Maddison Kathleen Holland

Mahora Seward (2019) Bugs Garson: Dressing the letters my grandmother wrote. Available at: https://1granary.com/designers-3/schools/parsons/bugs-garson-dressing-the-letters-my-grandmother-wrote/[Assessed 14 March 2023]

Book: womens live and clothes in WW2 

Lucy Adlington (2019) Women’s lives and clothes in WW2. Havertown: Pen & Sword Books Limited

Book chapter:

Lucy Adlington (2019) Everywhere at Once. In: Fili Moda, ed. Women’s lives and clothes in WW2. Havertown: Pen & Sword Books Limited, pp. 17.

Lucy Adlington (2019) Taking Aim. In: Fili Moda ed. Womens lives and clothes in WW2. Havertown: Pen & Sword Books Limited, pp 35/1.

Website: martin parr 

Magnum Photos (year written) The Lue of Pleasure. Available at: https://www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/society-arts-culture/lure-pleasure-martin-parr-ireland/ [Assessed 16 March 2023]

Website: hessian sacking 

EatWheat (year written) Flour Sacks & Pretty Clothes. Available at: https://eatwheat.org/learn/flour-sacks-pretty-clothes/ [Assessed 16 March 2023]

Website: imperial war museum 

Imperial War Museum (2023) Auxiliary Units of World War Two. Available at: https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/57384 [Assessed 30 March 2023]

The achievement for this project was to create a garment for something that was an inspiration to me, which was my grandma and how she lived her life and how she was just an inspirational woman. 

I began my project with research from primary being her diary entries and her photographs of her life, then secondary researching more into the war and visiting museums where I had taken photos of the hometown map where she lived.

I have interpreted my primary research by taking the pictures of her and mark making the bricks in her photos, putting my own spin to it, and shrinking the diary and sticking it on the brick to give it a shaded effect. Using that in screen print overlaying the brick and creating a pattern that would then be used on the glasses part of the garment, tracing the shape of my grandma's glasses, and using this for the front section. The letter 's' from her diary and incorporating that into the garment with an organic finish to the garment.

I have developed a lot during this module as I've mentioned throughout, attending workshops for pattern workshop and construction swell as introductions to the sewing machines and overlockers. I have gained the skills on sewing basic straight line followed with an overlocked stitch. adding darts to a garment, placing interfacing onto the base dress, lastly placing a zip onto the back piece of the base dress. learning the printing skills on profons as I’ve never used this process before, photoshop where I would have changed the colour of the brick to relate to my grandma's favourite colours.

Altogether I would have said my experimentations were successful because I trialled different colours and the shades of greens and went with the perfect shade.

My problem solving was about redoing the mistakes I had made one was the overlocking machine didn't catch the edge of the fabric. I overcome this by unpicking the stitch and redoing it.

from the beginning of the year, I came into the foundation with the basic skills and throughout I have learnt a lot such as photoshop, pattern cutting, group work, communication skills, teamwork, narrative, self-criticise, better techniques, visualising my outcome.

The final garment 'Florence Hawkins' is done and I'm so overcome with the outcome and how it has came together just from photos and research.

I don't think I could say much that has gone wrong except the way the fabric of the 'S' is drooping, but this was the fabric that worked best with what I wanted and I had to work with the fabric.

I can now say I have learnt so much over the past year, the skills I have developed and will be taking to my next few years.

The garment preparation and construction I found to be exciting however it became very stressful quite quickly I began by cutting my patterns out on the fabric I brought.

The Preparation

let's start if with the base dress, I decided to go with cotton drill buying 2.5 metres with fabric to spare I cut out the front and back pieces as well as the interfacing to make it more stable around the bust and undercuts area. I taught myself just over a year on the basics, so I went into this with a little knowledge. 

the glasses part of my dress was created from cotton drill for the backing to give it a more firm hold and then for the front where I printed my design created by digital print, which was printed onto (insert fabric) to make sure it was the right size I had to measure my patterns from the highest and widest point, however it still didn't come out the perfect size so I had to work with fabric and change the sizes just a little bit, I also thought about the hem as that will take off an inch all the way around so it did work out quite perfectly. The measurements of the fabric id be printing onto was 1x1.5 metres.

The 'S' I had taken from one of my grandma’s diary entries was the last part for the garment. This was made from (insert fabric). I brought 2 metres as I thought this would be enough which it was, however, I was laying the pattern onto the fabric and the angle of it didn't fit. To not waste fabric, I had to cut down the one section to make it fit, so when it came to overlocking it I attached it together again.

The Construction of the Garment

Sewing the base dress was new to me as I had to include the darts and the interfacing. I began with the darts and pressing them down. Adding the zip to the back piece then Overlocking the sides and the shoulders of the front and back pieces, following this I sewn the shoulder pieces together. the trickiest part for me was the interfacing however I achieved it and I looked so put together and professionally made. 

The glasses being sewn was quite straight forward, ironing both fabrics and pinning them right sides together, before I finished the full loop, I left a gap to pull back through later before that I had to press down the seams flat. to sew the hole, I chose to hand stitch an invisible stitch.

the 'S' part of the garment was just sewing the two pieces together and cleaning the raw edges with white thread on the overlocker.

what went well through the garment construction and preparation was pretty much everything excluding being new to this but when sewing the whole garment together I only had to unpick the one section that was overlocked because it didn't catch the fabric properly.

Easter holiday (07/04/23)

During my spare time I found a small museum in my hometown with information on the WW2, this helped with giving me the vision of how much has changed. Also giving me a vision of what life was like back then. I’m attaching some photos one of them is the map of Redditch and this inspired one of my samples which will also be attached. 

Week Three ( check on Moodle for presentation date)

Maddison Kathleen Holland

Fashion Design 

Florence Hawkins 

‘State the Aim of the project’

At the beginning of this project, I set out to achieve a memorable garment inspired by my grandma from the life she lived during the war and towards the end. I chose to do this because my grandma was an inspiration to my family, I looked up to her and how she lived her day to day.

‘Brief statement’

 The journey of my project is going to be a personal experience with primary and secondary photographs from family members. Handwritten diary entries and samples I’ve created. The garment itself is going to be created with skills I’ve developed from workshops like pattern cutting and introductions to the sewing machines/overlockers. I’m going to develop my hand sewing skills where I will hand stitch parts of the garment. 

References from research are key to my project and extensive research on how living during the WW2 was had been conducted.

Objectives: 

Taking my grandmas diary entries and photographs to take mark makings for inspiration.

Grabbing research from the internet, visiting my local museum getting information of what my grandma’s hometown was like. as well as reading her diary from 1940’s. all this is going to be presented through my garment. 

To create and develop my experiments/samples to explore my concept further. 

Week Three (28/03/23)

I recently started working in the print shop and learned how to print designs onto fabric using profon’s. During my training, I discovered that this process only works with natural fabrics. When it came time to choose my mark making, I decided to print onto acetate. I also received training on how to do this, which was interesting. I'm excited to have learned new skills that I can apply in future modules.

The fabric I chose was a natural fabric called cotton satin medium which felt thick but again natural. I was drawn to this fabric because of its texture and the way it held colour. I found it to be a great choice for my design, as it provided a sturdy base for the print. I also appreciated the fact that it was a natural fabric, which is better for the environment. Overall, I was very happy with my choice and the way my design looked on the fabric.

Printing onto acetate and choosing fabric

Making the screen and watching the tutorial

After choosing my mark making technique, I moved on to the next step of the process: transferring my design onto the screen. I watched the introduction on how to put the photo onto the screen using the flat bed, making sure that the words were reading the right way. This process was new to me, but I found it to be a fascinating and important part of the printmaking process. It was exciting to see my design come to life on the screen, and I felt a sense of accomplishment as I worked through each step of the process. Overall, it was a great learning experience and I'm excited to continue exploring the world of printmaking.

My Process

My process of this includes all of what I said above plus the way I had to use the profon's. This method required me to paint on the outside of the screen, so that when I placed it onto the fabric and pushed the ink (which is called squeegee) onto the fabric underneath, it came out with vibrant colour. This was a new technique for me, but I enjoyed learning about the process and experimenting with different colours and designs. Overall, it was a rewarding experience and I'm excited to continue exploring different printmaking techniques.

Week Three (look on Moodle for the presentation date)

Whilst attending the pattern cutting lectures, I learnt that there are 5 essential steps I would have to take: gathering my materials, taking proper measurements, adding styles and designs, grading my design, then draping it to result in the final garment.

I’m only quarter the way through where I’ve sourced my fabrics and chose the ones that will be more realistic to work for the design. There was a lot of decision making on this part because either the fabric wouldn’t hold the shape, or it wasn’t the right feeling.

When cutting out the 'S' I found it to be quite difficult to lay on the fabric as I didn't want to waste any fabric, so the solution to fix this was to cut it up in a way that it would fit and be put back together neatly.

When cutting out the base dress I needed to leave enough seam allowance to still be the right size as well as enough to add the zip in. I added on the back panel 1.5cm seam alliance and the rest being only 1cm.

Week Two and extended over easter holiday

Throughout the easter holiday I have gathered a few samples for related images I'd gathered. Firstly I would like to talk about this sample which was inspired by a secondary image ,I found while researching, of a brick wall in an interesting shape, I took that brick wall effect and tried a stitch on my sewing machine with a setting that replicated miniature versions of the bricks I found this to be quite effective and I would love to expand this into my designs.

When trying to incorporate this image into a design I was talking to a lecturer, and she gave me a few ideas and one of them I wanted to bring forward in a sample. I was trying to replicate the curve of the shelter in the second sample as well as show the details by sewing the fabric a way that it would stand up to act like the ribbed metal. The sample didn’t come out as I expected, it lays flat which isn’t the way I wanted it to, I don’t think I sewn it correctly, to develop this sewing skill I will practice and research more on how to do it for future modules. 

Week Two (21/03/23)

My design process all together was exciting as I could visually see my garment forming from the research and marking makings I gathered.

at this point in the module, I have got my basic shapes of my design conceptualised and I am preparing for the fabrics I will need.

Week Two (21/03/23)

So, I began my sketchbook pages with a mood board of imagery that related to my narrative, using those images I then gathered mark makings of the textures, shapes, and positive/negative spaces. Making use of the different medias I was able to get a hold of. Referring to module 1 presentation on mark making so I could remind myself with what techniques I could use as well as media such as continuous line drawings, quality of line, without looking at the page, end of brushes, tape, wet & dry charcoal, etc. However, I have only used markers and pencils for the current mark makings. I would like to develop my mark making further by broaden my techniques and medias further.

Mark making will help me develop my project further by using these as either a pattern for the garment or even using it as the structure for the garment. The skills I have used for these are literally not taking care in the sketches and just giving myself few seconds for each, so I’m not restricted.

Week Two (21/03/23)

Week One (17/03/23)

For the duration of this lecture, we got shown some inspiration of other fashion designer and I loved some of their work. We met the wonderful women Paula who is the garment construction/pattern cutting lecturer. Our task for today was to produce a sculptural 3D garment which was constructed from a range of 3D shapes & forms that was inspired by my research I have gathered. We could have built the outcome in sections or individual pieces, we were only allowed to use paper and experiment with twisting, pleating, folding, or scrunching, etc the paper.

The first picture that inspired me for my first design was a primary image from my grandma’s memories. Started off by taking the chimney off the building which inspired the sprouting off the left shoulder and the skirt with different lengths to create the depth. The frills on the pillow I wanted to incorporate that into the garment by placing the paper in the best way I could to form the frills on the pillow, which was a struggle as the paper wasn't the best material to work with, was placed over the top of the chimney inspired section to give it a clean finish. Lastly in the image you can see the flags with strings was set out all over town and that gave me the inspiration for the right side of the garment by twisting the strips of paper that I cut out, this way I could experiment with the different textures, I felt this given it quite the finish.

I then decided to create another garment with using another primary resource which was a diary entry my grandma had written back in the 1940's. There was a letter that I wanted to use as a garment shape which was the letter 'S' because of her handwriting it was cursive. I thought this would have made such an organic shaped garment. I began by making copies of the 'S' by using the one I had copied on a large piece of paper and then tracing another 2 copies because I knew I would have needed a few to experiment with and intwine them together. The video below is me constructing the dress and I found this therapeutic with-it being time lapsed and the way the paper fell into place.

BELOW YOU WILL FIND MY FINAL OUTCOMES OF THE TASK

Week One (16/03/23)

So, we were given 2 briefs to choose from as I've previously mentioned in more detail. The one I’m thinking about going forward with is the 'Back to Backs' where I would get to create a garment inspired by the tailor George Saunders, I should amplify his heritage, work, and story so it would be relevant to the younger generation today.

Week One (16/03/23)

When reading through my grandma’s diaries it said, "Her name was very appropriate as she was a little sparrow of a woman, seemed to me always in the brewhouse wrapped around in hessian sacking". 

This got me thinking about researching into the type of material it was and if I could maybe use this in one of my designs, would it be realistic? so I searched until I found a website EatWheat Flour Sacks & Pretty Clothes. Available at: https://eatwheat.org/learn/flour-sacks-pretty-clothes/ [Assessed 16 March 2023]

Reading more into this article it says they used to create clothing from the flour sacks, it all started when "Mr. Bales filed a patent in October 1924 for cotton socks to have interesting pattern and to be of a decent size". households would even cut them to create dish towels. There was a trendy outfit designed from hessian sacking which was called "The flour sack dress" and people had sewing competitions to show off their sewing skills.

By reading this it’s given me a lot of thought about how I could make my clothing from literally anything as this would be a very sustainable way too. It's crazy how you can't even tell the difference of the family in the photo who are wearing flower sacks for clothing.

Week One (16/03/23)

With our chosen narrative I created a short pitch on the things I've gathered and the ideas of who I’m going to search into. The following photos are what I pitched to the lecturers. I had to answer question to answer which would be included in the presentation.

This is where it all begins, I worked on a mind map surrounding my grandma this helped me narrow down what book I could find in the library. I decided to start off with the war as my grandma was one of many women who helped the people in the shelters during the war and was able to stay strong throughout.

I went onto BCU library and typed women in the war and the book that appealed to me was called 'Women lives and clothes in WW2' in 1942, just by the title I was eager to read it and the first thought that came to my head was it must be a women's perspective in the war.

I scanned through the contents to see what would be more relatable. 'Everywhere at once' was about volunteers and everyday activities this one felt right to investigate. During the war women's uniforms were aprons or pinafore, their own dresses, tunics, trousers, or kimonos.

The American Women's Voluntary Services was an organisation in the US that trained women as drivers, canteen workers, childcare staff, etc. Military-style tunic was a uniform they chose with fake brass buttons, there was a Motto Unite and Serve. Women oversaw evaluation of children from at-risk areas and helped house those made homeless.

I scrolled a little further and saw a chapter on 'Taking Aim' and came to a paragraph mentioning "In China there were a few women who were role models, including a women called Liu Hulan, a teenager and a member of the Women's National Salvation Association who fought Japanese forces attacking her village and she was beheaded in 1947, after her death she featured in dramas, comic bookstand even an opera. she was talked about being the girl who searched for romance instead of her warlike achievements" This was very inspiring to read, and it made me excited to learn more about my grandma’s experience during the war.

Lucy Adlington (2019) Taking Aim. In: Fili Moda ed. Womens lives and clothes in WW2. Havertown: Pen & Sword Books Limited, pp 35/1.