Monday 24 February 2014

Made In Britain; Calico Bag Prototype

By creating a prototype of my bag design in fabric I could gain a realistic feel of the bag would be and make any changes to wherever was needed. The are several things I am going to change after completing this prototype these being;
- Side panels need to be longer.
- Strap width needing to be smaller.
- 4 D rings instead of 3
With this I now have the correct measurements and idea's to create my paper pattern and begin constructing my final bag.
SIZES
front & back | 52cm x 42cm
straps | 5cm x 80cm
base | 42cm x 10cm
sides | 52cm x 10cm
In terms of fabrics I am using a faux leather and grey velvet as well as silver toned D rings and a black zip.
The back piece and straps of the base will be cut in the velvet and the rest in faux leather to create not only colour contrast but texture to.

Thursday 20 February 2014

Made In Britain; Pocket Samples

| During garment manufacture we have developed a selection of pocket samples |
| Patch Pocket with Contrasting Lining Detail | 
| Welt Pocket |
| Below Pocket | 
This is most likely what I will be using on my garment to achieve a paper bag style pocket.
| In Seam Pocket |
(for trousers, shorts etc.)

Saturday 8 February 2014

Branding: British Racing Company

To gain inspiration for my own branding I began by looking at other peoples work, this varying from business's, catwalk fashion invites, actual swing tags, adverts etc.
Stripped back branding for new fashion label.

Inspires me: By keeping it simple but effective with use of tones and shades. Little features such as envelopes and small stamps are what I find most interesting as they hold the customers focus without going overboard.
Inspires me: Keeping it natural and effective. By using cotton and basic fabrics is really appealing to me, I think I could use old pattern paper to create something similar to this, as well as luggage labels and envelopes.
Inspires me: Fabric within a smart envelope, simple yet effective.

I want to include fabric within my swing tags, I may heat transfer patterns, maps or collage images onto the fabric, quite like the vintage pilots. During the war the pilots would use fabric maps instead of paper in case they were to get wet and the maps therefore ruined. I think it would be nice to continue this detail/idea within my branding.
Inspires me: Small detail but really effective.

I plan to use this detail within my branding, I would stich on matching fabric to my suit fabric and use retro/vintage safety pins, maybe even spraying them a different colour e.g. pastels or navy.


Inspires me: Keeping the logo/design with bags, hangers etc.


Burberry is quite classic and sophisticated, I like the used of brown paper bags as well as a small ribbon. I think it looks classy and would appeal to both men and women.

After my initial research I created a mood board on photoshop of my idea's which I had gained from the research.

Next was to collect materials and idea's for my personal branding development. 
List of materials I could use:
Brown Labels / Envelopes
Old maps and newspapers
Vintage books / old pages
Retro Stamps and ink to hand stamp
Vintage/ Antique pins and safety pins to attach fabric
Fabric swatches; natural such as calico, cotton, wool, natural velvet
String and cotton
Old tickets, betting slips
Graph or tracing paper
Ribbon, zips, buttons etc.

List of techniques I could use:
Illustration
Collage (by hand or photoshop)
Heat transfer
Laser cutting
Embroidery
Paint such as watercolour
Engraving
Laminating
Plastic wallets to iron creating small trapped items e.g. dried flowers

Sewing (small pouches out of fabric)
| Photographs of my collected materials |
I then began to develop my idea's, I sketched out ten idea's I wanted to experiment with:
Now was to start experimenting..
For my first branding sample, I began with a vintage looking image of graph paper on photoshop, I began adding layers of a vintage blue chair (as that’s my colour theme) then a vintage images of a plane (as aviation is my sport), next I added the BRC text as an abbreviation of British Racing Company. Then I had the idea of animal heads to feature in my portfolio, I really like the effect and how it adds something quirky to the looks, therefore I added the model and the deer head to his shoulders. I have printed this onto brown sugar paper creating a smart yet retro/vintage overall look, I also used a small square of cotton and overlocked it into a pouch shape that I could then place this swing tag into. I really love this sample and plan to continue working into it further which could result in this being my final branding idea.
My next sample logo, was a combination of scanned in fabrics and photoshop. I have used a vintage seaside family photo aswell as my nan & grandad on their wedding day, to create a vintage looking swing tag. I liked on the seaside image allowed the colour blue to come across strongly therefore showing my colour story as well as collaging on photoshop so I could use a image of a plane just very faint in the background. I stuck to a light white smart text as I want it to feel sophisticated as well as vintage. I'm really happy with this logo&plan to use it for the final one. 
I have heat transfered both of the logo's onto natural calico which I plan to fold up into small envelopes made from vintage maps. The calico samples are shown below aswell as in my sketch book. I printed both as I wanted to see which I preferred.

Sample of handmade envelope.
To hang the fabric filled envelopes I'm going to use a decorative saftey pin therefore I have created a few samples of what I like. My favourites are the embroidery threads wrapped round and the small stamped calico.
I have also created a few glass bottle samples, I like how they have a 'message in a bottle' theme however in terms of practicability if the bottles were to smash or break it would be a in-convince and probably put the customer off from buying, as if could show low quality if the bottle was easily damaged, therefore maybe giving the idea the suit was of low quality to.
Aswell as using CAD in branding designs, I needed to include more CAM to do this I decided to create a sample of the embroidery machine, I kept the logo designs quite simple by using a map outline and the BRC initials in my chosen font. 
As this was just a sample the colours didn't really matter however if I was to use this technique in my final branding idea's I would ensure the embroidery was completely black.
For my final swing tag and label I am using the heat transferring CAD images technique onto calico which could then be stitched or pinned onto the garment, I will place the swing tag into a small envelope made out of a vintage map and attach with a cotton wound safety pin. 

Made In Britain; Meeting with Chris

In preparation for meeting with the client (Chris) I had completed a technical drawing for each of my designs. Keeping one technical drawing with just outline and another with fabric swatches/colour, I then joined each of the pages making a portfolio to share. 

With the feedback from Chris it was decided to bring two of my designs together, creating a much more bulky and oversized jacket meaning it would suit a larger target market. 
I am going to include a oversized faux fur collar, paper bag style pockets to match my bag design along with a slight side fastening to even out the fur collar, aswell as making the jacket waist length compared to the original floor length designs. I'm sticking to my original colour theme of grey and blue (mainly light blue). This is the new technical drawing for my design.