Refining my design process

Oh look, I finally got around to sewing something for myself! Life has got busy and the first thing to go is sewing for my own enjoyment. I'm trying to be more organised and declutter my wardrobe at the moment, and have somehow stumbled into refining my 'design' process. I say 'design' because I don't have a clue about what I'm doing half the time and just plod along in blissful ignorance, with trial and error being my only faithful teacher.

I bought this Fashionary a few months ago but was so busy (grrr!) that I didn't want to spoil its beautiful pages with an unfocused mind. It's basically a cross between a diary/sketchbook/fashion encyclopaedia with the main purpose being to allow designers to sketch outfits quickly without the hassle of sketching figures beforehand.

Covering my Fashionary was really enjoyable in itself. I have this unstoppable urge to collage or draw over bland, boring surfaces and this black cover was just waiting for some Pritt stick kisses! Everything on the cover is from my Vogue magazines from the past six months (which has been surprisingly uninspiring and I probably won't be renewing my subscription). Comparing it to my previous collages I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out as I changed my method - I usually cut everything out, then arrange it, then glue it, but due to time constraints I simply cut and stuck as I went along. I became utterly absorbed and before I knew it, there were segments of clashing prints and patterns before me, rather than pictures of clothes as I'd intended. Yet another instance of feeling the flow and being happy with the result, even if it is a little different :)

This is a pocket bit at the inside of the back to store loose magazine cuttings (and I've evidently stuck some on the outside too!)

Nevertheless, striking a balance is key. This Fashionary is an oxymoron of sorts - uninhibited creative freedom on the covers concealing the restricted and directed ideas that lie within. (Before you scroll down to look at the pics of my design process just bear in mind that my last art lesson was in Year 8 and I've never done textiles or anything, so don't judge!)

The inspo 
I basically flicked through the Vogues, along with some other magazines from years gone by, cut out whatever took my fancy, and stuck the images in.

The patterns 
These patterns and fabric are all from Fabricland in Kingston, which seems to be the only decent fabric shop in South London. I bought the sewing patterns I needed (four Simplicity Easy-to-Sew ones because speedy sewing = sartorial satisfaction!) After agonising over the patterns for ages, I deliberated over the fabrics for four garments even longer. Buying fabric for four garments in one go that I'd only discovered I'd really wanted to make a few days ago was no easy feat, but I left happy with my fabric choices (and searching in earnest for food and water as fabric shops during a heatwave at lunchtime was almost enough to make me dislike sewing. Almost.)

1355 - I'm trying to work out whether I was sold by the print of the jumpsuit on the model or the actual shape. The shape is a bit simple but I think a good fabric will definitely bring this to life.

1887 - View A looks loooooovely and I can see myself sewing up multiple versions of this in different prints.

8523 - I did pick up another t-shirt pattern but it was out of stock so this was my second choice. View E looks interesting as I don't think I own any V-necked tops.

1108 - This was a guilty impulse buy but kimonos are summer's answer to a cardigan. I'm going to make View B because I like the curved hem and contrast band.

The sketching
I then looked at the illustrations and tried to sketch out some simple pencil versions of them on the figures, whilst glancing at the square sample sizes of fabric I'd cut out and dreaming of what the finished piece would look like...

The pinning/cutting 

I was so eager to get sewing that there arn't many pictures of the pinning/cutting process (plus this is the most boring part of the entire thing and I like to whizz through it as quickly as I can):

The sewing:
And there's even fewer sewing pics...

The finished garments
I really love my Fashionary! It's such a useful tool and definitely helped me to visualise what I wanted to make with ease and clarity.

(I blinked, oops!)

A particular fave because of the bag. (THE BAG!!!)

It has pockets :)

And with all that I'm off to the fabric shop to buy some more. Going to make some more fitted items this week - some basic long sleeved tops and leggings, which means I need to reacquaint myself with my overlocker. Wish me luck...

Doodling over plain shoes: Sharpie Love

I bought these shoes from New Look the other day, and as soon as I saw the matt finish, I knew it was yearning for some scribbles. So I headed off to WHSmiths and got some metallic Sharpies and just spontaneously doodled. I've never even used a Sharpie in my life so I don't know where this burst of creative confidence came from. It's actually quite unlike me - I tend to plan out an idea in my sketchbook before I start but this was simply a case of putting two things together and coming up with something delightful. 

This project was so spontaneous that I quickly took pictures of the shoes whilst the rare winter sunshine shone bright, so the quality is a bit rubbish...

This curlicue design is something that has adorned the bland margins of my notebooks for many years during school. I need to do a set of nails based on this design soon!

Black and gold is always a winning combination.

How do we 'read' appearances?

The process of how we deconstruct the appearances of others has always fascinated me. A few months ago, I came across a wonderful quote which likened the process of reading a book to that of reading the physical appearance of a person.

"[Woolf] explores the way reading - whether the reading of texts or the semiotic reading of other people from their appearance - involves bridging or otherwise negotiating gaps in information, reconstructing from hints, 'not exactly what is said, nor yet entirely what is done' (Jacob's Room 24) to create something of greater consistency, of greater constancy, in the process of 'making a whole'" Reading Virginia Woolf, Julia Briggs

Briggs states that Woolf was often concerned 'to pursue analogies between the process of "reading people" and reading texts'. Language comes in a variety of forms, and clothing is indeed one of them. As Frances Corner, Head of London College of Fashion and author of Why Fashion Matters outlines in her introduction, "Fashion matters. To the economy, to society, and to each of us personally. Faster than anything else, what we wear tells the story of who we are - or who we want to be. Fashion is the most immediate and intimate form of self-expression."

It is this immediacy that is significant and largely responsible for our relentless enchantment with fashion as a society. We communicate who we are through two forms of communication - verbal and visual. The first takes time and can sometimes be ineffectual in expressing what we really mean. Communicating who we are as a person through what we wear may take time, too, but is often much faster and more expressive than anything we choose to say. 

The main reason for the different consequences of these opposing types of communication lies in the spheres in which they inhabit. Our thoughts, ideas and words are very much concealed - they reside in the private sphere. By contrast, what we wear and how we present ourselves to society is very much a public matter. When we talk to people, we are letting them into our personal space to enter a dialogue, a conversation with them; we maintain some element of control over this. Getting dressed in the morning becomes more than a simple act of putting on clothes, however. We knowingly construct our appearances with the awareness that the final product, that is the self that we create, will be at the mercy of public consumption. The gazes and glances of others are intrusive and cannot be controlled. The boundaries are imperceptible, perhaps even non-existent. It is almost as if we are in a relentless, silent conversation with those around us, regardless of whether we actively enter a verbal exchange of speech with them.

Returning to Brigg's quote of the semiotic reading of other people from their appearance, Woolf's statement of 'not exactly what is said, nor yet entirely what is done' (Jacob's Room 24) in relation to clothing highlights an analogy I've been considering more and more recently. The cliche of a 'statement piece of clothing' or outfit itself is bandied about a lot, but there is more truth to this than meets the eye. Each item of clothing we wear is like a silent, unspoken word. Verbally or vocally, it says nothing; but visually, it conveys all manner of meaning.

Several questions still whirl around my mind, unanswered.

• How do we give meaning to these visual cues? 
• What is the effect of sewing on how both meaning and integrity are infused in the finished garment?
•  Is it possible to communicate a visually authentic representation of yourself if you are simply consuming given articles of clothing in their whole and complete form?
• Where does the process of creative input begin when deciding on an outfit - in the act of creating and constructing each individual piece of clothing, or by the consumption and co-ordination of different garments in their finished form? 

And finally... am I simply over-thinking things? Should I just let clothes be clothes?!