Taking Shape

With the help of Fiona, our tutor who specialises in garment construction, my apron dress is starting to take shape. My toile (dressmakers test garment) is cut and this is what it looks like pinned to the mannequin.

It needs to be overlocked and sewn together, but I am really happy with the outcome. I have researched other apron dresses and utility style garments that are currently available to order on the internet. So my aim was to incorporate some the details that I seen and liked, whilst still creating my own original design.

Some of the designers that particularly influenced me were Old Town Clothing and Pip-Squeak Chapeau. I wanted the front of the dress to look like a traditional apron, but the wrap around back will enable to wear the dress on its own as well as over the top of there own clothes as an overall.

I have made the ties long so the wearer has a choice of tying in a long bow at the front for a traditional look, or wrapping around them twice and tying a knot for a modern practical look.

Design Ideas

Inspired by the past

I have been a collector of vintage hand embroidered linens for at least 4 years now. It all started when I found a large embroidered table cloth at the bottom of a box in a charity shop. I was in awe of the beautiful florals hand embroidered around the edges - it must have taken hours to stitch, but was horribly stained in the middle. For only £2 I couldn't leave it languishing at the bottom of that old cardboard box, so I decided I would make it into cushions. As cushions they could be admired everyday without the risk from a drippy teapot! You can see the results on my old blog here.

The hand embroideries I collect would have been stitched by ordinary women between around the 1940-60s. They where the sort of thing that women did in the evenings as a hobby to make pretty things for their homes. Today we are used to mass produce products that are cheaper to buy than make ourselves but back then, making your own clothes and things to decorate your home made financial sense. This would have been a craft that the war time land girls would be doing in their free time and so I really want to include hand embroidery in my final outcome.

A few years ago, after my mum had been having a sort out at home she handed me this box along with some other bits and pieces. Inside, to my delight, were hundreds of old embroidery transfers that had belonged to my great grandmother. Embroidery transfers are ironed onto the fabric you wish to embroider to provide a guide for stitching onto. Traditionally, the picture that is left by the transfer will be completely covered by the embroidery when it is finished, but I think it would be interesting to create a outline style print using the florals.

Whilst look through my collection of embroideries I discovered a few vintage pinnys I've picked up from various car boots. They remind me how, in the 40s and 50s, women liked to combine the pretty with the practical.

Allotment Photos

Yesterday, whilst the sun came out for the briefest of moments I took the opportunity to take some snaps of my allotment and the rest of the sight. As well as vegetables, I was looking for some interesting textures and some of the flowers growing in and around the plots. Click on the link below to view the complete set on flickr.

allotment photos, a set on Flickr.

Cinderellas of the Soil Pinterest Board

I have been collating a Pinterest board for my new project which can be viewed here.

Fashion & Textiles Specialist Project - Cinderellas of the Soil

Since this is my specialist project, I want to create a garment that reflects my own personal interests. My main inspiration has stemmed from my allotment, which I took ownership of last year. It is a place that I love to be - surrounded by nature, and growing tiny seeds into a delicious crop that tastes even sweeter for the hard work you put into nurturing it.

Allotments were first introduced by the Victorians to encourage a healthy diet and lifestyle for factory workers, who didn’t have the space at home to grow their own. Over the years, the rise and fall of the allotment has stayed in-sync with Britain’s economic wellbeing. During times of trouble our nation turns to the soil – most notably during WWII when millions became vegetable gardeners in the Dig For Victory campaign. With so many of Britain’s men sent off to fight for their country, the women stepped in to help keep the country running smoothly back at home. In 1939 the Women’s Land Army formed to provide a mobile workforce for the farms and market gardens of England and Wales, which proved vital in helping produce food for the nation. With this in mind I want to draw inspiration from the khaki and green utility uniforms of the wartime Land Girls.

As well as growing fruit and vegetables on my plot I have a started to sow a bed of flowers in order to attract pollinating bees and to cut for kitchen table. Also, the hedgerows that surround the allotments are bursting into blossom. Floral prints were very popular in the 1940s and the land girls would often mix these dainty ditsy prints with their darker, rugged work-wear in the form of blouses and headscarves. I really love the juxtaposition of the practical and the pretty and I want to recreate this in my final outcome.

My final outcome will be a practical utilitarian garment with a twist. I like the idea of creating an apron or overall style garment, but making it very decorative, with print and embroidery.

As well as pattern cutting, I will be exploring dyeing (both man-made and plant based dyes), hand-embroidery, machine embroidery, applique, screen-printing and machine knit.

I will aim to use natural fabrics in my garment such as cotton and linen as they can be dyed with procion and natural dyes and are often used in the construction of work-wear when woven as a heavyweight fabric like a heavy calico or cotton drill. The embroidery threads and yarn I will be using for embellishment may have to be synthetic due to availability of colours and cost.

My colour palette will be quite muted, with different shades of greens from the fresh green of new shoots, to the darker green and khaki of the Land Girl uniforms. I will use a dark earthy brown in smaller quantities and will inject pops of colour in pale pinks, blues and yellows and cream as the floral elements.

Illustration Inspiration

During some online research I found this post featuring fashion illustrations by Michael Roberts.

I really love the movement of them, I would like to use these figures in my own illustrations, as I think they will fit in well with the Dynamic Nomadic theme.

Finalising Samples

Today I finalised my samples with Charlie, Then I spent the day sewing all the trims onto them and cutting them down to mount them up.

I also spent some time looking through so books to inspire me for my fashion illustrations. I think I will go down the collage route, as I don't feel confident enough to paint them.