Mon 19^th – Fri 23^rd March, 2018

     After viewing our colour palette in comparison to our research, it was evident that the two didn’t really match up. Our colour palette was much duller and a bit too ‘country side’ compared to our research which had lots of bright and more playful colours. Therefore we picked out the best colour options and almost combined the two together to make sure our colour palette was more representative.

                After doing this I could really play with the colours for my warp ideas. By using the new colour palette I was able to create much more exciting possibilities for a warp that linked better to our research of military wear and school uniforms. The main colour I chose for my warp is quite dark and I am worried that later down the line this may become a problem. I am afraid it may compromise the variation I can have in my samples, causing lighter colours to become too dull. However, it fits with our theme and key research points that we have developed as a group; hopefully I can play around with it enough to get some samples that complement each other and the research. I have made lots of progress with my warp and managed to get it all threaded up and weaving before the Easter holiday which was much further along than I expected. This allows me to spend Easter developing sample ideas to weave when I’m back.

                The workshop this week was extremely helpful for me to understand the outcome of this project, and how to effectively work towards it. By unpicking a designer’s collection I could clearly see all the elements of a garment that need to be thought about. I can now use this information to help me design both garments and textile samples in the best way for our collection. I was surprised to see just how much there was to think about. Although I knew all of the functional elements and other areas were already there, I hadn’t really noticed them before in terms of a design aspect – or thought about where they might have come from. I found the exercise extremely useful and plan to use it to help me design.

Mon 12^th – Fri 16^th March, 2018

     Recently I feel as though I have been slightly neglecting textiles in favour of learning how fashion works and the new elements of fashion to learn. Although this has been highly enjoyable and I plan on carrying these new skills with me in the future, I wanted to come back to working how I know by solely thinking about textile design and my weaving. Since weaving needs so much attention before the sampling can even start I began the week by planning my warp and how I can best represent the research my group has conducted within it. With a warp being such a permanent thing I struggled with how I might incorporate our 2 main areas; school uniform and military uniform. Hopefully with the help of my group I can make an informed decision that best suits where our research and designing is headed.

                As a group we compiled our current samples together to drape them on the stand. This was highly informative for me to see how fashion works and where their ideas come from. It was also very useful to see if our samples worked together and showed where our ideas have come from. I was very pleased with the outcome of all areas and think we have managed to sample together well as a team. It is vital that even at these early stages everything coordinates. Our next step from here would be to refine our samples and give them a higher end aesthetic and consider how they would fit into developed garment designs.

                The workshops have been very useful to me, coming from textiles. With fashion being quite alien, learning an entirely new way of working in a few weeks has been challenging – however the workshops on garment design have been highly insightful. From these workshops I am now aware of all the different areas of a garment I need to focus on and what to look for/pick out of my research in order to inform those decisions. In addition to this I feel more confident in drawing those garments and how they can be adapted to work as a collection.

Print Workshop

                I found the print workshop to be really useful. During the session, by beginning with looking at everybody’s research all together, it was clear to see that as a group we were heading in the right direction with our concept.  From that, I found an image that I hadn’t yet responded too which I found linked well with what the rest of my group was also looking into. Having the time to sit there and really focus on unpicking the photo was very useful and a skill that I hope to develop and carry forward through the project. Unfortunately when the workshop was over and I came back to my responses, I didn’t feel as though I had captured the image very well, but the process in which it was done has allowed me to properly think about how to reflect on my research.

                Throughout I was still trying to keep to my style and way of working, which I found to be quite successful. I was trying not to get too in my own head about it and trying to adopt a new style of drawing within this process may have done that. That being said, what I did produce could definitely be pushed more in a variety of ways including media. I hope to continue with this later on in the project to continue reflecting and responding to my research.

 

Tues 6^th – Fri 9^th March, 2018

     This week has had a strong focus on research. To begin a project on such a serious issue, we knew as a group that we needed to have as much information as possible on the areas of human trafficking we have chosen to look into. As each of us have been investigating, we found we have focused more on the Nigerian school girls than Stella’s Voice. However having both areas for research, it allows us to have a positive and negative region to look into. Within the stories of the Nigerian school girls, each of us have taken the issue in a slightly different way; allowing us to focus on different parts and have a broader knowledge of what happened.  In turn, this enables us to branch out into different areas of textiles and fashion to find what suits us best for this unit.

 

 

                I have found working this week quite difficult. Learning to work in a way that is out of my comfort zone and at a speed that is at a much faster pace for me has been challenging to tackle. Working with my group has really helped to make this easier. Seeing how the fashion students work is making it easier to understand where I might be going wrong from a fashion perspective. However juggling fashion work and textiles at the same time is so far proving to be very challenging. I hope that as the unit goes on and I settle into the work this will become easier.

 

 

Project Launch

     During the project launch for Unit X – Rebel Tartan, my group and I began to discuss how we wanted to link our work to the Blue Heart Tartan and the areas of human trafficking that we wanted to explore. We came to the conclusion to focus on two areas: a charity called ‘Stella’s Voice’ and an incident 4 years ago where 276 Nigerian school girls were kidnapped. Through both areas we can explore the negative implications that human trafficking has on the lives of innocent children, but also how they can be saved from such devastating people.

 

                We began, by focusing on the starting points we had, to create a colour palette. This was vital for me as a weaver so I was glad we could decide as a group which palette worked for us. By pulling colours from the Stella’s Voice website, this gave us a base for a colour palette which may change as we move forward. We thought that the palette might be a little too dull but won’t be sure until we begin to work with it. Our next step is to gather as much research as possible to share as a group at our next meeting.