First Round of Projects Due

So, it's been a couple weeks since the last post, but between work and having 4 projects due about the same time, it's been kinda hectic. But all in a good way. I've been making friends not only with the girls in class, but fellow fashion students round the internet. They are quickly becoming some of my favorite people to talk to.

Now onto my latest progress. I am about to finish up my pants for my Clothing I class. I have been held up by my machine acting up and having no class this week due to the holiday. I think I just got it to work again, hopefully the stitches are straight, they seemed slightly wonky at first. In the last class I did my first dart. I was extremely nervous, especially as everyone had our teacher physically helping them, but whenever my turn came, the same student would interrupt continuously and not let her even look at me to explain. I eventually got the theory of what she wanted and went over to a machine and just went for it.

My moods tend to dictate my successes and after having my machine break down and being forced to use a school machine, it could have gone wrong. However it looked the way she described, and she looked over everyone's heads and asked how it went. I got up to show her and she said, "Oh...Tara. It's perfect." And then called everyone up to see. Then she showed everyone the proper way to iron the dart, but didn't notice that the iron was dirty...and got my linen fabric with dirty with a dark brown (prolly melted interfacing) all over my no longer perfect dart. Luckily I was able to wash most of it out in the bathroom. Now i have to fully finish the pants by Monday, but kind of have a block going against them right now. I love them and hate them at the same time.

My art class I mainly did nothing in last week as my teacher forgot her light box and I do not have one as of yet. So since I'm doing watercolors and not markers, I was unable to trace out my final drawings. Watercolor paper is much thicker than marker paper. Hopefully I'll make some more progress come Monday.

The last two serging classes I managed to complete my maxi skirt. We had several problems with getting the serger to cooperate with my fabric, my teacher included. So one side is a bit more wavy than we wanted, but thanks to accidentally taking it in far more than we needed to, and my growing hips, it doesn't look too bad. I'll turn it in next week. Luckily my bum looks great in it ;)

As you will come to find out, technology is not my friend. So while doing the first glossary for my History of Costume class, the software was definitely not my friend. So what our teacher made look like a 30 minute assignment, became over 5 hours for me. However, I completed it on time and received full marks as well as a note, "Yeah! Perfect! Thanks for getting it!" And our test on Wednesday turned out to be insanely easy and my barely studying was practically over studying.

So far, much of this semester is me stressing over getting things done properly, them falling together in a less than my personal standards way, and my teachers giving me compliments and saying they're great. Part of me basks in it, and the other part wonders how much they're shining me on. My main hope is that these machines and I start becoming friends so I stop wanting to avoid them haha.

On a side note, my photo shoot had some difficulties, but has been rescheduled and hopefully this blog will soon get moved to a pretty site with some pretty pictures, and all in all, look far more professional and the way I want. Wish me luck, see you dolls next time.

Second Week Down, Still Going Strong

So I left you guys after my first day. I have now finished my second week of school and feel more inspired in my courses than before I started. And that makes me far less worried as it seems every blog I have encountered from other fashion students are just chock full of negativity. Maybe that'll come in time, but I really want to stay positive and not become disenchanted. I think it comes from so many students not having a clear idea of what they want to do or not being prepared mentally for the work and discipline it will require to reach their goals. I am fully prepared to admit that I'm wrong as I continue on this journey, but hey...this is what I'm seeing so far. Everyone I speak to seems utterly shocked that I have such a clear idea and vision and won't stop telling me that I'm sure to be successful. It makes me feel quite pressured, as having a plan doesn't mean success...but I'm in for the long haul here.

My History of Costume class is taught by my Careers in Fashion class. And my teacher and I get along so well. We even have exchanged book lists. Peas in a freaking pod, I'm telling you. We get extra credit points for wearing modern adaptations of historical clothing. And since I grew up as a part of SCA and going to Ren Faires, I have a large amount of clothes to bring in when we get to that period to show. So I get to bring in another one of my hobbies and actually show all these girls perfect examples of period clothing and why each garment was selected to make up my persona for war/faire. I honestly can't wait. 

I haven't had a day off from work other than my school days (where I'm in class all day long, 9am-10:30pm), so going shopping for the fabric for my Clothing I class and Serging class as well as my other school supplies was difficult. But luckily, I made it out of M&L in less than 20 minutes as I already had my patterns picked out and knew exactly what kind of material I was looking for, if not the color/pattern of fabric. I'm making these awesome linen pants, and a maxi skirt to start with for my respective classes. I'm so excited for the pants as it came with a pattern for a really funky skirt. My best friends love the skirt and pants as well so if things go well, I'll make the skirt next and then make them the skirt as well. If it goes really well, I may just enter the skirt in for the yearly fashion show the program puts on. As long as we are in a sewing/design class, we can enter garments into the show. If we do not enter, we can always volunteer to be a model for the show. So I really hope to somehow be a part of it. 

Here are some pictures I took from this past week's classes. 

 This is from my Clothing I class. I had finished cutting out the pattern pieces and laid it out on my fabric (a linen/rayon blend) and am waiting for the okay from my teacher to start cutting. Since we're all newbies we have to get it checked out to be sure we have it laid out properly on our fabric. Cuz once you cut, there's no going back.

 In my Workroom Sketching class we draw garments laid out flat so that anyone looking at the garment can see how the pattern needs to be cut in order to make said garment. We started with basic garments, tracing them over the mannequin, and then drawing the garments by hand over the mannequin. We haven't been taught how to draw our own mannequins yet. We do cover fashion illustration later, and then the proportions will change. Our mannequins for workroom sketches are at 8 1/2 heads, when we get into the fashion mannequins, they will go up to 10 heads to get that "Fashion Illustration" look.

These final sketches are my line drawings of the 5 garments we started with, and then my final line drawings of these garments but with my own take on them. My teacher asked if she could borrow my sketches to scan them into her computer and add them into the packet/textbook she is creating for our class. My name will be put on them as well. I was extremely flattered that she chose my sketches.

I have been so worried about this class. I grew up around artists, my sister and my cousin. And so to see that I'm already excelling in this class (c'mon, my first work is going to be put into a textbook for the class!), it was quite gratifying.

Next week the class starts with ink line drawings and markers. I decided to learn the traditional route and learn to use watercolors rather than the current use of markers for fashion sketches.

So wish me luck in getting these garments started, and I'll see you dolls soon. :)