NUA MA Textile design reflective journal

Today i experimented with the CAD embroidery software. I started to doodle shapes inspired by the project and turned them into illustrator drawings ( as shown in the images). I then booked out the embroidery room for the day and converted my images onto the CAD Machine. There was a special feature that automatically converts my drawing into a stitch, which was very useful and less time-consuming. My drawing with the negative space was to be done on dissolvable fabric, and this created several issues in my sample. Firstly, the fabric stitching was too delicate so we needed to double layer it, and i was worried about the metallic stitching because the machine doesn’t take it well. However, i really want to incorporate metallic hues into my samples and it seemed to work well. After the sample had been stitched, i noticed there were a few gaps between the different shapes in the sample, so when the dissolvable fabric disappears, i was worried the sample would just break apart. Reflecting on this, i would like to carry on using the CAD embroidery in my samples, as i particularly enjoyed it during my BA studies. I admire the convenience of turning your drawings into stitched samples in a click of a button, this opens so many opportunities for future designs. I would love to embellish onto my stitched samples or even stitch onto printed fabric!

Today was the life drawing session. We started off by doing 1 min, 2 min, 5 min and 10 min drawings of the lady in different drawing positions. This was quite intense as i had to try and get the right proportions in a short length of time. This was my first time doing life drawing so it was really interesting to see other peoples perspectives and methods of drawing. My favourite drawing was the abstract piece i made with the fabric, i like how its very simplistic yet you can still kind of see the shape of the body. i also liked layering different drawings on one bit of paper, it made the overlapping look more dynamic. Overall, this workshop really helped me in terms of fashion illustrating, i have a more realistic sense of body proportions that i can use when design my own fashion pieces. Futhermore, this workshop has helped me to explore new ideas when getting inspiration for samples, could i showcase my work visually on body shapes made out of foil or sticks for example? Could i create abstract silhouutes where my designs would be placed?

Today, we did a workshop on constructing our own visual outcomes on mini mannequins. I gathered materials and fabrics that I thought would be relevant to my project ideas, such as organza and metallic netting. for my eventual master’s collection, I really want to produce fashion pieces, particularly dresses so i decided to focus on that for this workshop. Taking inspiration from natures exotic shapes, i decided to work as 3D as possible by stuffing the fabric with paper. The formations were really interesting and i really admired my coursemates work how each mannequin was completely different. My feedback was likened to a jellyfish, the way i had multiple puffs around the bodice. I liked the layering of translecuent fabrics and the way it draped down. what I have gained from this workshop is inspiration towards new shapes and textures surrounding my samples. For example, i could create a dress that has 3D elements coming off it, or twisted fabric to give a futuristic look. I am used to working really slowly and paying attention to detail, and this workshop comprimised of short-times exercises so it was really fun to work under time pressure with those ideas coming to mind so quickly