Evaluation: Fashion and Textiles

My intent of this section of the rotation has been to gain knowledge and understanding of
fashion and textiles in general and also to learn skills such as using a sewing machine, dying
fabrics, and using dye to create patterns.

My research for this project mainly included different types of fabrics and motifs for
inspiration. I used this information to create designs for my own fashion collection.

Creating samples and experimenting with natural dyes has helped me since it was an
opportunity to explore different techniques and to practice using different dyes and methods.
I used this knowledge to dye my fabric on the front of my tote bag.

I think that creating a mood board helped me expand my ideas and create more interesting
designs for the end result. I found it helpful due to it organising my ideas surrounding
colours, textures, patterns, type of fabrics, and motifs. The reason we had to this was most
likely to collect our thoughts into one place and in order to create consistency throughout our
final pieces.

I have used self-reflection within this course so far through writing a brief evaluation in the
back of my book. This has helped me due to it making me think in detail about my work and
giving myself things to improve on, which resulted in better work overall.

My collection met the purpose of the consumers, which was to create designs which would
suit/flatter anyone who wanted to wear them and creating pieces which were bold and
beautiful- which promotes confidence.

To inspire my mood board, I chose my favourite colours and then some objects/ things
within nature and then went to Pinterest which then expanded my ideas and gave me the
resources I needed to create an effective mood board. In my opinion, this method of
generating ideas was useful due to it being specific to my taste and helped give me ideas and
inspiration.

When creating my final pieces (tote bag/ fashion collection), I encountered a few problems.
Namely I had an issue with the sewing machine since it stopped working several times so I
had to switch to a different one. The most significant issue I had was with attaching the
handles to the main body of the bag since it was too small to fit around the sewing machine.
I resolved this by sewin them on by hand, which worked well.

Overall, I am proud of all of my work and what I have created. I think that it was creative,
bold and an accurate representation of my own personal style. If I were to do it again, I
would spend more time on my tote bag to create a more refined finished product since in my
opinion, it is untidy and didn’t fulfil my potential. I am happy with the completed bag- I
enjoy the colours and the style of the tie dye however, the general detailing and completion
of the bag are dreadful. I think this was because of the short time frame I had given myself in
order to give myself more time to spend working on my collection.