Module 3: Records

The following records are for module 3
Costings:

3/Records/Costs 1



3/Records/Costs 2

 Health and Safety considerations:


3/Records/Health and Safety

Time sheet:


3/Records/Time sheet

Module 3, Chapter 12: Research 3 artists

3/12/1: Zandra Rhodes study

3/12/2: Deirdre Hawken study



3/12/3: Gustav Klimt study (my own choice artist)

Module 3, Chapter 11: Composite sheet and evaluation

Although I have previously included photos of my final accessory, here is my composite sheet which links everything together to show my inspiration for the piece and how it developed along the way.

Note: Apologies for the fact you need to scroll sideways to see all of the image- I just felt that the image at any smaller scale just wouldn't show off the details within it.



3/11/1 Final Accessory composite sheet

How do you feel about the resulting conclusion?

Overall I am pleased with the final outcome, especially as it was made under challenging circumstances. This was due to my work commitments leaving me very limited time to produce the work in.

Is it fit for purpose?

I hope that my images showing the neck piece in different styling formations on the mannequin have helped to prove it is fit for purpose in terms of being worn. I believe I kept well to my chosen colour scheme throughout although for the final piece I did chose more subtle and less bright variations of the oranges and blues as for me this means I would be more likely to wear it as these are colours I have a personal preference for. In terms of the spiral theme I tried to incorporate it as much as possible within my final accessory- from the patterns of the paint and dye effects, the way I applied the embroidery and embellishments, the way I cut in the spiral shape and finally the way the piece hangs into further spirals. I used techniques developed through this project and combined in with them patchwork and applique techniques from my previous modules as was suggested in the brief.

If you were asked to make it again, what changes would you make to the way you designed it and the way you made it?

If I had more quality time on the project I might have considered other enhancements at the design and/or make stages such as adding some tassels to the edging or creating my own toggle buttons and loops so it could be fastened around the neck in different ways.

I was quite frustrated in the end as I was having to sneak 20 minutes here and there rather than having a nice block of hours to work within where I could give my work the full attention it really needed. This was down to circumstances beyond my control so there was not a lot I could do about it at the time and I became increasingly conscious that my plan to complete the whole project within 6 months had turned into a year! I am hopeful that with my next module I should have more time opportunities and will be able to work much better to the 6 month schedule as my work/life balance is starting to settle now. If nothing else, I have been able to recognise that as a learner/designer/maker that I struggle with producing work within small time slots and I really need to 'lose' myself in my work over preferably a day at a time to get the best ideas and make the most significant progress.

Module 3, Chapter 10: Making the accessory

To start with my accessory I collated my previously decorated/coloured fabrics together along with a few new ones that I dyed and printed. I knew that my piece needed to be double sided so I composed them together into two separate but same sized rectangles. I ensured that the size of these were bigger than A3 to accommodate for the extra width I wanted in the spiral shape. I patch-worked the pieces together.

As my favourite technique from the whole project had been free machine embroidery I wanted to use this as my main embellishment onto the fabrics. I first worked back into the spirals that had been created with my print and dye effects. For some of these I simply followed the spiral shapes that were already there with my stitchery and for others I created new spirals within the spirals with a circular motion while stitching.

Once my rectangles of fabric had been constructed and had been free machine embroidery embellished I then 'Bondawebbed' them together so they were back to back- giving me my double sided fabric. I realised that the Bondaweb would not be enough to secure the sides together on their own with any strength so I used the opportunity to add more free-machine embroidery. On this occasion I worked into the spaces between spirals. I was conscious at this stage that anything I did on one side would automatically be visible on the other side so I would do a little stitching then flip the fabric over to do a little more then flip back. To enhance this further I used a blue bobbin with an orange top thread in the machine.


3/10/6: Embellishing my fabrics

The next stage was to cut in my spiral. I debated whether or not to mark out where to cut first, but decided to just take the plunge and go for it! that said I had already practised this a fair bit on plain paper. To see how this all worked as an accessory I then experimented with draping my spiral cut fabric over a mannequin.


3/10/7: Spiral cut fabric draped on the mannequin to see how it looked


I loved the fact I had created not one but endless accessories due to the nature of the variety of possibilities for draping my accessory around the neck. Although I felt that my free machine embroidery looked very effective I decided that my accessory was lacking something so enhanced each side with an additional spiral embellishment. On one side I added an orange pearl bead spiral. I made the point of graduating the bead size for this like I had previously done with my resolved sample for chapter 9. On the other side I used couching (one of my favourite hand embroidery techniques from my earlier hand stitched sampler). For the couching I used a yarn with a blended colour effect. I have to admit on reflection that I could have made a little more of this particular spiral- maybe I could have started the spiral a little tighter? Could I have composed it so that it would have been a little more dramatic? Was it too subtle? Maybe I could have embellished it further with a few beads? For both of these embellishments I once again had to be very conscious that what ever I was adding to one side would affect the other side.

Even with these new spirals I felt that the piece lacked something. I was also discovering at this stage that where I had cut the spiral (and after handling the piece quite a lot) that the edges were starting to come apart. I decided to use a hand applied blanket stitch around the edges to hold them together and give a contrast edging. The benefit of doing this is that I ended up enhancing the spiral effect, most notably when the piece was being stored flat. My final piece is as follows showing a few variations and possibilities for draping over the mannequin:


3/10/8: My final accessory

 


3/10/9: My final accessory close up views



Module 3, Chapter 10: Design an accessory- initial ideas

To collect some initial ideas for my accessory I looked back at all my previous work and reflected on some of the images and samples I had worked with to see if they brought to mind any specific types of accessories:



3/10/1: initial thoughts for accessory



 

Two particular accessories came to mind- some kind of head piece/hat and some kind of neck piece such as a collar, scarf or necklace. At this stage I decided to gather some ideas from the Internet to help consider possibilities for shape and style:

 



3/10/2: hat and headpiece accessory research



3/10/3: neck accessory research





I decided at this stage that I was feeling far more inspired by the neck accessories. I had thoughts of creating a spiral piece that could wrap around the neck and perhaps fall into further spirals but was unsure how to do this. I started to create some mini spirals out of paper and card to generate some ideas. I quickly realised that both sides of the paper/card would be visible and therefore equally important for embellishment so I developed my spirals further using my decorated and coloured papers and photographing them from different angles:


3/10/4: Card spiral experiments


I really liked the fact that there were so many different possibilities with the way these shapes could be arranged and thought this would translate really well into a neck accessory that could be worn in different ways. To test this out I tried out a range of different sizes in plain paper and then arranged them around a mannequin to see how they could look. I also experimented with the spiral shape and proportions. I finally settled on a spiral cut out of paper that was approximately A3 in size. The results of just a small selection of my draping possibilities with this are as follows:


3/10/5: Paper spiral draping

At this stage I knew this was the direction I wanted my accessory to go in although I realised that for my final piece I would like the width to be a little larger so I would need to ensure my fabric starting shape was larger than A3 to accommodate this.