Practice Unit Evaluation

The Practice Unit for me has been very eye opening in terms of what I aim to achieve. Since the start of second year I began focusing on digital print and really forgot how much I love screen printing. Half way through this unit I decided to create a whole screen print collection from imagery I was already developing. Although this was a challenge for me I really wanted to do it and I believe this is why it was successful. I made the most of my time in the print room by prepping everything before hand; pigments, stencils, fabrics etc. This allowed me to have more time to experiment and create effective prints. In the future I won't be as quick to jump straight to digital printing, and I would really love to try the combination of both again and make it work.

I feel as though I came to quite a few stand stills with this project, and had to try a few things before finding a way forward including changing colours, deciding to incorporate screen print and developing drawings and photographs. Although not all of these took me forward each time, I definitely see this as a learning curve because I can now recognize what works for me and what might not. I also contemplated changing my concept or starting completely new drawings at a few points, however I kept reworking what I already had and trying new things. I am now happy with my outcomes and I am glad that I stuck to it and didn't disregard the work I had.

I would have liked to have done some more contextual research during this unit. I have taken inspiration from artists and while designing and from designers while shaping garments, however I feel I may have focused too much on particular inspirations rather than broadening what I am looking at. In past units I have definitely had more influences to back up my decisions which makes me regret not doing more research this time. Regardless of this, I don't think my time has been wasted but has more been occupied doing other things which hopefully will have benefited me in other ways.

One thing I wish I had done during this unit is to be more outward facing. Although I did the Braford and Michael Kidner brief's, I wish I had gone and sourced my own to participate in. I have carried on networking through my textile instagram account and also made decisions based on enhancing my portfolio, however I haven't contacted any companies or applied for internships. One of my goals for Unit X is to really get myself out there and apply for placements and enter competitions. I now feel like I am ready to do this with the back up of my second and third year work.

I haven't yet made a concrete decision on what I would like to do in Unit X, I may take elements of the Practice Unit and develop them, for example I could develop my screen prints and use them to make basic garments. Overall I believe that the Practice Unit has benefitted me in more ways than one, and although not everything has gone right or to plan the lesson in this has been finding a way around an issue.

Final Digital Collection and Garments

Although I have experimented with my digital print collection quite a bit I finally decided to keep it completely digital. I also altered the colours again to make them more vibrant, like my inspiration Clover Canyon. Prabal Gurung was the inspiration behind bringing back solid lines and grids to contrast with my distorted imagery. I really like how this looks against the more detailed watercolour images, and I even brought it into my screen print collection too.

I also developed my garment shapes to go with my digital collection. Julie's Fashion workshops helped me to look into shape and drape. After more research I found a company called SaboSkirt. They do a lot of relaxed beachwear for higher end high street, but also have a luxe range which is where I found a lot of garment shape inspiration. I particularly like their waistbands and the way some of their garments cross over.

I used images like these and also my stand work/drawings to draw up some designs for garments. I was quite happy with how these turned out, although the only thing I would have liked to try would be attempting a toile to photograph. Due to time restrictions I've had to put my time towards other things, however this might be something I try during Unit X. 

I haven't had my prints digitally printed this unit as some of the fabrics I wanted cant be printed on in our facilities. I am submitting mounted paper prints with fabric swatches to explain my thoughts.