Locating | Unit Evaluation

The Locating Unit is the first in which we were required to produce both a Self-Initiated Brief and a Live Brief. Producing two sets of work along side each other has been really beneficial for me, and I feel I have produced better work because of it. I thought that I would become stressed and find it difficult, however if anything I have been more relaxed.

 I often get frustrated with my work because of seeing it too much or getting temporarily stuck. Sometimes I need to take a break from it or a step back in order to overcome the issues. Having another project to work on at the same time has meant that I haven't had to stop working to take a breather. When one project came to a stand still, I would work on the other until I was ready to resume both. I also think I made less mistakes because I wasn't doing things for the sake of doing something, I had more time to think about what I wanted to do. My time management has always been one of my strongest points, however I feel like having two projects has helped me improve it massively.

One of the things I feel I could have done more of is new techniques. I have developed my skills in Photoshop which is what I stated I wanted to do when I wrote my brief;  the Mirror-effect, Offset Repeat and Image Editing are a few of the things I have experimented with. However, in a way I wish I could have pushed the boundaries a little more and tried something completely new. I will definitely be pushing myself to do this is Unit X.

Nevertheless, when it comes to processes I have greatly benefited from experimenting with stand work. I find it way too easy to just copy and paste a print onto a garment in photoshop. The stand work made me really consider where the print was going and how it would look on a finalised garment. The anatomical feel to the final collection was largely due to the placements of the prints as a result of using a mannequin. I will definitely be repeating this development process in future units.

One of the learning objectives in this unit was to build networks and contacts as a career development resource. I took part in a Threadless competition and also adapted my self initiated work to fit a Bradford Textiles Association brief. As I said above I felt this was beneficial to me in terms of time management and work load.

In addition to the live briefs, I also decided to create profiles on popular social medias to get my work seen by the outside world. This has certainly been a productive and valuable process for me, as the responses have helped me gain confidence in my work. The positive feedback has enabled me to overcome the fear that people won't like my work and that it isn't good enough, as well as giving me the confidence to send my work to companies or designers.

Additionally, the career development objective pushed me to write and design a creative CV that I can send to companies or use to apply for internships and placements online. My aim is to use this to arrange some placements over summer.

Overall during this unit I think I have come out feeling like I know where I belong in the Textile Industry. Through briefly dabbling in interiors I know that fashion is the right direction for me, and I have also cemented the fact that digital printing is where my strengths lie. The self-initiated brief shows me that I am capable of setting myself useful goals and achieving them. Positive feedback from social media and also from Louise Whitaker makes me think I am ready to connect fully with the outside world and start experiencing it myself through internships and placements.

   

Live Brief | Bradford Textiles Final Boards

I created development samples for the Bradford Textiles Association brief in order to see which print with which beading I should print as the final design. There was a clear favourite between me and several other people who saw the boards which made the decision very easy.

Here is the final main sample with the two boards I will be submitting with my application. I am pleased with what I have produced for this brief as it isn't what I normally create. I've never designed for interior or used embellishment on any samples before, however I think it has been successful. I do think this would make a nice cushion for a sofa or bedding arrangement. The 9mm Silver beads don't stand out too much but look really lovely when they catch the light. Overall I am happy with the outcome of this project.

Locating | Networking

One of the objectives of the Locating Unit is to make connections and start networking, and to get in touch with the creative world outside of the University. The idea of live briefs and getting my work seen by people got me thinking. My previous work is currently sitting in a folder in my room where no one is going to see it, not being of any use at all.

This has given me the kick start I need to try and get my drawings, designs, prints and work in general seen. The easiest and most used source is obviously the Internet, which is why I have decided to upload my work from the Locating unit and the Intentions unit to Pinterest. I myself am a massive Pinterest fan and I know that a lot of people whether in creative careers or not also use it as a form of inspiration. Putting my work on Pinterest will hopefully get it seen.
 Here are the links to view the full Intentions Board and the Locating Board.

Another one of the most used social media right now is Instagram. I haven't really uploaded much work to Instgram before as I have only ever had a personal account. However I decided it's about time I made an account for my work. Instagram is great for getting your work seen through the use of hashtags. By hashtagging different words along with my pictures they can be searched for by people worldwide.
I'm really glad I decided to create an instagram account, as when I uploaded my work I was really flattered by the amount of likes and nice comments people left. It gives me confidence in my work as complete strangers are saying that my work is cool and amazing, which is lovely to see. The account is @caramilletprintdesigns for anyone who wants to have a look.

One more way of connecting with the outside world is to contact the people out there. I have already emailed Louise Whitaker who was really lovely and gave me so much help and advice. I felt inspired to email other recent graduate designers to see if they have any advice on preparing for the outside world too.

While on Pinterest I came across Hannah Beth Fincham. She graduated with a degree in Mixed Media Textiles and now runs a business and a website selling her clothing. My favourite pieces are her embroidered sweatshirts, especially the 'Too Sassy for you'. I thought it would be good to ask her for advice too as her consumer is of a similar age to mine, teenage girls and young women. Also, even though I see myself as part of a company after I graduate I don't want to rule out any other opportunities, so getting some advice on starting my own business from someone who has done it would be very useful.

Louise responded and gave such a detailed reply, which for me is really helpful as I am not completely sure of what direction I want to go in after graduation. Hopefully getting some advice from other people will keep my options open and make me feel more prepared.

Locating | Louise Whitaker Advice

 The Locating unit is the perfect opportunity to branch out to people in the outside world. Previously I didn't feel confident enough to do this as I didn't have any applicable work worth showing. However, now that I have two completed Units of print design I feel I can be more assertive.

I came across Louise Whitaker's website and read that she graduated recently from MMU. Her work is really lovely and she has a long list of work experience and placements, and also works as part of a company now. I personally see myself going in a similar direction and working with a company, which is why I thought it might be useful to ask for some advice.
I thought I'd email Louise and see if she could offer any tips on life after Uni or anything I could be doing now to benefit myself in the future, as well as sending her links to my Pinterest incase she could give me any personal guidance.

 I was hoping to recieve a reply with maybe a few pointers or tips, but Louise's reply was more than I could have asked for. She gave such helpful and detailed advice that is not only useful for me but for anyone studying textiles in any specialism. I recommend anyone take the time out to read her tips in this email.

I was very lucky to recieve such a thorough response and for Louise to take such time out of her day. We have corresponded a few more times after this email and I feel confident that I would email her in future to ask for more advice if I ever become stuck in a project. She is so lovely and more than welcome to help me which I am very grateful for.

One of the points Louise made was to contact companies about placements and internships. I really want to put my foot in the door by doing work experience, however the fact I didn't have a creative CV was keeping me back. I decided not to avoid it any longer and to finally get it out of the way.
 Now I have a CV I can start sending it off to companies, finally!

Locating | Final Collections

This week I made the finishing touches to both my high end and high street collections.

I'm really happy with how they both turned out. My main fear was that the garments wouldn't be appropriate for the audience intended, as in the Intentions unit I aimed my collection at high street and although it was still high street in the end, the collection was more suited to high end high street, which was technically a different consumer.
Overall I am happy with the final garments and the prints themselves. This week I will be attending to finishing touches such as presentation of samples, consumer boards and finalising my submission for the Bradford Textiles project.

 

 As my final collections are finished I had to choose fabrics for each print to be printed on. This process is very limited for me as I don't have the budget to buy my own fabric rolls, which means I have to use the ones available to me in the studio. I have experienced these fabrics from the previous unit so I already have knowledge of which ones will or won't work for this units prints.

Luckily, most of the fabrics weren't too different to what I imagined the garment to be in which was a plus. After choosing the most suitable fabrics for each print, I had three different materials being printed on; Habotai, Cotton Optic and Cotton Satin. I am really looking forward to seeing how these turn out this week.

 The only major change I would have liked would be the sweatshirt and tshirt in the high street collection, I would have preferred those to be in a more stretchy Jersey material.

Live Brief | Bradford Textiles Development

Another live brief I decided to have a go at is the Bradford Textile design competitions. I am submitting a design for the 'P2 Prestigious Textiles Award' which requires a printed textile design for interiors. I want to attempt an entry for this award in particular as I have never experimented with interiors, I have only ever focused on fashion. This is a good opportunity to have a try as in Unit X I have chosen to continue with a fashion-focused option.

I'm going to make use of the prints I already have from my self-initiated brief and alter them to fit the live brief, meaning I needed to put them into repeat. I was sceptical about how they would look in repeat however when I created them I really liked the results. I like them that much that I chose to include them in my self-initiated brief as well.

After putting the prints into repeat I started to place them onto curtains and cushions to see if they look like a realistic interior print. They turned out quite successful, however I don't think the curtains work as well as the cushions. I particularly like the cushions because I can see them being part of a collection of cushions in the middle of an otherwise plain bead spread, or something in that ball park.

 

The brief for the Prestigious Textiles award says that embroidery can be used. I took embroidery for a unit last year and have thought about mixing the two specialisms before but I have never physically done it. I have felt really experimental this unit as I want to really push myself and find out what I can do before L6. Because of this I thought why not try out some embroidery on top of the print? The idea I have in my head is to create a statement cushion that would be used for decorative purposes.

I wanted to try embellishing/beading on top of my prints, because I don't think just a stitch would stand out enough against the busy backgrounds. As I've never used embroidery and print together I've never had to find the supplies before. I researched fabric and haberdasheries around Manchester to make a go-to list; Fred Aldous, Abakhan, Affleck's Palace, Hobbycraft were a few. I visited Affleck's Palace before heading to Abakhan where I found exactly the beads I was after. Due to the amount of colour in my prints already I felt the need to keep the beads more toned down and neutral. I went for Clear, Gold and Navy beads.

 I am really happy with the development samples, the beading looks better than I hoped it would. In particular, the use of the long bugle beads was really effective and went well with my prints. For the final boards which I will submit with my application, I am going to digitally print a 30cm x 30cm square of fabric and embellish it to give the appearence of the final cushion.

Locating | Engineering Prints

This is the first Unit in which I have experimented with Stand Work, as it was suggested I should experiment with it in my tutorial last week. I pinned Fabric and Paper prints onto a mannequin in order to get a sense of where the prints could be placed on a garment. I feel this process was incredibly successful and I will definitely be repeating in the future.
The only mistake I made was not photographing infront of a white background. The placement can still be seen however it would have been much more clear infront of a clean white backdrop. I will remember this for next time however for now I will just be editing out the background in photoshop.

I sketched over the top of my photographs so that I could really see how the prints would work on certain garments. The sketches were easily dropped onto my illustrations and turned into a design idea. While I was pinning the prints, I was trying to keep an anatomical connection with my concept by placing certain parts of the print over a particular part of the body to imitate it, whether it be inside or out. For example, the first black and white design below is placed so that it imitates a ribcage. Similarly the circular designs on the t-shirt are placed specifically to represent a woman's chest.
Even if the placement doesn't represent a specific body part, the actual print design itself looks like muscle, bone or cells.

I used these images to create some final design ideas for each garment, which was made really easy by the stand work process. I have realised the actual 3D visualisation of the print is extremely useful and can creat designs that I wouldn't have come up with by just working on photoshop. The only thing I would chang if I could afford it is I would use fabric rather than paper prints, as the paper didn't give any drape and often had to be ripped in order to pin it where I wanted to.