Art Inspo- Sophia Rapata

Lately I've become one of those stays up til 3am girls. Tonight is no different. My mind has been so full of ideas and things to be added to my monstrous to-do list that I'm finding it very difficult to sleep. It does sometimes have it's perks though...

I would never have stumbled across the adorably creepy works by Sophia Rapata otherwise. Some of this work may be a little bit disturbing to some, but I watch and dream images like this most nights (not in a bad way!) I think it's beautiful artwork and I'd love to own some one day. It reminds me of Insidious slightly, and The Babadook, shapes and images you only see in the shadows and are never sure if its just you mind playing tricks on you. 

Home Inspo- Urban Outfitters.

 

Now I'm not normally a big Urban Outfitters fan, I think a lot of the products are badly made and their garments have a higher mark up than the exact same brand that also sells on ASOS. That makes me very grumpy. That being said, I stumbled across their Instagram account yesterday and proceed to then spend the next half an hour glued to my phone looking at what I can only describe as interior porn.  

Some of these images I'm using for reference are styled using UO products, some are inspo pieces from peoples houses (like the one above that I am in love with). Whenever I move house I become obsessed with pinterest and IG, looking an home ideas and ways to style, simple storage used creatively and plants, so many plants! I've always dreamed of living in a house turned jungle and hopefully now I'm dating someone who actually knows how to care for plants this can become a reality!

 

 

 

 

I've been trying to come up with cleaver and easy access storage ideas for my sewing room, I need to be able to see what I have easily, keep my elastic and trims neat and untangled, everything needs to be very organized. Right now it's an organized mess, I know where everything is (roughly) but once I'm making the room ends up covered in bits and pieces, my bed becomes my pattern cutting station, my floor becomes my bin and the cat becomes my worst enemy with thinking the elastic I'm using means play time. 

If you have any cleaver and stylish storage ideas or ways of staying organized please get in touch!

Parisian Mood board.

A quick little mood board to show the initial inspiration for my Paris project. I may come back and re-work it, or make another one to show more of the direction I'm taking it.

Gym to Swim Concept.

My final project of the year is a 'Dragons Den' style groupwork project. We have to find a gap in the market and develop a design concept to later be presented to several faculty members of the university. Scary stuff. The winning group has the opportunity to be featured in a lingerie magazine which is incredible to competition is high! 

My groups idea is gym clothing that can be transferable to swimwear. Think fashion forward body suits, flattering workout shorts and mis-matched tops that are both supportive and stylish. I know that activewear has undergone a massive update in the last few years but we have been looking into some pretty rad ideas from several brands and developing their idea further. 

I've initially been put in charge of researching and developing a colour pallet, and a website. Hence the activity of this blog lately! For now here is a quick mood board I made to give a slight indication of the brand idea we are hoping to develop.

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!