3D Outcome: Planning & Development

My 3D outcome for AP1 will be a garment from one of my design collection. For the outcome, I decided to create the design below, a top with collar and folded short-sleeve, embellished with epaulets on the shoulder and pocket on the top front of the bodice. This top is going to be tucked inside a drop waist bubble skirt with 2 pocket on the waistband. To add the texture decoration on the garment, I will add pintucks to the collar and Suffolk puff to stick on the front piece of the top. I plan to also include basket weaving pattern on the pocket flap. 

                        

During week 6, I have finalized the 6-design for my collection and start to search pattern for my garment. For the top I'm going to use 'Eleonora' top pattern I found on Etsy. To fit my design sketches, I will alter the length of the dress into a top. And for the skirt, I'm going to use the triangular waistband from the mini skirt pattern I have tried before. 

I also planned to add a little touch to the bubble skirt by adding strap with metal triangle rings on both side of the skirt to make it add more 'utility' feel to the skirt. I was inspired by the Urban Outfitters drop-waist bubble skirt that I came across in Pinterest. 

Urban Outfitters Drop-Waist Bubble Skirt

Constructing the Prototype

At the beginning of trying out the pattern it was straightforward and went pretty smoothly. Seeing a lot of fabric scrap from cutting the pattern, I was thinking of using it to make the basket weave pattern on the pocket flap, and I was very happy with the result. To make it neater, I will sew a seam on each of the strip for the final garment. 

 

When I start to assemble the top bodice, I had trouble with the alteration of the pattern that I did at the beginning. The notches of the arm hole don't match with the front and back bodice like the picture attached below. I was very frustrated because I thought I already did a correct calculation and measurement before cutting the pattern on the fabric. So I took some time to re-do the measurement and find the miscalculation of the alteration. Another problem I experience with altering the length of the dress is, at first I thought that to make the dress as a top I will only need to trim the length, however in the middle of assembling the pieces, I found out that trimming the length also changes the arm hole and sleeve cuff measurement. So I re-do the calculation once more to make sure all the notches aligned. 

The top was finished after 3 days working on it. Here is how it turned out. I was happy that it fit perfectly when I tried it on. I think the calico hold the structure of the top really well, this kind of lightweight cotton fabric is what I'm going for as for the final garment. There is one thing I wanted to change for the final outcome, it would look better if the pocket and the flap is much smaller, to fit better on the bodice, because initially the pocket should be on the lower part of the dress, but I decided to add it on the top.

Here I was trying to see where to put the 'tree bark' pintucks on the top. On my first design, I add this texture on the whole bodice of the top, however now I thought that it would be very time-consuming to make and will cost a lot more yards of fabric. So, I tried to pin the pintucks on the collar, and I was happy with how it looked. I also plan to add the pintucks on the sleeve cuff, but I'm not sure if the fabric will be enough to make it. 

As for the Suffolk puff, I tried to add it below the collar, but I thought that the top might be a little too crowded, and I will probably add it to the skirt waistband instead. 

Constructing the final 3D outcome

After finishing the prototype and make some revision to the pattern, I then went to material magic to get the fabric. I consulted with the seller of what fabric is recommended to use for this project, and he suggested to use either cotton twill or linen for the top and polyester-cotton for a more affordable option for the skirt. I get 2.5 meters of the linen and 2 meters of the polyester. I also got several accessories like button, zipper, strap and triangular metal ring. Next, I continue with cutting the pattern on the linen. 

As for the collar pattern, I first make the pintucks on 100x 50 cm of fabric before cutting the collar pattern on that fabric. Currently, I'm still in progress of making the pintucks, and plan to finish the final outcome mid week 8.