We began this class by learning how to make the basic skirt shape/form with our own measurements. So of course, the first thing we had to do was take our measurements;
after that, we starting creating the pattern for our own skirts and eventually sewed it all together, including a zipper:
In class, we did many samples that helped us create these muslin skirts and our abstract one:
After finishing this skirt, we went on to creating a more abstract one, involving more shapes and that could be developed from this original classic design:
here are some pages of my sketchbook!
Once I had part of the skirt sewn together, I realized it lacked volume as seen on my sketches. So, i decided to make more pieces for the sides of the skirt to give it more “umf”!! Here are some images to help you understand that “umf!” : i made these petal-like forms for the sides of the skirts. They contain two long darts, to give it some structure, like I envisioned it.
I realized that i wanted to play around with the patterns i already created and see if i could apply them to other parts of the skirt and therefore, i’d be using the exact same pattern (maybe a few modifications) to create different elements in the skirt! Here are my notes on this specific process:
As you can see, I took the pattern of the front detail i created, and used that as a base to the design of the detail that would essentially cover the crotch area, and it lays underneath all the other layers of the skirt. I like how this looks because it maintains the flow and design of the skirt. It all contains this movement of drops or something flowing downwards. I wanted to keep that “vibe” going. It reminds me of flower petals, and how they maintain a certain posture and innocence. Something fairy-like.
Here are images of the process from creating a new pattern from a previously created one, and adding that small part onto the skirt:
After finishing the muslin of my skirt, I realized i was very happy with all of it but the lenght of the back was bothering me. I kept it long for the muslin just incase i wanted to correct it later. Better longer than shorter! So i decided to make it shorter on the back:
Given I was very happy with my design, I began to cut the patterns on the actual fabrics that i used for the final skirt. Here are images of that process:
in this image on the left, im showing you that i decided that for the back of the skirt, i wanted to use both the correct and the incorrect side of this fabric because they both had very different textures and i thought it would be an interesting yet subtle touch to the back of the skirt. Nonetheless, once it was all sewn together, it wasn’t really too visible (the difference).
I then moved on to cutting the rest of the pieces of the skirt and labeling certain things such as which side i’m sewing on. This was tricky because on the wool, there was no right or wrong side so it really confused me at one point and was a little stressful.
Because i was having a hard time figuring out which side was the correct one, I realized that i could use interfacing! Not only would it allow me to write on it and finally be aware of the side i had to sew on, but it would also give me a lot more volume and structure for the pieces:
once i had ALL the pieces of the skirt finally cut out and perfectly measured, I went ahead and pinned them on the figure just to make sure it was all going smoothly and correctly:
Once i double checked that everything was correct, i began to sew! here are a couple of images of the sewing process which was quite relaxing:
I began with the front of the skirt, and sewed in all the darts. Originally, i planned on using the curved dart, just to make it more form fitting. But then i realized that the whole purpose of this project was about creating volume and interesting shapes. When i realized this, i decided to keep the normal straight darts to create a nice, soft edge to them and the lower waist part of the skirt would be more structured out.
Then i moved on to the back of the skirt, adding the zipper:
Here are some pictures from when i was simply playing with the wool pieces and just imagined how they would look like as an accessory of some sort.
Once i had sewn the front and back pieces together, I went ahead and tried it on to see if it still fits. i decided to try it on before sewing anything else in just incase i’d have to take something apart to fix it. Luckily, it fit perfectly which made me really happy and excited because i’ve never done something that actually fits me before:
With that checked, I went on to sewing all the other details such as the petal-like sides, the clean finishing on the inside, the hook & eye and the waistband. Here are images of the process:
FINAL FOTOS OF ME WEARING THE SKIRT:
FINAL ILLUSTRATION:
here are the images of the 4 main angles:
link for my reflection on the project: http://portfolio.newschool.edu/defrs769/2016/10/19/final-skirt-reflection/
