Final Samples


These are some final samples that I have created. Using a combination of my new laser cutting technique learnt and my experience and passion for hand processes and fabric/material manipulation.

The eccentric and bold designs will be the starting point to the next project in Unit X. I will use these to develop and dilute down into much more delicate and couture pieces that could be sold in high end stores. This project was my stepping stone in experimenting ad bringing new ideas to the table for myself so I can then go forward and combine these new processes and develop them to design a wearable equivalent.

The Textile Society - Gold 


For my live brief I chose a competition held by The Textile Society.

“The Costume Society celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2015 with a symposium dedicated to Gold. Papers are invited on a broad range that might include golden fabrics, ceremonial dress or coture's fascination with gold.”

This competition is dedicated purely to gold. This is a perfect competition for my work as it can be in any form, in any specialism, as long as it represents something gold.

As I am working in metallic I thought this is a perfect opportunity to develop a piece for this competition.

I really liked the appearance of my diamond piece, where I stitched together large cut outs of rice shapes to form an almost armored look.

I then used this to create a developed piece that involved more diamond shapes and coloured it entirely gold. 

As the foil did not stick to well to the pvc it has created a rustic and worn appearance which I feel works really works with the authenticity of the gold.

Sample Placement


Today I used some of my samples to play around on the mannequin to show some examples of how my work could be used when finally finished. I experimented with different body placements and different samples to see what kind of finish I could achieve. I am really pleased with how eccentric my pieces look on the body. In response to my brief, explaining how I wanted to create some more extreme 3 dimensional pieces I have worked excellently alongside my brief and have achieved just that. My aim was to create pieces that represented the principles of cluttering. A cluster of items, a mess, the appearance of a large quantity of items/objects to create an unorganised pile. I feel my pieces achieve this.

Accessory Research 


During my tutorial I was talking to my tutor about where I saw my work fitting. I knew I wanted to make some 3 dimensional fabric forms for fashion, she pointed out that it didn’t really make any sense as to how or where it would work. To be honest I couldn’t really pinpoint it myself. All I knew was that I wanted to make intriguing 3D pieces. After our talk she suggested maybe it would be fit for accessory or a body piece. I went away from this tutorial feeling relieved that I might actually now have somewhere to place my work. So I left the tutorial and began researching body accessories and pieces. I came across some beautiful pieces that draped the body and tied around the neck, or worked as a shoulder pad and could lip around the neck. This was perfect as it resembled the sort of thing I was trying to achieve in my work eventually.

I can now take this as inspiration and go forward in developing my work so it fits into this context, body accessories.

Playing With Metallics

So far I have struggled to find myself a colour palette. As my primary images have such a wide array of colour I have not been able to establish one yet and when trying to design some, haven’t been very successful. Creating colour palettes has never been my strong point so it’s no surprise I have tried to put it off since practicing some swatches last week. However, through my research I have seen metallics playing a huge part in all seasons, from shoes, to bags, to dresses. Fabric foils have never been something I have tried playing around with before so I decided to give some a go and combine them with some of my laser cuts to see what I could come up with. I tried different colours from gold, silver and aubergine. I absolutely love the pieces I have made here, I feel the combination of the rustic metallic under the unusual cuts work really well. Although I would like to try developing these and attempt the mettalics on to some pvc samples.

Creating Shape

Using one of my laser cuts, where I cut strips from a sheet of fabric. I chose white suede as it was sturdier than most other fabrics while still being a luxurious enough material to use in fashion.

I originally cut out strips of fabric to use the laser cut piece to shape into different designs on a mannequin and form into something else. However, I thought I could then sue the left over strips to create another sample.

Being inspired by the image of the pasta, I used the strips to tie knots in them. Replicating the messy pile of pasta that was cluttered up. I tried this with different materials and in different scales to see what outcomes I could achieve.

I really like the unorganised appearance of these samples. Especially the larger one made with strips of PVC. The extremely sturdy material meant the shapes held really well and created much bigger knots which appeared more eccentric than the smaller suede pieces which I feel is much more effective and eye catching as I was trying to achieve a more 3 dimensional design.

Fashion Research


After my laser cutting workshop, I really wanted to develop my cuts into other samples. The detail in the fabric and shapes made will create interesting fabric pieces when combined with other techniques. To make sure I am following trends and my work is up to date and will fit in the fashion market today, I have been researching how laser cut has been used in fashion today.

I absolutely love the detail and simple grid work used by these designers. The designs are contemporary and fresh and look unique. By using my own drawings I want to create something with my laser cuts and use these to develop.