Apparel Industry Project
Reflection
After completing my project where I investigated the profession of Fashion Photography, I don't think I would personally pursue Fashion Photography as a career. Solely pursuing Fashion Photography, my pay will be relatively low and consistent, therefore it's a risky decision financially. Aside from Fashion Photography, I feel I would enjoy being an Environmental Engineer or Fashion Designer as these two professions require great expertise and problem-solving capability –– yet they allow me to make a grandiloquent impact on the fashion industry. While completing my presentation, I especially enjoyed having the freedom to add extra details and visual explanations to my liking; through this, I feel I kept my audience engaged –– and there was virtually nothing that I disliked about this project's task. If I could go back and re-present my assignment, I would have touched on social media as a great avenue to gain experience, exposure, and a following as a Fashion Photographer.
Apparel Project 1 - Pajama Joggers
Final Photo
In-Progress Photos
The cuff on my garment's pant legs is almost finished as I pull both sides of the elastic out and soon remove the safety pins to stitch the elastic together and close off the cuff casing.
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I am ready to insert this half-cut piece of elastic into the casing along the bottom legs of this garment. The same process used to create the garment's waistband is utilized at the bottom of each pant leg to create cuffs.
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Garment turned inside out with the first hem completed upon the top of the waist. I soon begin to fold once again, pin, and sew to create the waistband casing and insert the elastic.
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Both pattern piece pairs are unfolded as I begin to pin along the 'parabola' of the crotch to eventually sew. I messed up the alignment with this pinning orientation, so I had to re-do this!
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A single front + back pattern piece pair laid upon one another, ready to be sewn along the length of the leg -- past the crotch.
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Two pattern pieces cut from Mrs. Lord's pajama pattern (pink = front piece & blue = back piece) laid out on a table.
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Reflection
Describe your project
For my first apparel project, I chose to create a pair of pajama-like joggers that are appropriate for school, comfort, and sleep. I followed the pre-made pattern for pajama pants that Mrs. Lord provided me — replacing a drawstring waistband for an elastic one. With the same method to create my waistband, I constructed cuffs around the bottom of the garment’s legs to emulate the look of jogger pants. Concerning my fabric and color choice, I gravitated toward colorful fleece to convey a comfortable, youthful look. I chose to use two colors — mint green and light pink — as these colors work well together and I associate pastel tints with blithe and comfort.
What THREE method requirements did you accomplish on this project?
Casing - I successfully produced an elastic waistband by creating the hem, folding once more and sewing, and inserting the elastic using the safety pin method.
Finished Edges - I successfully made clean stitches, later finishing my raw edges along the lengths where pattern pieces were sewn together with pinking shears.
Double-Rolled Hem - I successfully cut the bottom of my garment at the right length so that the cuffs I created would comfortably rest near my ankles. After doing so, I folded once to create the first hem and folded a second time -- stitching once more to create the double-rolled hem for the bottom of the garment's pant legs.
What about this project did you find easy?
I found it quite easy to prepare my pattern pieces as I simply had to follow the paper pattern by tracing along such on my fabric and cutting. Additionally, I felt that the process of sewing in neat lines with my machine was satisfying and simple.
What things about this project did you find difficult?
I found it most difficult to correctly sew along the curved, parabola-like crotch as I had to re-adjust how the pattern pieces rested upon another to ensure the same seam allowance resulted along the entire stitching.
Explain what type of pattern you followed (Paper pattern, blog post, youtube tutorial) What did you think about this method? Would you choose to do it this way again?
I followed the paper pattern that Mrs. Lord provided to create pajama pants — but I opted for an elastic instead of drawstring waistband and added elastic cuffs to the bottoms of my garment to create joggers. I enjoyed this method because preparing my pattern pieces required little effort since I used a pre-made pattern. Although this was helpful, I would like to create my own patterns for my second apparel project.
What could you improve on next time? What could you have done differently?
Beginning my next apparel project, I’ll aim to cut more precisely when preparing patterns. I hope to become more efficient at creating my own patterns and carefully cutting to ensure my garments fit comfortably. Speaking on the process of making these joggers, I feel — if I had a longer time frame to work — adding floral decals from the same fabric the joggers consisted of would have been a nice touch!
What did you LEARN from this project?
While creating the waistband of the garment, I learned how to effectively thread elastic through a waistband casing using two safety pins. Moving forward, I’ll save a tremendous amount of time when adding elastic to garments with this new technique!
For my first apparel project, I chose to create a pair of pajama-like joggers that are appropriate for school, comfort, and sleep. I followed the pre-made pattern for pajama pants that Mrs. Lord provided me — replacing a drawstring waistband for an elastic one. With the same method to create my waistband, I constructed cuffs around the bottom of the garment’s legs to emulate the look of jogger pants. Concerning my fabric and color choice, I gravitated toward colorful fleece to convey a comfortable, youthful look. I chose to use two colors — mint green and light pink — as these colors work well together and I associate pastel tints with blithe and comfort.
What THREE method requirements did you accomplish on this project?
Casing - I successfully produced an elastic waistband by creating the hem, folding once more and sewing, and inserting the elastic using the safety pin method.
Finished Edges - I successfully made clean stitches, later finishing my raw edges along the lengths where pattern pieces were sewn together with pinking shears.
Double-Rolled Hem - I successfully cut the bottom of my garment at the right length so that the cuffs I created would comfortably rest near my ankles. After doing so, I folded once to create the first hem and folded a second time -- stitching once more to create the double-rolled hem for the bottom of the garment's pant legs.
What about this project did you find easy?
I found it quite easy to prepare my pattern pieces as I simply had to follow the paper pattern by tracing along such on my fabric and cutting. Additionally, I felt that the process of sewing in neat lines with my machine was satisfying and simple.
What things about this project did you find difficult?
I found it most difficult to correctly sew along the curved, parabola-like crotch as I had to re-adjust how the pattern pieces rested upon another to ensure the same seam allowance resulted along the entire stitching.
Explain what type of pattern you followed (Paper pattern, blog post, youtube tutorial) What did you think about this method? Would you choose to do it this way again?
I followed the paper pattern that Mrs. Lord provided to create pajama pants — but I opted for an elastic instead of drawstring waistband and added elastic cuffs to the bottoms of my garment to create joggers. I enjoyed this method because preparing my pattern pieces required little effort since I used a pre-made pattern. Although this was helpful, I would like to create my own patterns for my second apparel project.
What could you improve on next time? What could you have done differently?
Beginning my next apparel project, I’ll aim to cut more precisely when preparing patterns. I hope to become more efficient at creating my own patterns and carefully cutting to ensure my garments fit comfortably. Speaking on the process of making these joggers, I feel — if I had a longer time frame to work — adding floral decals from the same fabric the joggers consisted of would have been a nice touch!
What did you LEARN from this project?
While creating the waistband of the garment, I learned how to effectively thread elastic through a waistband casing using two safety pins. Moving forward, I’ll save a tremendous amount of time when adding elastic to garments with this new technique!
Target Audience Project
For this project, I was given the task of choosing one of my classmates to curate three outfits for. I began by asking my intended audience (i.e. Lexi) what her favorite colors, fabrics, textures, themes, and patterns were. Once I composed a digital mood board that fit her style, I brainstormed all of my garment ideas on a sheet of paper, re-sketching to eventually create three outfit sketches. Lastly, I refined these sketches –– adding colors and "texture" by superimposing fabrics onto the areas where I wanted such to be shown.
Mood Board
Outfit Sketches
Finalized Outfits
Trend Book
For this assignment, I created a trend book for what I believe the popular feminine look will be for Spring 2024. Influenced by a current resurge of Y2K fashion (i.e. platform heels, nostalgic graphics, and colors), I feel that 2024's fashion will be full of vibrant colors, eye-catching shoes, and statement pieces with iridescent embellishments that are partially reminiscent of Y2K, but also sophisticated. Perhaps, it will be like the roaring twenties, and sophistication + sparkle will be all the buzz!
Women's Fashion - Spring 2024
Click above to view the animated trend book
Quality Assurance - A Wrap-Up
For this final assignment in quarter three, I chose to write a brief essay on quality control and shopping. I wanted to combine two different prompts given by my teacher, so I first touched on how teenagers tend to not think about a garment's durability when purchasing a new item and then transitioned to the quality control measures taken within garment factories. I tied the two ideas together by disclosing how although quality controls within the assembly line reduce the number of checks a consumer must perform while shopping, it can only help to be mindful before purchasing a new garment.