For this project, i started with some simple draping

I want to focus on the idea which is not only zero-waste,  but also less cut.

So, to started in this concept, i just simply have two rectangle pieces of fabric, and placed it on a half-scale dress form,  one for body part, my first cut is on the mid-way of this piece (at this stage, this piece was not been fully cut down), which kind evenly divided this piece into front and back piece around the body. Then i use pins to pin up on the right side, made some dots on the waist. And then i pined another rectangle piece on the left side together (not cuts, just a fold) .

Here are the first rough look of my draping.

Therefore, i got inspirations from those dress

the binding tape. Can be as a nice way for me to do the finishing part of my garment, also it can be consider as a nice decorations.

So, here is my pattern, as simple as it is.

for this garment, i want to combine two fabric together

 these two fabric are both wool, and they are kind stretched which i realized are not very easy for sewing.

Started to cut fabric.

after i cut the two rectangle shape out, i put the binding tape on first to finish all the rough edges before i put two pieces together.

Then i used over-locked stitches here before i join them together, and then applied some hand-sewn invisible stitches around to cover the over-locked stitches .

the shoulder and neck part.

i left two dots at the waist part, so it wouldn’t be too flat.

hand sewn the button part.

to front look and the left-side look,  at this stage, the right side is remain opened.

and i applied two holes at each side

i want simply use a pin

here are some photos of one of my friend, she tried on at my home, and we took some photos.

we started this project by cutting off  a shirt, and re-constructed it.

then, based on the pattern of this shirt, i made the pattern out, but also made some changes.

for example, i decided to make a invisible button hole for my shirt, so i have made many layers to it.

therefore, i have got some inspirations for those “belt” element, and i want to apply it to my shirt as well.

this is how i construct two holes at the back of the shirt. (similar way of doing button holes)

button hole

i used over locked stitches to finish the inside, including sleeves.

 add collar (a stand)

over-locked stitches to finish the bottom part as well.

and this is how it looks like at that stage.(the body part was sewn together, with a belt and a stand.)

because of the character of denim, it is hard, and a little bit too hard for collar (actually it was a collar and a stand in one piece), and it is stiff and difficult to folded. so i decided to take it out, and make a new collar and a stand, separately, and instead of use denim, i used cotton which is the fabric of this shirt itself.

i didn’t put any facing in the stand and collar.

so my process of sewing this four pieces together is :

sew one of the stand piece onto the shirt first, then sew two collar pieces together and turn it over, and pin it with the stand piece, and then pin another stand piece of the top of these (which makes them like a sandwich), and sew them together, and press it, and do hand stitches to finish.

 zig-zag stitches for button hole

 some small element

 belt detail.

here are the final looks.

Key Word: Pleated, folds

Inspirations:

Layer one: should be some fabric that is hard and heavier than the second layer. (wool, denim, etc)

Layer two: should be some fabric that is light and carry a fluid feeling.( silk, jersey,etc)

Sketch

Step 1: two half-scale dress on muslin

 basic skirt pattern—A line dress

 One: add pleated godet only on one side

based on this second godet dress, i made some changes

i decided to have to layers, and use two different fabric, and instead of have triangle godet  (as what i did in the half-scale muslin dress), i want to give the folds a trapezoid shape for each folds.

my process:

1.made out an A-line dress pattern, cut the pattern into four even pieces, and they would be the first layer of the skirt.

2.pleaced the four pieces in pattern paper, and left same space in between and made out the pattern and it would be the second layer. And i pin the together.

when it opens

then it folds

and i use same way to do the back piece.

Since i want these two layer of the skirt to have two totally different texture, and the second layer should be some fabric that is soft, light and smoothy.

After searching, i chose denim and poly organza, i brought 2 yards of denim and 4 yards of organza.

 i had many problems with this fabric because it is very difficult to work with, the threads, the tension of the machine, the width of each stitch, and the speed of sewing, everything would damage the fabric and the result, i had many times that the thread  was keep twisting the fabric which actually troubles me a lot.

i  did this process once, but maybe i was doing to fast or maybe the tension was too tight, so these two layers especially with the organza, they couldn’t stay flat and just twisted together. So, as the result, i had to brought those fabric twice, and re-do it slowly.

  zigzag stitches to sew two layers together.

my front and back pieces are both “cut on fold”, and i left the seam on two side, and i placed the invisible zipper on the left side

since i actually have two layers’ seam that have been left out, and i was going to do a bonding for finishing. however, i didn’t have that many fabric left and i couldn’t find any bonding that have similar color,  so  i decided just do a simple clean finish on the side seam, and used the over-locked machine on the bottom part (organza), and i pin the up, did some hand stitches for finishing.

then the waistband, because denim is hard enough, so i didn’t put inter-facing on it.

hand sewn some snaps.

since the fabric of the second layer is organza, which is kind slippery, so i did some hand-sewn small stitches on the inside of each folds in order to make each fold to be more staid.

HERE ARE ALL THE PHOTOS OF THE FABRICATIONS THAT I HAVE DONE SO FAR.

WEEK 1

WEEK 2

WEEK 3

WEEK 4

When I think about the word “Surface”, I was actually thinking about the world surface, the exterior space, we are in the surface of Earth, we live in this surface. However, surface as a material, that is also very common in our life, every thing you touched is a surface, every object you seen is has a surface. For this assignment, I have developed my choice on the subway platform since the fact that is the space I go very frequently, and I have seen many disadvantages shown, and overall if possible, I do want make some changes to it.

First of all, I began this project by simply random chose 10 surfaces: something that was really common to be seen, like metallic sheet which I further develop into subway platform, glass, Ceramic; or some surfaces of an object that involve high technology and scientific theories, like Maglev train, vacuum bottle, Macbook, sneakers and LED light; and there also got be something related to my major as Fashion Design, like Fur, leather and wool. And I did some research, and they all have some disadvantages. I narrow them down and made few designs for bridge 2: either borrowed the original purpose of the surfaces and creates a new form, or mixed the advantages from one thing into another. Mixing and combined the different concepts of each one, my purpose is absolutely to make them better, and I was trying to dig something for fun as well. For instance, I have got inspirations from the research of Vacuum bottles. Research shows that the main idea of Vacuum bottle is to block the air: the gap between the two flasks is partially evacuated of air—creating a near-vacuum which prevents heat transfer by conduction. As while I was doing research for LED light, I found out that the biggest disadvantage of LED light is that they are so influenced by temperature. So combined the advantage of Vacuum bottle and the disadvantage of LED light, my idea was to borrow the vacuum idea to create a vacuum layer and adding it to LED blubs in order to maximally keep the temperature for the light blub.

I really like that idea; however, moving to bridge3, in order to make a makeable product via 3D printer or hand making, I decided not to develop my further study on this one, really because making a near-vacuum zone for a light blub involved many professional technic devices and knowledge which was limited for me as a college student. So, for bridge 3, I decided to have fun with metallic surfaces. As mentioned before, I also have done research about these surfaces. I have noticed that normally there would always have some textures on many metallic surfaces, like it usually appeared on subway platform or stairs, which probably is used to prevent people from slipping. However, from my personal experiences, they are not really working so well. I chose subway platform as an example. Due to the fact that there are usually many people in rush hours walking though, and which makes the space very crowded, typically when it is snowing or raining, water and ice flush in everywhere, so people still got slipped. From this point, I kind got something to develop. Basically, I was thinking that based on the current texture of the surface, if the material has contained a new ability to drain the water and ice, it would definitely helped to maximize the protection for people from slipping while walking in those tough days. Also, I noticed that when it comes to raining or snowing, the whole atmosphere would get very wet, especially in the underground subway, and it enhanced the typical “subway” smell. Perhaps this new material could sort of change that situation by adding some solid like desiccants. The idea that people putting some kind of air freshener on the closet triggers me, and gives me a thinking if we put air freshener under as well.

So I made a model and sketch. Basically, the first layer maintains the same texture and metallic surfaces, but more holes. Adding layers under that like sponge but mixed with desiccant and air freshener, perhaps there could add one more layer with drainage tubes. Overall, this might not be a perfect platform which could 100% solve the existed issue, but I do hope it can be more useful and helpful, and my intension was to make it better than now.

since i actually have made changes for the final presentation after i wrote this essay for Seminar, here are my process board.

While Grand Central Terminal is one of the nations most historical landmarks, it has remained the busiest train station in the country. Today, a constant stream of people from all over the world would come here everyday. It is not only a place you departures from anymore, this place definitely has memory, it is also deeply into New York’s memory. From “Grand Central Depot” to “Grand Central Station”, and finally into “Grand Central Terminal”, obviously this one of the famous place in NY has been changing through this hundreds years. Therefore, according to what I have seem so far and what I have read from others sources, I would like to believe that all those changed which Grand Central Terminal have underwent only make it as a better place.

As I mentioned, Grand Central Terminal is now a very important hub in NY, but it wasn’t like this before, even not in this location. The history of this place should go long away to 1830s when railroads remake New York, and the first railroad line connected Prince Street to the Harlem River, accelerating the city’s expansion northward from lower Manhattan. Followed by this line, other three railroads line completed, . During the 1860s, Cornelius Vanderbilt bought controlling stock in the first three, and forging then into a rail empire. However, while railroads bought people money and profits, it also brought pollution. Grand Central Depot opened in 1871. Grand Central Depot brought the trains of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad , the New York and Harlem Railroad , and the New York and New Haven Railroad together in one large station.

The three towers represented the three participating railroads. Decades later, the original Grand Central Depot of 1871 had become a 19th century relic struggling to meet the demands of a 20th century city. Therefore, its 30-year-old rail tunnels couldn’t handle the increasing traffic. “The building lacked modern conveniences and signaling technology, as well as the infrastructure for electric rail lines. On top of that, the old station no longer reflected its surroundings. In 1870, 42nd Street was still a relative backwater. “[1]In 1901, it became Grand Central Station. It was expanded from three to six stories with an entirely new facade, on plans by railroad architect Bradford Gilbert. “The tracks that previously continued south of 42nd Street were removed and the train yard reconfigured in an effort to reduce congestion and turn-around time for trains.” More and more people were riding more and more trains. Between 1903 and 1913, the entire building was torn down in phases and replaced by the current Grand Central Terminal, which was designed by the architectural firms of Reed and Stem and Warren and Wetmore. “Grand Central Terminal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976.” [2] Located in Mid-town Manhattan, 42^nd street and Park Avenue, those geographical advantages also provided Grand Central Terminal a dominant position as the main center of this city.

There are lots of things about this place which makes here so solemn, mysterious, and significant. One thing really famous about Grand Central Terminal is the celling in the Main Concourse. “In autumn 1998, a 12-year restoration of Grand Central revealed the original luster of the Main Concourse’s elaborately decorated astronomical ceiling. The original ceiling was conceived in 1912 by Warren with his friend, French portrait artist Paul César Helleu .” [3] However, what’s more interesting about the ceiling is that the painting of the constellations on ceiling of the massive, cathedral-like Main Concourse is backwards. No one knows for sure how the mix-up occurred, but the Vanderbilt family claimed that it was no accident. And on the lower level of Grand Central is that there is a whispering gallery. I had a lot of fun there, and I had no idea about the scientific tenet there. As far as I’ve searched, no one knows if the “Whispering gallery” was built to whisper on purpose, history didn’t leave a hint on it.

What really make me open-eyed of Grand Central is that there are many things actually have nothing to do with transportations, more like an entertainment center. I stop by to Grand Central subway station very open; and every time, I would be with a flowing amount of people. In stead of just be as a train station, I think it is because this location has now been manipulated into many locales. From 1922 to 1958, Grand Central Terminal was the home of the Grand Central Art Galleries. The Grand Central Art Galleries remained in the terminal until 1958, when they moved to the Biltmore Hotel.[4] In 1955, Erwin S. Wolfson made his first proposal for a tower north of the Terminal replacing the Terminal’s six-story office building. A revised Wolfson plan was approved in 1958 and the Pan Am Building (now the MetLife Building ) was completed in 1963.[5] In 1975, Donald Trump bought the Commodore Hotel to the east of the terminal for $10 million and then worked out a deal with Jay Pritzker to transform it into one of the first Grand Hyatt hotels. And also, if you go the Grand Central, you would not be so surprised to find out there is a market there in the ground floor, bakery. Then, as you walk in, a big Apple Store is in the main concourse. And plenty of cupcakes and cheesecakes stores are there inside of the main concourse. The lower level has even a food court, various from Japanese cuisine to Pizza, Salad to Chinese cuisine, and you would not miss this most wonderful Shake Shack burger. Near the “Whisper gallery”, the most famous Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant is right here. As it has all been known, it opened along with the terminal itself in 1913 and has been in business ever since, although it closed briefly for renovations following a 1997 fire.As its name suggests, it specializes in seafood, and it has become over the years one of the landmarks of the New York culinary scene.

Of course, this Grand Central Terminal is not that Grand Central Terminal anymore. We have seen the past of this place; it feels like every tile has witnessed its path. Now, in many New Yorker’s life, I think its function has beyond a terminal, and services people from more a lively essential way.

[1] “Grand by Design”, New York Transit Museum, http://www.gcthistory.com/

[2] Carolyn, Pitts, “”Grand Central Station” August 11, 1976,”,National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination. National Park Service. 1976-08-11.

[3] Belle, John; Leighton, Maxinne Rhea (2000). Grand Central: Gateway to a Million Lives. New York: Norton.

[4] “Grand Central Art Galleries records“, Archives of American Art, http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/grand-central-art-galleries-records-8254

[5]  “New Home for Art to Cost $100,000”. The New York Times. March 11, 1923,

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/

Sketches.

 Valentino AW15

 Vera Wang AW15

 Zac Posen AW 15

 Victoria Beckham AW15

 Celine AW15

Chalayan AW15

 YohjiYamamoto

i finally make my decision on the first one, which got inspiration from Celine and tradition Japanese style dress

therefore, i also got some inspiration from this side look of the Celine dress, particularly it triggers an idea: instead of only having front and back piece, i want add one straight piece in between.

since this is a “zero waste” garment, i need to think about some part to put those extra fabric in, and adding pocket is a good option.

For most of  Celine dress, they are so elegant, simple form, clear shape, and enhance the idea of minimalism. Most of the dresses from Celine are made by wool, entirely keep the idea of domesticity and warmth. Personally, I am quite obsess with wool as well, which is not so soft but have that smooth texture, and it can be hard when it needs to be. I want the fabric have that texture to hold the shape of my dress. So, I have come out with few choices, wool, heavy silk satin, super wool for men suit.

finally, i brought wool and super-wool.

Regard to the concept of this project, i was thinking that i need to simplified the dress, so before actually make the pattern, i did some changes to my sketch and made a new one which i want committed to and the yardage as well.

after that, i started working on the muslin. i used the same way which i did a bodies for practice to shape out the pattern on the mannequin.

by this way i made the whole 6 pieces out and tried to sew them together.

however, it looked fine from the front view, but the back was a mess: it turned out too small and couldn’t be closed.

i released all the fitting seams that i did before.

also some other adjustments as well  before i actually lay down the patterns.

regard to the “zero-waste” purpose, i decided to keep almost all my pattern in a straight shape, except the neck part

.  i use 3/4 yard of wool, fold it, and cut out the pattern for the front and the shoulder with another short half which towards to the back.

 all the “cuts” fabric.

for the back part, i gave up of using the pattern i made by muslin, and simply put 1/4 yard of super-wool directly to the garment without any “cut” pieces.

last, i use all the “cuts” to make the belt and a pocket for my garment.

the final result.

This project is based on our daily essential objects, create a simple bag to hold a three-dimensional object they regularly carry. And i started my ideas on the first week, i have  got three ideas. The first one  is borrow the shape  of my tea bottle, and it should be like a shoulder bag. 

The second one is a hand-hole bag, and my idea is from the iPhone.

The third one is actually what i decided to developed further. I got the idea from book, and i want to make a clutch bag.

And here are some diagrams

After this, i started to doing the first iteration with paper and tape.

For my design, i want my bag to be hard enough. So the material should be hard, like leather. I went to Sude, the Leather Inpact in 38th,7 Ave. But leather was too expensive. Then i changed in to another (Vynel?), the outside surface of this fabric is similar to leather, but it is really heavy.

My second iteration by muslin. And it was before we learnt how to insert a zipper, so it has some imperfect part.

My first try.

I struggled with it. The fabric would crack when it is sewed with thread. And i changed the thread and needle, but still not working.    

Therefore, this fabric can not be steamed, which makes it more challenge. 

After tried many times, i gave up on it and changed the material again. Due to the reason that i want the fabric to be hard, but also need to be easy to sew. So it took me a long time to search around. Finally, i made my decision on Filet, it is kind hard than normal wool.

At first, to insert the zipper is a challenge. The feet of the machine would keeping moving if i goes to fact, it is also hard to fully control the speed.

Hand sewed the zipper before go into the machine, this way is easier to control, and it would move to much.  

I actually 80% finished my bag last week, but while i bring the bag to class, the zipper troubles me again. It can not be closed.

As the result, I went to get another zipper again, and take anything off, redo them again…….

The new zipper i got is longer than the previous one, so i changed my design a little bit.

 This one i decided to design a around zipper. Before insert the zipper, i sew the head and the bottom part of the zipper with two pieces of fabric together(which later would be used as two side pieces). Since this is a around zipper, it took me a long time the placing it and make two sides evenly to each other, and i sew this part three times, this first time was totally a mess. Then i tear them off, placing them with the fabric by needle , and slowly sew them. But still got some trouble with the corner part, and the connection part with zipper head.

And then i sew the

i also made a small inside pocket and handle tile for my bag.