Jumpsuit design ideas

Using my previous sketch book work and research, I started to create design ideas for my jumpsuit which I'm planning to make in a further date.

I looked into current trends from the Georgian era such as frills, wrap arounds, corsets etc. whilst also keeping in mind the modern era from the Firstsite building. I soon realised that it was rather difficult to use influences from Georgian womenswear, this is when I started to pay an interest into menswear from the Georgian era.

During my research I also discovered that there was many wars during the Georgian era, which steered my research and designing towards the military style.

Trip to Paris. 10/02/15-13/02/15

By leaving Chelmsford at 5am, we arrived at the Colchester Institute campus at 5:45am. Once meeting the other students and lecturers we boarded the coach and left for the Euro tunnel. We arrived an hour early at the tunnel and boarded the 9am train. It then took another 2 or so hours to reach the hotel once exiting the train.

After reading disappointing reviews about the hotel online, we were pleasantly surprised upon arrival. The rooms were newly refurbished with shabby chic furniture. After briefly unpacking we met downstairs in the hotel salon and were walked up to the Sacré-cœur. The view from outside was stunning to say the least. The church's outside was beautifully structured and detailed with sculptures and text, however the inside was just as or more stunning. The ceiling was plastered with gorgeous paintings with pillars and objects dripped in gold.

Once viewing the Sacré-cœur, we walked around to the Artist's Square, which was covered in French painters and sketchers looking for work. We walked to the fabric shops which were covered floor to ceiling with drapes and rolls of fabric. We then made our way back to the hotel, walking past the stunning, vibrant red Moulin Rouge. We found a reasonably priced take-away and brought dinner back to our hotel rooms. 

When waking on the second day after a well needed sleep, me and Laura used the shower for the first time (which was amazing by the way) and got ourselves ready for the day. Unfortunately we did not make it to breakfast in time, but met with the others in the hotel Salon for 9:30am. We walked to our nearest metro station; Brochant and travelled line 13 to Champs Elysées Clemenceau where we changed lines to reach Concorde. Once leaving the station, we started our 'Fashion Walk' passing and visiting shops such as Chanel, Prada, Collect and Dior. We also visited the La Madeleine, which was stunning from outside and even more beautiful inside. We then walked through the Tuileries Garden up to the Louvre and got lunch before making a trip across Paris to another museum to attend a fashion exhibition, 'Fashion Mix'.

Later that evening we took a coach trip around Paris, past the Arc De Triomphe, Notre Dame, Musee du Lourve and parked up at the Eiffel Tower to take photos and have a walk around. It was purely perfect timing to stop at the Eiffel Tower when we did, with around 10 minutes to go before it hit the hour - On the hour, for around 5-10 minutes, the tower itself lights up, head to toe for all to see from practically any end of Paris. I got some amazing photographs, videos and even selfies! After the coach tour, the majority of the group stopped off and went out for a meal, me, Laura and a few other people continued on to the hotel. Bored and unhungry, me, Laura, and our new friends, Faye, Charlotte, Shannon and Helen walked around in the hopes of finding an off liscence to purchase some wine. After over an hour of looking and giving up, we found a little shop full to the door of alcohol, right next to the hotel - how frustrating, right? We headed up to Faye and Charlotte's room where we had a midnight feast with wine, sweets and crisps whilst having song and dance battles to the likes of Destiny's Child and Notorious B.I.G.

Unfortunately Laura and Helen weren't able to make it to Premier Vision the next day due to a slight case of alcohol poisoning, haha. The building it was held in reminded me of the Edexel building in London and was filled from wall to wall with fabric, garments, accessories and more. It was extremely exciting, and if I was more aware of what the place was about previously, I would have payed much more attention inside. This visit would have been extremely useful if I was in my 3rd year of the course and was looking to purchasing my own material etc. We then took the coach back to the hotel and waited for the rest of the group to return from the Sonia Delauney exhibition. As it was our last night in Paris us girls all decided to go for a meal in a restaurant within walking distance of the hotel, weirdly enough we didn't explore the interesting French food, and all of us decided on Lasagne, which was incredibly filling and delicious. As per, we walked to a supermarket/ off liscence and purchased more wine and wandered back to our hotel rooms where we watched a rather drunken Jake and Joe perform dance moves and more.

The next day we had free will to rome around Paris with our leftover Metropolitan tickets, so me and Laura ventured back to the beautiful Tuileries Garden, making a similar route to the day before and found some 'tacky' souveneer shops that we practically bought out with the remainders of our Euros. Starving and beginning to get a little bored, we stumbled on a restraunt down the aisle of souveneer shops where they sold French food - FINALLY! I could devour a Croque Monsuier (One of my all time favourite dishes) After a filling meal, we rode the Metro back to the hotel and boarded the coach for the journey home.

I took many pictures during the trip on my camera (Nikon D3100) which I have uploaded here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskaT3ovd  Feel free to browse through them.

Introduction to textile applications: Fabric dying and screen printing discharge

In this session using the fabric given to us I began cutting squared of each type. Once having a sufficient amount of fabric I placed a pin in the corner of each square and made a figure of eight around the pin using wool to keep it secure.

This was my selection of fabric I was to use to dye. Whilst dying I made sure to take health and safety precautions by wearing an apron, a mask, and gloves. Once the fabric was dyed for the desired amount of time (The longer the more vivid the colour) we dried and ironed our samples.

I then secured my samples to paper with tape to decrease movement whilst printing. It is my screen that I had previously exposed with my prints.

Again taking health and safety precautions I wore my apron, gloves, and mask whilst printing as I understand that there are hazardous chemicals during this practice.

I used a discharge to print on to my fabric samples. Once these have dried all we heat-pressed our samples.

Drawing from Firstsite

Using inspiration from my documentation and photographs from Firstsite, I started using mediums such as masking tape, pencil, biro and more to sketch and illustrate shapes and patterns of my own interpretation.

After completing these pages full of sketches, I used a stencil of a jumpsuit and placed it upon the illustrations as a viewfinder to seek inspiration for jumpsuit designs. I took images of the result and annotated my views on them in my technical folder.

The technique helped me gather ideas and inspiration for when I look further into designing my final jumpsuit and collection.