Curve Couture at London Alternative Fashion Week

I've had a few days to complile follow up material from my fashion show, it's still coming in, but here is a video for you all to enjoy in the meantime:

Consolidation

Now I have this major problem: I am aware of it...but only sometimes do it manage to regulate it. That I work on so many different projects that in a cursory glance it is hard to discern progress.

But today I feel progress is a force in my life:

I have now boned the Edwardian corset I have designed and made for AFW catwalk show it is my sincere desire to finish that corset before bedtime.

To get the bone casings down I ended up doing far more process than I had anticipated. In this style of corset it would be made out of only one layer of fabric and bone casings in the same colour could be sewn through from the back.  However, this corset is made from three layers:the top layer being very thin and likely to drag on the machine teeth if I sew from the back. So first they had to be basted in through all layers and sewn from the front, it was a bit troublesome, some of it still needs tweaking but yielded great results from the top layer.

I'm still in two minds about if and how to decorate this corset...as my indecision as to whether this is a showpiece or will become part of the collection.

Tired musings...

Today I started work at 7pm. I wish I could spend all day making pretty things but unfortunately it was one of those days when you just have to go and sort stuff out!

I put my french knicker block together, as I really wanted to test the pattern and I have come to the conclusion that I do not really like classic french knickers. They may be flattering on some 6foot lithe model but on my chubby thighs I look like I should be kicking around on a football field! I really wanted to go for a vintage underwear look but to be honest I think modern knicker types are just way more sexy and flattering.

Back to the drawing board...literally.

Aside from that I have been carrying on with my Edwardian style long line corset in peach and black lace. I have put in the lining and will do the busk and boning channels when there is plenty of day light and my eyes don't hurt so much. It's going really well and I've got some fantastic idea's for details. I'm so excited I just want it done so I can sit back and marvel.

Also been playing with some guipure lace and raspberry silk dupion on the mannequin to get the next corset forming in my mind., More on that after a sleep.

Boy I'm tired, goodnight.X

Today: suspender belts

So this is what I've been up to today:

Continuing with my suspender belt challenge...it has been really great fun and a quick turnaround. This is the basic garment before trimming. Loving the contrast of peach and black.

Also had a chance to block up some french knickers and tomorrow I intend to put that together to test the shape of the garment. I think that I still have enough of this fabric to make a waspie so I may concentrate on that tomorrow afternoon. It's all coming along very nicely.

AFW: designs done!

Yesterday I pretty much had a day off making things, well it was New Years Day after all!

After getting home from the festivities I so wasn't in the mood to work, so I indulged in a night of poring through my library of fashion and textile books to really get my head into the Collection and infuse myself with inspiration, and Bailey's milk shake. Yum.

Couldn't have had such a perfect break from the intensity of work. Today I felt happy, refreshed and totally on the ball again. With my designs now focused I feel joyful and I am absolutely looking forward to showing off my next Collection.

Mostly I have been working on the next client wedding dress foundations today, but I did get a chance to do something purely frivolous: behold the violet!

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!