In Monday I showed these to the class, unlucky for me the lecturer made me go first. This was awkward for me, not because I'm afraid to speak in front of people but more because I didn't have any idea of what kind of work the others had done and if I was on the right track or had gone way off. I've learnt very quickly that the students have a different way of working here, very good, but very different to how I have learnt to do things back home. I've basically done mood boards as I would for a project back home, and I was so nervous thinking 'please like it'. After my presentation the whole class clapped me, and this put my mind at rest instantly. There were a few problems showing my work through the computer they had in the room because illustrator wasn't installed on it and it couldn't read 'ai' files, I had to show it from my laptop. The others had saved their work to 'pdf' format. I need to keep this in mind for the future. As I sat there watching the other students' presentations, yeah sure mine was quite different, mine were mood boards consisting of only images that set me mood and inspiration, whereas the others had selected catwalk images, styles and a lot of writing contained in the presentation boards. With several different concepts but not a lot of work on each, more like a taster of each idea. I probably should have done this rather than go straight in deciding on Russia. There was a process behind my decision but maybe I should have shown this. I'm sure I can relate some of my thought process later on.
For class next week I've been told to bring 5 items of my clothing because we are going to have a fun lesson with clothing manipulation. Also I need to work on selecting some images and making them into print designs, looking into print processes and thinking about which fabrics I would like to use for my final collection...wow this project is moving fast, though to be expected, I need to have my collection completely finished by January when I come back. I like that I'm being pushed, but I know I will have many crying episodes along the way!
For Thursday I needed to have a pair of Desigual style trousers toiled up with pattern obviously, I'm sure the last time I made trousers was in the first year, and being honest, I HATE making trousers, because I always mess up the pattern and stitch the zipper wrong. Now I'm being told to alter the standard classic trouser to a Desigual style trouser, on my own and make it without help. As you can imagine I was terrified. Worked on the pattern Monday and Tuesday, I was sure it was wrong. Made it on Wednesday. My sewing was diabolical, quite possibly the worst I've even done, but in my defence, the machines in the uni are old versions of the ones I use back home, back home they have an underneath thread cutter, with a computer operated pad to change the speed of the machine. The ones here have neither of these things, with a nasty habit of unthreading all the time. What shoddy work I did took me about 4 hours, when back home it would have been perfect looking. And done within an hour. I will never ever moan about the machines back home again! And obviously come class on Thursday, I find out that my trousers were rubbish and not at all in the style of Desigual (kinda expected that one though) I wasn't the only one, apparently everyone's trousers were awful. And for next week I have to make another pair of trousers. Oh well. Let's hope I get it right this time!
