D'Italia, Spotlight - Malvern

I was feeling panicky the past two days since I still haven't completed my fabrics for the Children's wear project (question: what's the correct way of writing this, is it Childrenswear (like menswear and womenswear) or do you need to put an apostrophe to show a possessive nature?). V and I were supposed to go but he had to work on a project of his own so I had to go alone.

Saturday morning. EventhoughI wasn't going to Glen Huntly (meaning taking the packed train to Richmond station courtesy of the Footy finals. Don't ask who's playing. I only know one is called Hawks, maybe the other is Geelong.), I knew the tram would probably be full. It wasn't exactly, but it was a bit crowded since the tram was late.

Transferred trams and found myself in the suburb of Malvern (had a bit of scare on the way when the tram stopped right on the train tracks while going uphill. Was looking the other way for any oncoming train and didn't find any only for me to look to my left and find the train bound for city, some metres away.) Found Spotlight. Wow! Had I known that Spotlight had a lot of cotton and silk fabrics, I would've visited the place more often instead of going all the way to Darn Cheap Fabrics. Not that there's anything wrong with Darn Cheap. The staff are lovely and I can buy 10cm of fabrics instead of 20cm at Spotlight, it's just that Darn Cheap is so far away.

Unfortunately, I overhead that Spotlight was going to transfer as well. They'll be going to Carnegie. Drat! So, I found solid coloured cotton / cotton blend fabrics and wanted to buy more but I saw that service was a bit slow. They had 4 girl working but it was a busy morning and some customers were a bit irritated that they had to take a number just to pay for a small purchase. Bought some emroidery thread, couldn't find the needles, and some fake feathers.

Then I started looking for D'Italia. They stock European fabrics and fabulous french lace. I was a bit apprehensive since it looked like a place that wouldn't really welcome a browser but the shop ladies were nice and allowed me to buy 10 cms of 2 french lace and a silk fabric ( I ended up buying 15 cm of the laces since the patterns would be cut and 30 cm of the silk since the pattern would've been cut as well). Another nice thing is that they give 30% discount to students. Still a bit expensive for those who are on a budget but for those to-die for fabrics, it's worth it.

Finished my shopping and had a bit of a look see at some of the boutiques. Malvern's shopping precint is buzzing with activities. Lots of cafes and restaurants as well as small shops. It doesn't have the relaxed atmosphere of home but it's a nice place to visit.

Cowl Neck

Did variations of the cowl neck today at patternmaking class. But first we did grading of the bodice. It was different from what R taught us, A commented we had this shocked look on our faces. We still did the grid but this time, it wasn't an increment of 1.25 each side of the grain line but in 3mm, 6mm, and 1.25 cm. I found it easier to follow than R's method though. It was much more accurate if done right. I just had to learn how to blend the lines properly.

A mentioned that patternmakers actually earn a decent amount of money. Some charge per piece of work. Some charge by the hour. She said that the going rate could go to AUD80 per hour or AUD5-AUD15 per piece. Not too bad, I thought. It was also interesting to learn that that there are still companies, small and large, that still prefer a person to do the patternmaking rather than having it done on software. I had always thought that it would be easier, faster and cheaper to have things done by computer. Apparently, I was wrong.

With the cowl neck, A showed us how a fabric cut on the bias would look when draped on a fabric. I kind of thought that draping then creating the pattern would be better rather than learning the flat patternmaking first then doing the draping then redoing the pattern. But A said that students have to learn the flats first to understand the principles behind the alterations and what-nots. In addition, we were doing it based on industry practices and industry requires mass production and not couture. And to do that, you need a pattern to work on since you can't go to all your potential clients and measure them. (Interesting side note, Australia still does not have one sizing standard. Companies here pretty much make their own sizing which explains why I'm' a size 6 in one shop and a size 8 in another shop or even a size 10 in another). However, we will be doing couture next year so depending on who the teacher is (I prefer S's husband, T), we would be doing a lot of draping and making our own patterns as well.

Can't wait.

Ready To Wear Project

Done.

Had a so-so presentation 2 weeks ago. Not at all happy with myself nor the work I've put in. Still bashing my head over it.

This was my final Design Board.


Did everything by hand then just put them together using Photoshop.

***hmmm...my photo is not uploading. Tried Opera. Won't upload. Using explorer. Not working. This is not nice. Used Mozilla. Uploaded. Mozilla Rocks!