Final fabrics

Just a bit of a collage of my final fabrics for my collection.

Petal slv tee dress

Here are a few pictures of the petal sleeve tee dress. I have sewn the felted pocket on which was quite tedious, as it is very thick at the edges. I am happy with the bind around the neck, it is sitting nicely. I decided not to coverstitch the bind on because I think that would have looked to sporty for this design. I am really happy with how the petal sleeve has turned out, especially the raw edge where you see the layers of blue and cream/faun felt. I think that the tone of the grey marle jersey is nice and subtle and sits well against the natural tones of the felted sleeve.

Name for label

I came across this name when I was flicking through a magazine. It was the title of a shoot, and it struck me that "Soft Focus" was the perfect name for my label, as at the core of the label is felting and felt is beautiful and soft. I like this as a name as it makes you think about texture and flow which are both key elements in my design and garments. So Soft Focus is born!

Felted singlet and top stitching detail

Here is a picture of the finished singlet, and also a few pictures of how I sewed it together. I wanted to make the raw edges of the felt a feature of the garment, so rather than doing a regular 1cm seam on the inside of the garment, I laid the two edges over one another, and topstitched in a rectangular or square shape. I also attached a hook and eye at the front of the singlet to fasten. I think that the topstitching worked very well in its application and having the raw edges on the outside of the garment works very effectively as a feature. This felted singlet is part of one of the double layered dresses. It goes over a longer sinlget slip dress that follows the same neck and hemlines.

Felting the singlet

Here are a few pictures of the singlet being felted. To be able to felt the singlet in the shapes of the pattern pieces so I could maintain the raw felted edges, I cut out my pattern pieces in some spare fabric and this is what I used as a guide to lay the wool. Then I wet felted each piece, rubbed and rubbed and rubbed till the pieces were strong enough to wash and dry.

Turkey & crochet

My mum also sent me these pictures. This lady makes hand crocheted sheeps wool washer's and sells them to tourists like my mum who probably bought 10! The crochet stitch is a really interesting shape, they almost look like stars or flowers.

Turkey & felting

My mum and dad are currently in Turkey, and with my craft studio in mind they have been emailing a whole bunch of picures and stories about the crafts people they have come across in their travels. They were in Konya when they came across this felting workshop picured above. My mum got talking to the people working there and apparantly there are 10 RMIT students going to Turkey in Septemebr to do a workshop with Silvia who runs the studio. Maybe from Brunswick, not sure? Silvia and her husband have just opened another workshop in Istanbul as well. Above are some pictures of the work in the studio, including scarves that have been laid and the wool tops supply at the studio.

Dreadlock scarf

These are a few images of the completed deadlock scarf.

Felted yoke dress

A sneak peak at the felted yoke dress, I have completed hand stitching the bias binding around the yoke edges, this proved to be easier than I thought. I thought that because the felt is so thick that it would be really tricky to fold inside the yoke and stitch down, especially in the steep curve on the inside of the bottom of the yoke. But because the felt is so soft it was actually quite malleable, so the bias bind worked very successfully in finishing the edge.

Presentation ideas: look book

For my presentation I am thinking of doing a look book, as part of my report I am planning to sell my range through a sales agent, who would equire a look book as a seeling tool in their showings. Upstairs at my work is Lisa Bell Fashion Marketing, Lisa is a sales agent for labels such as Flamingo Sands, Brigid McLaughlin, Lane Palmer Green and Bridie Marsh. I have asked Lisa if I can use her show room and mannequins to do a photoshoot for my look book. She has fabric mannequins and her space is open, light and all white. I have put some images up of her showroom and mannequins that I will be doing the shoot on.