Feeling the love...

I'm really enjoying doing this blog so far, it's really helpful to see that I do get a lot done on a day to day basis....someties when you're in the thick of a project it can feel like you're working and not seeing any results but this is really positive stuff. I can see like a timeline how it is progressing.

I have also decided that I will not be posting up images of the final work until much nearer the time or it will spoil the suprises.

So, as I mentioned in the last installment I have been working on fan lacing concepts today. I started with the inspiration of the neck corset I made the other day for fabrics and styling, and a longline corset block that I have adapted to suit and I now have this gorgeous looking thing:

After I eyeletted it up it was then just a matter of playing with lacing:

It's all wrinkled up because I haven't put any boning in it yet...I will be figuring those out next. I just wanted to see if it worked, et voila!

I still have some design reworking to do to get the fan lacing pieces fitted, but I'm very pleased so far...just some suspenders to go now and I shall call it a night.

New skills to try

So for a bit of a break today I am doing research into the decorative techniques I want to get into next year as part of my couture practice.

And I find this hugely inspiring:

When I have a spare mo (when????) I'm gonna give something like this a go!

A step closer to product

Here I am again, I think if I write up what I did in the morning it's more likely to get done!

Yesterday was a mixed up bag of work, I had clients work to do all day so I didn't really get going on my AFW collection until about 8pm after Riley (my baby) had gone off to sleep.

I really want to do a fan lacing corset in my collection this year, and it being the most unknown to me...it is the first one I am tackling. I have talked about fan lacing corsets in a previous blog beauty-of-fan-lacing if you want to refresh your memory. I have previously made a long line corset that I am basing the pattern on, so the first thing I do is tweak the pattern to acheive the size and shape that I want. As always I have my sketch to guide me.

I am making this corset to go with the neck corset I finished yesterday, so it will follow similar stylelines and use the same fabric.

Although I didn't get much of the construction done, I have also been thinking about details and decoration, and looking through my archive of fashion books I have been delving into 50's couture for inspiration...I found a particularly amazing use of applique lace which I intend to utilise on a dress by Michael Sherard made in 1958.

I adore the detailing of this dress, it is so simple and so effective and it totally works with the styling I have in mind for Fleurs Du Mal. So I will use that as my basis and move on from there. So here was my work from yesterday as it now stands in my workshop.

Neck corset

For the past 2 days I have been working on a neck corset idea for AFW. I started off with no particular idea of fabrics or styling, but a drawing of what I wanted the structure to be.

This is my original sketch, done in ink with a fat nib. I tend to start all my designs with black outlines and fill in the details as I'm going along. Every designer works in a diferent way...this is mine.

From the design I  create a paper pattern, this time modifying an opera coat collar in Turn of the Century Fashion Patterns and Techniques by S.S Gordan  and then make a test pattern usng calico. A test pattern is necessary in all new designs to check the pattern achieves the task and fits correctly. I am testing the pattern on a standard size 12 dressmakers dummy.

From there I now am compelled to consider style, fabric, decorative detailing before I can progress to actually make the neck corset. That's when I usually stare for an hour at a blank piece of paper with my pencils, inks and paints before inspiration strikes. With my fabrics picked I set about the task of construction. As I do actually want this corset to be stiff I use stayflex to provide strength on the pink satin I have chosen and sew the neck corset in a similar way to a normal one, sewing all the layers as one and creating boning channels.

Here it is so far on the mannequin with the corset that is it's inspiration. I still haven't decided if I will actually bone it yet and have left it unadorned thus far.

So the first design...2012 Collection 'Fleurs Du Mal'

The 2012 Collection is called 'Fleurs Du Mal' (Evil Flowers). It takes it's name from a  very famous set of poems by Baudelaire written in 1857, which is considered a French literary masterpiece. I feel that the work is a description of the juxtaposition and fluid nature of beauty and degradation, and was at the time considered very shocking, because Baudelaire meant it as a critique of society.

I am very interested in this concept of beauty and decay, and the fluidity of states of being. This year I have also had a garden for the first time in almost twenty years and have spent many a wonderful hour in it, admiring it's seasons and changes and getting my hands dirty in it's processes.

I imagine my collection being photographed in an overgrown walled garden, the air thick with moisture and dappled sunlight. I love flowers, I love their transient nature, I think that their delicacy perfectly opposes the structure of my corsetry...I might even try to envisage some 'de-constructed' idea's - now that they are out of fashion I feel safer to do so.

This week I have been playing with pattern cutting things I have never tackled in depth, such as bra's, knickers and collars and it has been very exciting....but sometime soon the playing must stop and the seriousness of getting down to work must begin.

London Alternative Fashion Week

I have recently found out that my entry to submit my work for London Alternative Fashion week was successful, hurrah! AFW ( as I shall henceforth abbreviate it) runs between April 16-20th April 2012, takes place at Spitalfield Market in London and is free to view.

It sounds like a long time, but in terms of making and designing things it is but the mere blink of an eye! Part of my New Years Resolution list is to document my work, by blogging here, much more regularly so I will be attempting to do a post at least every other day to show you what I've been up to, and to show myself what I can actually do if I set all my energy upon the task.

I am giving myself the freedom of writing about my thoughts (work related) my challenges and giving you an insight into my creative process and vision and sometimes you may even find a tutorial.

I would be extremely happy to answer any queries on my work and creative process and just as happy to listen to your comments and suggestions.

So here goes:

Today I have been thinking so hard my eyes hurt. After yesterdays neck corset pattern cutting and construction I had to stop part way through due to lacking the materials necessary to finish it...which was downright infuriating! So today, once returned from the heaving town centre, I got round to finishing off the structure of the neck corset and am now in the process of deciding how to finish it off in terms of detail. I also blocked a high waisted knicker pattern ready to play with tomorrow and am still only half decided upon which corset to make in which particular fabric thus far....creating my own frustrated hindrance. Since my brother reminded me that I in fact have to make an outfit a week to get the catwalk outfits ready whilst also still have to do my regular work and look after my 13 month old son.  Drat his logic!

Titanic era corsets

Today I've been thinking about Titanic or teens era corsets as it is also known. I personally think of this era as a transition period between the true S-bend corset of the early Edwardian period and the advent of the fall of grace of corsets in the fashionable wardrobe in the 1920's.

The development of this corset style is directly influenced by a huge shift in female fashion from the body altering wasp waist to a more streamlined silhouette...but remained restricted by a modern woman's standards. This was in part to the steady lengthening of the corset over the hipline assisted by a new invention, elastic, which now meant that stockings could provide the pulling power necessary to keep the corset taught under the sleek new fashionable style.

This is Camille Clifford ( 1885-1971), who was a famous tight -lacer. She exemplifies the silhouette of this time: both bust and bum are proud, contorting the body into the infamous S-bend which renders the waist stretched between the bust and bum extremes. It must have been an uncomfortable pose indeed, although considering that women were so used to wearing corsets in those days perhaps not as much as us modern women would think?

Major design features of this period:

• extreme long line corsets
• mainly vertical seaming and boning channels
• streamlining of hips
• straight 'neckline' cutting either mid or below the bust
• usually accompanied by suspenders
• neutral colours
• little or no hand finishing
• internal boning channels