reflection on shedule and day 11/05/2010

Today was a day of major fustration! Due to having finished my cuffs and piques, I had planned to begin creating my lining or fing out how my collars went together with the camvas on. I asked to see my tutor to be able to begin this. A brief appointment was arranged, however, due to other unforseen circumstances, my tutor was not able to attend. I did not want to go about it by guessing how it should be done due to knowing that it was a tailored garment and I had only created untailored costumes; using the bagging out lining process.. incase there was a large variation in a tailored lined garment and this method!
.. however, unfortunetly the other things that I needed to do; there were elements relating to the taliored way (correct way) that i needed to check with my tutor about. For example

when considering the sleeves lining; I realised I needed to consider that the lining would be seen behind the knitted wire pattern. My orginal aim of putting the knitted wire pattern there was as decorational interest but equally so that the cream of the shirt wouls contrat against the copper colour of the wire; or so that the skin would be seen behind! Therefore, lining the whole sleeve under the pattern would defeat the initial object of the patterning! Therefore, I wanted to ask graham if he would line the sleeve with maybe a poernet type fabric to still achieve the skin colour through or if the best option was to cut the pattern out from the lining too!

also... the shirt; due to having to fit the shirt and not at this point thinking about how I was going to finish the sleeves, i sewed the shirt with normal seams. Today having researched how a tailored high fashion/ couture shirt's seams were finished.. It seemed to be suggested by the website www. threadmagazine.com/itme/3702/seam-finishes-for-silks they were created with french seams!

I wanted this confirmed so found a couture shirt company 'A.G.Bespoke Couture' and emailed the company asking about their shirt finishes; in particular inside seam finishes to gain accuracy! I recieved an email back that night from the manager stating: "Our shirts are hand made in italy with french seams, and hand sewn buttons. The fabric collection changes each season which incorporates new colours and shades introduced by latest creation of the fabric designers. The chosen item will always be absolutely exclusive, with the perfect fit and lasting comfort. We believe in investing time to achieve excellence!"
This was of great help to me and established that in order to gain a beautiful finish I would need to spend time on every aspect and stitch!


This however, was a problem as a french seam is sewn wrong sides together and then rolled in to hide the raw edge and then stitched down over the top of the original stitchline. unless I was to unpick my shirt seams and redo them all this way; I would have to discuss the other options and best tailored option with my tutor for the finish of my shirt seams. I therefore thought I would use this time wisely; seeing as my tutor wasnt available, to think of the options I could suggest to him; I considered:

Rolling both edges of the seam in and overlocking these edges,

or

double rolling both seams in (once and then over again) and then placing then together as one and then top stitching down the very edge. This would require patience and extreme care and attanetion as well as time; but in order to gain the closet to a french seam and the most attractive finish: this is the option I thought was the best!


In relation to comming up with a solution for my sleeves; I considered;
Lining the sleeves with perhaps a very thin (almost see through) skin coloured fabric

or

placing the pattern on the same place as the top fabric sleeve; cutting them both out and completing the knitted wire applique through the top fabric sleeves and the lining fabric sleeve!

I was extremely fustrated by my day as I had reached a stand still and would not be able to contibue until my tutorial the following morning. This meant that i used the rest of the afternoon to create and re jiggle my plans for the week or how I could and would catch catch up on my schedule so as i was not behind!!!

~I realise however that this is something a professional in this industry would face a lot due to the artists/bands tight schedule and therefore there is a definate need for good organisation
and time scheduling as well as flexibilty and composed mannorism.