Manifesto..

So I'm currently working on my pattern at the moment to make my toile for the review in the next few weeks for the Manifesto project. It's going quite well as I've managed to have quite a lot of help, and feel I'm gradually understanding more and thinking more logically, from the help of one-one guidance and also using the basic skills learnt last term to then adapt. From looking around the room, my design seems quite simple at the moment, however i think this is better to start off with and really think about the garment technically for now rather than adding too much detail and it getting a bit messy.
I really feel my sewing has improved from last term, and later on once the basic shape of the dress has been made, I will then sew in circular shapes within the dress, which I think will especially help more with my sewing as this will have to be done very accurately to make sure the dress is not pulled in a certain way, and it will also help me to think more logically adding more notches than usual and making sure they all match as I think this is what I have struggled with so far.

Here is a few images from my sketchbook which is coming along quite well which I think I'm near to completing. I quite enjoyed researching into sustainability and eco-fashion as its not something I knew a great deal on. I researched on a whole variation of sustainability, from interior design to eco-friendly material and designers which have an promoted eco-friendly message through their fashion.

London Fashion Week!

I'm really pleased I had the opportunity to go to London Fashion Week and is something I feel I have benefited from and can add to my CV. It was really amazing to be able actually watch some of the shows and to see all the designers exhibitions and I found it really interesting just watching everyone at the show and especially what they were wearing and how different they all seemed from normal everyday people! I found dressing backstage the most beneficial as it gave us all a bit of pressure, using our own initiative and being under a strict deadline. We were each given one model per person, and most of the shows had 3 dress changes, and as were under a huge amount of pressure to change each outfit within a few seconds, but I found this really fun.
The majority of the time we spent there was a lot of setting up, moving manikin's and general lifting of boxes and taking rubbish back to the loading bay. As we were there most days from half 9am till 10 pm and somedays 12 with 1-2 hours backstage and the rest setting up, I think next year more information about how long you would be there each day and the fact you weren't really able to have set breaks to go out and each something a bit more substantial other than snacks, I felt this should have been mentioned so were fully aware. The image above is from Ramon Gurillo's collection. Most of the garments were knitted and very delicate so we had to be really careful which made us all a lot more under pressure as it was also the first show we dressed for!

Buying and Merchandising...+ Lectra!

I've found learning about buying and merchandising really interesting, and kind of refreshing learning about something new and different. I've started to think maybe this is an area I would like to think about working in, and can maybe find more work within this area in Bournemouth than for example London. I would like to learn more about the buying aspect more than merchandising maybe, but its early days. I would definately be interested in looking for work placements for the summer to see if this is in area i would like to work in.

Lectra I've found fairly easy to pick up, I think it will come in very handy later on if I deside to go down the design root. I found I was able to put into practice the knowledge gained from pattern cutting with Jodie and Alana in first term to understand that in more depth seeing the different functions you are able to do and was able to logically think more on expanding on certain processes. I really would like to learn more on Lectra, and found as we only had a few lessons on this, we were only really able to follow Pat's instructions to then adapt slightly at the end of the lesson. However, I think if I chose to go down the design root there will be more lessons on Lectra and the other design programmes. I'm quite curuios on the illustrations up on the wall in the Lectra room and would ideally at some point would like to be shown how exactly those were done.