finding the winning items and knowing your customers'

' Theres nothing better than seeing people on the street wearing your stuff'

It was interesting to read into the background of fashion buying and how it works now next step is finding courses!

Stylizing to a brief...

Today, We had a stylist in college telling us the ins and outs of the fashion industry for the life of a stylist. This was very interesting to hear about the types of people she has worked with and how every time it had to match a brief that her client wanted. She has worked with people like Kerry Katona, David Beckham, Victoria Beckham.

The task I was set was to look at Gywneth Paltrow and to style a outfit for the

Oscars!

I had to think about the accessories

- The dress she was going to wear

- The shoes

- The Hair

- The Make- Up

Firstly I looked at a range of her different styles this gave me a idea of the colours she wears. To help me with my final outcome I put together a colour pallet...

- She wears many neutral colours this compliments her skin tone, many of the dresses she has been photographed in consist of these colours.

- On night time events she tends to wear a darker contrast of colours, greys and blacks this contrasts well with her blonde hair colour.

'Made in England' Evaluation..

From watching the TV documentary series ‘ Made In England’ its all about fashion machinists making a business out of making clothes these days there’s not a big trade for this as many clothes are shipped from abroad.

The company conveys the message of it producing quality rather than quantity. Because of the present crisis more and more things are being shipped over from abroad and because of new technologies that have a better scale of speed done my machine much quicker than could be ever done by hand this decreases the amount of labor so there are very little jobs available in this industry is a dying trade.

This particular documentary focuses on the hard work put into the garments creating a much better outcome rather than buying huge quantities of garments from abroad. Experienced seamstresses work together to create clothing lines for Topshop etc. This is a big thing in today’s clothing industry when was the last time you picked up a garment that said made in England? This tells you as a buyer ‘made with quality’

In conclusion to my findings from this documentary I think it is really good what these groups of people are doing keeping the making of clothes alive in Britain however I don’t think this method would be always be very cost effective making clothes in England is a lot more expensive than making clothes abroad if I personality was running a new clothing store I would look at the cheaper options as then you would be making more of a profit from the garments.

Why fast fashion is slow death to the planet?!

From reading the Observer magazine in work they always have interesting fashion articles. This one in particular stood out to me written by Lucy Siegle.

Its all about the high street chains of fashion and how we now buy more cheap clothes then ever before. I'm sure we all have many items of clothing we have not a clue why we bought but because they simply looked good and came with a cheap price tag. Alot of it is to do with marketing and what the consumer thinks is a good buy.

* you will now demand roughly four times the amount of clothes you would have in 1980

* You will spend at least £625 on clothes

Consumers love anything with a cheap price tag or knowing they are getting fast fashions cheaper than some where else on the high street. The millennium was a big turning point in the UKS fashion mainstream industry it was more about selling clothes than the making of them.

Topshop became a destination point for anyone interested in fashion, ' get the look' plastered over magazines as everything relates back to Topshop. From Topshops success other high street retailers began to copy, producing big quantities of fast fashions and quick snappy marketing schemes. The high street fashion world has gone from new fashions ' in the next few weeks' to fashion buyers faxing world suppliers with tweaks from the design teams to get the look in the high street on a daily basis.

However fashion store Zara took a slightly different approach rather than focusing on quantities manufactures and designers came together creating tiny quanties of lots of different designs. This is where your last chance to buy comes into it as a consumer you hesitate at the point you might miss a chance on a new fashion item this makes you want the garment more and creates a sense of fear it will be snatched from you forever.

Zara fashion policy was a game change in the fashion industry. As consumers we now look at how fashion is marketed and having pieces someone else doesn't have so buy creating tiny quantities but lots of different designs makes the consumer want to dig out their wallet.

Sampling fabrics and producing my final design...

Although I have already made a blog post on my final design after talks with my fashion tutor I have adapted my design so it is more understandable this will then help me with creating my design board.

Below is a picture of the front and back view of my final design.

-I am starting to create a sample page of various different ideas I have found that go with my final design. One in particular was the 'puff ball' idea I found in a Haute Couture magazine it was one of Chanel's pieces the puff balls overlapped each other creating a gathered effect. I began to sample this with soft, silky and tough fabrics this gave me a idea of the type of fabric I would have to purchase depending on the outcome it gave me. Below is a i

mage of what I have began to sample...

Final shirt design!

'Celebrating Curves'

Here are my two final dress designs for my theme celebrating curves, looking at my two designs I will be using quiet a variety of different fabrics. I have drawn the front and back of the garment and before I start being to make my dress I will need to problem solve for e.g.

What is the best material to use?

How much material will I need?

Is there aspects of the dress I am going to need to change?

And will I have enough time to complete my final garment?

Here are a few images I have selected that have helped inspire me...

Looking at modern day fashions inspired me I love the new shapes that are coming in this season.. this dress goes perfectly with my theme the way the pleats fold but fit very tightly to the dress showing off the woman's waistline.

I love the idea of the netting hiding the bust line but in a away this almost enhances it to the eye.

Cleopatra inspired me to create layers to my garment and looking through a range of the theatre costume's the colours used are very similar to my colour pallet.

This Gilbert and George painting inspired me to play with the neck lines on garments. This can make a big impact on the overall outcome. In my final design I have a very low cut back- line to my dress again going with my theme ' Celebrating Curves'

Looking at illustrator's blogs...

Elaine Bliss is one of the feminine illustrators I looked at for her feminine graphics. As I was doing my research on her I came across her blog it was very easy to interpret where here inspirations were sourced.

So where did her inspirations come from?

- Highly influenced by style and sophistication of her own mothers fashion designs, Elaine saw the growing need to create corporate identities that featured a softer, more artistic side rather than heavy lines.

http://elainebiss.blogspot.com/view/snapshot

Above is a useful link to her blog she had a page full of snap-shots of various things that had inspired her. So it was easy to see how one particular image lead to her creating a certain type of illustration....

- Looking at the collection of images posted on Elaine's blog gave the overall outcome that they all convey sophistication, elegance, and a french look. The snapshot images reminded me of how I as a student looked at images to create shape development on a silhouette and looked a similar images I found in books/magazines to source my inspirations very similar to what Elaine has done here.