Author: heidisdegreeshow

As we will no longer be handing work in in person i have decided to upload my form to my blog. The one piece of practical work is photographed within the relevant blog post.

Within my feedback points it was asked to whether I had considered making the pj’s. Initially I had not as we are a design based course and I had made my product mock ups which I felt displayed my pattern on a garment well. However, after deliberating this point for a while I realised it might be quite fun to make a mini pair of pj’s out of the left over fabric I had from my fabric samples.

To save this material going to waist I wanted to utilise this as other wise it most likely would have ended up in the bin. However, because of the scale of the print on these It meant I would have to make my pj’s a little bigger than I originally planned as otherwise the scale of the print would not match the size of the pj’s. As well as considering making mini pj’s where each garment would not have been any bigger than 10cm each, I did also consider making these for a teddy much like the shop Build-A-Bare does. I thought these would have been ever so sweet as the boy could have then had a pair of pj’s the same as his teddy. Despite this because of the scale of the monsters on the fabric i thought it would be best if i made them as big as i could so the scale would work well with the garment.

Because I did not have a vast amount of left over fabric decided to only make the trousers. If I had more left over material it would have been nice to make the top as well, but I think just the bottoms really show how well this design would look on pj’s.

To start the process I started to look for patterns online of boys pj’s; however, I soon came across a website that showed how to make pj bottoms using an existing pair as a pattern with an easy step by step guide so this is what I decided to do.

To find a pair of boys pj bottoms which would fit onto my material I went to Primark where I found a pair reduced for only £1 which was vastly cheeper than what a pattern would have cost me. Despite the online step by step guide noting to only fold them in half and cut around them I thought it would be best if I disassembled them using an un-picker. As I have never made trousers with an elasticated waist before I wanted to fully understand how everything was assembled and thought this was the best way to do it.

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I started off by un-picking the elasticated waist and then removing the cuffs from the bottom of the trousers. Following this I then unpicked one leg from another so I would have an accurate template, and could have a better understanding of how I would sew my pieces together.

Once happy I folded my material in half, drew around the leg and then pinned the two sides in place. As you can see from the bellow image I only had just about enough material to do this; however, so glad it came to some use. Following pinning the two sides together I then cut each leg out and started think about I would sew them up.

Before sewing into my trouser legs I decided to perform some experiments using different stitches into some other left over fabric which was the same substrate as my trouser legs. So these experiments would be similar to my trouser leg I cut off strips of material and then folded them in half. This way when I turned these experiments inside out I could see whether the stitch was showing and how well they held the two pieces of fabric together. From these experiments I settled for a staggered zig zag stitch which would hold the fabric in place; however, then realised when the material would be turned inside out the stitch line would be staggered causing a slightly messy edge. To reinforce these stitches and create a crisper edge I then went along with a running stitch which I feel worked very well.

Once happy with my selection of stitches I then sewed up the two legs and sewed them together. Following this I rolled down the top part of the trousers; however, left a slight gap where I threaded through the elastic. Following this I worked out how tight the elastic should be so it would gather slightly at the top and then sewed the two sides of the elastic together using a running stitch and then sewed up this gap. To finish off the trousers I then went about adding a small hem to the bottom of each leg and my trousers were finished.

Overall I am really glad I decided to make these as I do think they are awfully sweet. It is a shame I didn’t have enough fabric to make them full size for my target demographic; however, I am glad I have reduced waist by utilising the left over fabric I had. Not only had this shown how my designs will actually look on my garments; however, also been good practice for my current project for which I want to make pjs for little girls. It’s a real shame I do not know a little child to model these for me as this would have really brought them to life.

As we have now been told all our submissions will be online i have decided to upload an image of how i would have presented my practical submission. I decided to purchase some kids hangers as i felt this would create a more professional final look compared to just having them folded in a bag.

Today I had my feedback tutorial for our DG project. To make the most of the time I decided to prepare by highlighting points I wanted to bring up and complete as much as possible prior so I knew if I had anything I wanted to ask about. Overall it came in handy being prepared as it allowed me to ask direct questions to make the most of my time.

Despite knowing I recieved such a good grade I was surprised by how relaxed the tutors were about myself responding to the feedback. Although I knew there was only minor room for improvement I felt it was still worth responding to in order to understand the level of quality and quantity of work i will need to produce for the degree show project. From here i will make the last few adjustments and then make peace with this project in order to really focus on our current project.

Within my feedback i was asked to consider the following points: Who will i sell them to? How will they be marketed? Who have i shown? and Who have i approached? in response to these points i have taken to the internet to research where and how i can sell my designs.

The first online site where i can upload my designs is called the Surface Pattern Market place. On their site there is three ways you can sell your designs either through a standard license, extended license or premium license which allows customers to use your products in different ways. However on their site they have designs greatly ranging in price from about £35 to well over £300, wondering where my designs would fall within this price bracket i done some further research.

To answer this question i found a site called Pattern Observer which gives you three things to consider when selling your own patterns which include: the industry, complexity and time taken as well as the size of the art work. Never having considered nor researched into selling my own designs before this answers a lot of questions about the price my designs should retail for.

As well as the Surface pattern marketplace i have also found a host of other similar online sites where i can upload my designs and sell online:

• Spoonflower
• Print me Pretty
• Print all over me
• Graphic River
• Creative Market
• RedBubble
• Threadless
• Teepublic
• Inprnt
• Society6
• Etsy
• Big Cartel

All these online sites vary slightly; however, still have the same idea embedded of uploading your designs and selling them to customers. When reaching a comfortable place with my new project i will definitely be uploading some of my designs from this project and those previous to start to sell my designs online. Initially i was hesitant about this feedback point as i had no idea what would come of my research as i had no experience in this area. Despite this, i feel it has been very worth while as i now have a comprehensive list of places i can sell my designs and start to make an income out of my work.

As part of my feedback it was suggested that i improve the hues of my fashion mock-ups. I have always found mock-ups one of the most difficult tasks so although i knew the colours were slightly faded when i submitted them i was still satisfied about how much my skills had progressed. Despite being satisfied the tutors have recognised room for improvement so i decided to revisit them and try to further build upon my skills.

I feel having time away from them and revisiting many weeks later has allowed myself to reflect on my outcomes and think analytically about how i could improve the hues within them. Bellow i have included the images of my old mock-ups on the left and to the right, my new edited versions to show clearly the improvements that have been made.

To improve the hues within these outcomes i simply played around with the levels within photoshop which is a case of sliding three points on a bar left and right until the final outcome is a lot more vibrant. Overall editing these mockups was a lot easier than i had anticipated; however, i think this was because i revisited them with a fresh outlook. Despite being happy with how much my skills had improved from the DG project, revisiting them now has made me even more confident and also taught myself a few tricks for how to make my outcomes more vibrant incase i run into this issue again.

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As well as improving the hues within my mock-ups it was also suggested i create a more interesting layout. Unfortunately i am not 100% sure what is meant by this, so this is a point i will raise within my surgery tutorial; however, i have had a go at how i interpret this advice so i have something to show the tutors and they can tell me if i am going in the right direction. I feel it is important to have something to show so the tutors can guide me to whether i am going down the right path or not as if i simply explain my ideas the tutors may take a different interpretation. If the tutors are happy with the below layout featuring my new mock-ups i will continue to edit this and perhaps add something to the background as i am aware it is very plain.

Following our feedback tutorials the tutors have assured me I am on the right track so I have decided to develop this layout further using the advice given to me. For this I experimented with a background hue and decided on a very pale blue which links with my boys market but is not fighting against the bold hues within my mockups. Flicking through the slide show bellow you can see my stages of experiments fist experimenting with a bolder blue, then trying a green before settling on a different pale blue. Following this i decided to add my logo to the bottom left corner so the layout had my own personal stamp. Despite being happy with the developments i have made i thought there was still need for improvement because the background was very flat. To break this up i added some white angular lines inspired by how images would be broken up in a catalogue. For these i experimented with the widgth and position until i found a layout i was happy with. Overall i feel this layout is a lot more fun and interactive than it was at the formative assesment point and i have learnt a lot for our new project. I am glad i responded to this feedback as it has prepared me for my mock ups in our new project.

Another point within my feedback was to add tabs to my blog in order to make navigating my work more easy. In response to this i have been in contact with my peers to work out how to do this. Although my work has already been marked i feel it is more professional to respond to all feedback instead of picking and choosing the points i want to cover. To ensure i do not make this mistake again i will also make this adjustment to my new blog to ensure easy navigation of my next project.

-To keep my work as organised as i possibly can it is a lot easier if i have a different blog for the two projects. By doing this i can keep track of my work, see how many posts i have written and in relation to what aspects in order to see where i need to improve.-

Within my feedback it was asked whether i felt i could have pushed myself further within this project as i referred to it as ‘easy’ and ‘a breeze’ within my final reflective statement. Overall i do not feel i could have worked much harder and feel that my provisional grade reflects this. I feel the DG project felt so easy because i was organised and managed my time well, but also because i was anticipating an extremely stressful time with it. Seeing the third years in previous years really helped myself to expect the worst; however, it did not live up to expectations in this way in the slightest.

The only way i could have done more work for this project was if there was no dissertation. Seeing third years in previous years stress about this and hearing tutors constantly reiterate that this should be done before we get back in January i felt it was of upmost importance i did this. During the last few weeks of the DG project everything died down an awful lot whilst were were waiting for our fabric samples for the mini fabric collection. This is when i really took my chance and worked as hard as i could on my dissertation, knowing that everything had been done to the best of my ability for the DG project.

Within my feedback it was questioned to why i did not utilise cotton within my mini fabric collection. From my research of looking at pyjama’s labels and seeing what substrates they were made out of i did not come across a pair of pyjamas that were made out of 100% cotton, rather they were often made out a polyester blend. To ensure i was making the right selection by not including cotton within my collection i did order a cotton sample; however, felt this was not appropriate for pyjamas and felt there were much better substrates available which would be softer against a child’s skin.

Within my previous submission i had submitted an alternate colour way aimed at a female market (shown bellow). I am not sure whether this was lost within my other blog posts or the tutors were looking for something a little more different so i have decided to recreate my alternate colour ways with a softer colour pallet and in monochrome as my feedback suggested.

To start with i recreated my design in a softer colour pallet, still directed at a girls market. As so many of my previous designs have been in hues more classically suited to boys i wanted to reach out to a wider market so more people would be attracted to my collection which would hopfully increase sales.

Using my trend knowledge for SS’21 from my new project i devised a colour pallet suited to girls. As the iridescent and pearlescent effect was so prominent from my research i decided to utilise the hues within this effect for my new design. Overall i feel this is a lot more successful than my previous outcome as it is a lot softer in tone and easier on the eye, and also has a bigger difference in tone between this and my boys design making them diverse from one another. Although the imagery is of monsters i feel these hues add a dainty feminine touch which will be really appropriate for my girls market.

Although i did not do a blog post specifically about a monotone colour way i had already experimented with this within some of my products. Within one of my cards the interior was of a white and black monotone so the children could colour in the interior of the card and on my gift bag the exterior of this was of a black and blue monotone (see images bellow). Through these experiments i realised that although it was useful in these instances, a design purely in monotone was not that effective nor very appropriate for my target demographic. As well as this, as my collection was for birthdays i wanted my designs to have a celebratory feel through colour.

Despite these previous experiments i have made some new developments with a monotone colour pallet to show i have taken the advice given by tutors on board. To start i created an alternate colour way utilising a hue from my first colour pallet. This is a hue i had experimented with for the exterior of my gift bag; however, felt the contrast was too high and if i were to utilise this colour way the rest of my bag should be completely plain so it is not overwhelming.

For my second two experiments i utilised hues from my new colour pallet as these i have not had much of a chance to experiment with as of yet. Overall i much prefer the softer pink and blue hue against the black than i do the orange. Although the black still creates a big contrast against these two hues, it does not feel like its fighting against them as i feel it does with the orange. I selected the blue and pink hue as i wanted to see if my new girls colour pallet could also be appropriate for boys as well as girls. Overall if i edited the sharp teeth and scary faces within my design these two colour ways could be appropriate for a much younger demographic. The softness of the hues makes it more appropriate for a younger demographic and i think with small changes to the design this could really be effective.

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Overall i am glad i got the chance to revisit the colour ways of this design and am much happier with my alternate colour way for girls as it is a lot more appropriate. As well as this, by including a design with bright and bold hues and one much softer in tone this means my designs will be able to reach out to a wider market which will hopefully lead to selling more products. In conjunction with this i also feel my pink and blue monotone colour ways are a lot more alluring than the orange from my first colour pallet. However, i have just had an idea to experiment with different coloured outlines so will do this as well…

It only struck me when analysing my previous monotone outcomes that although i had experimented with a range of hues, these all included black outlines, to expand my experiments further i have created a range of experiments which include a much more diverse range of hues. Overall i really like these monotone experiments with my designs in a range of different colours. However, i understand the pattern within the monotone outcome as i created it, but this most probably will not be so clear to customers as i could see how these new monotone outcomes simply look like a bundle of textures and random shapes. The lack of colour allows the whole design to merge together and each monster is not defined from the next with use of colour.

Although feeling these designs may not be as appropriate to sell on the market as my coloured designs i do feel if they were to be produced they could be aimed at an elder demographic than what my original colour ways were aiming at. Restricting my colour pallet down to two hues makes the design appear more mature and subtle, therefore more appropiate for an elder market.

As well as experimenting with flat hues the first image also demonstrates a gradation that creates a central vanishing point. Overall, despite this being a fun experiment i do not feel this design would be appropriate for my market as there is already such a high level of texture and details i feel it does not need to be overwhelmed any more.

Although feeling that i had created a logo for my collection utilising my first name it has been stated within my feedback to develop a logo. I believe this misunderstanding may have come as mine did not come in the traditional form of a block colour image; instead 5 separate ones with each letter of my name. Because of this feedback i have chosen to develop a new logo which will hopefully be better suited to my project and the traditional format of a logo.

The image i have devised is below of my new logo. I selected this image as it is easily recognisable and also links in very closely with my collection. This image actually appears within my roll design and i feel it is quite a clever way of being able to display my logo within my designs. Even if the wrapping paper is no longer in its packaging my stamp/ logo can still be seen. Earlier in this project i looked into the classic children’s picture book of Wheres Wally? as this is popular with my age demographic. I feel by including my logo within some of my designs this could have the same effect as this picture book. The young boy will receive the gift in my wrapping paper and then be able to have fun searching for this particular monster image.

Overall i can see where this misunderstanding happened and feel this image is a lot better as a logo as it is more easily recognisable as one. To extend upon my logo i could also have it produced as stickers so with every product you buy you also get a sicker which will please the children and also get my logo in more places meaning more people may see it and want to buy my designs.