Within this workshop we had 4 separate workshops, all on a mannequin. The first two included cutting out 8 of the same shape; the first was in a brown thick paper, and the second was in pattern cutting paper. In the first, we had roughly 3 minutes to pin these 8 pieces of brown paper in various ways onto the mannequin, each time as a different part. For example first we had to create a collar, then a hip, then sleeve and so on. The second workshop we had to use the pattern cutting paper, but instead of pinning it straight onto the mannequin we had to made it come alive by making it 3D and pinning it together and then onto the mannequin. I collaborated my sleeve (seen in the bottom left picture) with another girl on the workshop to create a sleeve and hip piece. Our next workshop was again with the brown paper, but instead of 8 individual shapes we simply had 1 large piece. (seen in the bottom right picture) The final workshop was further minimal, using only a thin piece of string cut from the brown paper, this was to design various 'seams' and silhouettes.
The workshop I would say I found most useful was the 3D pattern cutting exercise, this was due to the variety of designs that could be created simply by arranging the paper in different ways or by collaborating with others paper designs. It also gave a visual to the design, as opposed to an 'idea' of a silhouette it simply just gave a pattern that could be used in future. For this reason I kept all my original templates and took many pictures throughout the processes.
I thoroughly enjoyed the 1 sheet exercise, my designs were successful as I produced a large diversity of silhouettes giving me inspiration for development designs. One of these designs was a favourite amongst peers and the teacher, the feedback I received was all positive. The silhouette had flow but remained interesting and workable, it could be translated into a number of designs; as a sleeve, using the silhouette into a garment or simply using the rippled feature in a design. I made sure I took pictures the whole way through which means I can refer back to any designs in future work, or rework designs from the original source.
We produced a huge number of designs and silhouettes from each workshop, from which I have taken and designed from into my sketchbook, this workshop was great as it brought the designing aspect of the course to life. Working onto a mannequin as opposed to with pens was exciting and inspiring, teaching me that if I have a mind blank on paper, sometimes its easier to use the paper to create instead of the other way round.
I found working on seams challenging as I found it difficult to design something from seams alone. However, I eventually got the hang of through some examples of others that were good. I produced less of these that I was happy with but again they are good starter points and ideas for drawings and designs. Irrelevant that I felt I didn't get on to well with this workshop, it was useful as beginning ideas, the 'seams' don't necessarily have to be for seams. It can be used as blocking for materials and where something will change colour and so on.
Comparing and giving and receiving constructive criticism on our designs was extremely useful, mainly because it taught us to evaluate our own work in an honest way. Through receiving criticism on my own work I could see improvements that I might not have thought of. Criticising constructively someone else's work improves my own work as I can learn from others mistakes and transfer skills I think worked into my designs.
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