Arm Facings

The next step to finishing this dress is to finish off the armhole., to do this I inserted an arm facing.

This is what it looks like now that it is finished.

I found inserting an arm facing hard and think that I could have done it better. The second one that I completed was better than the first and I think that I am more confident now I have completed them on this dress as they are more familiar to me. One problem that I came across when doing this was that I lined the seam of the facing with the shoulder seam instead of the side seam, I have definitely learnt from this and I am more aware of checking this now.

Neck Facing

As I mentioned in a previous post we have made a dress with a 'V' Neck, but the edge around the neck and the armholes are still unfinished.

The first step that we took to finish these edges was to finish the neck so we inserted a facing.

This is what the finished edge looks like.

After completing a neck facing on this dress I feel that I will be able to apply this in the future to dresses that I make. One thing that went wrong was that the 'V' neck has ended up wonky, I don't know why this has happened but if I was to do it again I would try and be more careful.

Time to Change - Mental Health advert

I was watching the TV and came across this advert; I feel that it relates to the current brief really well and shows the theme of Equality and Diversity through the subject of mental health really well.

Equality and Diversity

For the new brief one of the tasks is to research into equality and diversity, we have to do this as this is the general theme of our designs. To start my research I decided to come up with a mind map including the main headings that I could research into. These are the subjects I came up with:

• Disability
• Age Discrimination
• Social Class
• Size Discrimination
• Sexual Orientation
• Gender
• Religion
• Race

I will be looking closely at these subjects and researching into how these subjects lead to discrimination and including my opinion on them.

Grain or Bias

Recently in our pattern cutting lessons we have made a dress block, from this we have been able to create closing fitting dresses with a 'V' neck and zip in the back.

The first dress that we made was cut on the grain line. This meant that the dress fitted the body well and showed off the curves of the body. Also the bottom hangs straight and creates an elegant look.

The second dress that we made was cut on the bias line. This was a lot harder than the first one as the fabric has more stretch therefore the is harder to sew on the machines.

The main difference between cutting on the grain line and cutting on the bias line is how the fabric hangs. As you can see from the pictures the one cut on the grain line hangs straight and the one cut on the bias doesn't. Another difference is the way that the zip sits; on the first dress which was cut on the grain line the zip fits well but on the second dress which was cut on the bias the dress doesn't fit well therefore if I was to make a dress on the bias line in the future I would incorporate the zip into the side seam rather than in the back.

New Brief

On Thursday we were faced yet again with starting over on a brand new brief; even though looking through a book full of empty pages after just handing in a full one can be quite daunting it is exciting at the same time as we get to look at a different aspect and are able to start fresh.

I really like this brief and feel that the theme Equality and Diversity will be good to represent and portray through my designs.

Evaluation of the Brief

For this brief I have been asked to research into brand identities that would help to influence my final outcome, either packaging or an accessory. When I first read the brief I was excited as this is a vital part of the industry but excited to see what I would be able to create.

The first task that I was asked to do was research into a number of brands and their identities. I looked at; Guess, Celine, Tiffany and Co, Pandora, Marc Jacobs, Juicy Couture, Mars, Highland Spring, Casio and HP. Out of all these brands the ones that have inspired me the most were Marc Jacobs and Celine. Marc Jacobs inspired me with his youthful, simple advert designs and the elegance of the Celine brand inspired me. The brands that inspired me the least were Casio and HP. Casio didn’t inspire me because I thought that the brand didn’t really have anything special and the HP advert was too busy for me. The Tiffany and Pandora brands have some similar properties such as the use of colour association. Whereas the Marc Jacobs brand isn’t just associated with one colour.

Next we were asked to create a 250 word written piece comparing and contrasting two brand identities. I chose Guess and Juicy Couture. I chose these two brands as I feel that even though they appear to be different there are some similarities such as how both brands use the idea of creating a sexy image to sell their products.

Then we were asked to experiment with different techniques and media to achieve different messages. I did this by recreating the brand adverts to appeal to different audiences using the appropriate media to do this. From doing this I learned how to communicate certain messages through the media that I used and through how the adverts layout. This task particularly helped me with the final outcome by becoming more aware of how to convey a message through the advert.

Next we had to decide whether we were going to make packaging or an advert; I decided on an advert as I feel that I have learned the most about this and I was inspired by the adverts by Celine and Marc Jacobs. Once we had decided we had to design four adverts showing development. I feel that my designs show clear development and show my train of thought and my target customer. I am pleased with the designs and feel that I have been able to convey my idea well through these.

After I had designed my advert I created it, I did this by firstly doing a photo shoot to get my picture then I edited this on the computer so that it fitted my design and appealed to my target audience.

Finally we had to pitch our advert or packaging to the group; beforehand I felt quite nervous about how we were going to have to present it, but when I was there I felt prepared and ready to pitch it. I feel as though it went well and I had completed my work in enough depth that I could explain it properly. Having this before the deadline helped me with my time management as I have a couple of days to finish of any little bits that I have left to do.

During this unit I feel that I have progressed in the advertising area of the fashion industry, also I feel that I have improved my analysis skills this is because I am able to critically analyse the messages that brands are portraying. The thing that I have improved the most during this brief is my editing skills but I still feel that these can be improved.