Sew Green 3/31

Today I walked to Sew-Green! I felt guilty for always driving, it was nice weather, my parents said they could pick me up when I was done. It was perfect! The walk was really nice and refreshing, and I got there 15 minutes early! I'll definately make a habit of this (despite the heaviness of the stuff I have to carry) if it's nice weather.
I started off at Sew-Green today by cutting out the front piece for my fabric. It was the same length as the first piece, just ten inches longer because of the cowl. I had brought in two old dresses and a shirt with a cowl. The old dresses will be used as scrap/inspiration/material, while the shirt I brought in to copy the cowl. I love that shirt. It's a purple, babyphat cowl necked shirt, and although I can't wear it easily in Ithaca, I wear it a lot to parties and in Miami. After seeing how the cowl looked when finished, and discussing some ideas on how I wanted it to look, I started draping the cowl. There will be enough cloth since Autumn decided that although draping along the bias would give a better affect (the fabric I'm working with is a little too heavy), draping along the lenghth will be fine.
Draping took me a long time, in fact, longer than it should have. I only got it off the mannequin towards the end of the session. I first pinned the cloth the way I wanted it (which took the most time), and then tried to smoothen the fabric along the body, getting rid of any puckers. I soon realized that due to the cowl, the boddice was never going to be smooth. Because of that, I thought, why not exaggerate the folds, and make tucks instead? Unfortunately, this idea was only thought of after an hour of struggling. I was being a little bit too perfectionistic, and perhaps something I really should learn during this project is to try one's best, but then let go a bit, and be willing to let a little bulge here and there go (or else I'll never finish!). Once Autumn approved my work, I drew with chalk the seam of my dress (litterally! right on the cloth, over all of the pins and bunches). I then kept the pins for the draping of the cowl, but removed all of the other ones and took the cloth OFF the mannequin! I was really impressed how litteral of a translation it was from mannequin to straight cloth. I thought it would be a lot harder.
I'm going to start sewing next time! So exciting!
I also asked for another copy of the sewing machine parts, so FINALLY I have the list! (I had forgotten it the first time, and kept on forgetting to ask for a new one). I know pretty much all of the parts, but it's nice to have a copy for reference.
I also asked for five more bags to sew for practice. This will kill two birds with one stone, since I can help kids by making school bags, and practice sewing at the same time (though we'll see how much time I get for that!)
Finally, I found out that Sew-Green actually has a box of patterns that I might be able to use/borrow! This will definately help me get a head start on making real clothes! Unfortunately the box was hidden today, and we were unable to find it. :( Next time!

Cowl Revisited

I revisited the cowl as well. I didn't want to make it on the diagonal, since that would waste a lot of fabric, and we might not have enough, so I came up with a cowl that would sling across the neckline, and be separate from the actual garment.

Necklace Design

This is a necklace that I designed for my owl dress. It's based off of a necklace in the Hardware episode of Project Runway Season 7. Maybe Chelsea can make this for me...? If not, that's okay. It was fun to think about.

Jacket Revisited

I was having some trouble picturing my jacket myself (this is the yellow jacket from my second sketch), so I revisited, trying to put more detail into just one view

Browsing

After going home, and finishing all of my homework, I decided to sit in bed and research pretty bird types. I had fun looking at pretty colors, and got some ideas, but nothing formed itself into clothing :(
Hummingbirds


http://www.animalwebguide.com/Hummingbird.htm















Kingfisher


http://planetbye.blogspot.com/2009/02/king-fisher.html



















http://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2010/11/out-of-blue.html






























http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/slideshow/gallery.php?Show_ID=3&Slide_ID=209 Great source of bird pics! It also has small summaries about each type of bird- this may be a very useful source for Katherine!

I also found a neat video on the tastes of Men vs. Women in clothing. It wasn't extremely helpful, but it was interesting. I couldn't embed it for some reason, but the link is below
http://shine.yahoo.com/event/the-thread/why-do-men-hate-these-popular-trends-women-love-2467752/

Mentor Meeting and In Class 3/29

Today Ms. Lasher and I talked about my previous visit to Sew Green, what I accomplished, and the plan for the next visit. We also talked about what I need to do, such as start sewing on my own, and getting my hands on some patterns to practice with. We also talked about an idea we both have been talking about for a while, but I'm afraid I never remembered to put in my blog. We had been discussing the possiblity of going ot New York City as a field trip at the end of my project to look at Parson's and FIT, visit Mood, and pick up any materials I could not find in Ithaca. I don't know if this is really going to happen, but it would be fun to plan out. We'll see.

Today in class, we were assigned a 3rd Quarter Evaluation (eek! eight weeks have vanished way to quickly!), and told to make a list about
3 Ways I've stepped out of my comfort zone

4 Ways my project has changed so far

3 Things I wish I'd done differently in working on my project

5 Things I've learned about my field of interest/myself/working with others

This will be in a separate entry, since this one will be too long otherwise
We then saw people's blog and what they had been doing so far. It gave me a good idea about what other people are doing, and how they are organizing their blog. It also intrigued me to look at their blogs.

Mentor Meeting 3/29

This is a space filler
It will be filled when I have more time
Talked about last Sew Green visit
Future visit
progress
what I need to do

Went home
researched pretty bird types
had fun looking at pretty colors
ideas

In class...
Lists...

Wow.. I have a lot of writing to get done...