Week four of work experience...

Week Four

Tuesday 9^th April

This morning we had an appointment for a young girl who was looking for a prom dress. I spoke with the girl and asked her the short of fabric she prefer, colours she liked and if she wanted any beading or detailing on the dress. She explained that she preferred the chiffon fabric with no beading or detailing. I pulled out several dresses that fitted in with what the customer was looking for.

I gave her about four different dresses to try on. She liked all of them but the second one she liked more out of all of them. I showed the girl the colour swatches for that make of dress. Initially she wanted a wine red colour but I personally felt the wine red colour against her skin tone seemed to wash her out. The dress she liked was in a deep purple which looked nice with her colouring.

In the end she went with the second dress in the deep purple.

In the afternoon I continued with the beading appliqués.

Here are the first two sections I finished. I pinned them to a scrap piece of fabric to keep the flat

Wednesday 10^th April

During the morning I got the job of updating the show window display.

Here is the finished window display. I choose the blue bridesmaid dress as the accent colour with was followed through to the sash on the young bridesmaid dress and the older mens cravats.

The afternoon in the shop was very quiet so I had the chance to also update the shop mannequin with a new wedding dress.

 

Thursday 11^th April

Today I spent the day at home fixing three of the shops dresses that they have out to be tried on. From so many women trying them on often zips etc get broken. I had a new zip to out in one, a back seam to be re-sewn on another and also some loops to be mended on a dress with a lace up back

 

Friday 12^th April

On Friday I managed to get a lot more of my beading work done. The shop was fairly quiet so I didn’t have any disruptions with customers coming in.

Saturday 13^th April

Again my last Saturday in the shop was the same as usual. We had appointments all day for both alterations and trying on dresses.

Week three of work experience...

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Week Three

Tuesday 2^nd April

Today I did the last parts of the unpicking on the dress bodice. After my lunch I drew up some beaded pattern ideas for the appliqué sections, as I have decided to hand bead the sections with new beads.

Wednesday 3^rd April

Today I didn’t go into the shop as I took the day off to make a trip to pick up some new beads for the dress. Nick said it was fine for me to take the day to shop around for new beads. I ended up going to Nottingham and purchased three different types of beads from John Lewis. I also purchased invisible thread and special beading needles.

Thursday 4^th April

Today I tested out three of my beading designs on the appliqué sections. I only got chance to do my beading up until about 3pm, as we had a few customers come in who I helped with trying on dresses.

Friday 5^th April

Today I chose my favorite beading design and began the beading work. It took me a short while to get used to working with the beading and invisible thread.

At 1pm Nick had an appointment at the bank so he left me in charge of the shop. Shortly after left, a girl came in who told me she was getting married in sex weeks. I explained that all the dresses are made to order and take five to six moths to come in once ordered. I told her that she is more than welcome to try some on and if she finds one she likes Nick may sell it off the hanger and we can then book her in with Barbara to do any alterations.

The first dress she tried on she fell in love with. I contacted Nick and explained the girl would like the dress off the hanger and is it possible that we could sell it her.

 Luckily Nick discussed it with his mum and we were able to sell the girl the dress that she wanted.

Both Nick and his mum were very pleased with the dress sale I made as it was one of their most expensive dresses they stock.

Saturday 6^th April

Today was again another usual Saturday at the shop. The day was packed with bridal appointments and alteration appointments

week two of work experience...

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Week Two

Tuesday 26^th March

Today I took my laptop in to the shop with me to research dresses to get some more ideas for the dress I am customizing. I continued my research up until dinner.

After dinner I did some cleaning and tidying in the shop ready for an afternoon appointment. The appointment was at two for a bride to try on dresses and to look at possible bridesmaid dresses.

The bride was not getting married till 2015 so she was only getting some initial dress ideas and colour scheme ideas.

Wednesday 27^th March

Today I started to take apart the wedding dress that I am customizing.

Firstly I unpicked the whole of the bodice section from the skirt and underskirt sections.

Here shows a close up of the lace and beading on the dress. I’m not very keen on beading so this is something I will change first.

I begin by unpicking all the beading off the lace appliqué sections and then unpick the appliqué sections from the under lace fabric.

I continue this till the end of the day

Thursday 28^th March & Friday 29^th March

Over both days I continued with the removal of the beading and appliqué sections. The process is taking longer than anticipated as the whole front and back section of the bodice is heavily beaded.

Saturday 30^th March

Today has been a typical Saturday at the shop. No time for continuing with my work so I was just there to help out with appointments and keeping the shop in order. I was appointed to answer the phone if it rang whilst Nick and his mum spoke to the brides.

Week one of my work experience ..

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Week One

Tuesday 19^th March

I arrived at just before half ten ready to start work at half past. A lady who worked in the front section of the store that sells men’s wedding suits greeted me.

 I introduced myself and explained who I was. She informed me that Nick would be in very shortly. She offered to show me round the shop so I knew where everything was. She took me upstairs and showed me where the toilet and kitchen were and where the designated area was to leave my bags.

We came back to the ground floor of the store and she told me I was more than welcome to have a look through the dresses to get a feel for the sort of things they sell.  Nicola then pointed out the changing rooms to me and told me which changing room was for the bride and bridesmaids etc.

Whilst waiting for Nick I thought I would be a nice idea to ask Nicola if there was anything I could help her with. She asked me if I would mind doing some ironing for her, to help her get some suits ready that needed to be delivered today.

Just as I was finishing the ironing Nick arrived. We came and sat down together and I showed him some of the initial design idea boards he had asked me to out together for when I start. I talked him through my design concept and what it was I wanted to achieve. He sounded very on board with my ideas and liked the concept I had chosen. I explained to him that I want this work to follow through to my third year final collection, as I wanted to merge tailoring with bridal wear.

My initial idea was to model on the stand with a jacket from a charity shop as my starting point to get me thinking and designing. Nick liked this idea and allowed me time out of the shop t go and source a jacket. I went out in to town and searched a few charity shops for a women’s tailored jacket. I eventually found a sleeveless, double-breasted jacket, which I liked the look of. In addition I decided to pick up some calico from the market to use to work on the jacket.

I brought the jacket and fabric back to the shop where I began modeling on the stand. I didn’t have any drawn designs or any set ideas in my head I just worked with the jacket and the fabric and made it up as I went along. I explained to Nick that I develop more design ideas by working 3D rather than sat with a pencil and paper just drawing.

The images below show the steps I took to create the finished piece. The look I wanted to create was a structured jacket that could be worn over a fairly simple wedding dress, to add an extra dimension to a bridal gown. 

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Wednesday 20^th March

Day two of the work placement I carried on with the jacket development further.

Here are two images to show the next steps of the back of the jacket. I continued the pleating further to reach the opposite sides of the jacket, which cross over in the centre.

The next step was doing the additional collar and pleated skirt sections. All sections were done in calico and pinned in place. I added a button and loop as the jacket fastening.

Above are two images showing the finished front and back view of the jacket. The jacket was completed by the end of day two.

Thursday 21^st March

Today I spent the majority of my day unpinning the jacket from the mannequin and repining it to itself so I’m able to take it home and sew it together

At half two and half three this afternoon we had two separate bridal appointments. One bride tried several dresses on and decided to go away and think about which ones she liked the most as she also had a few more shops to visit.

The second lady also tried several dresses on and decided to go ahead and order the first one she tried on.

Today I have really enjoyed assisting the bridal appointments

Friday 22^nd March

During the morning the shop was fairly quiet. Nick mentioned to me about a dress he had that he would let me customize and do what I like with. With the shop being quiet Nick got the dress out for me to have a look at. His previous work experience girls had started to take the dress apart but not started doing anything to it. The shirt section was taken off from the top section of the dress but that was as far as they had gotten with it.

The rest of the afternoon I pinned the dress back together so I could see it as one piece on the mannequin.

I started sketching and writing some ideas down of what I felt need changing about the dress.

There has been a few walk in customers this afternoon, all just looking none tried anything on.

Saturday 23^rd March

Today I came in to help Nick and his mum with bridal appointments throughout the day. There was no space for me to do any work so I was purely there to help arrange the dresses in the changing rooms and to help getting the brides in the dresses.

The afternoon was also for Barbara’s dress alteration appointments as well as continuing with brides trying on dresses.