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Week One
Tuesday 19th 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 20th 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 21st 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 22nd 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 23rd 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.
