Parisian Chic- Take One

One of my final projects for this year is called Parisian Chic. Most of the girls got to travel to Paris for a few days (I didn't go due to work and cat-momma duties) and we have to base our first design to construction project based on something in Paris that inspired us. As I didn't go I decided to look at Iron Railings, developing that idea into a final pattern to go onto fabric and create my design. 

This week has been my first week into the construction side of this project, the heat is on now! 

Above is a little look into some initial design ideas for my final garment. We were briefed that we need to construct a bra, knicker and suspender set. Using methods and techniques that we have been taught throughout this year.

Now we have began making our garments my life has become a hectic bra related mess, well, more so than normal that is! I've spent the last week utilizing ever spare moment on developing my garment patterns, I want to do as much as I can from scratch to show that I've been practicing what's been taught.

My sketchbook work is mostly looking into a pattern development, taking inspiration from my initial idea of Iron railing but making it fashion forward. I've also looked into mirror imaging and incorporated that into what will (hopefully) be my final design, which is below. My aim is to use velvet powder and flock the patten onto powernet, I was going to use the help of the textiles department but the studio will be closed for 3 weeks over Easter so I have to come up with a way of doing this by hand. I may need to simplify my design...

 

My first toile (rough copy) was finished today, I need to steal a friend for half an hour or so to have a fitting. The garment fits just fine on a mannequin but how it fits on the body is another story. Please excuse the fabric, this is a test piece to see if I need to make any alterations to my design and this delightful striped polyester was the closest thing I had to the fabric I want to use for my final garment. Think satin black with the same black mesh shown with the design above printed on. 

I still have to toile up my suspender belt, something that has been tormenting me for days, I can't mentally figure out how to best approach what I want to do! 

As I mentioned this is an ongoing project, I'll keep updating with the development process. If anyone has any ideas or tips I'd love to hear them!

A big old post of updates.

Can I just take a moment to ask, when did it become March?! I swear it was only last month I was enrolling onto my dream course and now I'm two projects away from completing my first year. Wow. 

It has been an unimaginable few months though, I have discovered so much about myself, my abilities, been inspired by so many of the wonderful people I get to surround myself with everyday.

This bra and knicker set was the first set I created to a professional level. I don't think I'd ever part with it! It's by no means perfect, I still have to much to learn! 

It is pretty darn cute though...

I've also been busy making other garments, like this skirt and top set that was inspired by a conversation over a beer at the pub!

Some exciting news on the personal front, I'm going to be living with a boy again! I'm really going to miss living alone, it's been so much fun and has surprisingly taught me an awful lot, but my gosh I'm excited for August. I'm being treated to my own sewing room in our future house which is what I think I'm most excited about, no more having to squeeze all my fabrics, trims and equipment into a corner of my bedroom! We are looking at buying a dog too as Toby can take him to work so if anyone has and recommendations for breeds or where to go to get a rescue that would be amazing!

Re- Introducing...

Hello! So I thought I should start a new one of these intro things because I haven't been on here in SO long! I'm ever so sorry little blog. I'm Jessie, a 20-something lingerie student and designer, cat wrangler and film fanatic. 

I'm trying to get this blog back up and running again as I want a social media platform that is more than just Instagram posts, somewhere that I can actually share exciting things that are happening and eventually have it as a blog to run alongside my own business. But that's a long way in the future!

My aim for this blog is to update it with all kinda of fashion based loveliness, mood boards, interest topics, as well as my development as a designer. I'll also include some more personal posts too! 

If there is anything that you would like me to talk about, either lingerie or fashion based I would love to hear from any of you out there who end up stumbling across this blog!

Last week on Instagram.

 This last week has been a pretty quiet one. It's my last week of study for the year, on Monday I made my first bra- a medium support soft cup, otherwise known as a 'granny' bra. It was really fun to make and useful to know that one basic pattern, with minimal changes can be used to create sports and maternity bra's. As previously posted I managed to finish off a mood board to go alongside my illustration project, today I'm hoping to finish off my trend report and then use the christmas holidays to focus on my sketchbook and design development.

I'm so excited for christmas this year it's unreal! On the 23rd me and Toby are making our dinners to take to our parents as both are family's still eat meat and we don't want to put our parents through the hassle of making two dinners. It's going to be our christmas eve before we both go and spend actual christmas eve and christmas day with our families. Then on boxing day evening we are having his, mine and Hiccups christmas day at mine. I don't know what exactly to make yet and I don't exactly have a lot of kitchen utensils/ space so it should be an interesting one!

Toby is actually meeting my father on sunday too, something he has been avoiding for the last year and a half! It's so charming how nervous he is.

 My PETA 'SeaWorldKills' t-shirt arrived this week and I've pretty much been living in it! The whole SeaWorld issue is very close to me and something I'm very passionate about. The closer it is getting to the new year the more excited I'm becoming about going completely vegan. I already cut out meat, fish, egg and milk, so it's only the two vices in my life that I have to stop eating. Oh I'm going to miss cheese and chocolate so much but it will be worth it knowing nothing has suffered for it. I have found that I'm feeling increasingly more guilty when I do eat cheese so hopefully it will be an easy transition and Toby won't wake up at 3am to find me sobbing by the fridge with an empty wheel of wensleydale!

 After a fantastic day in Birmingham <3

 My croquis (model) development for final pose ideas. I keep choosing overly-complicated poses and not making simple ones that I can just scan, print and draw my designs over. It's not wasted by any means, the more poses I draw the better understanding of movement I get but I do really need to focus on the project at hand and not spend my time drawing, swearing and rubbing out something I don't need at the moment (while watching american horror story).

 I still can't believe how much my hair has grown this past 2 years. It is really odd looking at old photos and wondering why I EVER thought a bowl cut was a good look for me. And I kept going back to it too, I'd let my hair grow a little and then, bam, next day I've got this bad haircut, shaved from my ears down and dyed jet black.

'Have a real tree of chistmas isn't happening' state of mind since 1989.

First draft mood board for my collection project. 

Watch this space.

Guess who's back.

Oh little blog I'm so happy you have survived without me for so long! So much has been going on these last few months that I haven't had the time.

My uni course is going fantastically, I'm thinking about starting up a lingerie based blog to have a little place for new designers I find, and inevitably forget the name of and spend hours putting in vague garment descriptions into google and hoping for the best.

I handed in my first project (the construction one) and got a B which I'm so happy with as construction is something I will run screaming from given the chance! This term has flown by I still can't believe we break up for Christmas in less than 2 weeks. 

This is what my life looks like now, surrounded by art materials and sitting in awkward poses to draw from. 

In my second rotation we have started making garments rather than just the pattern blocks and this was the first item we had to make. I got to use 2 completely new to me machines for this one, very simple top (the bone casing machine is so much fun, the industrial overlocker is terrifying!)

In other news life is pretty darn good at the moment. Myself and Toby spent this weekend having dinner out with a good friend of ours and on Sunday we went to Birmingham to visit the Sea Life center for an illustration project I have going on. I have been very good this year with my Christmas shopping, I'm nearly done! For my love I got him a deck of playing cards, some beard oils from a friend who is starting up a new business, a cut throat razor from WW1 and a plant anatomy educational poster from 1940. He has treated me hard to a stunning bag from Doc Martens, I can't actually wait to use it! I only know what I have this year because he was freaking out about it and when he realized that a bra, knicker and suspender set from Agent Provocateur is about £1000, panic really set in! 

My flat is so wonderful, it's a lovely little home for me and hiccup. I'm so settled here I don't know why it took me so long to live alone before. 

Life right now is so good that I have to pinch myself into realizing that it is actually mine. I pinky promise that I'll get back into the habit of updating this more frequently again.

Life of a Contour Fashion student.

I cant believe I'm already a week in! It really is going to quickly, life has been so exciting and fast-paced that I keep feeling that I'm missing something when I have free time!

For our induction week (and to be used in our 2nd term) we had to create a bra and knicker set after de-constructing a store brought set. It was really fun but also at times frustrating but I did learn an awful lot about just how many components go into making a bra. 

I chose to make something based on my own style of lingerie rather than the more commercial styles, and went with a burlesque influence.

I had to go to Chatsworth house for a drawing exercise,  Toby wanted to join as it's 'the mother ship' in his words so we spent a lovely sunny Sunday there, wandering around the gardens and house. I have been to a few manor houses now since dating Toby and I have to say this one wasn't very impressive, I know we went at the wrong time of year as it's a summer garden but there wasn't much that was inspiring to me.

For my first official lesson I have been put in the pattern cutting rotation, so that is the focus of my study every monday. On our first day we were set out for product research and trend reporting, and to find and buy a pair of stretch-fabric knickers.  

In the afternoon of that session we had to copy out basic fashion blocks from which to work from and adapt over time for our own creations, we had to do 'A-J' and with 2/3 stencils a letter we ended up coping 4 meters of patterns- which isn't very much fun to drag home!

My wednesday rotation is illustration and I can't wait to get started on this one, our first lesson was learning how to create a basic model which we can adjust with our own style and our homework is to research 20 illustrators for our illustration project. I have nearly finished researching mine but with 10/15 colour pages per artist I have been banned from using Toby's printer (after the last time where I printed out 100 pages of research for my summer project)

Today is week 2, in pattern cutting we learnt how to make a block pattern from an already existing garment (that we picked last week) and for our project we have to develop a technical file. It's already so much work but it's all so inspiring and fun to do that I really am enjoying spending all my free time doing it- Toby isn't enjoying it as much...

 

The work is hard, and there is a lot to remember, and still working along side my course is already becoming a little overwhelming- today I have been up since 6am, at uni 9-5, and working at 5.30-11. Someone bring me coffee!