Current Projects, March 2016

I really need to make more of an active effort to update the blog!

Well, here I am, a couple of weeks away from my last hand-in for Level One of BA Fashion. Scary stuff! I've had a lovely academic year. I've been class rep, worked on the costumes for our production of Peter Pan and ran for (but didn't get) School Rep. I'm currently working on several projects, some of which I can go into lots of detail with and some are super top secret.

Let's start with uni work. I'm currently working on a garment based loosely on design aspects of a Balenciaga jacket from 2006. I'm having lots of fun working with chiffon and trying to figure out how to make it more structured without using 3457564 layers. You can follow my progress on that over at Instagram, @ashleighellan

I'm also working on two other non-academic projects, a wedding dress and the Lincoln Cathedral production of Jesus Christ Superstar. I can't discuss those too much for reasons but as soon as I can share those with you lovely lot, I will. I am also developing a dieselpunk outfit to wear during our local Steampunk visit, which I can also wear to Asylum in August. I haven't started it yet, so no information as of yet.

Now for something else crazy exciting! During my month long internship time from university, I am going to intern at Normanby Hall and its costume archive! 150 years worth of clothing to study, draw, package and examine along with learning how to curate an exhibition of garments. I'd like to go on and work in a historical fashion/costume related job so this is an amazing experience for me. I have been once before so know there a range of garments to behold, so seeing even further behind the scenes will be incredible. I will be sure to take lots of photographs and do lots of sketches!

Once my hand-in has been submitted, I'll share some progress photos of the jacket along with some of the final piece.

What are you working on right now?

Refashion Challenge: The Vintage Kilo Sale (Part 2)

Hello! Well, it's been a little while again but that's entirely just because I've been a bit busy working on Peter Pan costumes for the LPAC Christmas Production. I'm going to see it tomorrow finally, with my little sister and family. Should be wonderful, I'll try and sneak some photos.

Also, a quick bit about The Vintage Kilo Sale. "The Vintage Kilo Sale is the UK's first ever 'buy by weight' vintage shopping event. Founded in 2009 and now serving multiple cities across the UK. Revolutionising the way we shop retro, The Vintage Kilo Sale calls at London, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and many others, bringing 8 tonnes of good quality vintage clothing from the 1960s - 1990s.Allowing customers to pay by weight at only £15 per kilo means vintage lovers can get their fix without spending a small fortune.Featuring: dresses, denim, blouses, shirts, jumpers, bags, boots, shorts, tees and trousers - think the most affordable vintage sale in the land!"

(And that massive bit there, will take you straight to their Facebook page. I do spoil you lot sometimes!)

Now, down to business. After some thought and quick designs, I decided that a slightly flirty summer outfit would be the best choice to make from these existing garments. I currently have a massive thing for culottes (which is odd since I can't pull them off!) so that skirt was definitely destined to be some. I thought they'd also make lovely culottes due to their volume and already elasticated waistband. I decided that the black shirt was mens, and so needed to be fitted better and show a more feminine silhouette but without making it too tight and clingy since this is a Spring/Summer ensemble. I used the pink shirt for embellishment.

Right, let's get into it!

The Shirt

The shirt was the garment that required most work, so I started there. I unpicked the sleeves and used a size 12 existing shirt block that I drafted a few weeks ago to decide where to cut and insert shaping. I marked and cut a good few inches from the side seams which altered the shape of the garment. I also took off about 6 inches from the bottom so that the shirt just skims the waistline with the view of it being worn with other items like a cute circle skirt. After overlocking and       stitching the new sides together, I removed the sleeves from he pink shirt and salvaged as many lengths of diagonal 2inch strips as I could manage. I measured the armholes then created the appropriate amount of binding, then finished off the armholes with that nice pop of pink. I also used the rest of the pink strips from earlier to create this adorable neck tie, adding femininity and tying in the pink on the armholes to the garment.

                                                

         

The Skirt

The skirt was a long, lined floral number, and as soon as I took it out of the bag I fell in love with it. It was a shame to have had to change it, but such is the nature of refashioning and challenges! I simply used a trouser block and measured to 4 inches below the crotch, cut it and stitched it into volumes culottes. It did not take very long, so definitely going to look out for more skirts that I could whip up in a similar way.

The Outfit

So here it is, now finished. I didn't have much time in and amongst university commitments and running around like a loon to be able to find a slot in the photography studios, so my bedroom wall was the next best option! I think this is a lovely outfit and it turned out how I imagined it to. I wanted to create a fairly relaxed look, suitable for just throwing on before going for cocktails on the beach or shopping in Milan. It is a casual day-to-do vintage look, for those who aren't quite ready to embrace huge skirts and making a spectacle of themselves. 

What do you think? What would you have done with these garments? Part One can be found here.

Refashion Challenge: The Vintage Kilo Sale (Part 1!)

               

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? A year or so, in fact. But here I am, back in an industrial sewing environment and very pleased about it. Above is a quick photo of me in the studio, wearing a sweet liberty print dress with huge pockets that extend down from the princess seams. I made this dress over Summer, and I really love it. I have a black version as well, in a thicker cotton drill and it's a lovely lazy day dress.

Now, on to the actual point of this blog post! I volunteered to take part in the Vintage Kilo Sale's Refashion Challenge. They provided me with a kilo of clothing, which I'll get to in a second. the rules are simple. The majority of the fabric that I use has to be from these provided garments. I can add to it, but they prefer if you don't. I have some ideas about what I'm going to do but so far have just photographed the garments provided!

The Pink Cropped Shirt

              

          

Luckily, this shirt is made of a lovely light fabric. It's not quite a cotton but it's not quite seersucker. It's a UK Size 14 and I really love the tied waist so it's likely that will make it into my final refashion choice! It also has little straps to button the sleeves in place when they are rolled up which is pretty cute.

The Black Mens Shirt

A thick cotton shirt, with a 40 inch chest and a very shapely and well supported collar. I think that this might be the garment that I work from in terms of a top half. I want whatever I make to be realistic and wearable as opposed to a conceptual piece. 

The Blue/Purple Floral Skirt

Well, I have mixed feelings here. I love this skirt, which means I am torn between using it and just wanting to wear it myself! I think it may become shorts due to its volume and beautifully feminine fabric. Oh, it also just happens to be coincidentally the correct size for me once I'm finished with the challenge, what a shame!

What would you do with these garments? Would you cut them for meterage? Add to them? Take away from them? Tell me about it in the comments!

10 Minute Kimono From a Scarf Tutorial!

Right, by popular demand, but without photos, a quick tutorial on my scarf kimono!

Dead simple and fairly cute kimono style jacket from a second hand scarf! Make your own by:

• Folding the scarf in half
• Marking out a rectangle either side, which is the fabric you'll lose between the sleeves and sides
• Cut out the rectangles, stitch the cuts closed
• Turn right way round, and cut the neckline/neck hole.

I left my front unfinished since my sleeves and hem were frayed, but you could finish it with a rolled hem. 

Hope this is a useful enough explanation but questions are welcome!

University Competition, and My Return to Studying!

"As humans, we are curious: we are driven to discover, to illuminate, to visualise and understand.

This sense of inquiry is key to the design process – and also to the scientific method. Both physics and design demand creative thinking, and the drive to explore. Both demand imagination; an interest in people and their experience; a desire to see the world in a new way.

Design a ‘mini-collection’ of two outfits, menswear or womenswear, which explores the commonalities of physics and design.

Seek parallels with a scientist’s approach. Conduct your own experiments. Develop processes which provoke discovery and thought. Search for patterns, correlations and new ways of seeing things.

You could:

Investigate how materials can be combined or transformed

Experiment with new construction processes – or apply existing processes in a new way

Be inspired by intriguing theories – like relativity, chaos theory, string theory, or multiverse theory

Consider patterns and structures on a micro or macro scale : symmetry, waves, molecular geometry, cosmology

Examine movements, behaviours, transformations of particles, matter, or electricity

Look into fundamental forces, including gravity and electromagnetism

Create beautiful data

Start your own inquiry - propose new solutions for fashion design."

So, this is my first project upon my return to University! It is a competition project for FAD, and there is prize money available! After a very hectic trip to London Science Museum, I've decided to look into regular and irregular polyhedrons. I'm doing a large initial collection of 40 menswear choices and 40 womenswear choices, to be narrowed down by my lovely tours at uni. I'll update on the final selections but also on the winners when they are announced! 

Over Summer, I've not done very much sewing at all. I've made minor projects like dresses and a PE for Little Sister, with the only real projects being a grey pencil skirt with white piping and a scarf to kimono transformation. I'll do a couple of separate posts for those!

Thank you for your continued reading, couldn't be doing this without everyone out there supporting me and showing a long-term interest.

Men's Dress Shirt into a Toddler Dress! NOW WITH PICTURES!

After posting photographs of Little Sister's new dresses on Reddit, the public demanded a tutorial. Well, you all asked so here it is!

YOU WILL NEED:

• Sewing Machine
• A shirt, men's or women's are both fine. The bigger size the shirt, the more volume you can get into the skirt of the dress!
• Scissors
• Chalk
• A tee shirt that fits your subject well.

First of all, lay the shirt flat. Decide on wether or not you'd like a volumed skirt like in the photos above, or a straighter dress that looks more like a long child's shirt. These instructions will be for this particular kind of dress, since it's a bit more complicated. Once the shirt is laid flat, lay your existing tee shirt on top of it, matching the centre fronts roughly. It isn't a fine art, so just roughly the middle is okay. Fold the tee shirt sleeves in gently so you can see the shape of the arm hole. Pin it in place to the shirt, so it can be used as a pattern. Cut carefully around the tee shirt sides and arm holes making sure to leave the collar and shoulder seams of the shirt intact.

You should end up with something that looks a lot like this:

To decide on a length of bodice, you can either measure your little girl, or guess based on the tee shirt. Make sure that when you cut the shirt across to form the bodice, you're cutting roughly between two buttons otherwise it won't work quite right. Once the bodice is out out, hang on to the sleeves from the shirt. With the bottom half of the shirt, gather the top edge using either a gathering stitch or gather by hand. Adjust the gather to line up the side seams of the shirt and the newly cut bodice.

Stitch the side seams of the bodice. If you haven't already, unbutton both the skirt and bodice sections, then lay them right side to right side, with the bottom edge of the bodice lining up with the top gathered edge of the skirt. Pin, making sure that the side seams line up throughout, along with the front plackets (bits on either side with the buttons/button holes on!). Stitch. You should now see your dress!

At this stage, you can either leave it sleeveless, by stitching a facing on. You do this by using a 2inch wide strip of fabric stitched right side to right side on the outside of the garment, then folded back in and stitched carefully for security to the shoulder seam seam allowance. 

To add proper sleeves to your little dress, the easiest kind is to add slightly gathered/puff sleeves.

Again, use your tee shirt as a guide to get the shape. Lay the shirt sleeve folded as it would be naturally and then lay the tee shirt or your bodice on it, folding back the sleeve and following the outline for the arm hole. Adjust the length of the shirt sleeve as you see fit, and then stitch into the bodice as you would any other sleeve.

Any questions? Now show me yours!

Intertexuality

Intertextuality is using one piece of work to provide context for another. An object, be it a piece of art, a garment or even a person is given meaning by its creator. There are other theories in that the context of the piece is given by the viewer.
Context and intercontextuality are important as they are what define for the viewer the overall message of what they are seeing. This can be played straight, such as a nun wearing a habit and a crucifix, or it can be used to askew social norms and make bold statements, such as artists like Madonna or Lady Gaga wearing the same items, Items and garments are given meaning by the situation that they are placed in and the other visual or sensory cues that they are partnered with.
Intertextuality is important in all aspects of life and is used regularly in fashion. It has been used famously by many celebrities often by incorporating controversial slogans or religious objects in the way that they dress. It has also been used to make a statement in a similar way by designers from the last few decades. This act of using a object in a way that it isn't meant, or by adding to it, for example the way the Sex Pistols shook up the image of the Queen, can be a political, religious, or just plain rebellious statement on the part of the individual or the designer.
Another theme that has arisen from the theory and use of intercontextuality is bricolage. Bricolage is essentially taking a selection of mismatched styles and using them in such a way that it creates a suitable ensemble. For example, steampunks mix the grittier side of punk with the elegance, beauty and clothing design of the Victorian Era. On paper, these two styles don't work together particularly well, with each being the overall antithesis of the other but through the use of clever styling and an understanding of context, amazing outfits are put together. This act of mixing styles and removing aspects from one to another is also a way of making a statement, this further removal of the subculture from the socially acceptable norm. 
I'm a great believer in the theory that nothing is every original. Everything we do, everything we think, everything we design and create is made from influences around us. The author Austin Kleon published a book entitled 'Steal Like an Artist' and it details how influence is all around us and how we should note other people's work in regards to not it's overall quality as a piece, but breaking it down into factors that we like and dislike and then go on to use the factors that we enjoy or approve of in our own work.