Mood Board: How to

I hate mood boards.

Mood boards are for a point of reference and inspiration. They should show the key elements of your design ideas identified through your research. I hate them, I can't ever make them look right, until recently!

To complete a mood board, it involves a few basic steps:

• Gather your research: Research your subjects and themes, and use mind-maps to identify your favourite aspects about them.
• Once you've found your favourit ebits and pieces, use images and text to represent them visually. Mood boards are all about the visuals.
• A tip given to me by my tutor was to decorate the background in an appropriate style. Below is the mood board I've done for my jacket, and how it evolved from a bit dull into a really effective piece of inspirational work!

 This is my first mood board. I always do three or four test runs where I play about with the configuration of the images and text for the best possible aesthetic layout. I photograph them as I go to make sure I can remember what went where. I also try different background colours and different style depending on what is appropriate for the work I'm doing.

It's useful because now even if I move onto other project and back to that one, I can easily get inspired and into the right frame of mind. It's also a great tool for explaining to clients and audiences exactly what you are trying to achieve with your final piece of work.
I now do mood boards not just for official works, but for things I like and ideas I have for the future. Pinterest is a great way to collect images as you go, before selecting the best from them for your final board.

This is the final mood board for my Culture Vulture project. Please note how much better it is than my first preferred layout and style. The design work in the background really makes the images and text stand out, and the way that things are grouped together gives a sense of context. I like the images I chose in the end, after running through almost 35 different ones. There is no limit to the number of images or captions you can have, you could also include fabric samples and particular findings that you find appealing. 

Culture Vulture: A New Project

I got my new brief yesterday for my college course! The final piece is a jacket, but there are no definitive rules for it.

The research criteria are that you investigate three different styles or eras then create your designs from this research. I've chosen Teddy Boys, Mods/Rockers and Military Mess Uniforms. This gives me a wide range of different fabrics, styles, techniques and looks to work with as well as a range of aspects for interetsing surface manipulation details, such as adding studs or medal ribbons and braiding.

So far, I've got a few ideas which are mainly based around a mens military jacket in red with black and gold detailing. I was considering a jacket belonging to someone with a particularly high rank as they tend to be the most fun to look at. A photograph of a 1871 officers jacket is my current favourite source of information as it's the most gorgeous red and is so elaborate.

I'm trying to find a suitable host for an online portfolio, so that I can store all my work digitally. As soon as I get that sorted I will be sure to post a link for you all!

Tea Dress, Inspiration

AshFoxyKavanagh sent you this page:

Android tablet: Pros and Cons

Evening and welcome to my first blog post from my Android tablet. As a creative tool, I can highly suggest getting one, but as a tool for admin, it is not as wonderful.
I love being able to just get it out and have a whole range of colours and brushes at my disposal but typing takes an age. I do like being able to upload straight to my online portfolio though.
In short, gorgeous piece of design kit, but not a complete replacement for the trusty laptop.

How To: Men's Suit Jacket to Women's Blazer

How to turn a men's suit jacket into a women's blazer. It's a lot less scary than it sounds.

I've been putting this project off for a while now due to being a busy lady with a job, college and customers so it's just been waiting for me to have an impromptu day off. I was given this suit jacket by a friend of mine along with a herringbone winter coat. I was told to sell on the coat, but I had to do something for myself with the jacket. I am quite a little lady but with odd proportions (large chest and hips, small waist and a grand total of 5" tall!) so almost every jacket I buy needs to be altered at least a little bit. I love suit jackets, but never find one that fits well. I thought this jacket I had been gifted would be the perfect one to tailor to my exact needs.

So, the goals I wanted to achieve:

1. Make it shorter, so the jacket stops just below my waist. This means it'd look nice with a shirt and jeans as well as the occasional dress! 
2. Make the sleeves permanently folded. This involves making them shorter so that there is not so much bulk at the elbows.
3. Possibly take out the shoulder padding, but I think I like the quite feminine shape mixed with the square shoulder.

 This is how the jacket started out. I tried it on to get a feel of what it was I wanted to change. As you can see, it's already shaped nicely around the waist which means I will not have to take it to pieces to take it in at the sides like I would if the lines were straight. If you needed to do this, you'd open an inside lining seam and turn the jacket inside out, mark the adjustments to the shape you wanted, stitch then turn it all the right way round again before sewing the lining back up. It's essentially the last three or four steps of the Waistcoat post about working with a lined garment. I marked on the jacket where I wanted it to come to a stop, just about on my hips. After making with chalk, I cut carefully making sure it was level all the way round. I was careful to keep the pocket linings intact as I cut close to them, so as not to add more jobs to the list. This jacket is also brilliant in that it features a lot of top stitching so the actual sewing work on this jacket will be a breeze! Once I had adjusted the length, the sleeves were looking a bit odd, so I decided to take them up as well. I measured from my shoulder seam to my elbow, then added 2 inches to create a 1 inch turn up. I like colour of the inside lining, but may change it out for some red at a later date, or maybe even some of the same leopard print as my upcoming wiggle dress. That's all the work that I had to do on this jacket so far, messing about with the idea of changing the shape of the shoulders a little, but I do like them padded and square.

Boyfriend Blazer from TopShop: £40

Men's suit jacket from a charity shop: £5ish
An afternoon and a new, well-fitted, spot-on jacket: Priceless.

Steampunk Poison Ivy: Part 1

The Steampunk Poison Ivy outfit is almost complete! Photos of the completed project will be in the last part of the SPI series!

So, let's start with the shorts. The customer provided me with her measurements, which I then used to draft out a pattern for the shorts. I've made shorts before, to the process was quite quick and simple. It was just a case of making sure there was an extension for closure on the front pieces but not on the back. I decided to do a split waistband, in black and green to tie in the bustle bit at the back. The edges on the bustle are unfinished, since I love how they look all frayed. 

Once the shorts and the front half of the waistband were cut out, I began the bustle section at the back of the shorts. Made of green satin, I cut twice the length I required by the depth of the fabric. This gives me plenty of fabric to work with. Using the gathering technique of two lines of stitches, I gathered the top edge to the right size of the back of the shorts. Once the top had been gathered, I used the same technique to gather up the bustle panel, offsetting the lines of gather each time.

In the next part, I'll be assembling the shorts, inserting the bustle panel and starting the bodice!

Steampunk Poison Ivy

Shortly after New Year, a customer contacted me with some reference photographs for a steampunk version of the character Poison Ivy. Hoping to start studying Production Costumes at Edinburgh at the end of the year, I gladly accepted the challenge.
The customer gave me photographs she'd found of other people's work and had high-lighted what she wanted changing and what she really loved about each one. Using this information, we worked on a design sketch. In the end, all we did was change the shades of green involved in the piece, and how the bodice fastens.

Photographs of the work will be uploaded once it's all complete, which should be in the next 10 days or so! Keep your eye out for updates.