Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Chimerical Conundrums Teaser!!!!! Collections 2011!!!!!!!

BODY: Georgie D - Ali McD, FACE: Leila M George, PIX: Teryn Harris


A little teaser for your eyeballs, Thanks to the ladies above for such a fun photoshoot, Georgie you were epic with your hacky skills in heels. Teryn perfect with your snappy finger!

Cool so tell u more later's, just wanted to tease your eyeballs somewhat!!! All you need to know is its made from waste materials and hand knitted dinosaur hoods = awesum!!!!!!



wwwwwwwwoooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its almost over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



peace

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Working on it!!!! Photo Shoot Fun!!!!!

Funnest photo shoot ever, who woulda thought a girl in heels could connect with a hacky consistently. made for great shots tho, heres a teaser and my pick for my catalogue image. 

Body: Georgie D - Ali McD, Face: Leila George, Pix: Teryn Harris.

Model dressed in Lycra and chiffon Bodysuit, Starfish garment, knitted Dinosaur Hood.







Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Fashioning The Future Awards - London College of Fashion

This work is currently going through the second round of judging for the Fashioning the Future Awards at the London College of Fashion. It has been entered in the Unique category. I don't know when I will know any more details but it's exciting for it just to be shortlisted, that's acknowledgement enough that the idea is plausible. Here are some pictures so you can see better what I did with the waste materials.

Why Waste? Merino Dress - Front


 Body: Ilish Thomas - AliMcD Agency
 Face: Katy Parsons
 Pix: Charlotte McLachlan
Why Waste? Merino Dress - Back
Waste Me? Merino Singlet, Love Me? Lycra Leggings - Back.

Waste Me? Merino Singlet, Love Me? Lycra Leggings - Front

Waste This? Merino Top, Love Me? Lycra Leggings - Back

Waste This? Merino Top, Love Me? Lycra Leggings - Front.

Designer - Fiona Clements, model - Ilish Thomas - Ali McD Agency







































































If you want more info on this competition see this website
http://www.sustainable-fashion.com/fashioning-the-future/ 


Fashioning the Future Awards Showcase
The winners and a selection of their work will be presented at an exclusive ceremony in The East Wintergarden at Canary Wharf on Thursday 10 November 2011.
Winning designs and selected shortlisted entries will be presented in a public exhibition in The East Wintergarden from 11-13 November 2011.
Canary Wharf, named as one of the Sunday Times Best Green Companies in Britain, have partnered with Centre for Sustainable Fashion to showcase the Fashioning the Future Award winners 2011.

Friday, October 7, 2011

experiment 10 + experiment 5 = awesum!!!!!!!

starfish pants!!!
Experiment 5 cut and pasted into starfish shaped pant/cape/woteva!!!!(experiment 10) wear it your own way type garment!!! I am working with a tie system so it can be worn gathered or not as well. It is a One Size Fits Most garment!!!! I am definitely beginning to see my garments in a contemporary dance situation. That would be awesum to see!!!
Although their down fall is that it takes time to lace the ties through the outer leg seams, and waist/wherever. But this gives the wearer the chance to know the garment and wear it in their own way, thus creating a relationship. excellent!!! Also made from rubbish!!!!!!
                                                                                                                                         

Sunday, October 2, 2011

one hour zerowaste t-shirt !!!

zerowaste t-shirt 1

zerowaste t-shirt 2




dynamics of a simple zerowaste t-shirt
me n my new t-shirt

zerowaste t-shirt made in an hour, very simple idea, take a rectangle fold it in half sew some shoulders, side seams and a tunnel at the bottom for a tie, which had been cut off the fabric earlier to bring it down to the right size. Then hem the left over holes as arm and neck holes. I made the blue one ages ago and its one of my favourite shirts. It has small gathers in one side seam and both shoulder seams. It is cotton so is excellent in summer, the orange one however is some retro polyester and it doesn't wear well in hot weather or dancing extreme times. must remember that!!!!

Friday, September 30, 2011

cut + paste!!!!

the luxury of cut and paste. such a great way to transmogrophy some type of garment, experiment 2 has been changed and cut and sewn and cut and pasted back into so many options. it has evolved and changed my thinking, let me see the colours together and experiment with sewing techniques. it has been an integral part in my process of design and thought. to be able to cut shape and paste into onto within without through over under around anywhere, to shape and change to experiment and work in a 3D world. a working garment!!! a transmogrophier of body, shape, cut + paste!!
experiment 2 front

experiment 2.1 front

experiment 2.2 front

experiment 2.2.1 front

experiment 2.2.1 back
 

Thursday, September 29, 2011

experiment 6 - exciting places!!!

working flat to start.
back
front

working towards making a one size fits all garment I started off by working flat to make a base to grow off, over time i've realised that needing a stable base to work from is the key, so for this garment I decided to start by working flat and getting some more defined direction into the garment by creating a shape by adjoining 2 of the same pieces but leaving a hole in the middle for the neck, as this is a draped garment and does not need to be fitted it was alot easier to work, once the flat sections were sewn together I then draped it over the mannequin and played around with making arm holes and a waist closure. originally intending to make this into a dress I actually stopped here and decided it would be more appropriate as a top and very simply closed the seams to create sleeves/armholes and added a tie to the front bottom which then can be tied up at different lengths, this then corresponds to my thinking in making a garment that would fit more than one size.   

this garment changed my direction into a much more exciting and happier one, I am now looking forward to the end of this challenge as I can see things growing from this point into something much simpler and more amazing than I had envisioned at the start.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

experiment 5 - onesie

front of onesie

back of onesie
ah the onesie, such an awesum piece of clothing, basically just draped piece onto piece, making a very loose fitting crotch and one long leg, very unfinished at this stage but moving into the area i'm feeling more comfortable with colourwise. At the start I had been trying to avoid using black, But after reassesing my fabrics I realised I would have to use black as there was alot of this in stock. This also started from the last experiment and through this I found myself more excited about what was going on and where my garments were heading, I was enjoying the colours watermelon, teal, blue and red mixed with black, this lead me onto design a knitted hood to go with the garments which is now in production thanks to my wonderful hand knitters = Christine Hardisty, Glenys Clements and Colleen Kelly. 


But yet again I needed to move onto the next piece as I had two seperate things going on and there was a need to get atleast 3 pieces together that were cohesive and build on those.

experiment 4 - some type of pant.


front
back
So moving onto some type of pant, and I do mean some type of pant literally hahaha. You'll understand what I mean when there's a clearer picture. Mostly using drape, knowing that there is a waist fit and everything can hang from there, creating tunnels - actually building them onto the outside of the garment, which you can see on the front right hand side(the pink bit). At this point I am trying to bring things together into a more cohesive perspective and I have tried to bring colours from the wool jacket into the pant. I didn't go much further than this at this point as I was aware of timing constraints and wanted to move on as I was starting to get an idea of where I wanted to go. 
I was also starting to get more of an idea of the total ridiculousity of some of my garments, they were continuously cracking me up and I couldn't stop laughing at them, they seemed so weird and out of place, which was an original intention. I had from the start intended to make something colourful, sculptural and textural. I had also just managed to get a smocking machine which I wanted to use to bring in some more texture, at the start I just smocked a few different pieces of fabric and tested out sewing them into seams, its very time consuming having to tie off the ends of the thread. So I incorporated a few pieces into these coulottes, I had to cut some out as it was to much and it looked wrong, so this began my editing phase, deciding to use smocking but it needed to be subtle, maybe underneath things/tunnels to help lift the draped pieces up. 


So I got to this point and moved onto the next piece.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

experiment 3 - woolen jacket/vest

start of hood - wool
adjoining body of garment
back body pieced, fused and sewn.
























front body pieced, fused and sewn.

Moving on from experiment 2 knowing that I needed stable points to work from ie. shoulder point and waist fitting. I started work on another piece I knew I wanted to incorporate different garment types to show that this process is relevant to more than one type of garment. So this woolen hood was started first by the hood part and then by moulding the body (draping on the form) onto the hood and around the front to create armholes and a front opening - this needed to be double breasted to enable the weight of the hood to be held up and for it not to pull backwards. So this has involved flat work - the hood and then draping around the form - the body, these pieces were then fused and sewn together. 



I got to this point knowing it needs finishing, liking the outcome but decided to move on to the next piece, as I needed to get more done and ideas out of my head. I also didn't know what final direction I was going in and wanted to move on so I could hopefully start heading towards a more cohesive idea.


Monday, September 12, 2011

feeling funk*D

 
Front, side, back, side!!!
been feeling a little bit not into it so i decided to make something else, do an experiment see what happens. So I made this silk top. its FOR SALE $60. SIZE 10 NZ!!!!!! this can be worn frontways or backways, wear it yourways!!!!!!!.  help me fund some shoes for my collection go on you know u want it!!!!




actually i was stuck with what direction to go in next there were atleast 3 different things buzzing around in my head and i had to get one of them out to make room for the right track. so i set myself a challenge of making one garment, it just needs binding and hemming to make it finished.

that is all!!!!!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

experiment 1 - zerowaste subcut something?

idea = sew bits of fabric together to make one big flat peice, subcut bodice and tunnel technique. do not cut any fabric out with sub cut pattern = zerowaste design.

fabric sewn - wovens!


sub cut - lines to cut - nothing taken out!

fabric draped over dummy - seam opened to create neck hole.
tunnel creation - joining hem to hole made from sewing only side seam.

back - tunnel created a sort of sleeve

Front - one side detached kimono sleeve, the other a twisted tunnel

back - hood created from xtra fabric at back.
































































There is potential to add more to this to make a dress but i like it the way it is and knowing when to stop is also a valid point, how much do you do? when do you stop? does it look good already or does it need more.something else?. have i created enough interest with where its at already?
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????
questions questions questions

only i can answer these for myself but there are always choices to made with each question. making the decision is always the hardest as you question whether this is the right choice. this is done in fabric by testing and tacking together first. only trial and error can inform these choices.

this garment was made from definitive choices which resulted in
http://senoritaawesumo.blogspot.com/2011/08/splendiferous-occasions-happenstance.html , this made me happy!!!  yet to be finished so lets see if it makes it into my collection!












pushing through the frustration and the as yet unknown

experiment 2

the great unknown is always something that blocks the creativity and freedom of choice whilst making in this way. you have no idea what is going to happen as there is no plan, the only plan so far has been to create a stable base to build onto, whilst mixing fabrics and then adding on pieces from there before creating tunnels or whatever happens with whats hanging off, mostly not concerned with seams being straight and well sown - french seaming all seams so that if the fabric gets turned inside out with tunnels or whatever it wont matter, french seaming has also added a stiffer structure to seams where woven fabrics are present. this has created another element to the structure of the garment.

this process has shown me the things i KNOW and QUESTIONS for future consideration.

KNOW

stable base.
side seam invis zip for ease of getting on and off.
fabric has 2 sides.
french seams create structure/stability.


QUESTIONS

what should the end result be?
what piece should i add on where and when?
when should i close a seam?
when have i added enough fabric?
......................................................

Questions arise with any process, the next question is should i worry about these questions, should i forget all rules and go nuts with it? but even in saying that there will always be problems with solutions to be found. its a process of exploration and experimentation, its being ok with the risk of making something that doesn't work or look good/comfortable/flattering. trailing ideas and going through the process piece by piece literally.

Start = build a base!!!!



sewn base w invis zip in side seam

















where its at now - back


where its at now  - front



















after making the base i then started building out,down and up from this. i'm at the point of have i got enough? do i need more? how long do i want it? is it a dress or a top? these are decisions i now need to make.

there is alot of fabric in this garment, mostly contained in the sides, it is a mix of chiffon's and wovens. when you hold them out they kinda look like butterfly wings. an expanse of fabric when mixed together thru the tunnel system will create an interesting aesthetic.

as yet i dont know what the final aesthetic really is, it is trial and error time!!! good things have come from this process already and they will continue to as i work.

peace!

ps. my studio looks like a fabric dinosaur spewed on the floor. haha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

























Friday, August 12, 2011

splendiferous occasions happenstance upon us!!!!

breaking the rules and taking risks pushing the boundary's of what is true and proper. 
finding the way thru piles of fabric.
splendiferous occasions happenstance upon us when we do this. 
such a way should be known.
to know. and have. and keep. and hold.

roll thru till you can see it. find it and keep it true.
it's not always there to see. 
but time is all you need.
experimentation, questions, answers and thought. 
where how why what? when?
now no yes ? i dont know.

just do it you'll see!!!!
you'll see!!
me?
you
who?

....................................................................................................................................................8>

Thursday, July 28, 2011

expansion overload 3rd year final collection!!!!

Mood Wallage!!!!!











The expansion from the last collection has taken me on a crazy journey, through classes with Julian Roberts at Massey Uni with The Cutting Circle http://thecuttingcircle.com/  which was an amazing opportunity I was excited to be part of. But also exploration of my personal capabilities in risk taking and freedom of design. I'm still at the beginning of this process of collection design but I am looking forward to the exciting possibilities this freedom and risk will find. Exploration is key.

This mood wall contains

miranda brown     walter van beirendonck     Vionnet     Dior     john galliano     dinosaurs     stegasaurus          larry's eye         a world map            3 of Ahmads  awesum pencil drawings               Ruse drawing                 Julian Roberts       subtraction cutting     fabric     jean m auel the clan of the cave bear series        indian women dying cloth     kiwi     sew, make, do, fuck u     brand me, label me, consume me, subversity     renaissance dinosaur     embellishments     gold     blue    lineal     playful     sculptural     textural     colourful       evolution         challenge        integrity      



this is where i begin, now its time to explore and create mistakes if necessary, take risks, have freedom of choice, drive myself crazy with questions that sometimes have no answears, find solutions for problems

Shaping Sustainable Fashion, changing the way we make and use clothes = my new bible = http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=102583

Sustainable Fashion & Textiles - Design Journeys,  Kate Fletcher http://www.katefletcher.com/

There are so many more excellent books out there on this subject, these 2 are among the best in my opinion, if the subject interests you then these are 2 very good starting points, but also good to have on hand as referral items


I plan to start with a few experiments and evolve from there, I am looking at interesting ways of utilising what i have already in the way of waste materials. But also not limiting myself to just those and incorporating, if they compliment, fabrics from my storeroom.


Thats where i'm at!!!!!! Get to it!!!!!!

Peace!!!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Digital Textiles Final Outcome!!!!!

magical mystical shaman!


In Honour of my magical mystical friend!!!
Thank You my magical mystical friend!!!


You will forever be remembered throughout all of my days!!!
In all of these ways
through laughter, love and joy
with peace, love, truth, grace and freedom
the flight of fancy in the touch of your fingertips
and a giant heart, so simple and pure

I remember thee for thou'st hast given me heart
to live in life free and right, true and knowledgeable
with all that I possess and all that I gain.

You will forever be remembered throughout all of my days!!!!

In Honour of my magical mystical friend!!!
Thank You my magical mystical friend!!!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

digital textiles cont.

background for digital textile print.
This background is a collage of different types of fabric in a similar colourway, some shiny some not. that has been glued and then scanned. After that I have messed around with the curves in photoshop to get a brighter textural base. I wanted something shiny and sparkly to represent Larry's magical ways.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Larry Mathews inspired Digital Textile

Larry Mathews inspiration wallboard!!!





I am using my friend Larry Mathews as inspiration for my digital textiles block, he was a precious soul and i want to remember him in a tangible way.

to the left is the pinhole potrait larry took of himself with an umbrella. this is the image i have centred on from his collection of pinhole potraits. which i am the guarder of!!! he did an amazing series of alot of dunedin locals!! we will be exhibiting them at some point!!! they are also to be returned to owners as he requested!!!!

I am intending on abstracting larry into a continuous line movement type thing as seen on the right, there will also be words incorporated peace, love, truth, freedom, grace.  i love the way lines move and evolve over time as continued on one after another. 
Larry Mathews self pinhole portrait
me!!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

waste what? just entered a competition, yay!!!!

fashioning-the-future awards
just entered my latest work in the fashioning the future awards @ the London College of Fashion, that's pretty exciting, here's hoping someone thinks it's worth a look!!!!!

wish me luck!!!!


and now shortlisted, post it away!!!!! yus!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Waste What!!!! - final outcome!

front - final 3

back - final 3

And Done......  And so happy with it, I feel as though i've more than proved my point, that waste fabric is not really that at all, it's potential is emmense!!!!!!


These 5 pieces are the result of a lot of research into the fashion culture, systems and practices.
I kept coming across the same idea of the 15% (1) left on the cutting room floor. This figure I know can be changed to 0% by experimentation and communication of these ideas into the public forum, educating the masses on a new way of looking at the clothes you wear. And purchasing accordingly in a slower fashion sense. 

The process of working has been educational. It consists of sorting, laying, draping, placing, constructing, sewing, pleating, gathering, notch system, cutting and binding. In the beginning stages of sorting I realised that there was a heirachy in the scrap bin of different sized pieces and how usable they each would be. 

The 5 pieces include 2 pairs of lycra leggings, 2 merino tops and 1 merino dress. 

The merino garments were draped from the shoulders down, working on all 3 pieces consecutively to ensure I had enough fabric to complete them all. They were pieced together around the dummy form, gathers and pleats were added to create ease. This was a time consuming process but well worth the experimentation. Each piece has been documented with video. The front of the dress and one top are sleeves which I had an excess of in this one bag. They were gathered from certain points to create a drape over the breasts. It has been about finding the right fit for each negative piece, placing and constructing whilst draping. The utilisation of a notch system to align certain pieces whilst sewing.

The leggings I made by drafting a close fitting leggings block and placing pieces on top of that, cutting crotch shapes and piecing the top sections together. The bottom sections are made from side/bottom panels of a dress that were left in the scrap bin, unwanted and unloved!!! These were turned upside down, crotch shapes cut out where they met the pattern and gathered into the smaller yoke. Waistbands and cuffs were added to finish. They are comfortable and easy to wear.

So with a little bit of knowledge and understanding of letting constrictions and conventional ideas go you can still create wearable items. It is a sustainable and ethical solution to the 15% waste problem.
  
(1) Timo Rissanen From 15% to 0: Investigating the creation of fashion without the creation of fabric waste.
Waste What?    Illustration