Last minuite ammendment to the project:

Yesterday I gave my presentation which lasted twenty minuites in total with time for questions from the audience. I am currently writing up an evaluation of the presentation. Before I hand in the project next week on the 16th there are several things I have left to do and these are:

• Research into an Eco-friendly clothing range/ business and compare it to the clothing in my range.
• Find out opinions on my range from the target audience which is teenagers.
• Get a box to present my project in a suitable way ready to hand in.
• Go though it all adding more post - it notes with my reflections on the project. 
• Print out my presentation and evaluation of it.   

Furthure more evaluation:

I am still working on the evaluation writing up a page for each clothing item and writing what I acheived throughout this project not only in terms of skills directly involved with making a clothing range but also additional skills that I can take furthure in future projects.

The dress:

My family friend kindly agreed to try on my dress and it fit :) 

Evaluation:

Today I have been evaluating my project I have a lot to do and know what I need to involve just have to write it all up which is time consuming.

Evaluation:

Now I have finished my entire clothing range I need to scrutinize my planning, method and result. I want to find out what went effectively and what did not work out quite as I had hoped. I would also like to get some pictures of people wearing my clothing range and get some feedback from various people.  

Finishing touches plus one more item:

Today I have altered the neckline on the jumper, so now it is not as wide and fits well on my shoulders (overall the jumper is still enormous though!). I have closed up the majority of the large holes.  And I have used wool to sew up parts that were not connected firmly due to me originally using  sewing thread.

Before:                               

                                                                             After:

                                                                         

                                                                            Before:

After:

                                                                  

Before amendments:

                                                                     Final jumper:

I have also sewn up the hem at the bottom of the dress and there was a whole on the side so I fixed this. 

I had a bit of the floral material left so I made a summer crop top which I am quite pleased with. Considering I did not follow a pattern or YouTube video I am happy with my little creation. 

                                              Shoulder bag in the left of the picture

Eco thoughts:

The more I think about my clothing range the more I realize that it is in fact eco-friendly. We hear about the exploitation of workers and the mass pollution that clothing factories make, so if everybody made their own 'DIY' clothes this problem would not arise.With this in mind, I have bought material from a local sewing and knitting shop which has benefited them, and I have bought wool from John Lewis which although a chain store, does not exploit its workers. People shop at places like Primark for cheap and fashionable goods. However, Primark does exploit cheap child labour which is completely unethical. I think creating one's own clothing not only gives the person a unique and beautiful wardrobe but also helps the environment and is cheaper.

Plan:

I have decided that instead of making a pair of shorts as planned in my original design I will improve upon what I already have done. This includes fixing up the neck line on my jumper and touching up the dress by possibly adding a trimming or ribbon to the edge of it. I also need to sort out the hem on the bottom to shorten it slightly and make it much neater. Unfortunately the dress does not fit me so I will need to find a model!

Two more items finished:

I have now hand sewn and completed the body con skirt and the floral dress. I am pleased with both. Although the dress is too small, it turned out quite well. I thought I would never finish and so am chuffed that I actually have. The skirt I would actually wear out which I think is quite an acheivement. Next I am going to find someone that the dress will fit and take some pictures of the final items. On my origional plan I was going to make a crop top and I still do have some material left over, but I can not spend any more time using a sewing machine as it was too frustrating, so it will have to be done by hand which may take too long.  

Solution:

After getting both my grandma and my friend to check out the sewing machine I gave up with it. The tension wasn't right and the back of the material was not being sewn properly. So today I went to the school's D.T department and borrowed a sewing machine for about an hour and a half and got the bulk of my sewing done. I will hand sew the rest of it at home which I would have had to do anyway as part of it is too thick for a sewing machine. I was pleased with my progress today. It was the most productive session I have had using a sewing machine. Some of what I did was not very neat and there are sections that I will need to unpick but overall it went well.

Devil sewing machine:

I have wasted so much time trying to get this thing to work and it will not. My friend came round yesterday to have a look and what ever she tried did not fix the problem. I have looked at numerous YouTube videos none of which have helped in the slightest. I do not know what to do next....

Shoulder bag:

I had another go at using the sewing machine and it still did not work, so my friend is coming round to try and fix it this afternoon. Mean while, the pouch I made when my Mum's friend showed me how to use the machine i have made into a shoulder bag. With some knitting wool I had left I made the strap and I found some Velcro in my Mum's sewing box that i have hand sewn on. So far in my clothing range I have a festival look jumper and a small shoulder bag. Hope fully the dress I am making next will work out well.

Sewing machine fun!

Today I borrowed my mum's friends sewing machine. There are no instructions and it very old! I got a quick demonstration and it looked okay to use, but when I got home it only worked for 5 minutes and then it jammed up. I somehow managed to fix it but it jammed again. I also thought it would be a good idea to start with the dress instead of practising before hand, this did not help me to develop my skills using the machine in order to make the dress perfect. The front of my work looked fine but then when I turned it over there was a big mess of thread. So I unpicked it all. I spent absolutely ages trying to make it work and wasted so much thread. It was so frustrating and I was getting nowhere. To overcome the problem I decided to have a break and come back to it later. If when I go back to it I still can not get it to work then I will ask one of my friends who knows how to use sewing machines or I will search the make on the internet and try to find some instructions or a 'Youtube' video explaining how to fix it. Although I got very annoyed that the machine stopped working properly some good came out of it; I taught myself how to use the bobbin and put more thread on it and how to change the tread. I also managed to get one side of the hem done to my dress. Next time I use it I must not waste too much time trying to fix it by my self but ask for help or find a more productive way to spend the time i.e. while waiting for help pinning the other side of the dress so it is ready to be sewn straight away.  


After having a go with the sewing machine I wrote about what research skills I have used through out this project and which ones have been effective and why. I also wrote about my market research and how it led me to my design.

My Granny's verdict:

So when I went to see the two knitting experts I got two quite different opinions on my masterpiece jumper.


First I saw my grandma Rachel a few days back and she was rather positive about my first attempt at knitting a jumper she gave some very constructive feedback and was impressed with my hard work. She said that as a whole it was a good effort and there were a few holes which were normal for a beginner. 


Today I saw my grandma Annette who was not so complementary! To quote her exactly she said 'a knitter you aint.' She several times suggested undoing the whole thing and redoing it. She then gave a list of faults:
1. Far too big, for some unknown reason it has turned out enormous.
2. Bit holey.
3. Wrong stiches used at times - plain instead of pearl.
4. Neck band - no real neck band to speak of  and full of more holes.
5. A few dropped stitches.
6. To sew it up at the end cotton should not be used instead wool should be.
7. Not impressed with the improvisation of the neck band and the pattern was not followed precisely enough.


After all this my granny did say it was a good effort for someone who only recently learnt how to knit and after practice my skills may improve. 


I personally am pleased I managed to finish the jumper and although it is  not going to be worn out of the house or even in it, I enjoyed making it. And my granny made me laugh and I amused her too with my improvisation and faulty knitting techniques!    

What's next:

I saw my supervisor Miss Price today and what i need to to do next is:

• Find out my grandma's verdict on the jumper.
• Write about how i have built up my research skills.
•  Get together information about market research and write about how it lead me to do what i have.

Sewing machine:

I should be able to borrow a sewing machine on Monday, so I shall make the clothing items then. I have knitted a boob- tube as I had a pattern for one. It has turned out quite small so I may not include it in my clothing range. It didn't take very long. Yesterday I cut out the vest top shape and I have spare material. So may make a bag or skirt with the remaining cotton.

The floral dress:

This evening I am going to draw around one of my long vest tops onto the floral cotton fabric and then cut it out. I need to leave room at the edges, for the seam and i shall make it longer so it can  be worn as a summer dress. With a bit of luck i may have some fabric left over so i can be creative and make something else with it to fit into the clothing range.

Finished!!!!

The jumper is finally complete. There are a few holes and the neck line has gone a bit funny. I don't think there is much that can be done about those things but I shall show my grannies next time I see them so they can inspect it! It has taken me a long time to do and was frustrating at times but overall I have enjoyed knitting. It is very relaxing to do and enjoyable. It has been great to discover parts of my Granny's past through spending time knitting. It is amazing the stories that knitting brought out in my Grandma Annette.

Sewing:

All the knitting is done. Now I am sewing it all up. So far i have sewed one sleeve to the back and front now for the other one. The knitting is adequate and so far the sewing is pretty easy to do.

One whole sleeve is done and I am currently half way through the second one. Afterwards i need to knit the neckband and then sew it all up together. I spoke to my Mum's friend who was a designer for Vivian Westwood and she said I may be better off to hand sew the other clothing items as machines can be a hassle and her one is broken. After finishing the jumper I will decide.