JAMESSEPHTON: November 2011

Sunday

Dior...A/W 2005-6

What I love about this collection is the hints at the structure and underpinnings of the dresses , rather than the actual dresses themselves...

This I think is the kind of aesthetic I am looking toward in my structure...

The wearable structure...

This week was about creating the wearable structure...

I already new that I was going to use deconstruction...

I love the insides of tailored garments and the layers that are used to build shape...

this then naturally led to the use of draping...

layering shapes and fabrics...

The result (above) after playing round...

I used the shape I liked from last weeks draping...but found It didn't work well...

The inside of the Jacket...

I found a pink/brick coloured jacket

which luckily enough, when dissected, found it had beautiful earthy colours inside...

Creating a bodice...

This week we were draping on the stand...

Initially we were using calico to drape a bodice with a princess sea, to allow for maximum shaping...

Snips are used to ease the fabric around a curve...for example waist or neckline...

once we had done this...

we used calico to drape ideas and shapes of garments...

I really like this shape...

i like the minimal lines and the late 50's/ early 60's feel off it...

I felt like using draped and minimal shapes...

along with some gentle manipulation, such as twisting the fabric at angles and pulling and pinning...

I really like this shape(above) I like the asymmetric of it

though i feel it looked uneven...

if i were to re do this i would have to play with exaggerating one side more...so it doesnt look like its messy and uneven.

Friday

Diamond pleat...

This I found the most difficult to achieve...

I am not a very patient person, especially with minute details...

The paper shell...

The result...

but I persevered and hopefully it did not come out too bad...

My attempt at pleating..

Process in this form is not usually one of my strong points...

but I had a go all the same...

Knife pleats: perhaps one of the most basic and stereotypical pleats...used for years...

(Above) me making the pleated card to sandwich the fabric between , before sealing with heat...

The result...

Not the best picture but below gives you an idea of what it is...

Box Pleat...

And again the colour of the fabric did not photograph well...

but here is an example...

in its stereotypical form, the school skirt.

Ciment Pleaters...

Ciment pleaters came in today to show us the art of pleating.

Ciment is a long established company, with years of heritage. and have been for many years the provider of pleating service to everyone from royalty to Lady Gaga to students looking to explore the process in their creative en-devours.

Below some examples of the types of pleats available, standard and more complex structures.

To pleat fabric, the said fabric undergoes a process which involves being held between folded paper (with the design) and then rolled and placed into a large steam oven to to heat mould the shape.

some fabrics work better than others, Polyester is one of the most hard wearing whereas pleats fall out of cotton easily. anything that can be placed and folded between the folded paper can be pleated.