Summer Internship: Day 20

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!  I cannot believe that this week is already over!  I have begun on my third sweater project; this one a little different from the last two.  That has been the really fun part of doing the same garment.  I have the opportunity to make modifications to change the look.  This time, I wanted to go for a little bit more sporty of a style.

I am changing the style in that the waistband will be cinched in by a drawstring and above that, a front pocket will be placed.  The fabric swatch above will be used in the body pieces, while the bottom swatch will be used on arm pieces and trims.

To get started on these changes, I needed to make myself a pattern for the pocket.  I used my previous sweater to lay out markings of appropriate dimension (pins).

I came up with the bottom portion being the longest (11 inches) and the top portion being shortest (8 inches).  The sides would be curved in for hands to be able to slide in and out.

I sketched out these dimensions onto pattern paper.

The measurements had to be again, extended for seam allowance.

Take into consideration, right now it looks like the Pizza Hut sign versus a pocket, but you learn in sewing that things tend to change before your eyes as you are putting it together:)

The next task for this new garment was the drawstring/elastic waistband; which I have never attempted.  This required the placement of grommets (my new favorite word!).

I marked off in the center of the waistband where the grommets should be placed.  I then went from the back of the fabric and sniped a very tiny hole in the two spots; which then led me to using a tool!

  
This little guy takes the metal grommet and presses it down into place so you are left with...

A place for your drawstring to slide through!  So now you know what those little holes are called; GROMMETS!

This was as far as I got today but I guarantee that by Monday, I will yet again, have another sweater:)

Summer Internship: Day 19

The process of sewing really speeds up when materials have been cut and measured!  I jumped right into sewing today.  Christopher has been teaching me in a way where I watch things being done, then try with his guidance, and finally do on my own and have him assess the work.  I have reached that last step.  I go through in my process trying to remember which steps come first and how things should look when it comes together.  Occasionally I will break Christopher from his concentration to ask him questions to make sure I am on the right track but for the most part, I am feeling more and more confident everyday in my abilities and it is because I have an incredible mentor to guide me.  This internship was a blessing!  

...But aside from that:)  I finished another sweater today!  I will go through my finishing steps that got me there:

I knew that I wanted to incorporate a pocket so that was one of the first things to be done after cutting the pieces.  I used my previous sweater in deciding its placement and those measurements were distributed to the front body piece.  

The body pieces were then stitched along that arm hole curve.  When these are completely sewn all together piece by piece, you have yourself a nice poncho; however, I prefer sleeves, which were the next part to form.

The final touch is to attach on the collar, cuffs, and waistband.  This is especially tricky on the cuffs because they are SO tiny!  Again, I used my serger on all of this (except for minor stitching on the pocket front).  

When it was all completed, I had yet another garment to feel proud of!  And here is why:

But most of all, because I made it and there is not another one like it:)

Summer Internship: Day 18

I had quite the eventful day today!  We began working in the studio.  I brought in my materials I bought yesterday from S.R. Harris and brainstormed a bit with Christopher on my ideas.  I am going to start with using the paisley print for the body and burgundy color for the sleeve on the first sweater.  It will be very similar to the striped one I made previously; however, I plan on taking in the waistband a couple of inches to give it a new shape.  The cuffs will also be slimmer in the same manner.  This will create a sense of draping but also hug the body with tighter hemlines.  

 Above is the pattern used to make the body portion of the sweater.  Right now the material is displayed being folded because the pattern needs to be placed on the fold of the material so that it has a centerfold area.

 In comparison, this is the sleeve pattern which kind of looks similar to the body shape.  The curvatures are where the armhole meets with the body and from there creates the raglan sleeve look.

I finished cutting all of my pieces and realized that the white thread in my serger was not going to work for the deep tones in my material.  We went and bought black thread but I had never changed out my thread.  Threading it to begin with was practically a nightmare!  I was relieved to find out that changing the thread was much easier!

I began by separating out the four sections of thread with a tweezers.  Then I pulled out some of the white thread, cut it, and tied a knot to the new black thread.  When this was done with all four spools, I could then pull through each thread until only black was showing.  I know this is not the most exciting thing to learn about, but as an aspiring designer, these lessons are a necessity to sewing!

My next challenge was to attempt to construct a pocket for the sweater; not something I did on the last.  I had to go through a sketch around a similar pocket and adjust to my preferences.  I wanted a pocket that was rounded at the bottom but square at the top as shown below.

It is a bit hard to distinguish but once this was ready, I cut out and placed on my material to cut.  The pocket in the picture appears bigger but a portion of that has to get taken into consideration for seam allowance or material that basically gets sewn and tucked under.

I went on and prepared the cuffs, collar, and waistband which were then stitched to await being attached to the body and sleeve pieces.

This was about my stopping point today as Christopher and I had to venture to Shop NBC to do a photography session with the totes he had previously created.  The bags were given volume by getting stuffed with paper and displayed in a way where the handles were standing upright.  Within the small boxed in area where the pictures were being captured, a long bar hung over top with a wire attached.  The wire could then be looped or hooked around the bag straps and within the actual photo, it would be nonexistent thanks to programs such as Photoshop:)  Overall, very successful and eventual day! 

Summer Internship: Day 17

Onto project two!  Except this time, I am on my own!  Today was a day for me to take an independent day in order to find my materials to construct a similar garment to the one finished yesterday.  I ended up going back to S.R. Harris, which is a wholesale fabric company located in Brooklyn Park, MN.  If you have not read my previous post from when I went last week, this place is HUGE!  A quarter million bolts of fabric line up floor to ceiling.

 As you can see above, this is only one aisle out of the many throughout the store!  And the fabric is not always the easiest to pull out either...

 It actually requires some muscles:) Thankfully, I think I won the battle with this bolt of fabric!

I carried on in my search for materials nonetheless.  I was hoping to find warm red and orange tones for the next sweater.  The bolt located above is a textured polar fleece.  It is important to note that when a designer is in search for materials, they have to please the consumer's needs.  In this case, I would be considered the consumer.  I purchase based upon my preferences.  Designers have to research heavily sometimes to find out what end results the consumer is hoping for.  They often times require trend forecasters (and yes, these exist) to determine some of the variants.  In my case, it is easy because I know exactly what I want...most of the time!

At S.R. Harris, the customer is the one to cut their own fabric unless it is bigger than 5 yards.  I bought 1 yard of four different materials and ended up with...

I have a paisley print as well as red-orange and burgundy fleeces.  The white sweater roll above is reversible and has a heather brown on the other side.  For the rest of the evening I am going to gather my inspiration pieces and create some sketches which I will post tomorrow!  By the end of the week I should have at least one more garment complete and ready-to-wear!

Summer Internship: Day 16

I left off Thursday from the studio beginning my sweater project; we did measurements as well as cutting.  Today we immediately got into pinning and sewing.  I laid out the body pieces and connected them to the arm pieces and from there I made the cuffs, collar, and waist band.  This entire project was made from using my serger and in fact, got completed today!  Needless to say, I was not expecting it to be done so quickly!  We are going to do another similar project now that I have a feel for it and can make modifications.  I will document more with that next one so I can share the process from start to finish:)

Let the Weekend Begin!

I have a three day weekend which has worked out to my advantage!  It has been a month since I have been home or seen my family and my mom as well as two sisters have decided to come pay me a much needed visit over the weekend.  Normally while I am at school, I go home every weekend to work so I am used to being able to see them frequently.  This has been a change but definitely a change I think that will be rewarding for me.  As much as I love being home, I know I am capable of spreading my wings a little bit further with new opportunities.

In the past month, as you all know, I have been spending time on my internship as well as working on sketching and sewing in my free time.  I also managed to make three pairs of pajama pants for my mom and sisters which is now ready for their arrival:)

 
For anyone who is beginning sewing, pajamas make a really great project!  And here is why:

1. Cottons are fairly easy to work with
2. You are not dealing with a lot of shape; mainly straight stitching
3. WHO CARES WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE WHEN YOU ARE SLEEPING!  If your pajama pants turn out to be a hot mess, no biggie!  You are probably the only one to know about it:)

Summer Internship: Day 15

I officially began my project today after my sketches and fabric were set and ready!  Christopher began by taking me to JoAnn's to pick up a basic pattern for the raglan sleeve shirt.  We then went through and cut out the pieces of the pattern that coordinated to my size.  What is nice about patterns, is there is always room for modification.  After taking my own measurements (arm length, collar to waist, cuff lengths), we were able to make appropriate adjustments to the pattern pieces.  I actually find it quite funny how often math is used with this process; my favorite subject...NOT!  So finally the prerequisites were complete and I could move onto actually cutting my fabric.  Needless to say this is as far as I got with my project today and waiting for Monday to continue is going to be a challenge!  More updates to come:) 

Summer Internship: Day 13 & 14

More bags to work on this week!  I am really loving seeing them all come together and how they will correlate with the overall collection.  Everything is flowing so fluently with how Christopher described the theme to be.  

As exciting as all of this is, I have to say, I am even MORE excited (if that is even possible!) to get started on the project I discussed previously!  So far I have bought materials and created a sketch design to go along with it.  The sweatshirt will be a raglan sleeve style with longer cuffs as well as print on body and solid material on the sleeves.  

The about picture is my sketch along with the according fabric swatches.  Now that the sketching and materials are obtained, our next step is to do measurements and pick out an appropriate pattern.  Bring on the sewing!   

Summer Internship: Day 12

Field trip time!  Today we went out on a venture in search of fabric.  We have done the typical JoAnn, Hancock, and Mill Ends runs but today needed more!  S.R. Harris is a massive fabric warehouse that stores a quarter of a million rolls of materials as well as trims.  From floor to ceiling, the place is jam packed to the brim with fabric...EVERYWHERE!

It is amazing but it definitely takes some digging through to find what you need.  Luckily for both Christopher and myself, we found some great materials!  Previously I posted a couple sketches of what I would be working on here soon with my serger and I ended up finding materials for that today as well!

 

Weekend Project!

Well I have made an accomplishment over the weekend!  Before leaving for the summer internship, I had been working on a skirt as a beginning project with a college instructor.  We ended up running out of time at the end of the year with finals invading on sewing opportunity so we moved onto plan B...SKYPE!  She gave me the final steps and after pins, ironing, cutting, sewing, and serging, my project is now complete!  I am relieved and happy to know that I am finally getting a handle on sewing and gaining the necessary skills to go along with it.  Below I have pictures of my concluding processes:)  

Summer Internship: Day 11

Another week already gone!  I only worked 3 days this week, but still kept very busy with my own sewing and sketching outside of the studio!

At the beginning of the week we had been working on tote bags, which again, required a lot of cutting and tracing on my end.  As pieces were being constructed, I learned that ironing is a crucial step to the process in order for fabric to lay properly.  In fact, ironing should be done with nearly everything you do when sewing; even if it is only pajama pants;)  By the end of today we had 9 tote bags complete and finished appropriately.  Not too bad for only 3 days of work!

On a side note, I had my own assignments from Christopher to complete individually.  I recently bought a serger, and for those who are curious, this is similar to a sewing machine but instead has two needles, four spools for thread and at the same time cuts fabric to have a clean, finished edge.  The clothing you are wearing right now probably has some sort of serging done within it.  Being introduced and practicing with serging is a new and difficult task, but after practice, Christopher has decided it is time to start my project.  My project consists of sketching out some simple sweatshirt style designs and then following through by physically making the one I design.  Sweatshirts can be done almost entirely by just using a serger which is why it makes for a perfect first project!

Below I have some of the images I have been practicing with:)  Happy Friday!

My Day Off!

Well today I ended up having a day off on the most perfect day ever!  The sun was finally shinning so I decided it was necessary to soak it up:) 

However, as promised, I will be posting some photos tomorrow of my projects I have been working on...PROMISE!  

I know not a lot of exciting information for all of you today, but keeping it short and sweet!  

On a side note, I was featured in the Sioux Falls Woman Magazine in the fashion section for the June/July issue!  Copy and paste the link below and it should be on page 16!

http://issuu.com/siouxfallswoman/docs/sioux_falls_woman_june_-_july_2013/ 

Summer Internship: Day 9 & 10

Well onto week 3 of my internship...ALREADY!  I cannot believe how quickly this experience is going but I am loving every minute of it!  

The last couple days have been busy both in the studio and out.  Yesterday I worked on measuring dimensions of future handbags to go with the collection Christopher is working on.  This required that I trace out the measurements out of pattern paper for the base, straps, etc that will be needed to construct the bag.  So far we have traced and cut the leather pieces.  

I was also given a little bit of side homework; but homework that I am actually excited about:)  The past few days Christopher has been working with me on using my new serger, which is different from a sewing machine in that it is able to stitch and finish an edge in one swift movement.  I have gained some basic knowledge so we are ready to move onto a bigger project!  This is where my homework comes in!  I had to complete some sketches of the look I wanted to complete for my first "serging" project!  I will share the sketches soon:)

ADDITIONALLY!  I am also about finished with a skirt I have been working on!  So to sum up the past few days...sewing, sketching and serging!  Again, pictures will be up this week!

Thank you everyone for following and supporting my blog!  Please let me know future things you guys would like to see!   

Summer Internship: Day 8 (TWIN CITIES LIVE!!!)

Today was a new experience for me!  We took a break from studio work to venture out to the twin cities.  Christopher was given a challenge, among two other designers, to make a complete look (accessories included) for $50.00 and under for Twin Cities Live show.  The dress he designed and constructed came to just around $25.00 while accessories and shoes combined only came to $15.00.  He created a fabulous look for around $40.00!!!  Below I placed the link so you all may see the segment of the show and the garment Christopher created: 

http://twincitieslive.com/article/12500/?vid=4088415

I assisted backstage helping our model get dressed and perfected before making stage presence.  It was really neat seeing how a studio as well as live show worked and functioned.  People were running back and forth to make sure everyone was at the right place at the right time.  There was also high energy, which was really exciting!  I snapped some shots of the wall leading into the studio which included signatures of people who had taken part in the show previously!  Anyway, enjoy the video clip and photo! 

Summer Internship: Day 7

Cutting, cutting, and more cutting!  I am going to become a pro by the end of this; however, I did get a new tool other than a sheers to use today.  I learned how to manipulate a rotary cutter which basically looks like a pizza cutter but for fabric.  Needless to say, this is a great tool to have once a person has gained control over the pressure they exert on the material.

This internship is not only to help a designer with projects, but also so I am able to gain hands on experience based on the knowledge I have received in school so far.  Although my major is apparel merchandising, we do not get the opportunity to work with sewing machines.  Working with a designer was my ultimate goal in helping me decide my future career path.    

Summer Internship: Day 5 and 6

I have OFFICIALLY finished cutting leather scales...for now:)  If you happen to be curious about how many I cut out, it was 519 for the grand total!  I think my fingers are slightly relieved, until tomorrow at least!

Aside from that little shindig, I also have my own projects I am currently working on within fashion.  Sewing has been a huge goal for me to become knowledgeable in.  My grandmother gave me a sewing machine she had from the 1980's, so I have been slowly but surely, learning to use  it.  Since I am definitely a beginner in this process, a great basic project to work from is pajama pants.  So far, I am on my 5th pair and feel pretty ready for a new challenge:)