J|LONG SS17. Evaluation

Working as a group I feel we have collaborating well together during this unit. Starting with a theme of motocross we have developed on the idea of vintage motocross sportswear, as the difference between the clothing and safety gear has changed massively we felt the older clothing appealed more towards our Spring/Summer collection. Involving elements of pinball artwork with our designs as well as including a mechanical theme which developed our colour scheme bringing in tones of greys and silvers within our collection, which I think helped pushed our primary research adding to our original theme, developing our ideas further.As a group everyone seemed to be able to bring there best qualities to the collection. Cooperating to set each other individual jobs and task was beneficial for us so everyone contributed equally. Especially been able to work and share ideas together we were able to refine samples, choose our colour scheme and base fabrics, share ideas and designs as well as choosing the final line up as a team.

My main contribution to the group, from the beginning of the project has been printed textiles, giving us a starting point and prints to work from to start designing with. I tried to keep my prints simple so that they could be used as a repeated print, as we discussed in a group that we would like to incorporate panelling with in our designs, this is where we felt the printing would be best used within our collection. So the designs were best simple and effective bringing in the mechanical design, finding patterns within materials found from the scrap yard, our primary research. Developing my prints through process of screen printing, involving foiling and dyeing fabrics and layerings prints on top of each other.
I think to develop my prints further I should look at placement more and different scales which would of made my designs more abstract, especially when designing for a high end quality brand. I think we worked with good quality materials and fabrics which were relevant for the brand and a summer collection. I also think our colour scheme worked really well using a range of primary colour we selected red, yellow and blue to use throughout the collection as these were recurring colours we found within our secondary research of vintage motocross images, along with a range of silver and grey tones. I think our final line up is full of vibrant colour and prints, although at the beginning we started off by using a lot of grey and using our primary colours as accents colours but we found this looked very dull and not like a summer collection so we decided to use stronger primary colours and less greys which improved our designs massively.

Sticking to the James Long brand working with generic garments and developing them with vintage motocross outfits I think overall we have been able to design twelve looks for a men's Spring/Summer collection with a complete range of garments, including a jacket, coat, shirt, basic t-shirts, jumpers, shorts, trousers and dungarees, also including a one piece which is our show piece outfit in the collection. I think our collection has come together well as our final line up and presentation was strong, photoshopping prints onto the line up and having parts coloured in contributed to the overall effect massively as it made the design more interesting and not so flat to the page.

I think overall from this unit I have found it to be very beneficial as a textiles student designing for fashion, I can definitely take what I have learnt from this unit and develop on my design for fashion within textiles. With in my own work I think my designs have developed throughout the unit, finding different textures and techniques for illustrating materials for a garment. I have also found that I enjoyed the creating of the print and playing around with placement and colour more than I do designing the silhouette of a garment but it has been worthwhile to experience this part of fashion design.

J|LONG SS17. Presentation

• I think we displayed our work for presentation well, smart, clean and direct. 
• Final line up was mounted to display including mood board to show our theme, our muse and colour scheme. 
• Full collection with all details and fabric swatches bind together in a book to be looked through during our presentation.
• All samples finished with a header and tied together with rings in groups of base fabrics, technical samples and technique/print samples to be easily flicked through. 

• Our presentation was strong, we successfully presented our ideas and designs for the collection, receiving good feedback and response from Tom.  
• We was able to show we worked well and collaboratively together on this project as a team which showed through in our presentation, what we can improve on is more specific detailing of samples, techniques and materials along side our twelve looks.  

J|LONG SS17. Final line up

• I think our final line up is a strong collection that has a defined theme of motocross through the design and garments we have chosen. 
• I feel each outfit has come together well with ideas and input from everyone in our group, with recurring details, prints and techniques to create a whole collection.
• We also recognised that if we was designing these garments in industry for James Long there would be a cost to each garment, so we made sure to creating a balance between items been covered in printed textiles what would be our show pieces and creating basics of t-shirts and trousers that set a base for the collection and cheaper to produce. 

J|LONG SS17. Collection

• Working on Photoshop to add colour and detail of patterns to our final outfits.
• As a group we chose materials that we though would fit with the garments and outfit looking at what people have already put together and developed from these designs.
• Actually putting the materials and fabrics togethers compared to discussed the designs sometimes didn't look as we expected so some alterations where made. 
• After filling the outfits digitally, the design sheets looked very flat so we removed some of the colour and worked back into these designs, colouring in by hand to add texture and make them more creative. 
• Still inserting our prints from Photoshop to give a real representation of what print, fabric and scale we are using. 

J|LONG SS17. Research pages

J|LONG SS17. Print

• After developing on Poppy's design of a motorbike inspired by pinball art me and Sam took this into the print room to make some samples for the t-shirts and jumpers in the collection. 
• Using an allover bike print and a placement print of a larger bike.
• Working on airtex, mesh, ribbed and jersey materials.
• Including stripes into these designs we experimented with foiling onto the rib to be used while making technical samples for collars and cuffs.
• Mixing in some brighter colours so our work is less muted.

• Working on a mixed, all over print proved to be quite difficult and time consuming, considering this design would only be printed for a basic t shirt. Masking off each bike as we went along this design, learning from this that in industry it would of looked better if we had this design digitally printed instead.

J|LONG SS17. Sampling

• After refining our sample choices together, I developed my own print samples further adding texture, mixing materials together, cutting into fabrics by hand and adding stitch details.
• This was to play around with the materials, creating different design and trying to show prints working collaboratively together, revealing another fabric or print through another.
• Experimenting with the material and prints I have been working with more three dimensional, adding in extra detail. Thinking about the print working on the body and what effect will happen to the material when theres movement, opening up to unveiling a different print, adding movement to the fabrics.