Developing Samples from Samples.

So far, this week has consisted of dyeing up 13 fabrics.  That was monday afternoons task which I have to say was pretty knackering.  However, now that I have done that,  it gives me the opportunity to do a big bulk of printing this week. 

A board showing my Fashion Research and who I am aiming to target. 

Numerous dye baths are underway.  You have to be organised and tidy to make sure all the timings and measurements are correct for your dye baths.

A full rack of Hand Dyed Fabrics.

A pile of coloured fabrics waiting to be printed onto.

We all have clothes stands now for our growing collection of samples which is making the end seem increasing close.  I can't wait to see what we all produce by the end of our final 3 months. 

Here are images I took of one of my sheer samples.  I have Layered and Manipulating the fabric to gather a bank of interesting layers and lines to draw from. 

Working on photoshop.  I am increasing the scale of the lines and making the image size 90x40 cm big which is a good sample size.  This will help me put my samples into a fashion context.  

Thursday and Friday will consist of printing and photographing my samples on the body. 

Developing Samples.

 I found this beautiful shell online at dorsetgifts.com and I have decided to base a collection on this shell.

Weeks 1 and 2 of the Stripes Collection.

I love the colours and the intricate lines are absolutely stunning.

Preparing a screen for printing. 

Dying up silks and wools with cold water procion dye baths and hot water acid dye baths. 

I'm using a dip dyed effect.

Here I am starting to think about printing and the composition of the fabric.

Dye, Print, Discharge and Embroidery.

Working on the Mannequin. Using the shell as inspiration for Shape.

Some developing Samples.

Printing with Acid Dye.  I prefer using dyes for printing as you aren't at risk of loosing the quality of the fabric which can happen with printing with pigment. 

This is called discharge and it takes away the colour of the dyed fabric.  There are other ingredients added to this mixture to create a gloopy paste which you can see in the picture directly below.  The smell is also pretty awful but you get used to it after a while.  

Dyed and Discharge on Silk. 

I'm loving the colours of this. I think its really beautiful and sophisticated. 

 Weekend Embroidery work.  Embroidering into a Wool Sample. 

I'm thinking about weights of threads/yarns to echo the Shells Stripes. 

Unpicking the Weave of the Hand Dyed Wool Fabric. 

Its starting to come together.  Here are some folded finished Samples. 

2 weeks worth of work.  I will now take forward what I like and develop my collection from here.